Up and Down Like a Yo-Yo ride report
Firstly I need to apologise not only for the lack of photos but also the crap quality of the few I did take. On top of that, there is no vlog from this event either. I was about 40minutes outside Birmingham when I realised I had forgotten to pick up my camera bag that had my GoPro in. I only took 3 pictures on this ride because I got tunnel-visioned. The first half was slow, straight into a gale-force headwind and I was drifting between; type 2 fun not in the mood to take pictures and, just trying to crack on as I didn’t want to finish too late with a drive back to Birmingham to do.
The day started at 6:30 am leaving my girlfriend’s parents house in north Devon, with what I thought would be a quick roll down to the start. It was 33km to Cranbrook and leaving myself an hour and a half to get there should not only have meant that I was there early but that I would also have enough time for a second breakfast of a bacon butty. After coffee and porridge, I checked how the weather was looking outside, mild, windy but dry so I set off with my waterproof stowed and legs feeling good. Within 5mins I was pulling my waterproof on and starting to realise just how strong the wind really was. Progress was far slower than it should have been and it dawned on me that I was almost certainly going to be late. I got a wiggle on but burnt more matches than I had intended and I wasn’t even on the start line yet…
Eventually, I turned the last corner into Cranbrook to see a few large groups of riders coming the opposite way up the road. After a quick chat with Sarah the organiser I registered, stuffed my brevet card into the side pocket of my new Straight Cut Design custom frame bag (more about that in a blog or video coming soon™), threw my leg over the bike and got on my way. There were a few others leaving late as well so I grouped with 2 other guys and headed towards Honiton. This first 20km was a welcome rest from the tiresome headwind I had had so far. The going was good and in no time at all we had caught up with 1 of the larger groups, passing them and disappearing up the road. I was keen to get to the first control before them and not get stuck in a queue this early on.
At Honiton, we turned north-west heading to Bampton for our second control. Unfortunately, the rest from the wind had been short-lived, and although the road to Tiverton wasn’t a full-on death slog it did make it just that bit harder than you wanted it to be. Combine that with a few steepish pulls, undulations and “false flats”, made the legs a little heavier than they should have been at this early stage. Luckily at Tiverton, the route headed north which once again gave us some slight respite as the wind was now coming in from the side. Apart from the odd front-wheel grabbing gust, it was out of the picture for 10-12km. The road here runs about halfway up the valley providing some great views of the River Exe, flowing quickly and high as you would expect given the recent weather. The valley had a melancholic feel on this grey breezy day, the dark bare trees swaying and the valley runoff streaming across the road. The drizzle developed into rain and back to drizzle again and although it cleared in patches the threat was never too far away as yet more grey moisture rolled its way towards us.
Having been late I missed the rider briefing and I didn’t know where the control was in Bampton. I had a vague memory from reading the notes that the suggested control was a cafe but I really wasn’t sure. I rolled through the village scouting for bikes and true to form there were 4 or 5 propped up in the customary way outside Bridge House. I ducked in to get my card signed and grab a quick espresso. I wouldn’t normally bother this early on, as I generally prefer to get 100km or so done before a break, but today I thought I would give myself 10 minutes. I soaked up a bit of chat with a few other riders, said my pleasantries and got on my way.
If I had known what was in store for the next 47km I might not have been so keen to get off riding again. The route headed pretty much due west straight into the mouth of the beast. It was a bit of a shame as the country here looked to be nice riding. The roads swooped up and down, left and right providing glorious views of rolling North Devon hills, covered in a classical British patchwork of fields and hedgerows. The rain stopped, and even the sun and blue skies made an appearance. This should have been an idyllic midday cruise on the bike, but the wind was just soul-crushing. There were times I was struggling with 15km an hour. My legs felt awful and there were plenty of times I can honestly say I wasn’t really enjoying the slog. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that bad really, there was no point where the idea to scratch ever came up but I just wasn’t quite feeling it in the way I normally do. I think in some regards this might have just been an attritional build up from the last few months. I feel like every ride I have done since The Kings, Castles, Priests and Churches in early December has been wind contested to varying degrees and honestly, I’m just a bit fed up of it. Wind… DO ONE!
