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@clubman
There is an unfortunate error in the description of the HCC137 course (for this Saturday’s event) on the Hounslow website.
The website says “go west on B386 to junction with Staple Hill where bear left.” This is not correct.
It should read: “ Go west on B386 continue over motorway bridge to roundabout (3miles) where take first exit and continue on B386 to roundabout junction with B383 (3.9 miles) where take first exit onto B383.
The rest of the description is ok, but I’ll add my own notes.
About 100 yards before this left turn there is a restaurant on your right called ‘The Cloche Hat’ – a white painted, timber framed building.
Continue along Red Lion Road (a country lane, by the way) which becomes Gracious Pond Road. There is a sharp right hand bend at 6.6 miles which requires caution. This can be recognised by a ‘Slow’ sign on the road, a chevron bend sign, and the White Cottage just by the bend which is visible from some distance away.
Gracious Pond Rd ends in a T junction at Stone Hill Rd. (7.2. miles, sign posted ‘Ottershaw’) Turn left, but take care as there is some traffic on this road. This will take you back to the start area to turn very sharp left to start the next lap.
I can only apologise for the mess up with our web site, but although the course may sound complicated in this description, it is easy to follow when you are on the road. I hope and expect to have some marshals, and there will be direction arrows. There will be a sketch map at the start.
Note that much of the course is overhung with trees. Therefore I recommend the use of LED lights. I rode over the course this afternoon (Thursday) and can report that there was no great problem with fallen leaves – but this might change by Saturday, so please be aware of this potential hazard.
Just a word on gearing. I used 86.5” (49x15) this afternoon, and even though I am stricken with age I did not have any great difficulty with the climbs. I’ll need to go faster on Saturday though, if I’m going to avoid being embarrassingly slow.
The website shows the start area correctly, but just in case of problems, make sure you have my mobile phone no. to hand. (see my personal details on this forum).