Despite torrential rain falling for the best part of the day, the 10th Anniversary Severn Bridge Sportive and Family Cycling Day was one of the best versions of this event yet.
Everyone who took part in the day enjoyed themselves on two wheels – from the 3 year old who managed four laps of the nearly 2-mile circuit on his own bikes, to the first people back in from the 102-mile Sportive route.
Thanks for the lovely Severn Bridge ride out today. Cracking route, amazing feed stop and a very convenient HQ. The best thing? The lovely, cheery people who look after us. Awesome as ever.
Thanks to the organisers and volunteers on the day. A great ride and chilled feel to the day. Shame about the weather but who controls that. Shall be back again.
Nearly 250 people took to the roads of the Cotswolds, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and South Wales for a beautiful ride taking in some of the best roads, views and scenery that our lovely area of the country has to offer. Along the way, they were greeted and fed at the friendly feed stations, supported by our fantastic mechanic team and their route was mapped out for them by the now quite famous Andy Cook Cycling red arrows! On return to Castle Combe Circuit, they were cheered across the finish line by our team and given their well-deserved goody bag and food voucher – which they could swap for a delicious and warming bowl of pasta under the shelter of event HQ. Having recovered from the rain, and whilst reminiscing about their ride, the participants enjoyed the special discounts on offer at the Alé Clothing stand – many bargains were purchased!
Those families who braved the weather forecast enjoyed riding round the 1.89 mile circuit, usually famous for hosting speeding cars and motorbikes. The winners of this year’s Circuit Lap Challenge managed 32 laps in total – partly made up of 12 laps completed by an amazing 8 year old who just didn’t want to stop!
Our fantastic event photographer Rich Lewton was working especially hard from very early in the morning to capture every aspect of the day. If you joined us on the day, we’re sure you will agree that he has done a fantastic job of capturing the smiles and the fun that was had – and he has managed to make the dark skies and rain disappear in this shots! Rich’s photos are really worth a look – he has spent hours editing them and has split them into four categories. We’re sure you’ll be able to find yourself, and perhaps you could support Rich’s excellent work by downloading or buying a print of your favourite photo? Prices start from £1.95, and Rich is happy to help produce your photo in the format you would like – just send him an email on richlewtonphotography@gmail.com if you can’t find what you’re looking for on the links below:
There was plenty to see and do at the circuit throughout the day other than ride a bike – a vintage bike stand with lots of interesting and well-loved machines from the last century; premium cycling clothing brand Alé had some amazing bargains on their fab kit; local artist Yvette Linehan was displaying her beautiful range of cycling-themed artwork; our charity partners the National Autistic Society held a raffle with some really great prizes, as well as a hula-hooping competition, won by a talented girl who managed to keep her hoop up for 45 minutes! As well as this, we had Go-Ride sessions taking place, Frog Bikes were there with the demo fleet, we had delicious food provided by Combe Catering and the usual excellent coffee courtesy of Shaun at Cafe-2-U.
A lot of money has been raised so far for our charity partners and we’ll keep you all updated on the final amount! We’d like to thank everyone for supporting this event yesterday and for making it such a good one.
Keep your eyes peeled for information about 2020’s Sportive and Family Cycling Day!