One of the highlights of the Evans Ride It Bristol sportive on Sunday 7th February came before a wheel had been turned in anger. At the registration desk were various items for sale, including a set of Continental Gatorskins tyres. I run Continental Four Seasons tyres myself in the winter months, as did the rider in front of me in the queue. However, when discussing it with the Evans man behind the desk he said "I run foreskins on my bike".
As it was around 8am on a horrible Sunday morning the Evans man played a straight bat, displayed a stiff upper lip and made no further comment on this Spooneresque slip of the tongue.
This was the second Evans Ride It Bristol, and my abiding memory of the first one was of icy puddles on the top of the Mendips on a frigid February Sunday last year. On that occasion I had a valid excuse to stick with the short 32 mile route, namely tickets for Bristol City v West Ham in the FA Cup that same afternoon. One year on and the weather was similar but City were already out of the Cup, so I was left suitably exposed with a lack of pressing alternatives to the early season ride.
I had a choice of four routes, Fun, Short, Medium or Long, which all appeared to be the same courses as in 2015. The distances were respectively 13, 32, 51 and 71 miles.
The Fun ride was priced at £7.50, the Short £20 and the two longest at £25 each. Despite a horrendous weather forecast of strong winds combined with a heavy dose of man flu and a pulled calf muscle I resolved to aim for the medium with an option to go higher or lower once out on the road.
The base for the event was Hengrove Park Leisure Centre in South Bristol which features an Olympic size swimming pool. There was a dedicated free car park for the riders rather than the permanent pay and display facility. An improvement from last year was that registration was inside rather than outside. Toilet facilities were limited at the start but there was an opportunity to buy hot drinks and a variety of cycling items. Sign on was open from 7:30am with riders setting off between 8:00-9:45am. At registration you got a sticker on your bike helmet, a map and a small sealable bag to protect it. Those who had signed up early also received a free taster pack from event sponsors High5. This contained a nutrition guide, a sports drink sachet, energy gel and two energy drink tablets.
I was told that around 440 people had signed up in advance but around 330 actually started. I have to admit that there were times before we set off that I did wish I was one of the 100 plus who had opted out and stayed in bed. However, after a short wait in the cold for the briefing we were on our way.
Following a quick dart through the suburbs it was straight on to one of the big climbs of the day up to Dundry just outside Bristol. There was barely time to warm up and this was a real "character building" effort against both the elements and the gradient. Even the Fun route riders couldn't avoid it, although their course branched off in a loop back to base soon afterwards.
There was all sorts of weather during the ride including sun, rain, gusty winds, constant winds and even a short lived but stinging hail storm. The turn off for the short route came relatively early, but to my surprise I was feeling quite good when I passed it. It probably helped that it had stopped raining at that point but I committed to at least the medium course. This took me out to the west and up to Bristol airport and the fairly gentle descent of Brockley Combe. The route then flattened out and swung back round to the east and towards the Mendips via the North Somerset towns of Yatton and Congresbury. The short route missed out this section but all courses eventually ended up at the bottom of the second big climb of Burrington Combe.
As last year the feed station was situated in the parking area at the bottom of the climb where there are permanent toilet facilities. This was also around the half way point for the medium ride. There was an abundance of High5 energy gels on offer and also other goodies including bananas, flapjacks, nuts, jelly beans, tea, coffee, water and energy drinks.
The routes all joined together up the extended but constant climb of Burrington Combe. Soon after the top the Short route veered off back towards home. The wind was quite strong at the exposed summit as the rest of us headed towards Cheddar. We had been told at the briefing that the cut off time to get onto the Long route was midday. I arrived ten minutes too late, purely by accident not design. This meant I missed out on a descent of Cheddar Gorge, a swing through the flatlands around Wedmore, a second feed station and an ascent out of Wells. Instead I tacked back east and then north to the point where the long route rejoined and there was a steep descent around Harptree.
The rest of the way was mainly flat countryside and easy on the eye scenery including past Chew Valley lake and surrounding villages including Chew Magna and Chew Stoke. Gradually the country turned back into suburbs as we headed back towards Bristol and the Leisure Centre. I did get a strong feeling of satisfaction at the finish in having found the motivation to put my early apathy to bed and complete the Medium course.
Evans Ride It Bristol is well organised with good feed stations and a tried and tested course with routes familiar to local riders. Its strength, as an early season warm-up, is also its weakness: the February weather must have put some people off. However, I like it that there is an organised event this early in the year to get you on the bike when you might be tempted to just continue hibernating. There's not really much point in adding another sportive to a crowed summer calendar and so I hope this one continues in its current slot, particularly as the numbers show that it is well supported.
And who knows, maybe next year, when the excuses have dried up, it will be time for me to go Long.
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