Rapha Prestige West Country, 14 August 2016
I wasn’t entirely sure what the Rapha Prestige West Country was when I agreed to do it, just that teams of 4 would have to get to 4 checkpoints, which would be released 48 hours before the event. Rapha would give riders a route which could be followed exactly or amended to include more or less miles, on or off road, it was entirely down to you… making it an, errr, alleycat x sportive x race x audax? The answer was all and none of these things, it was awesome!
Team Sausage Watts Headset Press
Our team consisted of James Cuff, William Hibberd, Jamie Salvage and myself. 
Jamie had kindly organised some team jerseys so we could ride in style; I had a navy Rapha core jersey, which I teamed with a Rapha baselayer, Miltag shorts, Donkey Label socks and a Hunt Wheels cap!
The checkpoints
- Rapha Archive Store
- Shepton MalletUphill, Weston-Super-Mare
- Cheddar Gorge
- Bristol Airport
Starting and finishing at Mud Dock, teams had to visit each checkpoint in the correct order using whatever route they liked as long as it did not include the A37, A38 or A368. The route recommended by Rapha came in around 110 miles but, with a few tips from our friends and a bit of local knowledge, we’d managed to get our route down to about 95 miles, with about 95% of it being ‘on-road’. With this in mind I decided to ride my Engineered Zondag, swapping the knobbly tyres for some slick 28s, which was super comfy and meant I had no problem on the muddy/gravel / rocky shortcuts.
The start was staggered and teams soon split after the first couple of back roads out of Bristol, heading to the checkpoints in order meant that whilst you might be taking a different route to other teams, you’d usually cross paths a few times on the way and meant you didn’t feel pressured or rushed to get anywhere fast as you had no idea which way was better or how anyone else was doing. It’s this which made the day so much fun, meeting so many people, riding roads we wouldn’t usually take and bumbling along quiet lanes in the sunshine with friends – bliss! 
Kudos to Rapha for organising the day so well, with such fun checkpoints, people found themselves shopping for discounted Rapha apparel in the archive store whilst filling their bottles and grabbing a Nut bar, enjoying ice lollies, Pedal Bites with an espresso or can of coke on the beach and chomping a cheese and pickle sarnie at the top of Cheddar Gorge!
Back at Mud Dock a feast was served, RaphaxMud Dock beers were drunk and everyone was able to share stories of their day or gab a shower, whilst the remaining teams rolled in. Although not a race there were prizes for ‘First Team’, ‘First Womens Team’, ‘King of Pain’, ‘Best Hashtaggers’, ‘Best Dressed’ and ‘Lantern Rouge’. We were stoked to pick up Best Hashtaggers, for documenting our day via social media, you can check out all the photos on Instagram under #raphaprestige and #prestigewestcountry.
Even as I type this now I find myself smiling, thinking of just how much fun Sunday was and how I’d love to go and do it all over again. Sadly i’m not sure I’ll be able to make the Womens Rapha Prestige on 18th September, but if you can I would urge you to do it!!
Hello world.
Right, today’s the day.
For no real reason, it’s a pretty standard Wednesday, but I’m going to attempt to start my blog again.
Having had some time off the bike, attending a tonne of weddings and ‘summer’ parties, I’m beginning to get really quite excited for training this winter.
It may sound like I’m wishing away the rest of summer and that’s definitely not the case, I LOVE the sun, however since coming home I’ve struggled to get back into a routine and find it easier in the winter. Realising how unfit I’d got being away, my plans of a full season of road racing went out the window, and I lost my TT mojo along the way too. Now, I’ve got some base miles in my legs and a semi-decent starting point, I’d like to have a go at ‘training’ for something and seeing if I could achieve more. The question is what?
I’ve still been doing the odd time trial, a couple of road races, a crit, some summer CX series, a spot of MTBing (with less tears) and some fun things like the Rapha Womens 100, Dundry Drubber and the Fred Perry ride, which has given me some new skills and a social life again – hurrah – but it’s still not really helped me make up my mind about what I want to do next year.
Luckily there’s still some time to decide and a diary of errr (mostly) fun things coming up which may help give me an idea, including the South West Rapha Prestige next weekend; a week in the Pyrenees at the beginning of September and the Revolve24 track cycling challenge at Brands Hatch 10/11 September, then it’s time to learn how to ride my CX bike properly for the winter CX series!
For many the season is coming to an end, but for me it’s just beginning!
A girl and a bicycle 