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I'd fancied trying an audax ever since I first read about them, years ago, but I'd never got round to it. This year I read several weeks in advance about the Tasty Cheddar 100km. It started and finished in Bristol, which was important - the thought of driving halfway across the country for a bike ride has never appealed to me. By the time I'd ridden to the start, and ridden home again at the end, the total distance would be about 80 miles. That's a long way to ride with October weather, particularly bearing in mind the hills. But I booked the time off from the family, registered, and just decided to be prepared to wimp out if it was wet and windy.
A few days before the event, the forecast was for a grey day, with plenty of showers and stronger winds than I liked the idea of. It didn't change much as the day approached, except for the forecast winds to get lighter. Anyway, they were forecast to be stronger in the afternoon than in the morning, and in the afternoon they should be in my favour.
Thursday and Friday were grey, damp and windy. When I went to bed on Friday the forecast was for more of the same.
I left my alarm set as if for work and got up as soon as it went off (so 10 minutes earlier than I get up for work). I opened the curtains to a blue sky, glorious sunshine and not a breath of wind. I checked the forecast, it was to be sunny all day, with no mention of wind. No excuse to wimp out and visit the 2 local breweries that were having an open day, then.
After a small bowl of cereal (all I can manage at that time of the morning), I left at 08:20. I should have got to the start for 09:00 with no problems. Unfortunately I had trouble finding the Create Centre. I didn't actually make a wrong turning - I just thought I had, and spent quite a while trying to figure out where I should have gone.
(For those who know the area better than I do, I got my roundabouts mixed up in the centre of Bristol. I knew I wanted to turn right from what I thought was the Bedminster Bridge roundabout, and that's exactly what I did. I found myself on York Road, which I didn't think was right. I checked the A-Z and found that York Road was a left turn from the Bedminster Bridge roundabout, so I turned round and went back to the roundabout. Eventually I worked out that what I had thought was the Bedminster Bridge roundabout was actually the Temple Gate roundabout. By turning into York Road, I had been heading in the right direction all along, towards the Bedminster Bridge roundabout. I hate trying to navigate in the centre of Bristol.)
Anyway, I reached the Create Centre at 09:20. I had planned to have a sandwich before starting, and there was no way I was starting the ride without one. So I was half an hour late starting. That put a stop to my primary navigation plan, which was to ride with the bunch and hope that enough of them had done it before and would know where they were going. I forgot to check my mileage at the start, but based on my mileage at the first control it must have been about 10.
The ride started by following the appalling (if you're on slick tyres) cycle route along the West bank of the Avon, opposite the Portway. If I'd twigged beforehand I might have planned a different route (and I'd probably have got lost).
Not too long after leaving the cyclepath, I found a nice descent. I changed up to, and then over, the big ring. Then had to stop and put my chain back on.
My legs had had a hard day the previous Sunday. I'd made an effort during the week to rest them and replenish my glycogen reserves (including forcing myself to take it easy riding to and from work the two days before the event), but every time I hit a climb it was painfully obvious that I hadn't done enough. Still, I passed the first two stragglers, checking their route guides, at 10:10, just after the first sign post to Clapton and about 7 miles after starting.
In Clevedon there was an instruction to turn right opposite church, signposted Sea Front. I found a church with a right turn opposite it, but no signpost to the sea front - just a cul-de-sac sign. So I carried on for a short distance. I could see the sea on my right, and no sign of another church, so I decided the previous turning must have been the right one. I went back to it and followed the road to its end, by which time it was clear that I'd been right first time. So, back to the main road, and I eventually found another church with a right turn opposite, this time signposted to the sea front. I reached the first control at 11:05 (or 11:08 according to Rich, who was manning it, 8 minutes late), with the computer showing 25.59 miles.
Navigating out of Clevedon involved getting out the A-Z and hoping that Clevedon was included. Fortunately, it was. Cheddar was easy to find, and I reached the second control at 13:13, with 11 minutes to spare. The computer showed 44.01 miles.
I stopped in Cheddar for a couple of truly vile tasting doughnuts. Don't buy doughnuts from Fortes ice cream parlour. I also replaced the black lenses in my cycling glasses with amber ones, a decision that I was to regret a couple of miles later when I had to change back because I had the sun in my eyes. It started to spit with rain while I was eating the doughnuts, but it didn't last long. I had intended to acquire more water in Cheddar, but upon consolidating my supplies I found that I had 3 full bottles and a smidgen more. I drank the smidgen and decided not to carry any more up the gorge.
