Blog Bulletin

Phil's holidaying on the Isle of Wight (about which, you can read later) set my mind racing for an Isle of Wight related piece of music. San(Down) San(Down) by Status Quo, was one of three rather feeble efforts. I won't subject you to the other two equally cringe worthy attempts. Fortunately, Phil came to my rescue with a far less convoluted connection. 

Released by Status Quo in 1979, 'Living On An Island' reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart. The first 100,000 copies were issued with a picture sleeve featuring penguins. This continued the penguin theme started with their previous single 'Whatever You Want.'

You can imagine yourself living on an island by listening here.

Peter C has filed the following report regarding the Sporting Group's ride to the Allington Farm Shop Cafe on Saturday 12th August 2017:

It was a little overcast, but overall dry and relatively low winds, with a lot of road traffic around Marshfield for some unknown reason.

The new diversion around Wadswick proved a great success avoiding the very busy road between the 5 Ways junction and the A4 at Corsham. We were also rewarded with a fantastic view looking over to Westbury.

The cafe was good, as always, and we met Paul's old club Ride 24/7 outside for coffee.

Talk of the day was of Lyndon's new rear cassette on his Trek road bike, which looked like a dinner plate boasting a range of 42/11, with the rest of the drive chain being standard. He is trialing this set up, but I think he will need to speak to Mike G on this, as he appears to be our resident guru on non-standard set ups!

Riders: Lyndon, Mark Jones, Paul Hudson, Peter Baptiste and me.

I'm grateful to Phil for this very entertaining review of his cycling on the Isle of Wight last week:

On our first proper visit and family holiday to the Isle of Wight I thought it would be remiss of me not to load up our bikes and tackle the Island on two wheels. A number of fellow cyclists had mentioned a round the island route and after a bit of web searching I found the following site http://www.cycleisland.co.uk which had details of the annual 100km Randonnee held on the island. 

Having already got a couple of 100km rides under his belt, James was keen to tackle this ride with me, so we set off in a light drizzle unsure of how wet we would get on the way round. We selected the clockwise, road only route (there are a number of cycle trails and paths which can be used to circumnavigate the island) and headed from our holiday home in Gurnard (West of Cowes) to the official start point in East Cowes. This required a short trip on the chain ferry to cross the River Medina (Tim - insert chain ferry history here!). 

The cycle route does its best to track the circumference of the island avoiding most of the busier roads and town centres. It does however go through numerous pretty villages, small woodlands and open coastal roads so offers a bit of everything. 

About a third of the way round I called James to a halt to take a picture at the sign to Alverstone. This was after the blog article released that day linking Glen Campbell’s 'Galveston' to Alveston on our trip to Chepstow. Sorry I couldn’t resist it. 

At the half-way point James and I decided to stop for refreshments and happened across an interesting concept. Where many village shops and post offices have closed down and moved in to the pub, in Niton they have decided to add a real ale bar and cafe to the Post Office - Excellent! I think this concept should be adopted in all villages all over the land. I believe it would encourage many men to write more letters - just off to post a letter love….. back in an hour or two. 

Okay, back to the ride. After our lunch & ale at the southern tip of the island we headed North West on to the fantastic Military road which travels up from the lowest point of the island along the cliff tops and ending at Freshwater Bay.

From here we headed due North arriving in Yarmouth before the home stretch, mainly through farmland, on the way back to Gurnard. A nice round 65 miles/100km. 

I enjoyed it so much that two days later I tackled the ride on my own in reverse. I must admit it did seem more challenging (hillier) this way around, or maybe it was because I didn’t have James to pace me, who knows? 

This weeks musical accompaniment which I sang to myself on my anti-clockwise route - Status Quo’s 'Living On An Island' of course.  

Phil.

Floating Bridge No 6 out of the water

Without wishing to appear a smarty pants, as I only know this after a bit of research, the chain ferry is actually a floating bridge. Established in 1859, it's one of the few remaining floating bridges that haven't been replaced by a permanent structure. Although officially known as Floating Bridge No 6, a petition in 2017 to name it Floaty McFloatface attracted over 2,000 signatures.

