Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride



D

Danny Colyer

Guest
SPD sandals have one big disadvantage on a recumbent. The
sandals hang from the pedals, and when I'm not actively
pushing the pedals the weight of my feet and lower legs is
effectively supported by the sandal straps. This caused
problems with my Achilles' tendons after last weekend's
century ride, and by the morning of Bristol's Biggest Bike
Ride I still had a dodgy right ankle. So I was unsure
whether to do the ride or not.

But I had long planned to do this ride and I had people
expecting to ride with me. I decided to ride to the start
(wearing shoes, not sandals) and see how my ankle was
feeling. I rode to Richard's house at
08:30 and together we headed off down the Bath-Bristol
cyclepath, meeting Jamie and Rachel at @Bristol a few
minutes before the scheduled
9:30 start for the Clevedon Challenge. My computer showed
8.70 miles. My ankle felt OK, but I was very conscious of
the fact that it's mostly downhill from home to the
centre of Bristol.

As usual there was a choice of 4 rides. I had registered to
ride the longest ride, the Clevedon Challenge (advertised as
38 miles, but my computer made it 36) with Jamie. Richard
had registered to ride the 18 mile Failand Heights ride with
Rachel, Jamie's wife. Jamie and I were ready for the start,
but rather than join the back of the bunch and ride at 2mph
for a couple of miles until the crowd started to thin, we
decided to hang around a bit longer and take photos.

Shortly after arriving we saw the first recumbent of the
ride (apart from our own). Dan Towner, who I occasionally
meet on my commute, rode past on his Windcheetah but didn't
see us. Shortly after starting the ride, we saw a Trice.

Within a few hundred yards of starting, I had the only
puncture of the ride. I didn't find what caused it, but
Jamie took the opportunity to take a photo of me fixing a
puncture. I did the same to him last Sunday. I think revenge
was sweet.

After fixing the puncture, we headed off with 10 minutes to
spare before the start of the Failand Heights ride. The
crowds had cleared, so we were able to ride at a good speed
and we soon started passing the back markers.

We saw our third recumbent (yet another trike) on the M5
bridge over the Avon. From here the route mostly followed
last week's Avon Cycleway ride for the next 20 miles, but in
reverse and without getting lost in Pill. I wrote last
weekend that, from what little I had seen of it, Pill was a
dump. Today I saw a much prettier side of Pill.

We stopped in the shade of some trees in a park by Clevedon
seafront to eat lunch and take some photos. At least one of
Jamie's photos included an ambulance in the background,
loading up a young cyclist for we don't know what reason. We
wondered just how many casualties there would be during the
day, with people who ride once a year overestimating their
abilities and riding inappropriate or poorly maintained
machines with the saddles set too low.

On the outskirts of Clevedon, my front gear cable snapped as
I tried to shift to the big ring for a long descent. What
was that about poorly maintained machines? At the bottom of
the hill I recognised where we were and was pretty sure that
we had a few fairly flat miles ahead, so I adjusted the stop
screw on the front derailleur to shift the chain onto the
middle ring. A good decision.

Last week's continuous 3 mile descent turned into a 3 mile
ascent for today's ride, though thankfully it didn't seem
quite as continuous going up. I stopped at the bottom and
got my screwdriver out to shift to the granny ring - another
good decision. Soon afterwards, a woman called out to us:
"You'll have great thighs after this." I called back: "I
already have." Shortly after that Richard phoned to say that
he and Rachel had finished their ride (the slope was gentle
enough that I had no trouble answering the phone and talking
while riding). We still had about 10 miles to go.

Before the ride I had worried that, if I managed to reach
this hill, my ankle would give up on the climb. When it came
to it I didn't even think about my ankle until we were near
the top. Not long after reaching the top we crossed a cattle
grid, which hurt. For later cattle grids I unclipped my
right foot and held it in the air.

