Up, Down and Far Away

Honiton Spinners have been spotted in Wales, London, in the Tarn Valley, France and, of course, scaling the heights of the East Devon hills.

The third Wales Velothon – 140K (88 miles) is a closed-road sportive, starting and finishing in Cardiff, where Honiton Spinners, and 15,000 others, can pretend they are Tour de France riders as they sweep through towns and villages with spectators clapping, ringing bells and cheering, and as they cut the corners off powering down the descents. There are two iconic climbs, The Tumble, which is a leg-burning 2.6miles long (8-12% all the way) and Caerphilly Mountain, which is shorter but with three lung-bursting steep 18-20% ramps. Tony Ballinger, Scott Rumens and Rob Conabeer zipped round the course averaging 21mph+ with Rob coming in the top 50! Descending from the Tumble, Tony says he had a nasty argument with a kerb and a wall and has the scraped skin to prove it. Jennie Sleeman, Vanessa Glynn Jones and John Burgess, had a great day out in the glorious weather at slightly less ambitious speeds.