Editor

We're delighted to have received the account below from John Shephard regarding his cycling tour of Snowdonia:

John's trusty steed

In May six of us from Minety spent four days cycling around Snowdonia. We drove to Welshpool and parked up there. We averaged about 60 miles per day and stayed in bunkhouses along the way. (Editor: I bet the mention of bunkhouses has grabbed Mike G's attention).

Stunning views abound

We incorporated the Dave Brailsford Way [http://www.visitsnowdonia.info/ffordd_brailsford_way-294.aspx]

within our route shown at the top of this article.

We also used some of Lôn Las Cymru (Sustrans route 8). The hill South East of Machynlleth is really, really wonderful. It's a monster of a hill - probably the toughest any of us have ridden up fully loaded. Great to get to the top!

Snowdonia is highly recommended for a cycling holiday. It's very accessible from Malmesbury. The routes are quiet and beautiful. The accommodation is cheap with an average price of £23 per night.

Please follow this link for an album of photographs taken during the holiday.

You can also watch a short video of our adventures here. 

If anyone wants further information, please feel free to contact me.

John

Bibury looking stunning

Further to Tim H's recent email, a reminder that the next ride in the 2017 Sunday Series, will be to the very picturesque village of Bibury, on 27th August, departing at 10.00am.

You can see and download the 55 mile course here.

Absent in 2016, Bibury featured in the 2014 and 2015 Sunday Series. To whet your appetite for this year's outing, I thought it would be interesting to look back at our previous visits.

Sunday 1st June 2014, saw Andy Poolman, Gary, George, Tim H and me, Tim W, complete the excursion. 

Andy and George at the Trout Farm Cafe

Clarions saddling up for the ride home

Our peloton weaves its way through Bibury

Coincidentally, five members made the trip on Sunday 12th April 2015. They were Alice, Karine, Steve M, Tim H and me, Tim W.

Our peloton waiting to join the Whiteway at Cirencester

The fish counter at the Bibury Trout Farm

Steve M came up with 'The Famous Five's Foray to the Fish Farm' as a fitting title for the blog piece about the ride.

Ready to head for home

Blog Bulletin

This week's musical accompaniment is provided by the legendary Glen Campbell. Born in 1936, Glen released more than 70 albums during his career. The reason for his artist-of-choice status, is because of his fondly remembered record 'Galveston.' On our recent outing to Chepstow, Peter C and Tommy burst forth with a few lines from 'Galveston', which was a clever play on words, as we'd just left Alveston.

You can listen and sing along here.

I thought I'd just mention that it was actually a toss-up between 'Galveston' and the theme tune to the American epic war drama film 'Deer Hunter' released in 1978.

This was after one of our members was unfortunately felled last week by a deer who failed to observe the highway code during the Wednesday evening Knight Rider session.

Here's a very atmospheric photograph from Des taken on the Sunday Series Ride on 23rd July 2017, when Bryan, Des and Tim H braved the wet weather to cycle to Bradford on Avon.

There's definitely something about the medium of black and white photography, which can make a very powerful image.

Actually, it's given me an idea that just for fun, the blog could have its own annual photography competition.

Back to the cycling, Des reports that they swam most of the way there and back. The trio stopped in Westbury for a cuppa, then headed on to Bradford on Avon for lunch. Having waited a while to see if the rain was going to halt, and finding that it wasn't going to, they headed for home. Brian had already done his miles, and so turned off at Grittleton. Des and Tim rode the last few miles back to Malmesbury, where surprise, surprise the sun was shining.

Well done lads. A great effort in very challenging conditions.

If you haven't already seen these pictures, they're from the club run to Chepstow on Saturday 29th July 2017.

The top one was taken after our refreshments at Pye Corner on Chepstow's impressive cast iron bridge, which crosses the River Wye and links Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. The other was of course captured on the Severn Bridge. 

Although the two bridges were built 150 years apart, they're both Grade 1 listed buildings.

Pictured in the foreground on the Severn Bridge, alongside James M, is our new(est) member, Matt from Malmesbury, who we're delighted to have join us.

Riders: Andrew, Chris, James M, Matt, Pete B, Peter C, Phil, Tim W and Tommy.

Des has very kindly shared with us his experiences taking part in Prudential RideLondon on Sunday 30th July 2017:


Thanks to everyone who was able to sponsor me and my work colleagues, we ended up (last time I looked) raising £37,000 for our charity Aspire.

