News for October 2014 Thursday 2nd October - report from Pete Campbell: The weather forecasters have been saying that summer is almost over, and a cold front will be heading our way on Saturday, so I expected a big turnout at Bitton station to savour the last BTOTC ride of 2014 with a guarantee of warm and dry roads. The eleven who gathered at the start were slightly surprised that a lot of regulars clearly had more urgent matters to attend to: maybe going on holiday or clearing the garden. Martyn set off promptly at 10:00 as he'd promised, as he'd worked out a longer than normal route to Shoscombe with a few hills thrown in, and an expected lunch time of 12:30. Fairly familiar roads took us through Saltford, Keynsham, Norton Malreward and Chew Magna, and then down the west side of the lake and into the Harptrees. Then the day's first climb, up to Hinton Blewitt, cycling past the Ring O'Bells nestling in the sun and looking like a good place for some refreshments. But not today. Martyn pushed on eastwards through Temple Cloud and Paulton, and a final climb before lunch over Radford Hill, down into Clandown, and into the Apple Tree at Shoscombe at around 12:30. The Bath group were already there sitting in the garden; we did the same. I don't think I've ever eaten inside at the Apple Tree. I had a pint of Wadworths 6X which I don't think I'd seen for a long time, and I'm not sure I'll be looking for again. The cider fans had the pleasure of a pint from the firm of Honey and Daughter which seemed to go down very well, and also had the benefit of having travelled a couple of miles as its made in Midford. Martyn had a short ride home for us, through Wellow and the Two Tunnels into Bath and then back onto the cycle path to Bitton. An excellent ride; now all we have to look forward to is colder, wetter weather and a long time till spring. Martyn's route today? Click here. Thursday 9th October - report from Pete Campbell: All the weather services were threatening a bad day today, so I was surprised to get to Ashton and find three riders already there at 9:50. By 10:00 we had thirteen ready to brave the gales and thunder storms. I've noticed in the past that John Killick seems able to get us onto the Mendips without every going up a hill, so I thought we might be in luck today. But no, although maybe it was the headwind blowing from the south all the way to the Hunters Lodge. Malcolm was not riding today, as he is now a grandfather for the third time and he needed to spend some cuddle time with his new one, and probably with his daughter as the new one was 10lb 12.5 oz. So we took the standard route out of Ashton, using the Long Ashton cycle route, Wild Country Lane and on to Winford Manor. And then southward to the Butcombe Triangle. We managed to skirt the northern edge of Blagdon Lake and got to West Harptree with no problems. But the dreaded influence still lingered. I decided to it was time for a wardrobe adjustment and removed my waterproof jacket (no rain yet) telling Keith that I'd catch up. Soon after the chain came off (my Dawes Galaxy was complaining after spending all summer in the basement). And now, I had no idea where my mated had gone. So while they turned south west to East Harptree, I headed south east to Litton and Chewton Mendip. How hard can it be to find the way to lunch when I had a super-duper smartphone in my pocket? Very hard, it turned out, when there's no network connection. But fortunately I came across Mike Finch also heading west from Chewton Mendip who lives in the area and knew exactly which lanes to take. Mike had also suffered a lost chain earlier, and took his own route southward. I reached the Hunters Lodge at around 12:30 where they were still serving lunch, so I was able to have the usual high standard pasty and beans. I also had the first three Christmas Lunch bookings. Don't forget to let me know if you're coming, and more importantly let me have your £16.50. Homeward was more or less directly north, with the wind behind us. I got back to central Bristol after 70km from Ashton, and there'd been no sign of rain. And the route? Click here. Message from Bill Balchin 16th October 2014. It was a great day for me today to cycle to the lunch stop at Tintern and meet up with you guys. I did not expect to be fit enough for the group ride so rode with my good friend Roy Benney at a steady pace. Most of you know that I have been suffering with vertigo since 21st July. It started with a really violent attack of dizziness, everything spinning, throwing up - awful. After a few days it calmed down but left me unsteady on my feet and unable to even think about riding a bike. The breakthrough came from a physiotherapist at Bradley Stoke leisure centre who performed the Epley manouevre on me. This involves having your head moved in a particular way to redistribute particles that gather in the canals of your inner ear and prevent your balance mechanism from working correctly. After bringing the symptoms back for a few hours things settled down and I was OK again. Just the small matter now of making up for ten weeks without cycling and getting those legs back to work. The ride back from Tintern was not too bad once I found my way off the back of the group. And I could not resist a group photo with the abbey in the background. I was thinking of some witty comment along the lines of "a load of ruins - with the abbey in the background" but that would be both unkind and untrue - you folks are an inspiration. Hope I can do the whole ride next time to Acton Turville. Thursday 16th October - report from Malcolm Hanson The report on the ride today shrivels into insignificance compared to Bill’s words so I will leave them up front. Welcome back Bill!! Someone else we had to welcome back was our august leader for the day Dave Woodward who told us he had hardly sat on a bike since August thanks to the DIY demands of being a second home owner. Welcome back Dave as well. 13 of us gathered at Aust with the sun beating down on us. I seem to remember that last winter’s rides were blessed by a series of sunny Thursdays all surrounded by wet, windy and cold other days of the week. If we have to suffer the latter this winter let’s hope that, as today, we continue to enjoy dry, windless and warm Thursdays. Over the bridge and up the cycle track, but then what? Well today it was a sort of “avoid as much of Wales as you can” route. To achieve this Dave led us through the twists and turns of the back streets of Chepstow to the bridge over the Wye and so back into England. From there we ground up Castleford Hill and through Tutshill to ride along the B4228 towards St Braivels. Having risen 200m Dave then made us blow it all by descending down Park Hill Lane towards the river Severn. This was totally new territory for most of us but delightful territory with lovely views back over towards the Cotswolds. However, we were all aware that Tintern still lay on the other side of the ridge we had just come off so the inevitable re- climb soon began. I hadn’t ridden for a couple of weeks and was recovering from a heavy cold so when, after a partial climb back up, Dave decided to go back down again I decided my frail body might not stand another re-climb so I chickened out and carried on climbing to take a shorter route to the pub. The others crossed Cone Brook and headed up through some woodland to St Braivels before heading down through Brockweir. We found The Anchor was about to host some big event which meant the rooms facing the Abbey were not available for us. So round the back it was to a large room with two huge, long tables. It felt a bit like being back at school but it did mean that lots of people could chat to each other. Those people included a goodly crowd who had made their own way to the pub, Bill included. Suitably refreshed it was the standard return route up the A466 and down to the bridge. We will not be crossing the bridge again until the spring so we will be seeing even more of England over the next few months starting with Acton Turville next week. See you then! For Dave Woodward's route to Tintern, click here. Thursday 23rd October - report from Bill Balchin: I'm not sure when Mark Brough first joined in with the BTOTC, sometime in 2011 probably. I remember taking a photo of four newbies sat outside the Rose and Crown at Hinton Charterhouse in the sunshine at the end of September.