News for January 2014

Thursday 2nd January - report from Bill Balchin: The weather pattern over Christmas of wet and windy days alternating with dry and sunny days continued into the new year. After a particularly stormy new year's day our Thursday cycling day was excellent. The biggest problem was the bright sun either in your eyes or reflecting off the wet roads - that's if you discount the fact that your legs had forgotten how to pedal a bike since you shoved your cycle in the garage after our ride to a fortnight ago. Fifteen riders turned up on fourteen bikes (Rob and Hazel Shiels on the tandem accounting for the odd number) for a ride from to The Bird in Hand at Saltford. With John Bishop leading the way you could expect something special and so it turned out. After setting out in the opposite direction to Saltford we left the cycle path near the ring road to start a tour of the highlights of Kingswood and . After a bit of twisting and turning on streets that were probably new to many of us our first information stop was at the site of the former Kingswood grammar school. Notable former pupils include Sir Bernard Lovell, Professor Colin Pillenger and songwriter Roger Greenaway, as well as our own JR.

A bit more urban cycling through the Cock Road area brought us to our next stop at Hanham Hall. One of the largest ever developments of eco-friendly housing is under construction in acres of open space. Everything is tuned for maximum sustainability, insulation, saving water, growing your own veg and so on. And all within easy reach of Bath and Bristol, and to quote John "handy for the shopping complex if you are mad enough to go there". A bit more of the ring road cycle path took us to Hicks Gate where we crossed the main road into Keynsham and climbed up towards Queen Charlton. The route of two halves now began phase two - out in the country as we descended Redlynch Lane and turned right at the bottom into Compton Dando. Bathford Hill led us towards Burnett where the final climb on lanes running with water saw a few walking. But just the drop into Saltford now and we arrived at the Bird in Hand a few minutes after twelve to find a fair number of our Seniors Section.

Pete had taken a phone call from the pub during the ride querying the fact that they had two cycling groups booked in and were we Jack and Jean? But it was no problem despite over thirty cyclists arriving as well as a goodly number of civilians. I had the pork loin in mustard sauce again. I remembered that it was good but had forgotten that you get three loin steaks. It was a struggle but I made it. Everybody seemed well pleased with their meals, those senior types know a good thing when they see it. Leaving in the sunshine, no wind, not cold it was the most perfect day you could hope for. The cycle track was pretty crowded with dog walkers, hikers, kids on scooters - but we just toddled along being considerate cyclists enjoying the end of a great day out.

Thursday 9th January - report from Bill Balchin: We got away with a good weather day last week and today was shaping up for another dry, bright oasis amongst the many wet and windy day. My day did not have the best of starts when I punctured just four miles from home. But as Pete had already stepped in as ride leader when Keith reported in sick, plus he had to deal with pre-ordering lunches and recording the route it would be excessive to land him with writing the report as well. So tube replaced I hurried as best I could and made the start only a couple of minutes late. Arriving in a pool of sweat it was "Right, Time to go". So I naturally fell into the back-marker role. Starting on the Festival Way and Flax Bourton track, Arnold was the next cyclist to have an incident when the jacket tied around his waist fell into the rear sprocket and a nylon pull-cord wrapped itself into every crevice available. With the assistance of Pete Hobbs the wardrobe malfunction was rectified and Pete confiscated the offending jacket and carried in his saddle bag for safety.

The route then took us off the railway track at the first exit and left at the crossroads on the Wraxall Road. Going out cycling is a great way to understand the geography an area. We skirted along the ridge that marks the northern edge of the Kenn Moors taking a small lane called Ham Lane (not without some bother turning round after we initially overshot and had to wait for several dozen cars that had formed a convoy behind us). Pete Hobbs managed to over-balance while stationary - no Karma at work there but at least that made our ration of three incidents for the day. Ham Lane brought us onto Tower House Lane - a right "Millionaires Row" with expensive properties raised up from any floods and with views over the moors to the Mendips in the south. Coming out on the Clevedon Road we descended into Tickenham and took a left to cross the moors. I was wondering if we would encounter any flooding but everything was fine with deep ditches (or rhynes to give them their proper title) keeping the water away from the dry road surface.

Just touching the west end of Nailsea we turned right by the Blue Flame, put in a gratuitous loop past the Hand stadium over the motorway and then back through Kenn on more well drained fields into Yatton. Just a short hop now and we made the Plough at Coungresbury by twelve fifteen. Several pubs have asked us to pre-order meals. Sometimes you wonder why they bother but the Plough team were as slick as you like. As soon as we entered the building the pre-ordered meals were being put on the table. Big queue for beer? No problem, just tell the guvnor what you want from an extensive selection of cask ales straight from the barrel as you pay for your lunch. And a fine lunch it was too. I can see why my fellow members of the Campaign for Real Ale made this their pub of the year 2013. Numbers were a bit down as a few of our original seventeen starters did not stop for lunch although a few local independent travellers brought the total up close to twenty I guess (too lazy to count again Bill ?: Ed).

Still blue skies and sunshine for the homeward trip with the unspoken consensus being for the flattest most direct route through Yatton, Claverham and Backwell. And as far as I know the limit of three incidents per ride was not exceeded.

Thursday 16th January - report from Bill Balchin: Our previous two outings during one of the wettest periods in history had been blessed with blue skies and no rain. Would it be three in a row? Setting out from home under cloudy skies on roads that have not been dry for weeks I got to the end of the road before I was being pelted with large gobs of cold water that stick on the front of your glasses while they are steamed up behind. But by the time I joined the other fifteen starters at Amcor it had stopped, and the pattern for the day had been set. Rich Hill was on his touring bike today having crashed on ice when riding his racer on Tuesday. He was checking out a planned route for the BTOTC at the time - no justice. As the saying goes "No good deed goes unpunished". Some made the mistake of removing clothing before David Woodward led the way to Hortham Lane and over the A38 down Fernhill but there was no avoiding the rain (or many of the puddles) as we turned left at the bottom of the hill and splashed along Lane into . Townsend Lane changed it's name to Badgers Lane as we turned right on Over Lane towards then left on Berwick Lane.