As for the ride, I went up on the Saturday by train with my bike booked on, as I firstly, needed to register and secondly, I thought it better than getting up at 3.00am. 

Oddly, having to ride across London from Paddington to Docklands was slightly impeded by the Saturday RideLondon event, as they were going in the wrong direction for me. I needed to get registered before 5.00pm. That was easy enough in the end and I headed to the hotel. It was then straight out to find some pasta before trying to get an early night. 

That didn't happen, but I was up at 5.45am, to ride the 4 miles to the start. I didn't want to get there too early and then have to wait a long time before our turn to go.

                         

We were off the line at 8.24am, and I was surprised by how much space there was once we were away on the closed roads. I met with one of my fellow riders and paced with her to the first water stop, where supposedly others would be, but they weren't, so I took off trying to see if I could catch them. 

It was a great day for the ride. I hit Surrey Hill, which was a long drag and was slightly worried when I felt a twinge in my thigh. I hoped I wasn't going to pull a muscle. I kept my head down and passed a few of my other colleagues before riding with a couple of them for a bit, then moved on to Leith Hill, which I didn't realise I was on for a while, but made it to the top without stopping, even though it was quite congested. 

I pushed on through the Surrey Hills to Box Hill, which was fantastic to ride up, as there was a bit more space compared to Leith Hill. From then on, I knew it was basically a run back into London. Strangely, at this point I felt strong enough to power up the small rollers on the way back. 

At 85 miles I started to feel pain in the backside and shoulders, but I knew that it wasn't anything that was going to stop me. The small bump that runs up in to Wimbledon was the last one, so I just ground that out and then felt like I was just going down hill from there. I tried to keep the pace up to the finish line, and crossed over it with an average of 16 mph, and a riding time of 6 hours 23 minutes, with only 37 minutes cafe time. I was so was pleased about that.

I had a hour or so rest in Green Park hosted by Aspire before jumping back on the bike to ride the couple of miles back to Paddington.

I'd like to thank Tim H and Brian for going out on the last Sunday Series ride the week before with me. The weather was awful to Bradford on Avon and back, but I knew that as we'd ridden 80 miles, I wouldn't have a problem on the RideLondon 100.

Finally, I think I'd be happy to sign up again for next year's RideLondon, as it was enjoyable and being able to ride on closed roads is a great experience. So, anyone up for it?

Des

Editor: On behalf of all of your club mates, excellent work Des.

                  Clarions at the front of Crowns Cafe, Lyneham

Sian has thoughtfully sent in the above photograph with a ride report, for which, I'm very grateful:

Saturday 5th August 2017, saw the Sporting and Social Groups meet up at the Crowns Cafe at Lyneham. This new venture is linked to the REME Museum just inside the main gates.

With 17 of us, we felt the group was too big to go back as one together.

We managed to get back to Malmesbury with the thunder rumbling in the distance and thankfully dodged the rain.

Sporting Group: Andy Poolman, James M, Lyndon, Mark Jones,  Peter C, Phil and Tommy.

Social Group: Bryan, Chris, Colin, John, Paul Hadley, Sian, Simon Akers, Steve Cox, Sue Akers and Tim H. 

Howard and 3 members of his Leisure Group brought the total number of riders up to an impressive 21.

Editor: A warm welcome from the blog is extended to Mark Jones, who we'll hopefully see a lot more of over the coming weeks and months.

Blog Bulletin

This will be the last blog bulletin for a while. Thank you, as always, to all of the contributors and of course, you the readers.

And to serenade you through the bulletin, with British summers being what they are, I've gone with Chris Rea's 'Looking For The Summer.' 

Born to an Irish mother and an Italian father in Middlesborough, the Rea family name was well known in his home town, as his father ran an ice cream factory and a chain of cafes.

To enjoy Chris' husky, yet strangely smooth voice, you can listen here.

On Friday 7th July 2017, Tommy took part in the Mille Pennines 1,004km Audax from Bispham, near Blackpool. This extremely challenging ride has 11,750 metres of climbing. Entrants have 75 hours in which to finish. Remember, this was only 5 days after Tommy had ridden his first 400km event in Essex.

