Saturday 28th March - Sweets little mystery

There's been some uncertainty throughout the week regarding saturday's weather, but, having left it 'til the last minute, it now seems that there'll be some rain by mid-morning.

we'll head out via the toll road, sea front and the anchor to brent knoll. from there we'll hit the moors and see what happens. if the weather allows we'll loop into glastonbury from the poldens and butleigh, but if it's wet we'll go more direct and could end up even closer to home at sweets. fenney castle doesn't reopen 'til 3rd of april.

jerseys are imminent and it looks like we should be getting pretty decent money back on them due to a spiffing £/€ exchange rate at time of payment. will confirm once we've had subsidy from bicycle chain.

Martin,
Are you familiar with this route?

Will it lead us to an uplifted state or leave us laid low and deflated?

I'm tempted to keep it a secret and surprise you but Glastonbury is on the Somerset Levels so there is only one small bump on the way back.
Remember to bring your Pagan worshipping outfit to fit in with the locals.

Thanks Martin. I'll see you next week

How's the video editing going Martin? I'm waiting for the next installment of Nobs on Wheels!

I have been mentally scared after editing the video!!!
It will be uploaded later. Get the popcorn in now. Its very short (thats the video!).

With threatened rain we still managed to summon 16 riders for some fun. As we headed out along the Queensway we had a first drongo driver of the day whose passenger leaned out the window shouting encouragement. At the end of the toll road we regrouped and Bearnie said he wanted to ride on his own but we were having none of it - if we were going to suffer so was he :-). After battling along the seafront in to a headwind we turned south to Lympsham, Berrow and BoS. Somewhere along the way we managed to loose Adrian! Turning eastward to Bason Bridge. Somewhere between East Huntspill and Westhay Jeanie came off going around a particularly greasy corner. Luckily she wasn't too badly hurt, just a bump to the head. However her bike wasn't so lucky as the rear derailueur mounting bracket snapped. This called for some ace mechanical support from Chris and Ivan. The RD was removed and the chain shorted to enable the chain to be run as a single speed. Although the chain came off a few times we managed to limp to Sweets where Ivan had arranged for Nick to meet us in his car to take her and the damaged bike home (dont know why he wasn't out cycling - some excuse about a hamstring :-) ). Sweets was packed with cyclists but we enjoyed the food while the rain lashed down outside. Adrian appeared sometime later having done an extra 20 miles! By the time we were ready to leave it had stopped - excellent timing. The return leg was pretty steady although Chris attached the hills with some relish.

Now this weeks video is very short but I must warn you it is rated 18! There is some nudity towards the end. I have uploaded it to Youtube but i'm expecting my account to be banned any minute.

00:00 - Roadworks at Bason Bridge with two cars refusing to back up.
00:30 - Jeanies crash! Notice my back wheel skid as i try to avoid running over her.
00:50 - The camera got soaked at Sweets so produced some underwater shots of two riders - not sure who.
01:05 - Just before stopping at the A38 a black Range Rover overtakes us and give us some agro, but we respond politely.
01:16 - This is the bit you should probably skip
01.24 - Check out Chris who is miles behind me going up Bleadon hill but around the corner he appears from nowhere and overtakes.




Toasted Tea Cake (TTC) rating - 4/5 always good at Sweets.
Official Jersey Count (OJ) - 3 I always forget to count them
Knacker Factor (KF) - 3/5
Stats - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4299165

Great entertainment value! I think when the Chelsea Tractor went past none of us actually got any words out. It was a general "oiarghunnnwhatheweyhey!".

As for Chris attaching [attacking] with relish - was it Tomato or Gentleman's Relish?

I think our hand signals made up for the lack of eloquence.

Here's the rider map. Interesting that we almost met Adrian after we lost him earlier.

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#275346251,hURoEE9saBBph2gQOyJpEFQ5aRA/wWoQ