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SPD sandals have one big disadvantage on a recumbent. The sandals hang from the pedals, and when I'm not actively pushing the pedals the weight of my feet and lower legs is effectively supported by the sandal straps. This caused problems with my Achilles' tendons after last weekend's century ride, and by the morning of Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride I still had a dodgy right ankle. So I was unsure whether to do the ride or not.
But I had long planned to do this ride and I had people expecting to ride with me. I decided to ride to the start (wearing shoes, not sandals) and see how my ankle was feeling. I rode to Richard's house at 08:30 and together we headed off down the Bath-Bristol cyclepath, meeting Jamie and Rachel at @Bristol a few minutes before the scheduled 09:30 start for the Clevedon Challenge. My computer showed 8.70 miles. My ankle felt OK, but I was very conscious of the fact that it's mostly downhill from home to the centre of Bristol.
As usual there was a choice of 4 rides. I had registered to ride the longest ride, the Clevedon Challenge (advertised as 38 miles, but my computer made it 36) with Jamie. Richard had registered to ride the 18 mile Failand Heights ride with Rachel, Jamie's wife. Jamie and I were ready for the start, but rather than join the back of the bunch and ride at 2mph for a couple of miles until the crowd started to thin, we decided to hang around a bit longer and take photos.
Shortly after arriving we saw the first recumbent of the ride (apart from our
own). Dan Towner, who I occasionally meet on my commute, rode past on his
Windcheetah but didn't see us. Shortly after starting the ride, we saw a Trice.
Within a few hundred yards of starting, I had the only puncture of the ride. I didn't find what caused it, but Jamie took the opportunity to take a photo of me fixing a puncture. I did the same to him last Sunday. I think revenge was sweet.
After fixing the puncture, we headed off with 10 minutes to spare before the
start of the Failand Heights ride. The crowds had cleared, so we were able to
ride at a good speed and we soon started passing the back markers.
We saw our third recumbent (yet another trike) on the M5 bridge over the Avon. From here the route mostly followed last week's Avon Cycleway ride for the next 20 miles, but in reverse and without getting lost in Pill. I wrote last weekend that, from what little I had seen of it, Pill was a dump. Today I saw a much prettier side of Pill.
We stopped in the shade of some trees in a park by Clevedon seafront to eat
lunch and take some photos. At least one of Jamie's photos included an ambulance
in the background, loading up a young cyclist for we don't know what reason. We
wondered just how many casualties there would be during the day, with people who
ride once a year overestimating their abilities and riding inappropriate or
poorly maintained machines with the saddles set too low.
On the outskirts of Clevedon, my front gear cable snapped as I tried to shift to the big ring for a long descent. What was that about poorly maintained machines? At the bottom of the hill I recognised where we were and was pretty sure that we had a few fairly flat miles ahead, so I adjusted the stop screw on the front derailleur to shift the chain onto the middle ring. A good decision.
Last week's continuous 3 mile descent turned into a 3 mile ascent for today's ride, though thankfully it didn't seem quite as continuous going up. I stopped at the bottom and got my screwdriver out to shift to the granny ring - another good decision. Soon afterwards, a woman called out to us: "You'll have great thighs after this." I called back: "I already have." Shortly after that Richard phoned to say that he and Rachel had finished their ride (the slope was gentle enough that I had no trouble answering the phone and talking while riding). We still had about 10 miles to go.
Before the ride I had worried that, if I managed to reach this hill, my ankle would give up on the climb. When it came to it I didn't even think about my ankle until we were near the top. Not long after reaching the top we crossed a cattle grid, which hurt. For later cattle grids I unclipped my right foot and held it in the air.
The rest of the ride had very little flat, it was mostly up and down. Staying on the granny ring was no problem, it just meant I freewheeled down the hills instead of pedalling. I still clocked 34.9mph on one descent, but it would have been nice to have seen just how far I could push it if the big ring had been available.
On the approach to Winford, I felt a prickling just above my left buttock. I reached behind me and discovered a hole in my favourite pair of cycling shorts. Fortunately it was repairable. ¾" of seam had come unstitched, I stitched it back up in the evening.
In Winford we passed our fourth recumbent, and the first with the correct number of wheels, a Velocita.
When I wrote about the Clevedon Challenge in 2001, I mentioned a track that
looked like a wall. Shortly after Felton I started looking out for this track.
We came to a climb on a narrow lane and I was struck by the thought that it
wasn't as steep as I remembered it. The reason was that this wasn't it. The
wall was just a little later. This time I managed to ride all the way up it with
no mishaps, helped by the ground being drier. Jamie, on the Speed
Machine, felt like he was going to wheelie, so he got off and walked. When I
reached the top I took
the opportunity to take a photo of Jamie pushing his bike up a hill :-)
We eventually arrived at Ashton Park with my computer showing about 44.6 miles. Richard and Rachel had found a circus workshop and were sitting in the shade watching it. Jamie, of course, felt compelled to go and show off his skill with 5 clubs. I thought he was let down somewhat by the workshop clubs being, well, workshop clubs, and hence not the best for numbers or anything technical. But he managed a few rounds, followed by a round of applause.
My ankle seemed to have benefitted from the easy, fluid pedalling motion (there hadn't been anywhere on the ride where I'd really had to push), and for the first time in a week I was able to comfortably walk without a limp.
From our seat in the shade I could see a wheelchair with a handcrank attachment,
which I think counts as a recumbent. And Richard mentioned having seen a trike
on his ride. So, including our own machines, we knew that there had been at
least 8 recumbents out today. On the ride back towards the cyclepath we met a
chap on an Optima Dolphin, taking the count to 9.
Jamie and Rachel headed off towards their home in Bedminster, leaving Richard and me to return home along the cyclepath. I returned to Richard's house to pick up a screwdriver that he'd offered to lend me, and he asked if I knew any good post ride stretches. So I got to witness the comedy of Richard collapsing when he attempted the first stretch that I showed him. Oh well, I'm sure he felt better for it in the morning.
Then I rode the last few hundred yards home to a little girl who had been missing her Daddy all day, and who clung to me like a limpet for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The computer read 54.81 miles.
Danny
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