i spent a good half hour peering out of the french windows of my house into my rain soaked garden on sunday morning. summer time in the my part of england unfortunately appears to have passed by at some point towards the end of may and what we have been left with since is an all too frequent dose of damp drizzle, rain and wind. it was with this depressing back drop that i bid my wife and daughter farewell and traipsed out of my house looking more appropriately dressed for a late autumn ride in, amongst other things, neoprene overshoes and rain jacket. time to embark on the velo club walcot mid summer all dayer!
luckily vc walcot and friends are a hardy bunch of folk and as i arrived at the society cafe, our meeting point for the ride, i was pleasantly surprised to be confronted by a fairly large group people all of whom were, like me, hoping to delay the inevitable soaking by taking an extended pre ride caffiene hit. i must state at this point that non-members are always welcome to join vc walcot rides and apart from this one off meeting point the usual meeting place remains outside of the guildhall in the city centre of bath for a 09.30 start every sunday morning. i will also take this opportunity to mention that society cafe currently have a rather good exhibition on display of bicycle inspired art by eliza southwood which is worth a visit.
the ride itself was perfectly guided my laurie chalk, one of the founding members of vc walcot, who's idea it was to do this loop which he himself had first ridden with the club back in 2007. as with all rides in this part of the country the terrain was lumpy which may have been an appropriate landscape type since going on over the channel at about the same time was stage one of the tour de france in the similarly lumpy region on the belgian ardennes. another similarity lay in the fact that belgian like england was experiencing changeable weather. the first two hours of our ride continued in the same vein as i had viewed a few hours early out of the french windows of my house.
gradually the rain dissipated as we pushed on through the beautifully rugged mendip hills, the first welcome rays of sunshine warmed our sodden backs. it was the first time i have ridden through this part of somerset and it reminded me a little of riding through the yorkshire moors albeit less desolate, my kind of country. due to the still damp tarmac and greasy surface of the road i descended cautiously placed towards the back of our stretched out line zig zagging it's way down the famous burrington combe hill all the time rolling closer to the seaside town of clevedon for a much needed lunch break before getting back in the saddle for the return leg home.
i do not usually stuff my face with a lot of food during a ride, generally the opposite since the feeling of a full stomach does not feel compatible with riding hills at sometimes close to max effort. however on this occasion and with the murky brown sea view of the bristol channel in front of us i munched my way through a large plate of jacket potato with baked beans and grated cheese topped off with a piece of battered fish courtesy of danny who was sat next to me with his plate of fish and chips. i did not think i would fair well on the return journey ladened down with so much food in my belly but it turned out to be a rather good decision.
the ride back to bath from the coast was a few kilometres shorter than the ride out and with the sun still shining and a tail wind helping us along we cruised our way back along pleasant lanes. it was a world away from a few hours earlier when i had been soaked to the skin, vision blurred with the incessant rain that had lashed across the hydrophobic lenses of my oakleys. now though layers were being shed by all and shoved into rear jersey pockets. as we approached the edge of bath a free-for-all was declared, the proverbial hammer was dropped and a few of us time trialled our way back to the our homeward rendezvous at the chelsea cafe. fittingly laurie jumped at the right time, doing a cancellara on us (or should i say sagan?) he disappeared into the distance and was first to make it back.
i am glad i had ventured out into the rain last sunday morning, otherwise i would have missed out on what turned out to be a great club ride. i will have to keep this in mind next time i have second thoughts about riding it the wet, it can sometimes be fun.
for further details on forthcoming sunday rides and events visit velo club walcot.
luckily vc walcot and friends are a hardy bunch of folk and as i arrived at the society cafe, our meeting point for the ride, i was pleasantly surprised to be confronted by a fairly large group people all of whom were, like me, hoping to delay the inevitable soaking by taking an extended pre ride caffiene hit. i must state at this point that non-members are always welcome to join vc walcot rides and apart from this one off meeting point the usual meeting place remains outside of the guildhall in the city centre of bath for a 09.30 start every sunday morning. i will also take this opportunity to mention that society cafe currently have a rather good exhibition on display of bicycle inspired art by eliza southwood which is worth a visit.
the ride itself was perfectly guided my laurie chalk, one of the founding members of vc walcot, who's idea it was to do this loop which he himself had first ridden with the club back in 2007. as with all rides in this part of the country the terrain was lumpy which may have been an appropriate landscape type since going on over the channel at about the same time was stage one of the tour de france in the similarly lumpy region on the belgian ardennes. another similarity lay in the fact that belgian like england was experiencing changeable weather. the first two hours of our ride continued in the same vein as i had viewed a few hours early out of the french windows of my house.
gradually the rain dissipated as we pushed on through the beautifully rugged mendip hills, the first welcome rays of sunshine warmed our sodden backs. it was the first time i have ridden through this part of somerset and it reminded me a little of riding through the yorkshire moors albeit less desolate, my kind of country. due to the still damp tarmac and greasy surface of the road i descended cautiously placed towards the back of our stretched out line zig zagging it's way down the famous burrington combe hill all the time rolling closer to the seaside town of clevedon for a much needed lunch break before getting back in the saddle for the return leg home.
i do not usually stuff my face with a lot of food during a ride, generally the opposite since the feeling of a full stomach does not feel compatible with riding hills at sometimes close to max effort. however on this occasion and with the murky brown sea view of the bristol channel in front of us i munched my way through a large plate of jacket potato with baked beans and grated cheese topped off with a piece of battered fish courtesy of danny who was sat next to me with his plate of fish and chips. i did not think i would fair well on the return journey ladened down with so much food in my belly but it turned out to be a rather good decision.
the ride back to bath from the coast was a few kilometres shorter than the ride out and with the sun still shining and a tail wind helping us along we cruised our way back along pleasant lanes. it was a world away from a few hours earlier when i had been soaked to the skin, vision blurred with the incessant rain that had lashed across the hydrophobic lenses of my oakleys. now though layers were being shed by all and shoved into rear jersey pockets. as we approached the edge of bath a free-for-all was declared, the proverbial hammer was dropped and a few of us time trialled our way back to the our homeward rendezvous at the chelsea cafe. fittingly laurie jumped at the right time, doing a cancellara on us (or should i say sagan?) he disappeared into the distance and was first to make it back.
i am glad i had ventured out into the rain last sunday morning, otherwise i would have missed out on what turned out to be a great club ride. i will have to keep this in mind next time i have second thoughts about riding it the wet, it can sometimes be fun.
for further details on forthcoming sunday rides and events visit velo club walcot.
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