showmethecakes Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:23 pm
Not sure how many turned out for this ride - probably about 15 or so, but we seemed to ship riders all over the place leaving just 4 to finish the full circuit back to the sea front.
Fairly steady pace to Shute Shelve before a semi-dash into Cheddar where we turned left at the garage rather than continue down the long straight. This seemed to confuse a lot of riders as we waited a considerable number of minutes for Bernie who was actually about 10 metres up the road chatting to me! Bernie said he might cut the ride short and go up the gorge instead. His wish was Ivan's command as we set off into the valley of the wild goat lover. Some kind motorists had put a large amount of rubber down on the road which, according to F1 commentators, helps with grip around the corners. If they hadn't have done that who knows what might of happened around the horseshoe at 6 mph.
Alpine Clapson set an extraordinary pace up the gorge finishing off with a two up sprint with Tracy. According to which time of day he recalled the incident he was either riding at 27, 28, 30 or 31 mph. However, the bottom line is he was bloody quick up the hill!
I think Martin was first to duck out and head for home at the top of the gorge. Sam and Mike followed at the top of the Wells descent. The rest of us continued through Wells and across to Glastonbury where Bernie decided he would cut the ride short by not stopping and heading off home with Ian for company. Not sure how many miles he saved but I think I might try that next time, i.e. cut the ride short by riding all the way there and then all the way back.
Outside the cafe Jeannie was sat with her "new best friend". You know how it is, one minute your the best of friends, you meet up at Priory every Saturday and then they find someone else and it's like you never existed! After topping up on carbs and coffee we assembled outside the cafe for the return leg. While chatting to Jeannie she pointed out a man standing behind me looking a little bemused. Apparently he'd been there about 5 minutes. Thinking he was interested in the bicycles or cycling I said "hello" to which he replied - "What club do you ride for?" Good question. Clue is probably the "WestonChainGang" on the shirt or possible even the "WSM". He plumped for the WSM which according to him stood for Wankers Secure Mayhem. Lovely man. Wished him well and hoped he would enjoy the rest of his day.
At this point, relatively speaking, Weston suddenly seemed like the cultural centre of the universe and we headed for home via Godney, Daggs Lane and Blackford. Tracy and Steve went their separate ways and we continued via Blackford and Weare to the Webbington. At this point no-one could recall the last time we'd seen Andy. We thought long and hard about what to do and after about 3 seconds carried on home via Shiplate and Bleadon minus Jeannie and NBF who had turned off towards Brent Knoll. Down to just 5 we headed up the A370 when Ivan punctured at the top of the cut. Ivan used the standard coded message of 'go on if you want' which translates as ' f off if you want to but don't expect me to wait if it happens to you'. Mark headed off home obviously oblivious to the coded message while Neil, the Tall Man with no name and myself waited for Ivan to get his porn out and sort out the hole with a 'come inside' special.
Mileage - about 65-70 ish. Average speed - no idea haven't looked yet.
KFC - 6/10 (unless you are me)
TTCR - 8/10
OJC - 4
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