Chew and Cheddar

secretsam

Anyone know what the riding is like around this area? Might be down in the West Country in near future and may bring the bike and punish myself, would love to ride up Cheddar Gorge

pangolin

It's good! Where will you be based?

Mad_Malx

Cheddar gorge is very scenic but avoid weekend afternoons. Apart from a short ramp about 1/3 way up it's all tempo riding though. Burrington Combe up from Blagdon lake is nice. The steep hill up from Wookey Hole is more of a challenge, as is the Old Bristol Road up from Wells. There is a decent rolling road along the valley from Wells to Wedmore then Cheddar, so it's not hard to make a loop incorporating most or all of these.

weezyswiss

Rode the wiggle Mendips around the area this year. Nice and scenic and some tough challenges, but as said Cheddar itself only really has 1 tricky short bit then it's consistent tempo with a lot of traffic.

Mad_Malx

Just remembered that my avatar is Cav and Thor on the Old Bristol Road that I mentioned.

secretsam

pangolin wrote:

It's good! Where will you be based?

Bristol. It's for when I visit family and need to escape!

reformedfatty

Bristol is fairly large ... depending on where you are will influence your route choice. It'd influence mine anyway..

North Bristol, consider heading over the bridge to the forest of dean or up to the cotswolds
East Bristol, consider over to bath
West Bristol, out to clevedon and work your way down to the mendips that way
South Bristol, out to the mendips.. consider using the Whitchurch Way cycle path to escape town

roger_merriman

Very nice, some of the A roads aren't that friendly some very fast traffic.

As others have said Chedder Gorge is nice but it is busy being a touristy sort of place. My sister lives in the Chew Valley and having a CX bike I tend to go on mixed routes, some lovely if rough back lanes and what not. plus deer in some of the woods though they don't hang about!

Widgey

Lots of routes that take in Chew and Cheddar - some nasty little climbs too. Head over to Draycott (head towards Wells from Cheddar, small hamlet and up)

Just around Chew lake is around 9 miles and relatively flat.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Subject to how my new head cold progresses, I'm thinking of heading up Cheddar Gorge via Ebbor Gorge next week (will be first time visit for me), travelling from Longleat CP. Originally, I had idea of cycling to Warminster from Southampton, but the new cold and a cheap £6-50 Advance ticket means I will almost certainly catch the train there and I've got the same option coming home (both with a cycle reservation spot).

My big dilemma is which bike to take... The Cube would be less mass to fight against gravity on the hills, by at least ~3Kg, but I'm slightly concerned by recent weather (Monday is predicted to be approx -1C at 0600), plus I would be limited to only using the bike when staying with it. If I take the Voodoo, I have the option of taking my Gravdal studded tyres, plus a set of tyres anywhere from 28-60mm with the 29er wheelset. I'd also feel less concerned about using the Voodoo around the CP campus with decent locks.

If it was spring/summer, I'd take the Cube, it would be an easy choice. It's just so ironic that I've wanted to take a bike to CP for the last ~6 years rather than hire a ~£30 BSO for the week just to use around campus, I then get into cycling for fitness this year and have the chance to take a bike, but I now like the idea of going off-campus and I come down with a cold during an autumnal wet/nippy spell just before the break!

Looks like the driest and sunniest day is going to be Monday, maybe I should jump off the train and head straight there?

Mad_Malx

NitrousOxide wrote:

Subject to how my new head cold progresses, I'm thinking of heading up Cheddar Gorge via Ebbor Gorge next week (will be first time visit for me), travelling from Longleat CP. Originally, I had idea of cycling to Warminster from Southampton, but the new cold and a cheap £6-50 Advance ticket means I will almost certainly catch the train there and I've got the same option coming home (both with a cycle reservation spot).

My big dilemma is which bike to take... The Cube would be less mass to fight against gravity on the hills, by at least ~3Kg, but I'm slightly concerned by recent weather (Monday is predicted to be approx -1C at 0600), plus I would be limited to only using the bike when staying with it. If I take the Voodoo, I have the option of taking my Gravdal studded tyres, plus a set of tyres anywhere from 28-60mm with the 29er wheelset. I'd also feel less concerned about using the Voodoo around the CP campus with decent locks.

