Saturday 29th September - Glastonbury / Castle Cary

We set off for Glastonbury with one new rider Josh(?).
Just as we started off Neil needed a comfort break before we crossed the A370 heading for Puxton. This split the peleton which Paul Burns was not impressed with and was heard to comment that "if they can't keep up with a 12mph pace then they deserve to be dropped" :-). Very entertaining.
With a good tail wind we were averaging about 23mph along the Glastonbury road. Only one minor mishap when one of our seniors failed to mount the curb at the Cheddar petrol station stop. Most people stopped at Heaphys with 5 riders continuing on to Castle Cary.

Stats for Glastonbury trip:-
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/950785http://ridewithgps.com/trips/950785

Yeh - big mistake that was! As soon as we got out of Glastonbury Ivan and Paul hacked off across the levels at some extraordinary speed. We swung left towards Baltonsbridge (?) and thankfully the pace settled down to a steady 27 mph! The speed then fluctuated between 27 and 32 mph all the way.

Had cake and coffee for a donation to Macmilan Cancer Support which was nice. Entertained by Morris Dancers while we had our snacks.

Felt shattered shortly after setting off home. What I didn't need was a lumpy route through Evercreech and then on the main road through Shepton Mallet and up onto the Mendips (500 foot climb!). Had nothing left in the legs so kept dropping off the back. Everyone else kindly waited for me and Ivan saw me home safely including a stop outside Banwell due to a cramped up hamstring.

Despite the seemingly slow pace back, still averaged 17.5 mph for the whole 85 miles. Absolute torture!

Wow! I'm so glad i stopped in Glastonbury as I would'nt have stood a chance keeping up with you guys at that speed. And to come back via the Mendips is adding insult to injury.
Your ride sounds like a sufferfest!
As some sage said 'what does'nt kill you will make your stronger'.