Sean Barker

Event Name = A Rough Diamond Organised by = Mark Rigby Distance = 301km Total Climb = 2500m Start and finish point = Tewkesbury Entry Fee = £6:50 Date ridden – August 9th 2014 This is a delightful 300 and well worth considering if you fancy a good quality ride without too much climbing. It probably helped that it was such a nice day but despite riding it at a comfortable pace I completed it in less than fourteen hours. So it’s a fast course Controls at Burford, Talybont-on-Usk and Slimbridge mean there are fairly long stretches between café stops, in fact 100km between Talybont-on-Usk and Slimbridge but plenty of chances to take on sustenance between all stops. Controls at Burford, Talybont-on-Usk and Slimbridge plus one info control

Event Name = Mr. Pickwick Takes Flight Organised by = Mark Rigby Distance = 206km Total Climb = 1800m Start and finish point = Tewkesbury Entry Fee = £4 Date ridden – Saturday 5th July 2014 206km cycling event starting from Tewkesbury. I rode this last year and remembered it as being an easy and uneventful day. Well this year was to prove rather different, a heavy downpour early in the ride left us all soaked through and then I was to get three punctures and ride the last 50km very nervously indeed as I was clean out of innertubes. The course however was as you would expect from a Mark Rigby event without fault, perhaps easier than his usual courses but a thoroughly enjoyable event nonetheless with excellent cafes at the controls. Defenetly one for next year. The course made its way to Wellesbourne for the first control and then on tothe Aerodrome at Turweston and finally on to his well used café in Chipping Norton, where the selection of cakes is always impressive. Controls at Wellesbourne, Turweston. and Chipping Norton., plus 3 information controls.

After riding this on Tuesday I have made some alterations to the course which I feel improve it. I have managed to cut out some of the busier sections of road and only added a kilometer to the overall distance. Here is the new updated map http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5200962 I have also updated the Audax UK pages gps and route sheet files.

Congratulations to Tim Taylor who this week became the first non Saracen member to successfully complete this Audax ride.

Thanks for that Richard. A fantastic review and account of the course, event and whole experience.

I rode it again yesterday and took this photo from the bridge at Bewdley

A record of Cyclosportives ridden by Saracen members

This event is proving quite popular. Despite only having been added to the Audax calendar recently, there have already been four different riders applying for Brevet cards. (only one Saracen so far though)

The Saracen RC run two permanent Audax 200km events, this is the second of these. The entry form can be found on the Audax UK site on the following link http://www.aukweb.net/perms/detail/SBA02/ Additional details can be found on the website