We passed Spanorium Farm Gym where Jane Couch the former woman's welterweight boxing champion used to train then right by the King William IV pub towards Avonmouth. The main road into Avonmouth is not cycle friendly but has a nice section of cycle path before you are reduced to a shared path by the roadside. From this stretch you can appreciate the size of the second Severn crossing to your left. Crossing into we rode along the sea defences and under the motorway before turning off into and taking another cycle track beside the motorway to the White Horse at Northwick. The next section on Bilsham Lane into Ingst was one of the muckier bits but quite passable and only a short distance before we rolled into the Boars Head at .

The magic number of twenty five for lunch was a fair guess today with our sixteen plus a fairly large Bath group. You cant keep some people indoors no matter what the weather. There was a leaflet advertising winter ales, obviously printed before Christmas. One planned for January was Ashes Ale - "Brewed to celebrate Englands mission to retain the ashes in Australia". oddly enough there was none to be seen but the Pedigree or Ringwood Bitter was OK and the meals were fine. There was a bit of sunshine while we dined but once outside it was back to rain for the journey home. David had a route for those wanting to clock up some miles but only had one taker as the rest took the direct way home before the trench foot got too bad.

Thursday 23rd January - report from Bill Balchin: Have we seen a dry road yet in 2014? Although it was not raining today there were plenty of puddles around to spray everyone as we rode through them. Having had a quick look at previous BTOTC outings in January, today was one of the better days - no rain, snow or ice and balaclavas not required for the twenty strong group leaving Bitton under the direction of Mike Chouings. I know that Mike is the guru south of Bristol but he is no slouch finding routes to east either. We started along the cycle track to in the usual spread-out way, causing an oncoming cyclist to shout a justified albeit harshly delivered rebuke for taking up so much room. We took the newly created cycle track extension into , my first time and I was impressed how well the packed grit surface stood up to all the recent rain. Hill was a grind as usual followed by a drop into Doddington and left to . The riding was not too bad, a sure sign of a tailwind. Funny how you never think of that at the time.

We had plenty of blue in the sky as we turned right along the A46 at Old Sodbury then quickly left back onto the lanes for . I had a chance to ride with Mike from out on his first BTOTC ride. Mike found the pace fairly testing but enjoyable, I guess we must have a bit of life left in us yet. Putting in an extra loop through West Kington we bumped into the Winterbourne Wheelers going in the opposite direction on their way to Marshfield having sorted out two punctures for Tony Weaver. The official route involved a short distance on the A420 and as we took the right turn the wind let you know that the trip home would not be a pussy cat.

But no point in worrying about that with Cotswold Spring Stunner on sale, a popular choice among the thirty four cyclists. The lady working single handed behind the bar was going flat out to get us all served and apart from a couple whose orders seemed to get lost for a while the meals came out promptly. By one thirty many were helmetted-up and ready to go and clustered around Dave Woodward who had received his lunch ten minutes earlier but he managed to cram it down. The temperature seemed to have dropped or maybe it was just going out of a warm pub into the cold wind. Either way it was going to be the direct way home - up the end of the High Street, right over the main road, through West Littleton, down Hill and into . Most took to the cycle track at Coxgrove Hill as I pressed on towards still in the light and no rain all day. Just a load of sweaty clothing sprayed with dirty water to bung in the washing machine now.

Thursday 30th January, report from Bill Balchin: Malcolm Hanson was the leader for today's ride from Ashton to Nailsea. His first action was to ask the eighteen assembled riders if anybody had encountered any ice on the roads. Despite it being chilly enough for David Woodward to wear longs the roads were free of ice. Next Malcolm offered a choice of routes, one over Dundry, the other less hilly. Before I could make a bid on behalf of the wimps the macho gang demanded the hills. Setting out under a completely cloudy, dull sky we turned off the Festival Way for Yanley Lane to give us a taster before the main climb of the day. After half a mile of busy A38 traffic we turned left into Dundry Lane and ground it out to the Dundry Inn at the top. A couple of years ago I remember Jane Chapman struggling to keep up but that is all history now as she stormed up the climb. Another rider having a good day was Mike now on his second BTOTC ride, this time on his Argos Audax which made for better progress than last week's trekking bike.

Having regrouped we took Winford Lane which was completely awash in places - hence Malcolm's query about ice, it would have been deadly. I was a bit disorientated in Winford but once we got onto the road to Bristol Airport I could see where we were. Brockley Combe provided a satisfying descent to pay us back for the climbing then just a bit of flat stuff over the Kenn Moors to cover. The roads were still mainly dry with evidence of well maintained rhynes either side. Possibly a bit too well maintained for one driver of a "13" reg car which was upside down in one of them. No justice for Malcolm on leading duty as he picked up the only puncture of the day a few miles from Nailsea. Not wanting an audience he sent us on to the Moorend Spout where we met with Ian Deegan who had punctured on the way to the start and Mike Finch who missed the start and did not think to try Dundry to catch us up.

Last week we had thirty four at the pub and same again today, although not the same people. The Jail Ale had traveled well from the brewery in Dartmoor and the meals were their usual high standard. I would probably go there at other times if I thought I would be able to find it without following somebody else. Alan Bracey asked around if anybody had an odd pair of gloves. Last week at Marshfield he came away with a pair of black winter gloves but not matching. If your gloves have "BARTS" printed on the thumb - but only on one of them - Alan can set you straight again. Don't forget, back to 10:00 starts now.