DIY to Ginny's, Wilton and back (again)

Ride Details

• Date Ridden - Wednesday 28 August 2024
• Event Type - DIY (Mandatory)
• Points Distance - 200

Ride Stats

• Distance - 201 km
• Time - 9h4m43s
• Elapsed time - 10h51m33s
• Avg Speed - 22.2042 km/h
• Elevation - 1874 metres
• Bike - Sabbath September AR-1

Ride Notes

August has been somewhat dysfunctional chez Shiner so I chose a route I’ve done before…. with a few mods. The trip to Ginny’s and back is a favourite of mine as well.

All was going swimmingly, not too hot or cold with light winds, as I climbed up onto the Mendips via Cheddar Gorge and rolled across the top.

On 45km just after Leigh-on-Mendip there is a downhill section which the council had kindly ‘chucked’, and I use this particular word for complete accuracy, gravel all over. Being a careful chap I slowed down and rolled towards the kick-up at Knapp Hill - as I put the power down (stop laughing at the back) there was a nasty crack and I was careering towards the bank/hedge. Didn’t come to any harm but when I looked for the cause I saw the chain was broken. At first I thought it must be the missing-link, but no - it was actual link that was broken - you can see the picture of the damage on Strava. Picking myself, bike and chain up I found a driveway and proceeded to add another missing link which was a bit of a faff but I got it done. The nice lady who owns the house was leaving as I was packing up and left me some wipes to clean up - very kind! My thought is that I picked up some gravel that got wedged and it deformed the link…. or maybe I’m Robert Förstemann without the thighs! You decide.

Anyway, once fixed I rode onwards towards the coffee stop at Ginny’s which was lovely as usual. There were some spits and spots of rain at Sutton Veny but all in all it was lovely

The rest of the ride proceeded as planned (with a second stop at Gillingham Costa) including the slog to Bruton and the flat to Glastonbury until I got onto the levels. At Burtle I hit ‘The Wall’ and had to stop, even though I only had 10km to go - hasn’t happened for a long time on a two-stop 200. A quick sit down followed by a stretch and a Nakd bar and I rolled on to the end.

10 down and 2 to go for RRtY #4.