Perhaps unsurprisingly, not much of the event took place on the busy streets of Bristol. This, in itself, gave me a bit of a shock as I realised the sort of distance I am covering on longer rides. Anybody who has ever thought that driving to Clevedon or Cheddar from Bristol is a bit of a faff will appreciate that cycling to both is not likely to be a leisurely ride.
You can watch a video of the 50km route if you would like to get a flavour of the ride.
Having some concerns about parking, I set off for Ashton Court at 7am. As you will see from the following photographs, it was a good thing I got there early:
After fighting through the crowds, I met up with some of my colleagues and made my way to the start of the ride.
The ride itself was fun. Here are some highlights:
- Sociable feed stops are definitely the way forward.
- Cycling up Cleeve Hill - the first point at which I decided to abandon my colleagues and get the hill over and done with (although I did wait for them at the top)!
- Getting sworn at by somebody in a mini as I cycled up Burrington Combe, because I was in the process of overtaking another cyclist when the driver decided to overtake me - for the record, if a driver has to cross to the other side of the road to overtake one cyclist, it really makes no difference to that driver if they have to go slightly further over to overtake two cyclists!
- Cheddar Gorge! I had heard some scary stories about cycling up Cheddar Gorge, but I quite enjoyed it. The hill goes on for around 10km, I think, but once the steep bit at the bottom is out of the way, most of it just a case of settling into a rhythm and showing gravity who is boss.
- The horrible steep hill shortly before the third feed stop, the location of which I didn't think to check because I was too busy trying not to have to walk up the hill.
- The person who rode the whole route that I am moaning about here, but with a Deliveroo backpack on!
- Waiting with my colleagues at the end to see everybody cross the line.
- The weather was great! Better, in fact, than I had expected. Here is the outcome of that:
Just to confirm, that is sunburn - not a really nice tan.
About St Peter's Hospice
St Peter's Hospice is a fantastic charity in Bristol which cares for adults with life-limiting illnesses, aiming to improve the quality of their living and dying while extending care and support to their families and loved ones. St Peter's Hospice is a charity which is close to the heart of a number of my friends and colleagues. It may seem ridiculous in a blog which was set up to help me meet my fundraising target for one charity for me to plug another one, but I have always taken the view that I am not going to tell anybody what to do with their hard-earned money. I took part in this event with my colleagues, without whom it would have been much more difficult and far less enjoyable. If you would like to support this effort, please do visit our fundraising page. As a firm we have already managed to raise over £9,000 for taking part in this event alone!
My own fundraising effort!
I will be riding 670km (430 miles) in four days this summer as I tackle four stages of the Tour de France. Sadly, I am going to find each stage even tougher than the Tour de Bristol - especially by the final day in the Pyrenees.
All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.
Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.
Alternatively, if you would like to sponsor me but do not want to do so online, let me know and I will cycle over to collect the money from you (within reason obviously - I'm not cycling too far!).
Shout outs
A huge thank you to everybody for your continued support. A special thank you goes to both James and Rob (to whom I am so grateful I did not call him Hornblower) for your kind donations.
Thank you for reading!
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