Stage 1 (Bridgwater-Watchet): 32k -- 525m of climb

Stage 2 (Watchet-Wimbleball): 50k -- 975m

Stage 3 (Wimbleball-Porlock): 90k -- 1890m

Stage 4 (Porlock-S. Moulton): 128k -- 3030m

Stage 5 (S. Moulton-Clatworthy): 172k -- 3660m

Stage 6 (Clatworthy-Bridgwater): 204k -- 4290m

Just a few impressions from the 1997 Exmoor grimpeur--with an improved route a whole half-point less hAAArd than last year. Mark Lilly, the new event organiser, fortunately opted not to tamper with last year's weather: brilliant but cool sunshine. Organisation was superb: All controls except the Wimbleball and South Molton cafes provided free food and drink (and cabaret), and AUK direction signs were thoughtfully installed at any dubious junctions, or junctions that might be encountered in the dark.

The first stage took us from Bridgwater over Croak'Em hill, so we could check our legs and lungs on the way up and our brakes on the way down, then headed for the coast at Watchet on a road so flat we were able to practice paceline technique into the wind. Now that we had lost all the altitude we had gained on Crowcombe hill, stage two headed back inland to Wimbleball lake, via a long series of steep B-road climbs. Stage three was the killer: a wall out of Brompton Regis, a long climb between Wheddon Cross and Exford, another looooong draaaaag out of Exford, then a 1 in 4 out of a combe (the preceding descent was best described as, erm, technical. If you have brown cycling shorts, wear them). I remembered the hair-raising road down into Porlock from last year, but even braking hard was unable to slow quite enough to make the acute left turn at the junction halfway down, just after the bumpy 1 in 4 bit. I opted to ride gently up the bank on the opposite side of the road...

The route took the toll road out of Porlock. I thought I knew that, a nice steady middle-ring sort of a climb. Be warned: THERE IS ANOTHER TOLL ROAD! I'm not saying it was steep and long, but the sheep at the top were wearing crampons and oxygen masks. The control, in classic AUK style, was at the summit. Randonneurs flung their bikes aside and collapsed into the thoughtfully provided garden chairs, gasping like stranded fish.

Mark's route sheet warned of the need to take care on the descent into the Oare valley. Recalling my experience on the plummet into Porlock, I was ready to abandon bike and walk at a moment's notice. The tricky bit proved to be just (ha!) a couple of 1 in 4 hairpins, so there was no problem. No, really.

A while later a wailing siren on a single-track road heralded the appearance of a fire engine. I pulled off the road into a field entrance. The fire engine stopped alongside and a fireman leaned out: Did I happen to have seen a fire anywhere? (Nope, only smoking brake blocks.)

The route to South Molton offered several steady climbs, and some excellent descents. It was good to see the views from the moorland above Simonsbath--last year the moor was shrouded in smoke from burning bracken. The fire engine reappeared, still looking for its fire.

A quick stop in the South Molton cafe, and then off again on the penultimate leg. The route had changed since last year, so instead of a seemingly unending climb out of North Molton, there was a seemingly unending climb onto Molland Common. The payoff was a glorious ride along the ridge above Dulverton, with sweeping vistas on both sides of the road.

The final control--free food yet again!--was in the car park above Clatworthy reservoir, which by this time was in shadow. I put on my windtop when I stopped, but even so was shivering so hard I spilt as much tea as I drank. There was only one solution--get back on the bike for the last leg (on my last legs). This year I made it to Cothelstone just as the sun was setting and was actually able to see the Jacobean manor house and picturesque hamlet that last year I grovelled past in the dark.

The consensus in the pub at the finish was that the new route, while definitely challenging, was indeed a little easier than the old, but no less rewarding. For the record, I got round an hour and a half faster (less slowly) than last year, and I don't think this was down to fitness...

Riders on the Exmoor were subject to a bizarre mass hallucination, doubtless due to the influence of Comet Hale-Bopp. Several people reported seeing Dave Pilbeam riding a mountain bike. With a saddlebag, not a cardboard box on the back. And, while we're on the subject of weird phenomena, somebody was riding fixed. But there were no trikes. Now THERE'S a challenge for someone...

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