Exmouth Exodus

OK, so a little late but as I have previously said, I have just moved. What I haven't mentioned yet is Virgin Superfast Broadband. Now when I lived in the city, TV and Internet access cam via a fibre optic cable and indeed had done for 10 years or so. What I hadn't appreciated was that by moving approximately 5 miles out of Bristol, I would be moving into a medieval settlement with no cable! Hence the mention of Virgin Superfast Broadband (or VSB). Now this is a misnomer if ever there was one as it is neither broadband (more like baseband at best) nor super fast. Neither is it reliable. Now I live on the Internet, I plot routes for my Garmin (see, this rant is sort of relevant), upload completed rides to MapMyRide and download OSM maps as well as try to maintain a couple of blogs. Not so using VSB. Oh no, a 200 mb map takes over an hour to download if it will maintain the connection long enough and don't even think about trying to upload photo's to Picassa. Anyway, VSB issues have sort of been sorted now ( a bigger rant will appear over at ieduc8 if your interested) but it has meant I'm a little behind with posting.
Anyway, I missed the Exodus last year as it clashed with a wedding but this year, it was mid August which meant I could do it. It's free to enter (OK, a pound for a route sheet or a donation) and leaves Clifton (in Bristol if your not a Wes' Country resident) around 10pm and goes down, through the night to Exmouth. Sounds like a laugh.
But which bike to take?
A dilemma if ever there was one. I could take the KiC2, it's light, agile, has gears and is fast but cannot carry much luggage and will happily dump you in the scenery if you lose concentration momentarily. It also lacks mudguards (this was British summertime after all). I could take the Solo, solid, dependable, can carry my Carradice Barley, has guards and is manly as it is fixed. However, grunting up hills in the middle of the night on an unknown route didn't exactly appeal and I wasn't feeling 100% so this was out. The Day One looked good, comfortable, able to carry luggage, suitably low geared but doesn't have guards and 35mm knobby tyres might be overkill. This left the Thorn, the dependable, do it all, never let you down bike* (bear this last comment in mind for later). It has guards, gears (lots of them, some quite low), luggage, will go in a straight line even when you are asleep and is a comfy ride. The Thorn it was then, you may not be able to lift it off the ground but kitted out it fitted the bill well.
Preparation
Well, it's at night so lights would be needed. Now, I either over prepare for a ride or under prepare but this time, I really excelled. Overkill probably doesn't do it justice. I fitted my Magicshine 900 lumens light (£50 from From here) and purchased a spare battery from Torchy the Torch man on e-bay (superb service, cheap, arrived the next day, quality). Then I though, what if the light fails (it's bad I know but I still equate cheap Chinese goods with shoddy quality despite having had the light for a year and experienced no problems. This as well from someone who still remembers British Leyland!) so my Cateye front light was also fitted. Then, a head torch was procured (again from Dealexreme) and fixed to the helmet with a bit of universal bracket (Duck tape). I purchased and charged every rechargeable battery Boots had in stock, fixed a cheap ASDA red flashing LED to my arm and I was ready.
Oh, and I stuffed the Carradice full of energy bars, gels and clothing.
Oh, and at the last minute, I shoved in a handful of cable ties, you know, just in case.
The ride
It's ironic really. As I was cycling along the Portway to Bristol, I pondered on the fact that the ride passes less than 50 metres from my house on route to Clevedon. Anyway, 9.00pm I arrive at Channings hotel in Clifton to the site of around 150 cyclist milling around, drinking, chatting and doing last minute fettling of bikes. Time for a quick pint.

At 9.30 people started to leave and the ride began, a long line of red flashing lights stretched into the distance (and stretched the patience of one or two impatient Bristolian motorists to boot). We passed through Shirehampton, over the Avonmouth bridge (past my house in Pill) and onto the lanes towards Clevedon. The Magicshine was switched on and the road to Clevedon was lit up like daylight. So far so good.
A magical if uneventful ride to Cheddar ensued, I rode with a group of fixed gear riders and we wizzed along to the foot of Brockley Coombe (actually, we split at Wrington as I took my usual route which got me there fractionally quicker than the official route). Up the Coombe and over the top of the Mendips and soon we where descending the Cheddar Gorge, a brilliant experience in the dead of night. Lights ahead indicated the first tea stop and so it was. A fine spread being laid on by the organizers.

I left cheddar on my own and was now reliant on the ever so accurate Garmin for directions (a GPX file kindly prepared by the organizers and downloaded slowly over VSB doing the business). A few navigational errors later and I was joined by a large group who seemed to know where they where going so I tagged along for a nice, high speed run into North Curry. Up ahead, in the blackness, I could make out a building all lit up. The halfway point tea stop. So far, so good.

As I was leaving, a guy called out "he has a Garmin, ask if we could ride with him" and so I met Tim and Steve and at 2.30 pm we rolled out of North Curry at the mercy of my Garmin. We rolled out towards Blagdon hill, lights ablaze, too early to enjoy the last tea stop (a van that was still behind us) and climbed up Blagdon hill and onto the top of the Blackdown hills.
All is well in the early hours
All was going well, 3.58am and another 30 miles or so to Exmouth. 3.59am and cresting a slight rise I feel a slight wobble in my saddle so decide to stop and tighten up the bolt. 4.00am and I am holding the saddle (and fully laden Carradice bag which is attached to said saddle) in my hand and staring bleakly into the dark at a sheared bolt that used to hold the saddle to the seat pin.
* what was that comment again
Bugger! Still, not to panic, I have cable ties, I have tape and Tim and Steve have patience and more importantly, two large Velcro straps. A quick bodge later and we are rolling. A few more stops to fine tune and we are definitely under way. We ride along and descend towards the Otter valley as dawn rises. It gets light and at Otter St Mary, we begin the last ascent up towards Exmouth.

We enter Exmouth and begin the long descent to the sea front, 6.30 am and we are sitting in the Harbour Cafe awaiting breakfast. An absolutely brilliant ride (mechanical and navigational problems aside) and one that I would recommend you to have a go it if you are in the area.
Post ride thoughts
Lights worked fine, the first battery gave up about 3.00am (about 5 hours on half setting) and the second battery was deployed. The head torch was a real star, stayed lit all the way and really helped when I needed to fix the bike. I will say though, 200 grams on the front of your helmet doesn't do weak neck muscles any favours.
I didn't need any of the spare rechargeable batteries I took, gels still taste like shampoo and I'm really glad I grabbed a handful of cable ties and carried a small set of pliers with me.
Needles to say, all bikes have now been stripped, checked and bolts greased and a seat pin bolt placed in the Carradice!
A big up to SJS cycles who supplied a new seat post (old one mangled by slipping saddle bodge) by next day delivery.
I must say a big thanks to Tim and Steve for not only being patient and staying with me as I fixed the seat but also for having to stop many times as I adjusted the badly bodged saddle. Also, Steve kindly carried my overstuffed (and therefore heavy) Carradice the last 25 miles, that my friend, is chivalry at it's absolute best.
Big thanks also to Baggy and Chuffy and the rest of the crew for organizing a brilliant ride and providing refreshments.
Mrs Blokeonabike arrive with the taxi and we where back in Pill at 10.30am ready to eat the contents of the fridge and grab a well earned sleep.
Roll on next August.
Next ride will be Action 100 Bristol to London on Sunday 28th August.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad