A few days in Northumberland

Sorry, haven't posted for a while as I haven't been riding much of late. To be honest, I felt pretty drained after the LVIS 200 and although I managed a couple of decent 40 mile rides over the last month or so, that is about it really. Anyway, half term is upon and I am in Northumberland for the week so have felt inspired to (a) ride the bike and (b) post about it so here goes...

My favorite ride here (here being the Coquet valley) is actually a short one (25 miles or so).



Looking east, back up the Coquette valley. The hill is Simonside

It starts at Hepple but you could quite easily start at Rothbury, about 8 miles further east up the valley. From Hepple, you head west for a mile before turning off and out of the valley and head north towards the Cheviot hills. The ride takes you through Holystone, Harbottle and on towards Alwinton. The road is very quiet and gently undulates as it passes through pine woodland and open moorland (and an Alpaca farm at Holystone). Just before Alwinton, you turn right and head up towards Netherton. The climb is a couple of miles but not too steep.



A view from the top of the climb to Netherton looking west towards Scotland

From here, we drop to Netherton village and then turn left and climb up towards Whittingham. At the top of the climb, I normally turn right and head back towards Rothbury but you can keep on to Whitingham (about 6 miles) and then turn right and right again in the village and head back via Callally rejoin the ride just before Thropton.



A view from the top of the climb to Whittingham looking east towards the coast

If you turn off, you have a nice flat/undulating decent back to Snitter and into Thropton. At the T-Junction by the Cross Keys pub in Thropton, you can turn right and head back to Hepple (5 miles) or turn left and head back to Rothbury (about 3 miles).

As I said, the ride is undulating with a couple of climbs so non too strenuous however beware of the wind! It can reach 20 mph quite easily and will be steady. It blows west to east and can turn any ride into a real slog, you have been warned!

Kit used:

I brought one of those new fangled derailleur geared bikes this time, a rather nice Aluminium/Carbon fibre Kinesis. Had it about 5 years now and haven't yet found a nicer riding frame (for the price I hasten to add).


A bike that weighs less than 30 pounds and has more than one gear! Heresy I tell you
As it has Look pedals, I used a pair of Diadora shoes (silver ones, can't remember the model) otherwise my kit is the usual (except for not using the Carradice Barley, instead I have a cheap Altura seat pack).

Photo's taken with a rather nice and rather cheap Fuji AV180

Will post maps when I get back to Bristol as I only have an iPad with me at the moment.

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LVIS Audax 2011

Reading rumors on the interweb isn't the best way of preparing for an Audax, especially when the rumor concerns the iPhones inability to set of an alarm when daylight saving ends and the Audax in question begins on the morning of said time change! So, plan B alarm (cheap Wilkinson's effort, alarm goes off around an hour either side of time set) goes off at 5.30 am (it was set for 6.00 am), plan C alarm (Garmin FR60) goes off at 6.30 am (as planned) and plan A alarm (iPhone) goes off as it always has, bang on time, at 6.45 am!

7.30 am see me full of cereal and toast, drinking a free coffee in Long Ashton village hall awaiting the start of Barry's Bristol Ball Buster, a 210 km jaunt around the outskirts of the fair city of Bristol. I completed the inaugural ride last year and really enjoyed it and so I was looking forward to another well organized, friendly ride in lovely countryside and once again, I wasn't disappointed.

8.00 am sharp and Marcus Mumford (resplendent in a stripy blazer) waves us off with a customary "Vegas baby"! We head out of Long Ashton, up through Ashton Court and over the famous suspension bridge towards the wilds of South Gloucestershire via Shirehampton, Henbury and parts of Bristol I never new existed. A relatively gentle 40 km see's us arriving at the first of many highlights, namely the village hall at Hill.


Now, this rather unassuming building may not look like it qualifies for the title of highlight but housed inside is the finest selection of cakes you will ever see.


Once again, the Hill W.I did themselves proud (my photography really doesn't do justice to that raspberry pavlova.

Fully sated and it's of across the bottom of the Cotswolds before they climb up to Wooten under edge, then a nice run down to the second stop at the Lock keeper in Keynsham.


A quick stretch whilst admiring the view (and some rather splendid Titanium bikes courtesy of Quroz Bikes) and it's off up the steady climb towards Queen Charlton and a gently undulating run to the foot of the mendips via Chew Valley lake. A West Harptree, the ride heads upwards with vengeance as it climbs the steepest climb of the ride, a straight up, 10% job to the top of the Mendip hills. From here, it's a lovely, undulating run across the mendips before dropping to Wookey Hole and a flat couple of miles to Glasonbury. Heaphy's cafe serves a well needed bacon sandwich and re-unites me with my brevet card (dropped on top of the mendips whilst struggling to fix a broken Garmin mount*) so once again, a big thank you to the cha who not only saw said card but kindly picked it up and gave it to the control.

4.00 pm sees me leaving Glastonbury and heading across the Somerset levels as a lovely spring evening unfolds. This section of the ride passes fairly quickly and a couple of hours and 40 km or so later, I am in the bar of the Drum and Monkey in Kenn sinking a pint of ice cold Coca-Cola and contemplating the last 20 km back to the final control. A couple of flat kilometers across Kenn moor bring me to the Gordano valley and an undulating run away from the sunset and towards Portbury. From Portbury, it's a 4 km climb up to Failand and a nice decent down Providence lane to the start/finish for the final highlight, free soup, rolls, tea, coffee and a friendly welcome back from Marcus and the rest of the LVIS crew.

So there we have it, another 200k completed and another enjoyable day out. The Las Vegas Institute of Sport may not be your usual cycling club but they sure know how to organize a fun ride, so a big thank you to Marcus and the crew and put my name down for next year.

*Garmin mount broken during a "clipless" moment but easily fixed with a couple of universal fixing brackets (cable ties). Otherwise, Garmin 705 performed flawlessly and navigated me the whole 210 km without incident.

Equipment used:

Thorn Brevet
Giordana arm/leg warmers
Giordana bib shorts
Jollywear vintage SS jersey
Nalini gilett
Altura night vision ergo fit waterproof
Garmin 705
Exulstar stevio 707 shoes
Planet x winter gloves/Altura retro string backed track mitts
Carradice barley
Various mule bars
Boots isotonic/hydration drink mix


A picture of the trusty Thorn Brevet (note the two bottles of what can only be described as industrial waste, why do I bother)

See the route here:





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Gospel Pass Audax

Just got back from Chepstow having completed my first 100 mile ride of the year, the brilliant Gospel Pass Audax. For anyone living in the South West of England/South Wales I strongly recommend giving this 150km Audax a go, it is tough but stunning both in terms of scenery and cafe stops.

So, a short review of the ride:

Having been suffering form a heavy cold all week, i wasn't relishing an 8.00 am start and the best part of 10 hours on the bike but hey ho! A 8.00 am precisely, about a hundred intrepid cyclists leave the car park at Chepstow castle and almost immediately begin then first climb of the day. This sets the tone for the ride really, gain a 1000ft, lose a 1000ft, gain a 1000ft etc. At around 9.30, we pull into the first control at Henry's Cafe in Monmouth, a lovely cafe in a lovely setting. One egg and bacon muffin and a latte and we're good to go!





Henry's cafe, Monmouth

The next leg takes us over undulating countryside and then down the golden valley to Hay-on-Wye and a stop at the Granary Cafe. This leg is around 50km and is very tiring, several MDF bars are needed (sorry but so called energy bars really do taste like industrial waste!) to get us to the control. Again an idyllic spot but no food this time, the climb of the Gospel Pass awaits. Last time I did this ride, there was snow on top, the time before, I ate a huge plate of beans on toast at Hay and regretted it dearly, no such mistake this time!





The Granary Cafe, Hay-on-Wye

The climb of the Gospel Pass from this side is truly epic and well worth the effort, its steep but not as long as the climb from Abergavenny. The long run down through Llanthony (past the priory) to Abergavenny is a blast (but you need to keep your wits about you, the road is rutted and single track) and the control point at the Chatterbox Cafe is a good choice.





The awesome Gosple Pass, respect!

Card stamped and Steak and Kidney pie surgery performed and we're off on the last leg, out of Abergavenny, along the valley to Usk (thankfully, a mainly flat run of around 10 miles) to the last climb of the day. A six mile slog out of Usk Brings us up the last climb of the day before a nice 5 mile descent back into Chepstow and a welcome pint (of orange juice and lemonade) and a chance to warm up. Temperatures rarely got above 5 degrees all day so the open fire in the Three Tuns was more than welcome. Another stunning ride, well organised by Nik Pergrine and a good tester for my forthcoming 200km Audax (the superb Barry's Bristol Ball Buster by LVIS). A day well spent, now all thats left to do is consume the contents of the fridge and find some CSI's to watch.

Route map and profile below courtesy of Garmin 705 and MapMyRide:




Equipment used:

Thorn Brevet (my trusty steel long distance bike)
Carradice Barley saddle bag (made by Christine, apparently. A British classic)
Crane sport (ALDI) thermal long sleeved base layer
North wave long sleeved top
Altura ergo fit waterproof
Exhustar Stelvio shoes (see previous posts)
Gamin edge 705
Planet X gloves (free with a top I bought last year)
Various energy bars

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New Shoes Part Deux!

As promised, an update on the Stelvio 707's I purchased earlier in the week. Wore them for the first time this morning as I took my Ridgeback Solo Fixed on a 50 mile ride down to the North Somerset Coast and back and I have to say I am very impressed. Needed to play around with the cleat positions a little during the ride to Clevedon (around 12 miles) but otherwise they where extremely comfortable. The first 30 miles where reasonably flat with the only hills being short out of the saddle affairs and I didn't really notice i had the shoes on. The last 20 miles included a couple of longish climbs and i didn't notice any flex in either the sole or the shoe, no pinching or rubbing and the laces stayed nice and tight the whole trip. I am doing the Gospel Pass Audax in a couple of weeks so will let you know how they are after a proper all day ride but so far, so good.


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New Shoes

My trusty old Shimano cycling shoes finally gave up the ghost this week after 10 years of sterling service which left me in a bit of a dilemma, what should I replace them with? For a long while I was a fan of team kit and would go to great lengths to get matching jerseys, shorts, socks etc but of late I have become a fan of good quality retro kit (merino wool jerseys and the like) so my search began for a suitable pair of shoes. Now ideally, I would like to tell you I bought a pair of Dromarti Sportive shoes but at £145 a pair, I fear I didn't. Instead, after much deliberation, I purchase a pair of Exhustar Stelvio 707 shoes from SJS Cycles. I ordered them on Wednesday, SJS e-mailed me to say they where dispatched on Thursday and Parcel Force duly attempted to deliver them today (rant why do they try to deliver during working hours? I know it's cheaper but honestly! Rant over). Luckily, they dropped the parcel off at my local Post Office so by 4.30 this evening, I was clunking around the house in my new shoes. Brilliant. Very smart they are too, check out the picture:






OK, so not the best picture (I took it on my phone) but they seem to be well constructed and certainly look the part.

Searching the forums revealed that, like Shimano shoes, they do tend to come up small. I normally fall somewhere between a UK 8.5 and 9 so I took advice and ordered a UK 9.5. The shoes seem to fit well, they are narrow and long (I have about 2cm to spare in the toe box, which is ideal for me) but I would recommend trying before you buy if you can.

I haven't worn them on the bike yet but shall try them out on Sunday and report back.
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A man, a bike and an obsession!

OK, I have been meaning to do this for quite a while but between other projects (my iOS blog) and general apathy, I have never got around to it until now. As I explained in the description and about me, I am a middle aged teacher with an unhealthy ICT obsession and an equally unhealthy cycling obsession. I intend this blog to be a selection of random thoughts and musings as I cycle my way around various parts of the country.

I tend to do mainly Audax rides these days as time for training is limited and to be honest, I just feel a little too fragile for racing these days. I do attempt the occasional Sportive ride but really, I like the idea of Audax and really want to get up to the sort of distances that would allow me to dream of London-Edinburgh-London or Paris-Brest-Paris. Having said that, at the moment, the thought of a 300k gets the goose bumps going although I did comfortable complete one 200k Sportive (The Black Rat) and two 200k Audaxes and one 150k Audax last year as well as innumerable 100k rides so maybe its not that far off?

Anyway, the season is starting, the GPS is fully charged (me and maps do not make for a straightforward journey) and events have been entered so please watch this space. The rides (GPX and mapmyride links) will be written about here and posted on my website. Enjoy.


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