It was the fourth event in my Gravelton series yesterday. Wyre we Riding. A 95km test out to the Wyre Forest and back on some familiar trails and one of my favourite routes. I was looking forward to this one.
I woke up quite sore and tired. Friday mornings are now a 6.30am cardio step class which on it’s own is 30 minutes of quite brutal tabatha-style squats and jumps. This week, however, I’d decided I’d be the cool cat and ride there and then go for a ride afterwards. Probably not the best idea as I’d find out. I wasn’t particularly hungry either and had to force some breakfast down me before I scurried out the door about 9.40am.
It was a short ride to the start. It was dry despite the forecast looking moist. As I got to the T-Junction opposite the start I saw a couple had just started and I was pleasantly surprised by a decent sized group from Worcester St Johns. Martin, who coined the name of the event, had rounded up some club mates to come and have a go. Awesome!
I hung around till 10am and a few more turned up so when we set off it was a nice sized group until we hit the first offroad descent through Pepper Wood which strung us out.
Back into the lanes before the next bridleway and the couple I’d seen starting earlier were on the side of the road with a bike upside down. It appears she’d crashed and bent her rear mech slightly which had sent the wireless mech out of sync. I had a look for them and managed to get the gears changing but she was without the biggest and smallest sprocket.
Rob and Bryan had waited for me so we cracked on down the Bradford Lane bridleway and met a horse and rider at the crossroads to which she said someone had gone past and was looking for us. Probably going the way of The G60.
Climbing out of Drayton we caught a couple of riders chugging up the hill. One on a fat bike. Fair play to him. Comfy ride but a long day!
We banged out the next few sections in quick succession until we caught the Worcester St Johns crew on the Barnet Hill bridleway. The tricky, sandy descent making life unpredictable for one rider scooting down. It is horrible stuff to ride as your bike seems to do it’s own thing. You just have to relax and let it go. Almost impossible to ride back up the other way if it’s bone dry. Like riding a sand dune.
We left them and it was onto the new stuff now. First one done, the A456 at Blakedown was particularly busy. Not a nice place to cross but we did get a gap and get across safely. The bridleway that tracks the side of Blakedown Golf course is a good find. A steady climb with a nice wide trail to follow until it pops out on a lane before quickly into the next section which has a Paris-Roubaix feel to it. Dead straight with a couple of 90 degree bends to give it some Hell of the North flavour.
It was time for some respite now. We dropped down towards Caunsall and picked up the canal for the really nice towpath that snakes it’s way into and out of Kidderminster. It wasn’t too busy either which meant we got a lick on in places. It’s not too bumpy and flow’s quite well.
A nice find was a shed come coffee shop that looked new next to a house on the towpath. Great idea as the route is very popular with walkers and cyclists. It’s a shame we didn’t have time to stop but mentally noted for next time.
Canal done at Stourport we jumped off and over the bridge and caught a couple more riders and rode with them upto Burlish Top and down the cycle path which snakes down towards Bewdley. You have to have your wits about you here as the trail forks left and right offroad where others have created extra trails. Being on a wheel here is probably not a good idea.
In Bewdley we met a closed road and had to use a narrow footpath to scoot past and then as we pulled way from the junction we heard a thud and one of the riders we’d caught had gone down. Looked like he’s hit a traffic cone. We stopped briefly on the bridge but he was up and dusting off his pride so we carried onto the climb up through the town and the cycle route which meanders up and through a housing estate before dropping down to Dowlers Brook and onto the old railway line.
Here we scooped up me old mucka Paul who’d started early as he wasn’t feeling the best. We rode to the visitors centre together (Me, Paul, Rob and Bryan) and then the first monsoon of the day dropped. We stopped and put our capes on and then descended through rivers of rain back to the railway line. It eventually began to ease as we climbed back up to Button Oak. I’d forgotten how long and arduous this ascent was and was the first time my legs began to smart. I hadn’t eaten all day, my stomach was playing up so I forced a gel down me.
As we rolled down to the River, no steam trains today at Arley Station but we did decide to catch a coffee at Arley Tearooms as the sun was out again.
Coffee done and just over halfway, we climbed back out of the village and picked up the bridleway which takes us back into Eeymore Woods and then the mile long slog back up to Trimpley before the cool byway back towards Wolverley.
After picking our way through a small flood monsoon #2 hit us and it was gritty capes back on and a very wet ride back along the towpath to Whittington. The boys behind must have been soaked in shit coming off my back wheel!
This was the point I began to blow and blow quite quickly too. I’d struggled to eat all day and the bonk was coming. I did another gel but the short climb back onto the Roman Road in Stourbridge undid me and then the demon thoughts of are you going to finish? set in.
Astin had passed us as we supped coffee in Arley and we caught him again on the outskirts of Hagley. A normally dusty, sandy bridleway gave way to a tsunami of water cascading towards us. A really odd thing to see. Like a dry stream bed filling back up when the rains come. Dry ground gave way to ploughing through mud and my head went and I had to pull over and stop for a second to get my head together cursing myself for doing the step class and bike ride yesterday.
After a quick chat to myself I got going again and we all rode together back to Clent and the ascent to the Four Stones. Bryan and Rob were off and Paul and I picked our way around a rooted section of climb and then I took us the wrong way and ended up at the foot of Adams Hill. FFS. I was tired. We tapped out a quiet climb, both in our own worlds of suffering and caught up with Rob and Bryan at the top enjoying the view and chatting to an MTB rider.
We witnessed some time travel on the descent. We’d left the MTB rider but when we popped out on St Kenhelms Pass they were ahead of us stopped on the side of the road. I turned around and Astin’s WTF face was funny.
The joking stopped as we started to climb Walton Hill. One last big one I kept telling myself but I actually felt a bit better, I think my last gel was kicking in. Quickly over the top. No time to enjoy the views here. The last bridleway and climb done. just a couple of short kickers before the last drag back up to The Swan pub and it was done.
There was quick debate about having a beer because it wasn’t dry outside but given state of us it didn’t matter so we did.
Beer done, I rode home and just put the bike away as we were going out. What a state.
Today I’ve tried to upload my ride to Strava but the file was corrupted
I managed to fix it and get it on but the elevation and moving time look way off compared to others. I think the rain did something as the screen kept freezing, it wasn’t turning off to save battery as it normally does and I lost the directional map too. A garmin shitshow really.
Thanks to everyone that rode. For me it was every bit as tough as The Gravelton but great training for the Rewind in a months time and I won’t be doing a Step class the day before either.
I would have taken more photos but the rain stopped play a bit.
Adios