Initally for PacTri: The PacTri Strada Bianche
Super-Bun Course
The Strada Bianche has to go down as a real 'back to riding a bike as a kid' kind of a race. Let's face it - kids ride where they need to (well I did). If the best way from A to B was via the canal tow path then that's where I went. This is the type of mentality that makes the Strada Bianche great - it throws away the resurfaced roads of the Tour and gets back to biking on what ever you need to bike on. You may gather that I'm a fan.
This route has been put together to give a flavor of the Italian great in Somerset. Mike (my son) and I have ridden all of
the course and, although Mike did get a puncture on a road section in Kingston
Seymour, the course proved to be fine for riding on road bikes – in Mike’s case
on his brand new road bike!
The route can be found on the following link - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/8909299.
The lump at 46km doesn’t exist – the ride takes the tunnel under this one but Garmin
doesn’t know about tunnels it seems! The end lump is optional – see the end of
these notes.
The course consists of sections of ordinary road and some
sectors. It’s pretty flat as the sectors replace the hills in terms of
providing the difficulties. We all know that riding super-smooth road is far
easier than riding rough road. The idea of the Strada Bianche (Italian for
‘White Roads, which in Italy means gravel tracks) is that you get sectors of surfaces
which take more energy out of you to get across. The nature of the sectors is
designated by a number but, where-as with hills a low number means hard, on the
Strada Bianche a low number is easy. The meanings for the ratings on this
course are as follows.
1. A road that hasn’t been well looked after. The
tarmac may well be a bit broken. You need to pick your route a bit to miss the
bumps.
2. A road that, as well as being a bit broken, has
accumulated a top surface of loose material such as grit from old tarmac.
3. Not a road – a bike path or surfaced track. The
top surface will be in pretty good condition. By surfaced, that will normally
mean a gravel top. I actually found these some of the easiest bits when we did
the test rides.
4. Like 3, but not in such good condition. Bike
paths tend to accumulate bits of loose vegetation, there will be some. Again,
we had no nasty encounters with sharp bits on the test rides.
5. An unsurfaced track that is, none-the-less,
sufficiently solid on top that a road bike can reasonably be ridden over it.
These obviously take some bike handling skill but it all adds to the fun… The
amount of this has been severely restricted with the only lengthy bits (about
500m in each case) being avoidable if people choose.
In keeping with Strada Bianche tradition the sectors numbers
start big and finish at 1. Sector 14 is the first sector you get to ride;
sector 1 the last.
A list of the sectors on the course: -
Sector Number
|
Sector Name
|
When it comes up
|
How long is it?
|
Sector rating
|
14
|
Far South Promenade, Clevedon
|
3.3km
|
0.3km
|
3 (sort of ‘cobbled tarmac’).
|
13
|
Blind Yeo north bank track
|
3.6km
|
0.6km
|
5 – all but 200m is avoidable via a path if preferred (rating 2).
|
12
|
Strawberry Line
Yatton – Congresbury
|
12.2km
|
2.6km
|
Mostly 3, but with a short section (approx. 100m) of 5 (the ‘3’ is
classic SB track). I was suspicious of this but it’s OK.
|
11
|
Brinsea Lane
|
20.1km
|
0.6km
|
2
|
10
|
Strawberry Line
Thatcher’s Orchard
|
24.7km
|
0.35km
|
5 – all avoidable by doing the other 2 sides
of the square on road.
|
9
|
Strawberry Line
Sandford – Ilex Lane
|
25.2km
|
0.8km
|
3
|
8
|
Shipham Lane
|
27.5km
|
1.3km
|
1 – the only uphill sector – but only a 50m climb.
|
7
|
Axbridge Cobbles – well OK, ‘speed limiting tiles’.
|
34.3km
|
100m
|
1
|
6
|
Hellier’s Lane – Hythe Lane
|
36.9km
|
2.8km
|
2
|
5
|
Strawberry Line
Cheddar – Axbridge
|
41.0km
|
2.0km
|
Mostly 3 – but with about 150m of easy 5 at the start and 100m of 4
at the end.
|
4
|
Lay-by drop down
|
44.6km
|
0.5km
|
4 and a bit downhill – the technically tricky bit.
|
3
|
Strawberry Line
A38 – Winscombe
|
45.2km
|
2.3km
|
Mixed 3 and 4. This sector includes Winscombe tunnel – lights
essential.
|
2
|
Strawberry Line
Sandford – Congresbury
|
51.0km
|
3.7km
|
3 with about 200m of 5 to get onto it from the road.
|
1
|
Whitehouse Lane
|
64.3km
|
1.0km
|
2
|
The 18.6km of ‘Bianche’ are deliberately spread out across
the route as much as I could achieve. The idea is to give sectors followed by
road for a while. As much of the best ‘Bianche’ is around Winscombe, Axbridge
and Cheddar there is a concentration there.
If you want a bun stop then the café
in Winscombe after completing sector 3 makes a good one. If you feel we need a break earlier you
can always stop in Axbridge or Cheddar.
Whilst Mike and I got round without picking up punctures on
the sectors there is obviously an enhanced possibility compared with riding
smooth tarmac.
Mike and I did find that when riding the ‘4’ rated sectors it was worth giving
the person in front a bit more space than normal so that we could react to
anything that looked like it should be avoided.
Finally this was FUN. Frankly they were the
most fun I’ve had on a bike in ages. It’s different, it’s engaging and it’s all
in honour of what is, in my opinion, the best one day race in cycling. For
anyone who really wants to ‘do it properly’ there’s always the option to finish
with a sprint up Chapel Hill!
Dave Pye