If it was spring/summer, I'd take the Cube, it would be an easy choice. It's just so ironic that I've wanted to take a bike to CP for the last ~6 years rather than hire a ~£30 BSO for the week just to use around campus, I then get into cycling for fitness this year and have the chance to take a bike, but I now like the idea of going off-campus and I come down with a cold during an autumnal wet/nippy spell just before the break!

Looks like the driest and sunniest day is going to be Monday, maybe I should jump off the train and head straight there?

I think you need to decide whether you are pootling round CP with friends & family, or going for a ride to Cheddar.

Ebbor Gorge is nice but a walking route, you can cycle along the steep minor road up from Wookey I mentioned earlier but don't see the gorge from the road, it runs alongside. Cheddar is a fair distance from CP, it will be a long way on the Voodoo.
With the Voodoo you can escape from the gaol around the Longleat estate. Decent open access tracks that run from Heaven's Gate to Shearwater Lake, just outside the perimeter fence. Mix of fireroad and muddy bridleways.

Mad_Malx

Just came across this which covers the area we are discussing:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/lates ... ive-230530

sloppyschleckonds

Make sure you take in Draycott Steep! Out of Bristol try Dundry Hill.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Looks like my recent local hill rep training around https://veloviewer.com/segments/2558982 is going to be useful for Ebbor Gorge, Drayton Steep and Cheddar Gorge. :twisted:

There's also the Old Bristol Rd cat3 just north of Wells, but if I do indeed jump straight into this from Warminster train station on Monday, it's already looking like a ~68 mile round trip with ~5500 feet of climbing ... More than likely on the Voodoo equipped with the FatNotFat 29er wheelset.

craker

reformedfatty wrote:

North Bristol, consider heading over the bridge to the forest of dean or up to the cotswolds

or head for Usk, there's some proper climbs to be had from Raglan up to Trellech (Star Hill, it was on the ToB last year) or further afield - doable from Brizzle in a day - there's the Tumble near Abergavenny.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Are there bits of Cheddar, Drayton Steep or Ebbor that might well be icy after Sunday night's chilly temps, because they won't get any sun during Monday morning?

Trying to decide what tyres to (got 28mm to 60mm slicks, plus 38mm studded tyres) fit and whether fitting my Time ATAC clipless pedals would be a good move?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Managed a ~75 mile epic yesterday from Warminster to the Mendips on the Wazoo with 2.35" G-ONEs fitted, including Old Bristol Rd, Ebbor Gorge and Cheddar Gorge cat3 climbs. No sign of any frost on the roads when I got to the hills around 1230, no scares with tyre grip.

A few navigation errors, some GPS issues that prevented a proper segment recording up from Cheddar, plus forgetting to get the Lezyne recording the final ~20 miles after plotting a fresh course to Longleat!

Ran out of time to climb Drayton Steep this time, but descended it on way to Cheddar, absolutely insane drop of ~725 feet over just 1.2 miles... Think it bedded in my new brake pad set fitted on Sunday!

But even with a head cold, it was a great, albeit exhausting 7 hours on the road. Can't wait to try it again, on a lighter Cube and hopefully feeling healthy myself.

Mad_Malx

Impressive on 2.35" tyres.
Glad you enjoyed it.

reformedfatty

Seconding that! What gearing are you running on your Wazoo? I'd be running out of gears for the flat / downhill sections on mine. Only changes on mine are change of shifters and 9 speed cassette, still the same top end gear.

sloppyschleckonds

Sounds a fantastic ride, well done

N0bodyOfTheGoat

reformedfatty wrote:

Seconding that! What gearing are you running on your Wazoo? I'd be running out of gears for the flat / downhill sections on mine. Only changes on mine are change of shifters and 9 speed cassette, still the same top end gear.

I'm using the default 24/38 chainrings with an 8-speed 11-30 at the mo, having reverted from a 34T 1x8 On One Ringmaster recently (because my local Dell Rd has similar ~20% sections to those Mendip hills).

24-26 got a lot of use yesterday! Even on the flat, I rarely used a bigger gear as 38-20.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1273656671