Part way up the gorge, I decided I'd be better off if I knew roughly how far I had to go. I stopped to check the map, and was passed by 4 riders who had left the control shortly after me (I soon passed two of them once I set off again). I reckoned that the serious climbing would finish no more than a mile from the control, so I set my computer to show trip distance and rode on with the expectation that the road would get easier before I reached 45 miles. I was right - just. I had another 2.3 miles of climbing before turning off of the gorge road, but they were much less severe (although perhaps not for the dead badger that I saw at about 46 miles).
At the turning off of the Cheddar Gorge road, I met the other two riders who had passed me on the gorge. They were waiting for their mates to catch up. After the turn, the road continued to climb for a further 1.4 miles. This was where I started having trouble following the route sheet.
The route sheet told me to go straight on at the first crossroads, then right at the next crossroads, signposted West Harptree. I went straight on at the first crossroads. At the next crossroads I was ready to turn right, but noticed that West Harptree was signposted straight on. As I was pondering, the cyclists that I had met at the earlier turning caught up. One of them stopped and told me it was straight on here - the previous crossroads hadn't been included in the route sheet. He mentioned that he'd done the ride twice before, and had previously met people stuck at this particular crossroads complaining about the directions.
He then stayed to wait for his mates to catch up again. I should have stayed with him, but instead I carried on. I must have missed a couple of instructions, and as a result I ended up going straight on at a crossroads where I should have turned right (I did check the sign, but West Harptree was signposted diagonally, it could just as easily have been pointing either right or straight on).
By the time I realised my mistake, I'd ridden 2 miles (including a fairly long descent) out of my way. I managed to find my way to West Harptree, then had enormous difficulty working out where to go next. At this low point of the ride, as I was lost and it seemed unlikely that I'd make the third control on time, it started to rain. Hard. I did not welcome the cold shower, fortunately it only lasted a few minutes.
I eventually found the steep hill into Hinton Blewett, and ended up walking it because my rear tyre couldn't get sufficient traction on the wet road. I reached the 3rd control at 15:45, 50 minutes after it closed! The computer showed 58.14 miles.
After leaving the 3rd control, I wasted no time in getting lost again. The first instruction was to turn left at the T-junction signposted Chew Magna. I never found that T-junction (and I still can't find it on the map).
The first junction I found was a crossroads. Well, sort of. The road bent round to the right, in what appeared to be completely the wrong direction, with straight on and left effectively being turnings. After looking at the map I decided that I needed to go straight on to Bishop Sutton. At Bishop Sutton I came to another crossroads, where I decided the best bet was to go straight on again and continue to follow the NCN route 3 signs. I lost the signs twice, each time struggling to find them again.
When I found a signpost telling me that I was ½ mile from Stanton Drew, I was finally able to work out on the map where I was. I was only a mile off course, but it looked a lot more. I was also more than 6 miles - as the crow flies - from the finish, with only 10 minutes to get there and every chance of getting lost again in the attempt. I phoned Joe (the organiser) to tell him that I wouldn't be finishing on time and that I probably wouldn't bother finishing at all.
Shortly after that, I worked out that I was probably closer to home than to the finish. Home would also be easier to find - all I had to do was follow the NCN route 10 signs. With sore knees (my right knee started to twinge at 47 miles, on the climb of Cheddar Gorge), home seemed like a very good place to head for. The decision was made painful by the thought of missing the mini beer festival that was supposedly being laid on for us at the finish.
At 17:25, with the computer showing 66.09 miles, I was between Pensford and Compton Dando when I heard a sound from the direction of the rear wheel very much like that made by a flat tyre. I stopped and found that I had a flat rear tyre. As I fixed it, having to use my knife to remove a thorn, a WVM stopped to check that I was OK.
One thing I did get out of my diversion was a photo of Compton church. I failed to get one when I passed this way last year, because my camera battery was flat.
I arrived home at 19:50. The computer showed a distance of 77.35 miles, riding time 6:48:54, average riding speed 11.3mph. I'd ridden near enough the same number of miles that I'd expected to ride, they just weren't quite the same miles. I think I did all the climbs at least once, and then some. And, of course, I completed the all important climb of Cheddar Gorge.
It was a nice ride, but would probably have been better with company. Thanks for organising it, Joe. Perhaps I'll try again next year. Maybe next time I'll find the start on time and manage to complete the route without making so many mistakes.
Danny
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