Tasty Cheddar Audax 2nd October 2010

[GrahamG]

Despite moving to Bristol three years ago, I've never done this ride - every time I go to enter I realise I'm either on holiday or have some other clash!

[JStone]

... is the road alternative to the river path the A369? ...

Yes - I now follow the routesheet from the start for the first few hundred metres and pick up the main road here. Slog up Rownham Hill (always feels cruelly steep first thing in the morning), and continue to rejoin the routesheet here. Then it's just 1st left and follow the lanes towards Clevedon. This avoids the crowding, mud, pedestrians, dogs and barriers on the towpath - but at the cost of missing all the riverside scenery.

NB - unofficial route - usual disclaimers apply - follow at own risk 

[Spikey]

I rode this for the first time last year and it was the climb up to Hinton Blewett that seemed the steepest.
 
I used a Garmin last year and will have the tcx file if its any use to anybody (with the proviso that I may have gone off route as at the Hinton Blewett control riders seemed to be approaching from a slightly different direction). I too have been trying to match the routesheet to a map, there are one or two odd instructions along the lines of 'turn left next left ....' is that turn left then left again or turn left at the next left turn?

Spikey, is the road alternative to the river path the A369? I might try to find you at the start and perhaps you would lead me onto it. I found the river path a bit too crowded last year and I am still not sure that 25mm tyres are suitable for it.

Follow route from start (across old railway bridge, right under A370), until a gate where you turn left and right onto main road, as apposed to bearing right to follow cycle path. Then follow up hill along and down until you find a right turn to Pill. It would be shorter to keep to the main road until left turn to Portbury, but I would feel morally wrong about taking a short-cut on this ride. If you don't like the main road climb, you could take the first right off the main road and climb up to suspension bridge.

[Feline]

Since the road alternatives all involve luMpiNess I think I will stick to the river path

[AndyH]

I used a Garmin last year and will have the tcx file if its any use to anybody

yes please. I have sent PM

[daimountaingoat]

Looking forward to tommorrow hope weather isnt like it is now pouring down. I will be in my clubs old kit ' merthyr cycling club'. A striking kit of purple and yellow.

[daimountaingoat]

Can anyone help me on which way is the quickest to get to the Create Centre from Bristol Templemeads trian station thanks

[Feline]

Forecast actually looks like it will stop raining by about 7pm this evening and then be dry until about 5pm saturday, which will suit us great for tomorrow. The roads might be a bit wet and mushy though 

[ParrettPedaller]

Can anyone help me on which way is the quickest to get to the Create Centre from Bristol Templemeads trian station thanks

From BTM station TL onto A4 signed Bath.

TFL @TR signed A370 Clarence Road

Straight on Commercial Road

TL @ T Cumberland Road.

Ride to the end CREATE Centre is Gurt Big Redbrick Building with CREATE written all over it

[Feline]

Can anyone help me on which way is the quickest to get to the Create Centre from Bristol Templemeads trian station thanks

I would go Clarence Road > Commercial Road > Cumberland road, as you reach the end of this you will see the create centre as a big red brick building at the end of this little 'penninsula' of land.

[ParrettPedaller]

Forecast actually looks like it will stop raining by about 7pm this evening and then be dry until about 5pm saturday, which will suit us great for tomorrow. The roads might be a bit wet and mushy though 

My particiption is in doubt at the mo'  this is day 2 of a particularly nasty cold  .  I'll see what i feel like tomorrow morning

[Feline]

That's a shame, hope you feel better by the morning.

[Feline]

[Panoramix]

I will be there with Mrs P on a grey thorn explorer tandem.

will be wearing either a yacf or mille cymru top!

[ParrettPedaller]

Forecast actually looks like it will stop raining by about 7pm this evening and then be dry until about 5pm saturday, which will suit us great for tomorrow. The roads might be a bit wet and mushy though 

My particiption is in doubt at the mo'  this is day 2 of a particularly nasty cold  .  I'll see what i feel like tomorrow morning

Hope you all enjoy the ride. From my sickbed  it looks like its going to be a lovely autumn day 

[Feline]

Well I had a really excellent day, with really excellent company too

I was pleased to finish in under 7 hours since we had quite an extended lunch stop with queues in the control and a long wait for a (well worth the wait) brie and cranberry pannini, and then a stop for half a pint of lager in the pub at Hinton Brewett. At one point on the Pill cycle path my chain jammed when I was almost stationary resulting in me not un-clipping in time to avoid getting closely acquainted with a large hedge. Fortunately there were plenty of people around to give me a hand out of there. For the rest of the day people kept asking me if I knew I had vegetation and those little green sticky ball things on my back. This does make me wonder whether I am quite ready for the whole fixie experience  

Time to start planning for my next Audax!