After roughly 2 and 1/2 hours(!!!!) I was finally rolling down the hill from Rumsam towards Barnstaple, the River Taw stretching out towards the coastline. I felt a huge sense of relief that I was there and as I think about it now, I’m quite surprised just how happy I was to have made it that far… halfway! Seems ridiculous frankly considering the distances I’m happy riding normally but there is no telling sometimes how an effort is going to make you feel.
I pulled up in the square, opposite the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon and looked for somewhere to get some lunch. Once again I had no idea where the suggested control was, so I decided to take it as a free control and just find myself a nice cafe to get settled in for half an hour. Unfortunately, it seems that all the nice cafes in Barnstaple are closed on Sundays! At least that’s what Google maps was telling me anyway. I guess this must be because it’s offseason. I mean surely as an almost seaside town it must be crawling with people in the summer. You would imagine that Sundays are one of their busiest days. Anyway I found a Costa on the map which also turned out to be on route so I decided that it would do and headed across the bridge towards the station.
I generally feel cheated if I have to get lunch on a ride at a chain coffee shop. One of the reasons I like going to other parts of the country to ride my bike is to experience what is there, what is unique to that place, not the hermetically sealed high-grade formica of a Costa…
After a coffee and, to be fair, actually quite a nice cheese and ham toastie, I made my way south out of the town heading towards control point 4 at Great Torrington. The rolling hills started pretty quickly with a steep pull out of the town and then really didn’t let up until Exeter. I felt that it was this part of the route that really gave this event its name. For me personally however I rather enjoyed this section of the ride. It wasn’t easy and continued ups and downs like this can, on the wrong day, become quite taxing on the mind, constantly seeing climb after climb lining up in front of you. However, I’m normally happy on a climb and these were no exception being within gradients I’m comfortable with. I sat in, kept the pedals turning, kept my heart rate under control and enjoyed the view enough to not be unduly bothered about the task at hand. This was somewhat of a contrast to the previous half the route.
By this stage, I hadn’t seen anyone else on the road for a quite a while. It was a small field with only 44 starters and I suppose the wind had played a big part in stretching the group out along the road. As I got to Great Torrington I was feeling pretty good so I decided just a quick petrol station stop was in order to get a receipt and my proof of passage for control 4. Cream eggs were on sale already, 89p for 1 or 2 for a quid! Of course, I had 2. As I made short work of the foil wrapped diabetes inducing goodness, I noticed a couple of bikes propped against the shop opposite. I gave a quick wave to the guys eating their bounty and got on my way.
The next 30km or so to Okehampton and our 5th control was more of the same quiet roads and rolling hills. At Okehampton, I quickly found a cash point and got a receipt instead of looking for a shop and shot on through as fast as possible. No need to stop at this late stage in the route. There was only 45km left now and as I mentioned I was behind schedule somewhat with a long drive still left to do. As the sun began to set the warmth of the day disappeared with it and I looked forward to getting off this exposed area on the edge of Dartmoor that I now found myself on. Signs to Exeter starting appearing and with it the thought of the nice warm pub that was our arrivée today. After negotiating the busier roads of central Exeter it was a mere 10km downhill to Cranbrook. As I entered the village I pondered the literal and metaphorical ups and downs of the day to arrive at the conclusion that overall this had been a good day riding but one that I was happy to get to the end of.
Anyone looking at the map of this route would be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t look like it should be a pleasant ride. Normally I will do my utmost to avoid A-roads and in fact, I have been fairly critical of route planning a number of times in my vlogs, but this time around I felt the choice of roads was quite smart. In the main, they were well-maintained pothole free surfaces, without the wind debris and field run-off that characterises our local lanes right now. With 3700m of climbing already on the board, I’m thankful that no more was added as it most certainly would have been if we had been weaving around the Devonshire back roads. Most importantly though was just how quiet the roads were. I chatted with Sarah about this point and she said that this is exactly why she runs this is a February Audax and not a summer one. You simply wouldn’t want to ride those roads in the summer. I also suspect that this had something to do with why it was on a Sunday and not the more normal Saturday that most Audaxes seem to end up on. Ultimately this leads me to say, nice one Sarah, this was smart planning that paid off.
