19th July 2009 (Sunday)

Got up and dressed at stupid o'clock, had porridge for breaky and set of towards Lynmouth at 7 am!

The roads were not surprisingly empty, but the weather was damp and windy! Unfortunately the wind was strong and in my face!

The met office observations for Lyneham showed...

7:18 AM SW 11 mph

Unfortunately the forecast for the whole day was similar, except more rain and stronger winds!

I was making good time and holding a 17 mph average speed :-) I routed myself cross country to Frome, then on the A361 through Shepton Mallet and Glastonbury. Disaster struck just before the Clarks Outlet Village in Street when the back tyre had a rapid deflation.....

I stopped, rolled the bike onto a large green area and took the back wheel out and stood the bike against a tree, thankfully Dave had instructed on the correct procedure for dealing with a puncture, I levered one side of the tyre off the rim leaving the other bead in place, partially removed the tube from the rim and inflated it, it became instantly clear where the puncture was, and closer investigation showed a sliver of glass was stuck in the tyre. It was removed with some difficulty and the spare tube was installed, the whole job was done in 20 minutes or so....and I set off at about 10:40....

Bridgewater was annoying! A town built on traffic lights! and criss crossing lanes....no fun on a bicycle!

As I passed Cannington I had a genius idea, I would ignore the boring peanut butter and honey sandwich wifey had made for me and I would buy a bacon roll and a can of coke from a roadside tuck wagon that I have always seen parked up in a lay-by about 10 miles further up the road, It was about lunch time 'ish and the thought of a bacon roll was making me feel VERY hungry.....

When I got to the lay-by......it was empty :-(

I stopped in a farm entrance at 70 miles and ate my Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich and downed a Gatorade...

I eventually made it to Minehaed, where I had another good drenching from another heavy rain shower and the winds made a bigger effort to push me home......

Then at 88 miles I was at Porlock......

The plan was to go up the main road, if for any reason I stopped I would turn around and come back down the hill and go up the toll road.

The main road was going well I made it up the first 25% corner and half way up the straight, then I stopped, no more forward speed, and cars were coming up the hill behind me......I didnt fancy zig-zagging up the main road, and I couldn't re-start anyway.....so I turned around and went back down the hill.....a little disapointed but generally happy that I had made it at least half way up the 25% hill - I am now certain that the lower gear the 12-27 cassette will give me is enough for the 25%......

The toll road is a much shallower gradient....longer but shallower Porlock Hill climbs to about 1380 feet, zig-zagging up the steeper portion of the hill.

The views going up the hill were worth the effort:-)

As I was climbing the rain started falling again, when I got near the top it was into a strong headwind again.....VERY tough going!

When I got to the top I was battling against some rather strong side winds, but at least the rain eased up for a while......Then I could see a massive drenching heading my way up the valley, strong wind, heavy rain and another hill.......

Then I was at the top of Countisbury Hill and a slow descent into Lynmouth - I didnt fancy flying down the hill and not being able to stop at the bottom.....Interestingly not all 25% hills are made equal, I would swear that the 25% on Countsibury is not as steep as the 25%'s on Porlock!

I arrived at Lynmouth drenched, and worried about getting cold, wifey was held up in traffic and had not made it to Lynmouth yet...

I was in the process of munching my way through a Mint Chock Chunk ice cream when they arrived.....

I got changed into clean dry clothes....had a cream tea, then went for a walk :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 101.6 miles in 6 hours 50 minutes (Well over an hour and half was the last 10 miles from Porlock!) with an average speed of 14.8 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

I did the drive home and we stopped in a local eatery for food......

I am a little disappointed at not making it up Porlock main road, but can make lots of excuses :-)...But I did make it half way up the 25%.....