All my posts that mention Gloucestershire in some way.
The Great Shakespeare Ride was the first sportive I ever did in my fledgling pre-lycra, pre-clippy shoes days. I remember it being very hard work with plenty of stops to recuperate and the last ten miles were a huge struggle. In the end I finished 108th out of 134 in 8 hours 10 minutes, whilst …
Last weekend I went out braving the cold to do the Mad March Hare sportive from Wythall, Birmingham. It’s one I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years but always sells out rapidly around the start of January as the New Year’s resolutions kick in and everyone looks for an early season target to …
After taking a year off last year because of rain, or more likely laziness I made the trip home from Birmingham to take part in my home club Stratford CC reliability ride. I wrote about the same ride in 2014 and whilst it followed exactly the same route, I wasn’t out there freelance as I …
Stratford CC Reliability Ride Review – 7th February 2016 Read More »
The next of my training rides for the Norwich 100 at the end of May saw me complete the Cotswold Challenge Audax this weekend. I was originally planning to do another 100km one similar to the Bell Tolls one in Evesham the week before, but decided to ramp things up and complete a proper 100 …
Audax – Cotswold Challenge 160km – 16th May 2015 Read More »
Last Saturday I set off at 5 am to do another 200km Audax, this time from Tewkesbury, heading westwards before going down to Chepstow, over the Severn to Malmesbury and back up to Tewkesbury and the first 2015 Audax over! I, unfortunately, jacked the ride in after 30 miles and got on the train …
Sam Weller’s Day Trip to Wochma – 203km 2015 Audax Read More »
For the last few years Rapha (of over-expensive MAMIL clothing fame, as commented on previously) set a challenge for riders to complete 500km between Christmas Eve and the Midnight of New Year’s Eve. The challenge is made difficult by it being a decent distance to ride in the first place, but also the commitments …
Saintbury Hill is as well revered as Dover’s Hill and it’s a near cert that any local Warwickshire Sportive will go up at least one of them.The climb is about a mile long and feels like it gets easier as you go up the climb but still has an average of 9%. Saintbury Hill Climb …
As hills go, Dover’s Hill is very well-known. It’s the site of the famous ‘Cotswold Olympicks’ or Dover’s Games held every year on hill followed by a torchlight procession down in Chipping Campden and a general town-wide level of drunkenness. From a cycling perspective however, it’s interesting as the site of several British National Hill …