Saturday 14th February - Valentine's day in Shit'n ('Ardist day in the Wirld)

Like me, Valentine's day probably brings you feelings of loneliness and inadequacy; so let's visit the romance headquarters of somerset... Shit'n Smellit.

there is rumoured to be an undiscovered cafe in the centre, by the library, or where that used to be (as the case may be!), so this will be worth a sniff. but may be unfruitful on 2 counts;
1. it may not exist
and 2. the idea of a group of sweaty lycra clad oiks mixing it with lovebirds on their special day may not be a combination the proprietors will be keen on.

anyway, there's always the costa as back up and we've got some newbies in our ranks for reg harris's ex wingman to get his teeth into.

forecast right now is dry in the morning, but with rain forecast on friday night we may need to stick to the mendip motorway on the way out, though we'll vary things if the roads happen to be dry. on the plus side, it shouldn't be as cold as recent weeks.

not much need for a tri-stop methinks, but rocky mountain is there for those who wish to save themselves 5 miles.

route out will be puxton, sandford, congresbury should you wish to latch on.

Ere me ol' mucker

". . . . Puxton, Sandford, Congresbury" . . . .

Av you got that right?

Oops sorry.

Churchill.

Usual high geographical standards as always.

Bloody marvellous . . .

see you in Worle then!

Almost 20 riders which is very good considering its mid winter. Some more orders and money was received for the new club jersey, see https://westoncg.forumotion.co.uk/t250-2015-jerseys-orders-in-by-21st-february#933 to check i have got the right size next to your name. With plenty of rain overnight the going was damp but mild. We pushed on across Puxton to meetup with scouse Paul (as oppossed to Welsh Paul) :-)  When we got to Churchill traffic lights we turned right and headed up the first hill of the day. At Shipham we met up with ua group of Triatheletes from Portishead. We continued on across the top of the Mendips to Charterhouse, Priddy, across the A39 and around some muddy back lanes. Just before joining the road to Rocky mountain I was enjoying a small decent but to my supprise there was a juction comming up rather fast and after locking up my back wheel i just managed to stop before it was to late (see https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I at 11 seconds in). We then dropped off about half of our comrades at Rocky Mountain and continued on to the delights of Shepton Mallet where we failed to find the fabled high street cafe so resorted to our usual stop at Costa Packet. Unfortunatly Reg Harris's mate wasn't there to greet us. We enjoyed a Valentines day coffee and cake and then a game of swap the sweaty shirt.
On leaving Shepton the usual rant took place down the A371 through Croscombe (see https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I at 40 seconds in). We turned off towards Wells and although Ivan shouted right at the lights I was on auto pilot and headed left down the usual route. After a quick correction we headed to Wookey Hole and up the infamous Ebor Gorge which seemed alot steeper and longer than last time. Welsh Paul left us all in his wake as he made his way up the steep incline. When he passed me he still had 3 lower gears to go! We reached Priddy and then were on the familiar route down Burrington Combe (see https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I at 2:40 in) which was great fun as always. At Sandford it kicked off again (see https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I at 5:45 in) and then half of us turned right to Puxton where yet again the hurt was handed out. And finally the usual sprint at Wick St Lawrence which Scott almost came a cropper, see https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I at 7:29 in.
Another great day out.

TTCR - 4/5 for the size of the coffees
KF - 4.8/5 fast!
OJC - 4
Stats - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4099655

Video highlights - https://youtu.be/L7h1fIldi1I  - This is an unlisted youtube video so is only viewable with this link. Chris give me a call if you need another cameraman as your sure to be impressed by the quality of this footage.

Great ride today... As always!

Camera footage is great Martin... Except for the last 30 seconds, sorry again! Didn't realise I got in the way right after too so more apologies there!

See ya next week

No problem, you did a sterling job of staying upright!

So you gotta wheel suck Martin if you want to be on telly.

lol

Pedrospedros aka Dandy Highwayman re: large jersey for me
Great ride

Hey sucker........ what the hell's got into you!!!

(name that tune)

Wham - Young Guns

I admit to knowing it was Wham but couldn't remember the title without my friend Google.

george michael obviously rode with a cycling group who didn't chain properly.

some people moan on forums, others write songs; everyone needs an outlet for their fraustrations.

Favete linguist