One Way Ticket This week’s route was created by yours truly and for a change the ride started with a train journey. We all met at Weston Station to catch the 9.00am train to Taunton. The GWR bike policy states that no more than 3 bikes are allowed at one time, so we were extremely lucky for all eight of us to be allowed on to the train. Luckily the very lovely conductor Zoe, was also a keen cyclist. Once we reached our starting point in Taunton the route kicked in and we were off on our 60 mile journey back to sunny Weston Super Mare. The first part of the route, took us north along the A358, through Bishops Lydeard, from then on it was climbing all the way. The first real challenge was Triscombe Hill and although the GPS showed this as a road, in actuality it was slightly worse than a bridal path, more suited to mountain bikes than a carbon road bike! This was confirmed at the top of the 12% climb when we were greeted by dozens of muddy mountain bikers. Although we looked out of place, they were all very friendly and pointed us in the direction of the nearest road. Next came the well earnt downhill spectacular as we twisted and turned through the picturesque ‘Great Wood’ forest. Now completely lost we were fortunate to encounter a lady on horseback who directed us to the Pines Café for our scheduled cake stop. However there was another 2 miles of climbing before we would reach our cake reward. Once refreshed, we continued on our epic journey and after a quick puncture repair, came a 3 mile descent into North Petherton crossing over the M5 and on to Othery. Staying on the A361, we worked together in a group pedaling against a tough head wind all the way to Pedwell. The final journey back to Weston, took us through some beautiful villages and our final climb was over the steep side of Brent Knoll, through Lympsham and home. This week’s ride totalled 60 miles and averaged 15.7 mph and 2841 ft of climbing. A big thank you goes to Alex, Paul G, Duncan, Andy J, Wayne, Dave, Andy P, Pete and Zoe the train conductor. The Wheelers meet every Sunday at 9.00am and Wednesday at 6.00pm at Priory School. So why not join us for a ride!