The rest of the ride had very little flat, it was mostly up
and down. Staying on the granny ring was no problem, it just
meant I freewheeled down the hills instead of pedalling. I
still clocked 34.9mph on one descent, but it would have been
nice to have seen just how far I could push it if the big
ring had been available.

On the approach to Winford, I felt a prickling just above my
left buttock. I reached behind me and discovered a hole in
my favourite pair of cycling shorts. Fortunately it was
repairable. ¾" of seam had come unstitched, I stitched it
back up in the evening.

In Winford we passed our fourth recumbent, and the first
with the correct number of wheels, a Velocita.

When I wrote about the Clevedon Challenge in 2001, I
mentioned a track that looked like a wall. Shortly after
Felton I started looking out for this track. We came to a
climb on a narrow lane and I was struck by the thought that
it wasn't as steep as I remembered it. The reason was that
this wasn't it. The wall was just a little later. This time
I managed to ride all the way up it with no mishaps, helped
by the ground being drier. Jamie, on the Speed Machine, felt
like he was going to wheelie, so he got off and walked. When
I reached the top I took the opportunity to take a photo of
Jamie pushing his bike up a hill :)

We eventually arrived at Ashton Park with my computer
showing about 44.6 miles. Richard and Rachel had found a
circus workshop and were sitting in the shade watching it.
Jamie, of course, felt compelled to go and show off his
skill with 5 clubs. I thought he was let down somewhat by
the workshop clubs being, well, workshop clubs, and hence
not the best for numbers or anything technical. But he
managed a few rounds, followed by a round of applause.

My ankle seemed to have benefitted from the easy, fluid
pedalling motion (there hadn't been anywhere on the ride
where I'd really had to push), and for the first time in a
week I was able to comfortably walk without a limp.

From our seat in the shade I could see a wheelchair with a
handcrank attachment, which I think counts as a recumbent.
And Richard mentioned having seen a trike on his ride. So,
including our own machines, we knew that there had been at
least 8 recumbents out today. On the ride back towards the
cyclepath we met a chap on an Optima Dolphin, taking the
count to 9.

Jamie and Rachel headed off towards their home in
Bedminster, leaving Richard and me to return home along the
cyclepath. I returned to Richard's house to pick up a
screwdriver that he'd offered to lend me, and he asked if I
knew any good post ride stretches. So I got to witness the
comedy of Richard collapsing when he attempted the first
stretch that I showed him. Oh well, I'm sure he felt better
for it in the morning.

Then I rode the last few hundred yards home to a little girl
who had been missing her Daddy all day, and who clung to me
like a limpet for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The
computer read 54.81 miles.

More Ride Reports: <URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/-
danny/cycling/ridereports/>

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my
reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/> "He who
dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
 
"Danny Colyer" <[email protected]> wrote
in message
> The rest of the ride had very little flat, it was mostly
> up and down. Staying on the granny ring was no problem, it
> just meant I freewheeled down the hills instead of
> pedalling. I still clocked 34.9mph on one descent, but it
> would have been nice to have seen just how far I could
> push it if the big ring had been available.

48.3mph here http://tinyurl.com/2ebkc

Hydraulic brakes are a lifesaver, but Lenty, the big blue
bouncy bent, is as stable as a very stable thing at those
speeds, even with the dodgy surface.

I should point out that I only do about 10-11 mph going up
that hill.

> From our seat in the shade I could see a wheelchair with
> a handcrank attachment, which I think counts as a
> recumbent. And Richard mentioned having seen a trike on
> his ride. So, including our own machines, we knew that
> there had been at least 8 recumbents out today. On the
> ride back towards the cyclepath we met a chap on an
> Optima Dolphin, taking the count to 9.
>
On the nekkid cycle run on Saturday, a guy turned up on a
Dawes Lowrider, and I've seen 2 long wheelbase bents of
unknown manufacture in the last few days round where I work.

Definitely the dark side is on the rise.

E