Had a nice day out viewing the Tour of Brit. Glen, Kelly, Andy and I headed out to the Mamhead climb that lies between Starcross and Haldon Hill. We took a lumpy route over there, out through Branscombe, Sidmouth, Otterton, Woodbury, Topsham and around the back of Powderam. I huffed up Peak hill with Andy in a time of 8min 20sec which is about 20-30sec slower than my hill climb TT time. Hopefully when I ride it in a few weeks time without 2 full bottles and a heavy tool kit Ill get closer to 8min. Met Bobble riding up Peak Hill on his shopping bike, claimed he was riding over to see the ToB start at Exmouth but we think he was really secretly training for the hill climb TT. Well done Kelly too, she did a 10min 40sec and was picking up more speed in the final few metres. Even though there was a fair crowd at the top of the Mamhead climb there was plenty of space for spectating on the lower twisting sections, I think most folk headed out to Haytor. After seeing the small breakaway ride past the peleton werent far behind, they made it look pretty easy, only one chap from BMC had been dropped and he wasnt far off the pace. Glen (wearing his flesh colured Male Cancer skinsuit) was wolf whistled by a Team GB rider as he rode by in peleton, I think it made Glens day! After all this excitement we headed for the big city of Exeter for lunch. Youd think it would be mostly downhill from Haldon to Exeter but if you ride in through Ide it isnt, its a quite a hard ride, lots of small climbs. Lunch was had in the very civilized Welcome Cafe which is a few hundred yards downstream from the Quay. Its run by Roger (formerly of Rogers Tearooms that was on the Quay), hes got to be the ultimate cafe host and his coffee and food is top notch. After loading up it was into the city centre to catch the stage finish. We opted for hanging around the team buses rather that squeezing into the finish line area. Whilst waiting we got interveiwed by Heart FM, not sure if we made it on air though, Also met Mr Hovis senior, Id not met him before but he spotted our jerseys and came and said hello. After a fair bit of hanging about like a bunch of cycling groupies Kelly got her brand new cycling shoes signed by Cav and Andy had his Jersey scribbled on (with permanent marker). Riding out of Exeter wasnt great fun at rush hour but Andy lead us safely out. Then it was home via Aylesbeare, Tipton and a final grunt up Trow Hill. A long day out but good fun had by all
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 18:47:00 +0000
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