• Our next Road Sportive is on 17th May 2026

    Join us and experience our new, fabulous routes in the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire

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Black Rat Cycling – Bristol Sportive and Cycling Trips

Bristol Sportive

The Black Rat is a cyclosportive in Bristol and it is one of the most popular sportives in the south west.

Our 2026 event will take place on Sunday 17th May.

We have two routes to choose from, a Granfondo route of 160km and a Mediofondo route of 117km. Both routes take in some of the best of the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire. These are completely new routes, so if you have joined us previously, you will find yourself on new roads.

Cycling Trips In Europe

We also organise cycling trips each year. Upcoming trips include the Route des Grandes Alpes, from Lake Geneva to Menton on the Mediterannean Coast, crossing some of the highest mountains in the French Alps, regular trips to Portugal, a fantastic week riding through 4 countries, from Venice to Dubrovnik and a week riding across the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

We will cross the whole of the French Pyreneen range, including some of the iconic cols used in the Tour de France – The Tourmalet, Peyresourd, Aubisque, Aspin and many more.

We also arrange bespoke trips for groups – please tell us where you want to ride and we will do all of the organisation for you.

We will also be taking a gravel trip to Portugal in June 2026. It can be ridden on a gravel bike or an XC mountain bike – whatever is your preference.

We also offer Race / Event Timing. If you run a timed sporting event, check out our service!

sportive in bristol

Events 2026

Cycling tours in the Pyrenees

Charity

Cycling Trips

Who we are

We have been successfully organising the Black Rat Sportive in Bristol since 2018.

Our first sportive was based around the Mendips, since this is an area that we know very well from riding locally ourselves. However we decided to give our riders something different and found some routes taking them over the Severn Bridge and through the Forest of Dean to Monmouth and back.

Now in 2024, our riders will cross the highest road in Wales – Gospel Pass along with many other fabulous places in Monmouthshire and Powys.

What we do

Our rides to Wales have been a tremendous success and very popular, but avoiding busy roads in Bristol has been a challenge, prompting us to move to our new HQ at The Hood Memorial Hall in Devauden.

The new HQ gives us easy access to the quiet roads of the Wye Valley and onwards into the delightful roads in Monmouthshire.

Check out the events to see this year’s routes!

Thanks to Chris Kemp for use of some photos on this website!

Dear All

Just a quick note to say thank you and well organised. This was my second ever event and really enjoyed it, even though some bits were hurting for the last 10 miles!

Thanks again.

Best trip ever ….. 

The Route des Grand Alpes in 2019 was very well organised; riders are well supported on the road; it was good fun … a challenge but a very enjoyable one. 

The trip exceeded my expectations and by the last day I’d already signed up for next year’s trip without even knowing where they were going!

Firstly, many thanks for a great Granfondo course on Sunday, easily the best Rat I’ve yet ridden.
Really liked the venue and as you say all staff were helpful and friendly.
And GREAT to see draught Black Rat back on the menu!

I enjoyed my ride on sunday and am now fully recovered…just!
So thank you for a great day.

I joined the Pyrenees Coast 2 Coast trip in 2022. I loved every minute of it! Fantastic routes, great back up from the team and a really fun crowd to enjoy the evenings with after finishing each day’s ride. Thanks!

Thanks very much for a great ride, my first Black Rat but not my last.

Big thank you to every one! such a well run event I had a great day!
This was my first Black Rat C/S and already pencilled in for next year!!

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