2024-06-26 11:05:43 - After 15 years of successfully organising the Black Rat Sportive, one of the most popular road sportives in the South West, the organisers have responded to numerous...
2021-06-15 06:36:54 - My personal experience of the Black Rat sportive 2021 was the very definition of "failing to prepare is preparing to fail". This was in complete contrast to the...
2019-06-11 00:10:57 - In my experience, the parcours of most 100-mile sportives seem to follow a similar template. Flat and fast out of the gate, followed by some early minor climbing and a...
2018-06-05 09:43:58 - The new route for the Black Rat sportive presented a dilemma. The longest of the three routes, the 166km Granfondo, was going over Gospel Pass, near Abergavenny, for the...
2017-06-13 10:16:48 - "I've left my helmet at home in Bristol. My wife is on her way with our three-year-old and one-year-old to drop it off..." Looks of sympathy were exchanged by several of...
2016-06-03 11:02:45 - The 2016 Black Rat sportive proved to be an eventful day of unexpected weather, unforeseen closed roads, brushes with the opposition, and finally a wrong turn by your...
2015-05-29 17:16:34 - Unlike some sportives, The Black Rat is evolving every year. When I first rode it in 2013 it started in Portishead, North Somerset and headed south over the Mendip Hills...