Into the Heart of the Cotswolds

As my first training camp (for Kilimanjaro) in Scotland was a full success I decided to concentrate on cycling for the remainder of the year. My fairly new road bike - which I fondly named "Black Mamba" - certainly plays a part in this, hehe. I just enjoy rolling mile after mile a lot more than ploughing over rocky and muddy ground on my mtb.

I have done a few day trips so far around Bristol and slowly get a few ideas where I can ride without much interference of cars. There are countless nice cycle paths around which lead through the beautiful countryside around Bristol throwing in a couple of hills as well. That is the big difference compared to riding around Berlin and I love a hill or two, but certainly need more training.

So I enlisted for my first sportive on Sunday! I never heard of those events before Rich mentioned it to me. Basically it's like a road race without the race. So you ride with a couple of 100 people on marked routes, but there's no winner and there are cars as the roads are not blocked, but organizers choose quite roads mainly. You pay a small fee, get some goodies, a timing chip, a map and off you go.

My first sportive will take part tomorrow in Cirencester and since I want to be on one of the first groups to head out I chose to go there today - a day before - since the event HQ opens at 7 am.

Arrived mid afternoon after an hour and a half on busy roads at the very nice Mayfield campsite, pitched my tent and cycled back into town. The dark morning with a good share of rain had given way to beautiful sunshine and a lovely blue sky.

Cirencester is really beautiful and full of those typical Cotswold sandstone houses. Walked around a bit, had a coffee and a massive piece of homemade chocolate cake and a cider later.
It was getting rather chilly and despite the sun, the feel of autumn cannot be denied. The air was nice and fresh and I guess it's going to be really cold tomorrow morning when I get up.

It's only a 15 min drive to the event's HQ from the campsite. And I can't wait to cycle the beautiful countryside around Cirencester. Forecast looks ok. Not much sun but no rain either.
My route is as long as 64mi/100km. Been a while since I cycled such a long one, but I'm quite confident to have an enjoyable ride without any trouble of finishing before the broom wagon.