saturday 20th april, frome

following the crying off of donk y pace (is that next to pen y fan?) this weekend's jaunt to devon has been cancelled. sorry guys, i realise that this will mean that EVERYONE has to change their plans but we'll move on to my plan B (your plan A!)

perfect forecast, so a 'fantastic day' in prospect, i want to see you all out in your 'favourite shirts' and we'll 'take that (above)situation and put it right'.

frome it is, with it's pave and and veggie cafe; donk y pace promises to come out, despite his bad little finger, so it's another chance to put one over on him whilst you can as we go up burrington. should be high 70's in mileage but it could be more because neil isn't out and we may get lost as we enter the twilight zone east of the A37.

About 12 riders for a fantastic day weather wise. Off we set for Frome with three people turning around at Burrington Combe in order to save themselves for tomorrows Dustman Daves audax.

We took the usual route along the top of the Mendips. I got a puncture in my paper thin Schwalbe tyres and feather light Conti tube. We eventual caught up with the rest and enjoyed a lovely ride to Frome with great views. Then again in Frome I got another puncture in the same tyre. A helpful local suggested a near by bike shop where I left my bike and had the walk of shame down the high street dressed in lycra without a bike.

We sat out in the sunny garden at the cafe and enjoyed the lovely weather. Most people got their orders but Nick and mine did'nt turn up so had to be reorderd and my teacake turned up without jam. So in I can only give a teacake rating of 6/10.

The return journey was done at a fast pace and some riders disrespected the captain (Ivan) and dropped him and Miche a few times!

Nick descended Burrington at a demon pace and I could'nt catch him and Richard passed me at the bottom!

There has been a request to setup a website or something so we can upload pics etc. I suggest we first try the facebook group I have setup as this should be easy to use(?):-
https://www.facebook.com/groups/245644692236112/
I'm not sure how this works. I'm hoping with the link above you can join it without me doing anything. Let me know how you get on.

Rich - please add/amend as you like.


Knacker factor 8/10

Stats - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1253060

I will endeavour to write a full race report tomorrow. Just looking at the Garmin data. Did you have trouble finding the bike shop Martin? Either that or someone at the bike shop was having a laugh with your bike!

happy if everyone wants to think that i was dropped today.

if i told you that someone had to hang back to give mischa a wheel you'd all laugh, so i won't.

so for arguments sake, let's presume that i was knackered.

therefore you were all done over by a knackered rider on puxton moor and ebdon at the end of the ride!

love and kisses

Correction noted

Keeping the theme of the spring classics going, the best I can come up with this week is the Standstill Gold (having written the rest of the report I can now see the relevance of it being 'Gold').

The route this year included several opportunities to stand still. This is the cycling equivalent of a climb but without the attraction of any explosive bursts of speed, dropping of riders or KoM points up for grabs. In this way it becomes a much more appealing race with a lot of riders keen to sign up!

At the first stand still of the day the peleton kept it together at Priory school before actually riding along a road. A last minute addition to the route included a red light in St Georges allowing several riders to stand still and actually put a foot down. Others desperately held on to railings or slowed to a snails pace in an effort to avoid stopping.

Despite the inclusion of the A370 junction and the left turn at Sandford onto the Churchill road the peleton successfully overcame these difficult moments and continued to move in a forwards direction, although at times the speed was greatly reduced. Further red lights at Churchill did allow a couple of riders to demonstrate how to stand still, gaining valuable PISS points (PedalIng to a StandStill).

TV coverage of the ascent of Burrington was disrupted by a lack of TV coverage but I believe the hill was hotly contested by Martin, Nick and Ade. Can't say who won as I was too busy trying to stand still on the climb. Whoever did win gets maximum PISS points for having to wait the longest, at a standstill, at the top. For one moment I thought we all had race radio when, at the top of Burrington, I heard Cara discussing turning around and heading back home. Then I realised she had turned around and was already several miles away.

The peleton rushed on across the Mendips. Martin called for a puncture stop, clearly attempting to pick up more PISS points. So we all left him and carried on anyway. Not that Martin needed to stop as he picked up maximum PISS points in Frome by actually leaving his bike at a shop and walking to the cafe. That's commitment for you!

Taking the PISS winner was Martin who gets the Yellow Jersey! (mmm - nice!) Win while you can - Bernie may be back next year and you know what thay means - lots of PISS stops.

Great report.
I love being PISS'ed so long may it continue!

I forgot to include the Official Jersey Count (OJC) which was 4.