Beaten by sleep deprivation, whilst his legs still had plenty to give, Tommy was forced to retire, but he can be hugely proud of the hilly 400 miles he did manage.

If you want to get a better feel for the enormity of the task here's a link to a very entertaining video of last year's Mille Pennines. Watch as riders tackle a 30% gradient.

Take a very well deserved bow Tommy.

Audax Club Bristol members issuing the Brevet cards

(Photographs reproduced with permission from Paul Rainbow)

The following week, on Saturday 15th July 2017, Mike G completed the Trains, Planes and No More Automobiles 200km Audax from Warmley. Naturally, Mike rode to the start and home again afterwards, which brought his overall mileage up to a very impressive 340km.

Mike has very kindly shared his thoughts on the day with us below:

3.30am. Ah, that blessed alarm, up and at um, as they say.

4.40am. Blimey, where has that hour gone? Quietly out of the door. Don’t wake the neighbours!

And so hit the road Jack!

Through Malmesbury and on to Bristol, or at least the Bristol & Bath Railway Path to the start at Warmley. 

Time for the second breakfast of the day with my Brevet card collected.

Riders ready to leave

7.00am and off we go, retracing my tracks almost back to Malmesbury. Now should I wake the Sporting Group, as they will still be in bed? No, discretion wins, and so onwards to Blunsdon Station and another bacon sarnie and coffee, this time unfortunately it's of the instant variety - yuk!

Now warmed up or something approaching it, the aim is for Avebury, the route for which, just happens to go via that haven of delight, Honeystreet. Sanity restored with a good coffee, and legs sort of loose, it's a case of Avebury here we come and the first standing stones of the day. Stonehenge is next, and of course comes with lots of tourists.

Boyton and food follow. What, no food! They've been eaten out of house and larder by my fellow Brevet card carrying riders. Still, the coffee and cake were good.

So to Radstock for hills and more hills. Not a problem if I didn’t already have 150 plus km in my legs and wasn’t 69 years old in a couple of days. Cake and well wishes both gratefully accepted. But for now, 'oh bother' or similar expletives.

Are we there yet is a recurring thought, and then the final sanctuary, the ARRIVEE. Walk in (just able), smile sweetly at the organiser and my Brevet card is stamped. 

Another day done. Oh, wait a minute, I've got to ride home now! The journey was shall I say interesting, but home I arrived. More fun and frollicks spent 'on tha cog' (fixed wheel translation).

Would I do it again? 'NO' my body wails! My mind peruses whether the day was acceptable. I run through a quick check-list. Hand okay? Legs? Rear end? With all of the boxes ticked, my mind quickly turns to the next Audax.

The Sporting Group at Lacock

Peter C informs me that Saturday's Sporting Group outing to the National Trust Tearoom, Lacock was a lovely ride. It was mainly dry with a short shower riding up to Sandy Lane. The lanes were very wet returning to SN16.

The coffee and cake were good, but the service was slow.

A nice blast was enjoyed by everyone along the Fosse Way.

Riders: Andy Poolman, Jonathan, Lyndon, Pete B, Peter C, Phil and Steve Clark.

Next up in the occasional series with the snappy title of 'Surely It Can't Be Coincidence Alone That So Many Businesses in Malmesbury Are Decorated in Clarion Colours' the featured establishment is The Whole Hog. Not only does it qualify by virtue of the dark green background, the pink pig also ties in nicely with the natty cycling socks that some of us are now sporting, which come with a pink blush.

They're made of bamboo

Speaking of which, I have more orders and will be collecting further stock soon. I've previously covered the socks on the blog. If you missed them, you can follow the link here. Please let me know if you'd like a pair. They're just £5.

The following has been received from Des Doody who is undertaking a charity cycle ride:

On the 30th July, celebrating the legacy for cycling created by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 starts at 06:00 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, then follows a 100-mile route on closed roads through the capital and into Surrey’s stunning countryside. With leg-testing climbs and a route made famous by the world’s best cyclists at the London 2012 Olympics, it's a truly spectacular event for all involved. The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 finishes on The Mall in central London, shortly before 150 professional cyclists race in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on a similar route. 

I along with 25 of my work colleague’s will be riding on behalf of Aspire and hope to raise £20,000 pounds in aid of a worth while charity. 

