Black Rat Cyclosportive

After a very successful Bristol sportive in May 2013, we are now delighted to give you details of our 2014 event which will take place on Sunday May 18th.

After a lot of discussion between ourselves and riders that have taken part in our previous events, we have decided that this year we will take a completely different route to ones we have used in the last 4 years. When we organised our first sportive there were no others around the Bristol area and we naturally chose routes that took riders over the Mendips. However, there are now several sportives that use these well ridden roads so we believe that now is the time to offer you something completely different!

We present to you the Three Bridges Ride!

We will have two routes - of 100km and 100 miles - and both will take riders from the base at Gordano School, across the Clifton Suspension Bridge, with its fantastic views of Avon Gorge, out to Aust, where you will cross the Severn Bridge to Wales (and ride back across it) and on your return journey to Gordano you will also cross the Avonmouth Bridge alongside the M5.

These are two excellent routes and the longer one was very much enjoyed by the riders that joined us on a taster ride in September to trial it. Both routes will include some testing climbs and some fabulous descents, and apart from a few places that are unavoidable we have kept to quiet roads.

Both routes will be marshalled and will have mechanical back-up as usual plus our very well stocked feed stations at strategic points along the way. All riders will be electronically timed and will receive a souvenir Black Rat glass tankard, some free Black Rat cider and a hot pasty after the ride.