the Cheltenham Cycles ride

the Cheltenham Cycles ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

i booked a friday off work with two goals in mind 1) to ride to cheltenham and back or 2) train to Malvern and ride back through the Worcestershire countryside both depending on the weather as the first would take all day and the second only half, well the forecast was fair so the trp to Gloucs was on!, i bought some second hand slick tyres and swapped the semi knobblies for those before leaving, i was also using the Ortlieb saddle bag to save me having to wear a back pack, so about 11am i rolled out and headed to Evesham. i wasn't sure how i'd feel so Evesham was the first goal and i could have made the route shorter if need be, but i felt ok and knowing the lumpiest part of the route was over i set off towards my goal. long flat roads aren't that inspiring but you do cover a fair distance and in what seemed no time at all i was 8 miles from Cheltenham which was where the incident that changed the ride happened. i came across a line of stationary cars heading around a corner, thinking it was road works i passed the cars and soon found a fire engine blocking the road. i got on the pavement and passed to find the aftermath of a head on collision between a car and a lorry, the car was half the size it should hav been and the firecrew were preparing to cut the occupants out, not wanting to gawk i rode straight past and carried on, very sobering, i hope everyone involved was ok. got to Cheltenham cycles and had a cuppa with the boys and refreshed bidons then started the return leg, as expected the road with the accident on it was now closed so followed the diversion which added about 6 miles to the route but stopped the boredom of the long flat roads as i didn't have a clue where i was!, luckily the diversion popped out about 3 miles from Evesham and i could rejoin the familiar route. in the last 5 miles the rain started to drizzle down but it wasn't at all unpleasant.

fuelled by 1.5 x cheese sandwiches, 4 x bidons 1 x lucosade sport 1 x mug of tea 1 x cadbury's flake 1 x 125g cadbury's bournville

thanks to:
outward headwind not turning for the return
the incredulous looks on the CC guys when lifting and weighing my bike
BBC weather for a perfect and accurate forecast.

no thanks to:
head on crashes
achy shoulders

ride 76
80 miles
total 1201
commute 687
total+commute 1888