It was back at the beginning of February that Hammer Sports’ Andrew Thompson posted the AVP’s invite on our FB Page. I thought at this time it would be a great timing in prep for the Wales Velothon which Ed & I have planned to do in May. This is the Welsh version of the Ride London, the latter of which is now so passé!
Yesterday, when the weather forecast had settled sufficiently for a reasonably accurate assessment of what we were likely to experience and thus what kit to pack, the TXT chat between Rex, Ed and I, the last Pedaller’s left in the mix for this event, was frantic. Could we seriously be considering doing this ride with weather warnings in place for high winds, spring tide flooding and rain!
By 06:00 am Sunday morning the answer was clear as both Rex and Ed descended on Chez JRB to load up for the 90 minute drive to Salcombe. Rex, a late entrant, needing some distance training ahead of his 140 mile Dragon Ride in June, cycled over from Colyton. Meanwhile Ed, with new wheels, kindly volunteered to be the designated driver for the day as he was the only one of us with either access to a car or a bike carrier for 3!
Clear roads saw us make good progress, but the time to load and unload will not be underestimated in future, as we arrived at Hammer HQ just 5 minutes before the fortunately 20 minute delayed start time! More by luck than judgement, our planning in hindsight could not have been more perfect as we at least had no waiting around in the cold for the grand depart.
And it was cold! I had brought my AVP Windex jacket as an extra layer while we loaded, however, as soon I stepped from the car into the wind, there was no way we were going to be parted!
Our ride was the 105km Steam Hammer which took us north out of Salcombe with a satisfying tailwind to Kingsbridge and then East along the coast and along Slapton bar where the waves crashed high up the beach and strong crosswinds drove sea spray across the road. We skirted round Dartmouth and clipped Dartmoor before turning west at Harberton. While at our second feed stop at Brownston, we were passed by swoosh of a very fast moving, very professional looking peloton. There was a time trial running simultaneously today and we all agreed that had it been 5 minutes later, to have been passed by that speeding train, would have been a bit embarrassing!
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| At the WW2 Memorial on Slapton Sands |
I could go on now to wax lyrically about the strong headwinds on the return to Salcombe, having to pedal just to descend, the vertical twisting climbs, a slow puncture on the Roubaix which in spite of a speed change Ferrari would have been proud of, delayed us sufficiently to again exchange places with another trio on the road (this was repeated a number of times when we made a stop), but I won't. Simply said, we had a great ride, it was akin to a Thursday night spin x3; we stuck together, there were hills, hedges, fields and sea but just more of it and there was apres ride food and drink a plenty .. in this case pasta and tea!
Sounds like a grand d adventure, and the route weirdly reminds me of our current foster dog ... snout to the right, ears alert and ready for anything despite her advancing years.
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