"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

CAL 75 Mile Bike Ride 2019

This ride always sneeks up on me - not one of my planned weekend epics but a work day where I actually turn up at the office and spend the day riding - I don't even have to take a day's holiday - what's not to love? This year it was a 75 mile route over the Mendips, out to Wedmore, up Cheddar Gorge then a return trip to Clevedon.

I went off with the final group of 75-mile riders and soon found the pace quite lively - if I'm going to get used to riding at a better pace that's out of my sightseeing comfort zone I think I'll need to spend more time on group events rather than solo missions. I love the solitude of riding alone though so I'm having difficulty motivating myself to do this. The CAL ride is an excellenty opportunity though, even though the other riders I know pretty well like JT and Jason couldn't make it this time round.

The bunch stayed together on a lovely route up the Mendips - not my usual ascent past the Blue Bowl but another variant that went over the Lakes and via Bishops Sutton - and there were amazing views over the vale coming down into Wells. I recognised it as the old road I drove in the 80s when I lived at Mells. No matter how many times you see it the view down over Wells and Glastonbury is always arresting and uplifting - this corner of the world has a special landscape - not as wild or dramatic as some places I've ridden but full of variety with surprises around every corner.

After Wells we convoyed out to Wedmore at a good pace and I took a fair turn into the headwind as I was feeling guilty that Kath was doing the lion's share of the work. When we reached the gorge there was a fair sized Computershare crew at a cafe/pizzeria at the bottom but I wasn't tempted and from that point Kath and myself formed a 2 person peloton to take on the rest of the route.

The gorge was great but what came next was very lovely - winding lanes out past Charterhouse and Tynings with views over the sea to the islands in the Bristol Channel. We kept up the pace and managed to catch a few of the riders from earlier groups - tiredness was setting in towards the end but the finale was a flattish section over the moors so we finished strong.

A great ride and I'm sure I'll be back next year - if I can raise the sponsorship!

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