Besoaked to Bespoked

Peter Murray had a speaking spot at Bespoked Bristol  this Saturday.  The idea of riding up was mentioned some time ago as a group training ride, so I had it blocked out in my diary.  I arrived at the Building Centre in Store Street around 11am on Friday, had a quick coffee and bacon sarnie and at about 11.30 Myself, Peter and Craig headed west on our way to Bristol.  The plan to ride to Lacock for an overnight stay and on into Bristol early the next morning to Bespoked.

The weather was going to be changeable anyway, and as soon as we set off the first shower of many kicked off.   We headed out West and found the A4 which was to be our route for the rest of the journey.  The first couple of hours were very slow going and quite demoralising.  We seemed to get stopped at every set of traffic lights along the way.  Intermittent rain and heavy traffic also don't help the experience.  It took around two hours just to breech the M25, and due to our route it didn't quite feel like we got out of London for hours.  There was need to take refuge a couple of times in bus shelters to let some of the heavier showers pass over.

Also along this route the 'cycle path' and facilities were very poor.  At some points little more than a conciliatory sign to indicate it was a shared path.  Potential conflicts with pedestrians, busses and traffic at junctions were a constant problem hindering our escape from London.

"Shared path"

So this was the day.  As we passed Heathrow our average cycling speed was under 12m.p.h. and this didn't take into account the constant stopping.  We were already falling behind schedule and needed to up the pace.  We started to make better time for a while, still encountering far more red lights than you'd wish for through the sprawling business parks of Slough.  We got to Reading around 3-4 o'clock ish, and we took shelter in a petrol station while a hail storm passed over.  Took on some coffee and sweets and headed on our way again.  

Craig had mentioned in the morning that he was recovering from an illness earlier in the week so not feeling particularly strong for the ride (which quite honestly seemed good news to me as I was quite sure I'd be the weakest rider of the day so glad to be equaled out a little, though don't wish illness on any of my team mates).  We'd made good time into the outskirts of Newbury and had even had a few spots of sunshine and relatively traffic free sections of road.  We were still quite behind schedule so while Craig stopped at a garage for more supplies Peter made calls to The restaurant for the night to check the latest time we could place our order, we had to be there for 8.45, were a good 40 miles away with a few hills and it was gone 5pm by now so were already a bit stretched.  

Even worse though was just as we set off from that stop Craig's chainrings had lost their bolts... one of those things that just don't happen, do they?  But it did, so we got some local information from a kind gentleman in the bus shelter, and went off to find a bike shop.  It's fair to say that cycling round the A4, A339 and A34 in the centre of Newbury on a Friday evening rush hour in the rain is not a particularly pleasant experience

There should be more bolts

Another bus stop shelter

We loitered around in Halfords a while seeing if this mechanical problem could be fixed in time to make our destination. It appeared that it couldn't so an executive decision was made for Peter and I to plough on and get to Lacock as quickly as we could, whilst Craig had to return, shivering  to London.  The rest of my afternoon was spent chasing Peters yellow backpack.  We passed through some beautiful country and after we got out of Newbury the rain by and large has dissipated so it was just a matter of head down and speed up.  There was a noticeable headwind the whole of the journey and it was taking it's toll now particularly   We made a very brief stop in Marlborough so I could top up on water.  Peter said it's only 20 miles from here, and I chirpily responded "is that all, great"  and spent the next 10 miles struggling with heavy legs and a horrible headwind, I was out of jelly babies and now just the thought of a nice dinner and warm shower was driving me forward.    Though there were some spectacular views through Avebury and of the Wiltshire hills, even if my pocket point and shoot had got a bit misted up by the earlier wet conditions.

The final decent into Lacock was glorious, long quiet downhill road, over some small bridges and rivers into the National Trust village.  We made it to At the Sign of the Angel by about 8.30, by my computer having cycled 98.5 miles with an average cycling speed of 14m.p.h. I had just enough time to wash the dirt and sweat off and head for a lovely dinner and warming glass of red.  As we ordered desert Tom arrived having got the train to Chippenham after work to meet us for the ride in the next morning.  We retired early and I slept soundly in the very comfortable bed.

Breakfast was at 8am, and after topping up water, checking any bolts were secure and a little stretching we were off again making a quick circuit of the village first.

I was certainly a little weary and lamenting the extra spare t-shirts and pretty much everything else in my pannier bag.  But there was only a relatively small hill over Box and then we were in Bath after about an hour of riding.   We then joined the Bristol to Bath cycle path for the last 15 miles.  Having been very familiar with this path as I lived looking over the start of it for over a year having cycled most of the way here on the A4 realised that maybe I took such a good facility for granted.  We stopped off at Bitton station for coffee before the last 10 miles into Bristol.

We got to Bespoked by about midday, locked the bikes up and headed in.  The first thing that hit me was how busy it was, absolutly packed, and also that the demographic was actually much more diverse than I'd imagined.  Sure there was plenty of facial hair and 'weekend warriors' but there were plenty of families and none of the bike snobbery that I was a little trepidatious about at an event of this kind.  I was reticent to spend too much time browsing as I'm easily led when it comes to good gear and a good sales person, and I'm already over stretching myself financially more than I should be for this trip so just admired all the loveliness from afar and had good look around.

Peter addresses Bespoked Bristol about P2P

Peter was 'on stage' at 3.30, and there was a good crowd taking a keen interest.  There are a number of moments over the last few months where the reality of the physical challenge of the trip actually dawn on you, and this was one of them!  OK, i can ride 100 miles in a day, and a few in a row, but two and a half months?  Ah well, only a week away now and no going back.  

As I've said all along, and as proven on the ride up, I may not be the fittest, or fastest, am carrying more weight than I need which certainly shows on long uphills, and have a lot of work to do on the research. But I'm pretty stubborn and failing disaster or emergency will get to the end of each day and I'm sure enjoy it very much.   After all adventure is not adventure without adversity.