[Feline]

I took a (very) few pics today, especially of the rusty ancient 'French' effect bike complete with its PBP number attached. Needless to say it finished before me!







Dai was very patient going at a (slow) speed I could keep up with, when he could clearly have hammered round the route in under 3 hours!

[AndyH]

Wasn't really feeling up for this after last weekend's exertions. Arrived 5 mins before the off after a bad journey up, 1 visit from the fairy which required a new tyre. Many many organisors sadism points must have been awarded - a cyclo cross start, loads of x@y no SP, a couple of nasty ascents, a few tricky descents that needed riding slower than they could have been climbed. I could have been in Dorset

However, plenty of rewards as well with meeting new people, the climb of cheddar george is always rewarding, an excellent pub lunch and the satisfaction of my brother finishing his first Audax. Previously furthest ride 27 miles.  More importantly he enjoyed the whole experience. Pressure will be applied to get him to join AUK. I was wondering why he was struggling a bit on the hills after the pub lunch, until I found out that he had a 53 / 39 chainset. On the way round we decided he needed a different frame and now a different chainset. The new bling bike had been assembled after a late night ebay session, I suspect with a bottle of red wine!

Good to see Dai again, Hi Feline & Panoramix. Hope your cold is better PP. Many thanks Joe & team for excellent organisation, moans at top are to do with me not the top job you did.  And comiserations to all riding today.

[daimountaingoat]

Well i must admit yesterdays ride was more suited to a cyclocross event more than an Audax but i enjoyed it very much despite the early time i had to set off from my place to get to just the start and to confound things i had a delay in Templemeads with a broken down train as well. Nice to meet some people from the forum in Feline and Andy. A message for Feline though, u did great considering you only recently have taken up Audaxing and i enjoyed your company and i was out for the day so you didnt hold me up also i was going round with a guy i met before in Jeremy and also met at the start some guys who havew entered my clubs run Audax events. Thankfully the weather held up compared to today. Feline photo of me with pint in hand doesnt give Audaxers a good reputation lol. Note my mobile i think it is older that  the bike with the onions draped over it lol. So thanks to the organiser for a great event and thanks to Feline and Jeremy for their company.

[Panoramix]

This was a good day out for us. Riding the tandem always lead to not very social rides as we crawl up hills and then overtake everybody on the other side (assuming it is not a muddy lane ).

We came back at 3.15 and did not walk up a single hill which was a bit of an achievement for us. Last year we lost traction on the hill to Hinton Brewett and the legs of my preferred stoker went on strike going up Dundry hill (OK this was the first time we were doing this one and as we left Hinton I had told her that we had just climbed the last major hill!)

If you are reading me, apologies to the 10 or so riders I sent down toward Chew valley, I misread on my GPS 1.38km into 138m, it was the next left!!! By the time I realised my mistake, you were already whizzing downhill! Well, an with extra 250m climbing you got better value for money. 

[Double J]

After yesterday, I felt I needed to register with YACF to respond to my cycling companion blogs, so here goes for my first posting:-

Dai (still climbs better than a mountain goat up a Gorge) it is good to know u got home ok, you and Feline provided great company throughout the day which made it a memorable experience. This was my first Audax starting E side of the the big bridge, which was made even more memorable by F's slow motion and almost graceful fall from the bike. Hope the nettles have stopped stinging now.

Woke up in the middle of the night after a bad dream, something about an onion seller on an old bike doing his rounds around the south west of Bristol, selling his worhy goods and leaving every control just as I arrived. The man is a hero.

Bike, shoes and rest of gear now washed ready for Gower Getter next weekend.

Hope to see u all soon.

JJ

[Bigsybaby]

During the winter I cycle my oldest audax bike which is a 1997 Mercian Pro lugless. That is only because I save my newer 2007 Mercian Audax Special for Milder weather. This does not compare with some of the oldies mentioned above.