English Weather and English Tea

Friday 17th June
Day 3 of The Pedal for Parkinson's double End-to-End cycle Challenge
74 country miles from Taunton to Stroud
Quintessential English countryside
Quintessential English summer weather
A post by the Secret Secretary

The itinerary for Friday 17th June, Day 3 of the Pedal for Parkinson's Double End-to-End Challenge, promised the Team a 74 mile jaunt north from Taunton to King Stanley near Stroud: passing through Bristol's southern suburbs to (among others) Chipping Sodbury, Wotton-under-Edge and finally Stroud. A ride through the Cotswolds: quintessentially English countryside, a landscape that supposedly inspired Elgar and where men are moved to chase giant cheeses down hills*. Umm, there's a warning there for cyclists that may err this way: hills! If cheeses can roll there must be plenty of up as well as down (a phenomenon that Isaac Newton would have surely noted had he witnessed the spectacle). So, would the ride scheduled for day 3 prove any more or less hillier than the first two days of cycling? And would there be any break in the rain today? The weather forecast this morning was succinct but helas! offered little encouragement: "rain everywhere".

Les phoned home sometime after 10 pm Friday evening to report that, at last, the Team had completed the day's ride. Whilst the Met Office proved itself to be true to its word with predictions of "rain everywhere", the Team's estimation of a 74 mile ride turned out to be some 20 miles short. Progress was further hindered by a few punctures and mechanical problems that no doubt gained amplitude with the wet weather, which was relentless. Even the wind had abated and made little impact on the curtain of rain that passed slowly, very slowly, over the English countryside. Likewise, if the roads that the Team is now riding are in good condition and blissfully free of potholes, they were today deluged and swimming with surface water. Happily, as long and as wet as the day's riding may be, there are always the tea stops and in this respect the lads are in the very capable hands of the Support Team. There are presently two drivers accompanying the Team on their Challenge: Jean Skinner and Viv Smith and like all self-respecting folk from Yorkshire both know that athletic sustenance is found... in a strong brew and a plate of sandwiches. Do tea and sandwiches count as "performance-enhancing"? The tea and good humour are clearly keeping the riders buoyed and if Les sounded a little weary at the beginning of his call his voice very quickly lifted. "We're riding well" he said "and the day finished with a lovely surprise." Three friends from the Blackheath and Bromley Harriers had driven over to Stroud to offer their support at the stage finish and with the rain still pouring, the friendly support was greatly appreciated.

"A lot of surface water sitting on the roads"
After a day of relentless rain,
the riders had to negotiate a lot of flooded roads.**

*Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling Competition
The Annual Cheese Rolling Competition, when athletes chase large rounds of cheese down a hill near the village of Brockworth (only in England!), about 8 miles north of Stroud, takes place every Whitsun bank holiday. For more info: http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/where.htm

** I came across this wonderful picture of the 1928 Tour of Lombardy (which apparently also suffered torrential rain) at Pez Cycling News: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/