The Rawlinson Bracket 2016

The Rawlinson Bracket ride is a hilly ride in the ‘Wilds of Warwickshire’ taking in the gradients of the Edge Hill escarpment. This ride takes place near the anniversary of the departure of a close friend of ours, Nick, who passed away in his sleep on the 24th of February 2012, aged 30.

This event has two objectives - the first is to raise funds for research into, and awareness of, Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS), the second is to allow you to experience the type of riding that Nick enjoyed with a passion.

Nick was a local lad, born and bred in Kenilworth and worked at Jaguar Land Rover. Nick loved cycling, especially the suffering aspect. The Hilly Route goes over some of Nick’s favourite local climbs and training routes. He was using these roads in preparation for the Maratona dles Dolomites in July 2012 and his first season of road racing. He was a keen Strava member and follower of ‘The Rules’ (http://www.velominati.com) especially rule#9. He was also the owner of one of the noisiest bikes I’ve ever come across, after several weeks of ‘swapagnostics’, it finally became clear that the bottom bracket was the culprit. That troublesome component lends it’s name to The Rawlinson Bracket.

ALL PROFITS FROM THIS EVENT GO TO THE SADS UK CHARITY (http://sadsuk.org.uk). In the last three years we have raised over £20,000!

The hilly route is 113km in length and has over 1300 meters of climbing packed into it this year! Think of it as a mini Liege-Bastogne-Liege in terms of gradient and length of climb. Here are some of the climbs you will encounter -

Climb#1 Burton Dassett – A short climb where you will find it difficult to stay out of the red, you may have an audience on the way up, the sheep are always curious.

Climb#2 Shotteswell – The rural version of the Côte de Stockeu, a short steep climb encompassed by houses but no screaming Belgian cycling fans (possibly).

Climb#3 Edge Hill (Knowle Hill) – This climbs appears in ‘Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs’ by Simon Warren. It’s only 600m in length but has a maximum gradient of 14% which makes for a gruelling climb. Nick enjoyed this one and always found some extra power to sprint over the top.

Climb#4 Compton Winyates/Winderton Hill – Another relatively long climb with some interesting kicks, enjoy the scenery whilst riding through the Cotswold village of Winderton – imagine you’re climbing the Roche aux Faucons!

Climb#5 Lady Elizabeth Hill – A relatively long steady climb to allow you to settle in a rhythm before the assault on the last big climb.

Climb#6 Sunrising Hill – Same height gain as the Edge Hill climb but a different character, a max gradient of 16% makes for an attritional climb with an alpine style switch-back at half-way.

Read more at https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/139688/The-Rawlinson-Br...