Up and out early with the Kingsway CC again today. Nice to see a good turnout of 9 this morning (8 lads and 1 lass). We did a big loop around South to Frocester via Frampton to accommodate those who wanted a flattish ride, before splitting into 2 groups at Frocester. The flat ride group made their way directly to Sainsbury's at Dudbridge (Stroud), while the rest of us went up over Frocester Hill. This is my favourite training hill, as you get glorious views over the Severn Valley from the sweeping S bends on your way up. It seems to be a fairly steady 7-10% gradient all the way up, which is just over a mile of climbing. As usual, I made my way up in pretty ugly fashion, grinding my way up in the granny gear with steam rising from my head. Got up in one again, despite a vicious headwind in places adding another dimension to the climb, then enjoyed the tailwind all the way along the escarpment and the 2 mile descent into Dudbridge.
Everone with a bike seemed to be out today, perhaps sensing that this is the end of the good weather for the year. At Dudbridge, 2 of the Frocester Hill climbers went back with the Cinderella group (who all had to be back home by 12:00), and I made the rather foolhardy decision to go along with
@gordyfinbar, and 2 others and take on another couple of beastly climbs. First came Bear Hill, up from the main Bath Road to the "Bear at Rodborough" on Rodborough Common. For the second time today I was hanging on grimly at the back, desperately keeping control of my breathing and counting my way up the hill. Just after a big S bend in a grassy cutting, I caught sight of the pub up above me and it gave me the lift I needed to get to the top in 1 go. 2 down, 1 to go.
Another great scenic descent from Rodborough Common back into Stroud followed, before we turned off the main road in Cainscross to head up the last beast of the day, Randwick Hil, which started at the 27.5 mile point of our ride. In places, this was the steepest of the 3 climbs, but fortunately it went up in manageable ramps, with just enough respite in between each climb to keep me from abandoning or putting a foot down. It felt like this climb went on for about 2 miles, but then the last climb of the day always seems the longest. All I know for sure is that, at one point about 3/4 of the way up it must have been over 20%, as my front wheel started to skip for a moment - always a tell-tale sign. The other 3 got a nice long rest at the top of Randwick Hill while I spluttered my way up in the far distance. Miracle of miracles! I actually made it, despite the wheels almost refusing to go round at the steepest part of the climb. I must have looked a bit of a state, but I'd made it up my third big climb of the day, and had beaten all of them. Not bad for a fat giant!
What is normally a lovely glide down Horsepools Hill from Edge to Brookthorpe was ruined a bit by a car hanging around right on my shoulder, and a horribly rough road surface in places, but anything that wasn't in the general direction of up was most welcome by this point. Big James hung back to see me home, and another epic ride came to an end at 37.3 miles. Glorious cycling country round here, and this was a nice way to finish the week.
. Apparently he had been 'off in his own little world' and looked up to see I had dropped him and couldn't catch up... 
otherwise it was a morning of random small groups of cyclists, not clubs - don't know where they were. Managed to get through the tail end of the local triathlon at Ardley Hall which we had forgotten about - the road had just re-opened but there were still loads of runners coming in - at least they had the wind as a tailwind even if we didn't. Did spot one man/husband/training partner who had completed the triathlon (medal around his neck) who had gone back looking for the woman/wife/training partner he runs with and was helping her in - she looked close to collapse tbh but was on the last mile by then.
