On the way into the Square, I met a rider who beamoned the demise of the old B rides, expressing the desire for something between the current moderate rides, and the tempo rides. The large number of riders meant that we deliberately let the tempo group naturally split into three groups on the rise of Stroud Road, with a fast group, a tempo group and an old fashioned B group. If only he had known!
The azure sky made you think of the Mediterranean, and made a welcome change from the misty conditions a few weeks ago, and “Mr Blue Sky” popped into my head. We followed well trodden lanes through Stonehouse to Frocester, passing the Tempo group who had stopped with a puncture. The steep pitch between Coaley and Uley resulted in some disquiet and grumbling towards the ride leader, and I couldn’t get Bachman-Turner Overdrive out of my head (“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet”). Indeed, after dropping through Stinchcombe, we turned left for the steep 20% climb to North Nibley, but I made sure I was away from the grumbling riders. I don’t know what one horse-power is in Watts, but one rider proved that he generates less than 1 hp, as he was overtaken by a horse up the steep gradient, and without being rude to the horse, I don’t think it was one that was heading for Cheltenham next week.
After regrouping in North Nibley (and once again passing said horse), we bypassed Wotton and headed for excellent coffee and cake at the busy Vintage Birdcage in Charfield, where we discovered that there had actually been four groups, with the president setting off solo ahead of all the rides, so we had a solo breakaway, a yellow jersey group of five, a main peleton of four and an autobus of six. Quite a stage!
Quized about the hills on the return, another classic lyric came into my head “It’s Alright Now”, and apart from a rather poor surface from Charfield to Damery, this was true, although one rider did try to claim Claypits as a climb! Another puncture on the A38 once again allowed the B group to overtake the tempo group, but with such fine weather, I am sure nobody was too concerned about the delays.
59 miles, 2,800′ ascent @ 15.5mph (B), 15.7mph (Air Force One), 16.3mph (tempo), 16.7mph (fast)