The Fridays Cycling Club

Report by: Steve

On Friday 27th September a perfectly formed group of Fridays assembled on College Green ready for the last coastal adventure of 2024. The interactive pre-ride briefing was dispensed with, and a trusted friend was dispatched to Temple Meads train station to wait for a regular who’d shown considerable determination and resilience in the face of GWR’s best efforts to ruin his evening.

Off we went, bang on midnight, immediately tackling the toughest climb of the whole ride as we inched our way past the bars, clubs, cheers and jeers, and made our way to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Riding over it has never lost its magic, and London-based Fridays can only wonder at clearing the city boundary after 20 minutes of riding. Descending to the Avonmouth bridge, we paused at a charming subway to be joined by our friends who had valiantly sprinted from Temple Meads. Up and over, down and up, onto the lanes and a stop at the services for a splash and dash, with the filling station attendant providing service with a snarl and a refusal to let us buy coffee from the machine. By now the temperature was plummeting as we headed over the Severn Bridge (it crosses the Wye estuary too) and into Wales, admiring the crescent moon over our shoulders. Having ridden up one coastline, we rode down the other, as we increased the pace to keep warm and head for the tender embrace of Magor services, exactly halfway. Never let it be said that I don’t treat you.

We left behind the services and its festival of litter segued into my favourite part of the ride: the Gwent Levels. Misty, narrow lanes, fields, streams, no traffic, and a Comedy Offroad section to deliver us into Newport. A dash up the main road, and a pause at the Transporter Bridge, fenced off and closed for refurbishment. Back to the levels, we picked our way through the appalling road surface (Wales, you’re getting as bad as England!) as dawn broke, and we headed into Cardiff. Riding past the start of the much-missed Cardiff-Swansea route, we headed over the barrage and into a leadership failure: I had nipped to the loo but got stuck as the drawbridge was raised, leaving most of the ride on their own in Penarth. Sorry about that. Re-united, we took the scenic route via Sully and knocked off the last few clicks to Ynys I Barri, which was a picture in the morning sun. Whitmore and Jackson was as brilliant as ever, and we enjoyed some malted recovery as the more energetic peeps in our group either went for a swim in the sea, or joined the local Parkrun.

All in all, I think it went rather well. A dry, clear night, few mechanical problems, and a great bunch of people made this an easy one to lead. My thanks to you all, in particular Martin who did a sterling job as TEC, and Mark for his recovery services at the beginning. After some thought, and having led this ride since 2017, I’ve decided to retire it: persistently falling numbers lead me to conclude that we should make space in the calendar for other rides likely to attract more interest. Thanks to you all for your good company over the years.