Aspire is a national charity that provides practical help to people who have been paralysed by Spinal Cord Injury; it can happen to anyone at any time and no one is prepared for how it will change their life. Aspire exists because there is currently no cure. 

The individual affected will lose muscle and sensory control and the vast majority become full time wheelchair users for the rest of their lives. Historically, the majority of spinal cord injuries have been sustained by those aged 21 to 30, with nearly three quarters of newly injured people being male, although increasingly it is affecting older people too. 

Through its projects and programmes, Aspire offers practical support to the 40,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK so that they can lead fulfilled and independent lives in their homes, with their families, in work places and in leisure time. 

PLEASE DONATE any amount no matter how small at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SophosInterceptors

Blog Bulletin

Dr Feelgood

Sometimes picking a record can be a bit of a minefield. Riding through Essex recently, Tommy and me came up with a number of candidates for the musical slot. I know they're not Cockneys in Essex, but the Essex accent isn't a million miles apart, particularly when you're from the West Country. 

'Johnny Reggae' by The Piglets was one shout, but some subsequent research revealed that it was conceived, created, produced and directed by the disgraced Jonathan King. 

What about Ian Dury? An Essex lad through and through surely, but no, apparently not. Although he pretended that he was born in Upminster, Essex, he actually entered the world in Middlesex. No matter, especially with such gems as 'Billericay Dickie', and 'Clever Trevor.' Unfortunately, when I reminded myself of the lyrics, I recalled that both are a little on the fruity side, to say the least.

I've therefore decided to play it safe by featuring Canvey Island's very own Dr Feelgood and their single 'Back in the Night.' Released in 1975, it failed to chart, but don't let that put you off.

You can listen to Lee Brilleaux, Wilko Johnson and the rest of the boys here.

Andy Poolman, Peter C and Simon Akers

(Photograph courtesy of Andy Poolman)

This week's blog bulletin includes some great photographs from the club rides
on Saturday to Jolly Nice Cafe at Frampton Mansell. I'm very grateful to those members who have sent in their pictures, as well as to Peter C for his reports.

Peter C's communique:

The Sporting Group started life with 3 members - myself, Andy Poolman and Simon Akers.

I think Andy had purchased a new set of legs with the pace set by him on the delightful run to Cirencester.

We headed off to Daglingworth and then towards Birdlip, admiring the lovely countryside and wildlife, as we went. 

I managed to put the brakes on Andy's legs when we crossed a lovely valley with a 12% climb on the other side! 

A JNC sausage roll and a coffee

Afterwards, we struck out to The Daneway, and then turned back to the Jolly Nice Cafe where we were suitable refreshed.

On our return, we bumped into John Shepard, who after a late start watching the rugby, decided to join us. A short while later, we bumped into the Leisure Group being led by Howard.

We returned to Malmesbury at 12.15pm.

Peter C

Clive, Dave, Howard, Karine, Katie Sprange, Paul, Simon (Sue Akers' son), Steve Cox, Sue Akers, Sue Alexander and Tim H

(Photograph courtesy of Simon S)

Who will win the best hat competition?
(Photographs courtesy of Karine)

A little further afield on Saturday, as a treat for my birthday, Alison rode her first Audax with me. The 108km event from Tewkesbury called at the Forest of Dean Heritage Centre for brunch.

And then in the afternoon, stopped at Westons Cider Mill in Much Marcle, Herefordshire. A shared bottle of Henry Westons Vintage Cider, which weighed in at a hefty 8.2%, was used to toast my 58th year, and left me with a smile on my face.

If you're Audaxing, riding a Sportive for charity or pleasure, holidaying or just out on your bike having fun, and you'd like to share your experiences, the blog is always at your disposal.

Crowns Cafe, Lyneham

Peter C has also filed the following report:

After Saturday's ride, I called into the new cafe at Lyneham called Crowns Cafe, which is situated to the left hand side of the MOD Lyneham entrance, next to the REME museum. 

There is plenty of space both inside and out, and also lots of safe bike parking which is inside the outer fence!

The cafe serves a range of good coffees, cakes and hot snacks, which are all reasonably priced.  If you arrive there before 10.30am, a large drink and cake is just £3.50.

I will be arranging for us to visit on Saturday 5th August, so that we can all sample their delights

Peter C