London to Brussels in 24 hours: Ride Report

For the second time this summer I’ve had the privilege to be a cycle guide for Action Challenge. The latest ride was to raise money for the British Heart Foundation by cycling a 240 mile route from London to Brussels in 24 hours. 31 Cyclists, signed up for the event, each pledging to raise over £1200.

So at midday on Friday 15^th we set of from Blackheath, London and headed towards the Grand Place, Brussels, first up,  90 miles to Dover. Going was slow leaving London, an early puncture, traffic lights and a sewage leak blocking the road meant we had a slow first leg to Meopham. Going was much better heading through Kent despite the slight head wind and strong sun. The second stop was at the Rasa Kerala Spice Indian restaurant in Charing. By this point it was clear that not all the riders would make Dover and the ferry by 7pm so the decision was made to move our crossing back a few hours.

Sometime after midnight we had regrouped in Calais and were ready to ride the 150 remaining miles to Brussels. I was leading a group of 19 riders along dark, flat French roads. Stopping every 32-38 miles at a control for food and water. For many this was the first time they had ridden at night, it was the perfect introduction. The threat of rain behind us and the 24-hour deadline pushed us along. The temperature was pleasant, the group good humored with plenty of banter and friendship. One of the Sheffield lads fitted a Bluetooth speaker to his bike; listening to Ledzeppelin and Bruce Springsteen on the fast, dark French roads was quite surreal. We kept a nice moving average of between 18-20mph. There were no tired grumpy guys. Good times.

We left the final stop at 10.20am to ride the reaming 20 miles to Brussels.  Allowing for traffic and city roads, this should give us enough time to make the midday deadline. Despite unknowingly cycling on a motorway classified road, and following a misplaced route sign we made Grand Place for 11.40am. We had done it! London to Brussels in 24 hours! Now time for a beer or two.

I had a great time. It was the first time I’d navigated a large group of cyclists over such a long distance, and the first time I’d ridden so far with such a big group, and at night. I’d normally ride 250 miles on my own.

Thanks to all the guys I rode with who made it a very memorable trip, and to the support crew who were just there making things work.

Lands End to John O’Groats for Action Medical Research – My Memories

Last year a post went up on the local Triathlon club forum looking for cyclists capable of cycling long distances at a quick pace to be a support rider on charity rides. Interesting, I thought, so I sent an e-mail along with my long distance cycling CV. Roll the clock forward 10 months and I found myself in Lands End about to set of on a 950 mile adventure to John O’Groats.

The event was managed by Action Challenge to raise funds for Action Medical Research to help stop the suffering of babies and children caused by disease and disability. A good cause in anybody’s book. The format was straightforward: 150 riders cycle 950 miles over 9 days, camping along the way. My job was to help them get to the end.

I’d never done anything like this before so had no idea of what to expect. How fast would the other cyclists be? How experienced are they? What would I have to do? As well as myself, there were two other guys acting as support cyclists. This is them next to Loch Naver on the last day in Scotland Simon on the left, Mark to the right, great guys. We were all support cycling virgins.

I have to be honest and say that I’m finding it hard to know what to write. I could bang on about how beautiful the British countryside is, but most of the people reading this already know that. Or I could tell how the most punishing ride I’ve ever done was not dished out to me by race whippets trying to rip my legs off but by a slow smiley woman!  No, the memory that will stick with me is of the relationships formed, the reasons people were undertaking the challenge and the emotional outpourings during the later parts of those 9 days. Sure the landscape, weather and hardships probably made those relationships all the more acute but the back stories of why people were riding, what they had done to raise the money, what they had sacrificed in order to train, it blew me away! I’ve always ridden a bike and I now ride long distances for fun, but many of these guys and girls had barely ridden a bike before signing up, and here they were having a go and loving being on the bike. It’s music to the ears of a seasoned cyclists to hear non-cyclists ‘getting it’. I have to mention one chap in particular, Tom. That’s him on the right, next to Paul, at the award meal after we finished.

I first rode with Tom on the first day, he was going slow, worryingly slow, but he was very positive and upbeat, he had a plan.  He’d done plenty of training, knew his speed and he knew he could do it.  Tom was 64 on the longest day of the ride (145 miles) and had signed up 15 months before we set off and had only been cycling for 5 months before that. He had also never slept in a tent before. For the last 15 months he’d been focused on arriving at John O’Groats. 15 months! Training for 1 event for 15 months, what a journey in itself. We spent many miles riding together over the 9 days where he told wonderful stories of life as a Concorde Cabin Crew member and stopping to enjoy the view and take photos. One thing for going slow, you get to talk and look around. We crossed the line together in John O’Groats where he cried many tears of happiness through his beaming smile. Soon after I burst in to tears when saying thanks to one of the Medics for just being there and always being so mellow. Thanks Will 🙂

There were so many other stories. Men who had lost young children, or had close friends that had and saw this ride as an opportunity to find some closure. A father and son riding together for the fathers 60th Birthday. But so many riders achieved something so utterly outside their normal life that their achievements make my bike adventures seem easy in comparison. So many successes in one ride.

Thanks for letting me support you through them.

Double Solo 24 hour mtb racing – what fun!

Back in 2009 I had a go at racing solo in a 24 mountain bike race. The rider with the most laps wins! That race did not go so well, I was not really prepared, the bike was making bad noises and I got totally bored of going round in circles for 24 hours. So I’m going back to give 24 hour solo racing another go at the UK Solo Championships. This time with more experience of long distance rides and with the gears removed, yes I decided that it would be ‘good’ idea to ride single speed, well why not, less stuff to make noise.

It should be an interesting race as many riders will have two bikes and at least a support crew to feed them, water them, look after their bikes, give them their race position and shout at them when the going gets hard. In contrast I will have one bike and no support crew. I will be doing this as a real solo ride. And to add to the fun, its seems that the good April weather will break this weekend with the forecast for heavy rain, thunder, lightning and hail. What fun! I will either push through and have a great ride or this race will break me. Follow my twitter feed to find out.

So this coming weekend I will head just up inside the Scottish border on my tod and ride around on my bike for a few hours and try to get myself a decent result. This is a taster of what’s in store for me:

Hell of the North Cotswolds 2011 – A quick report

The Hell of the North Cotswolds or the HONC has become a bit of a staple in my riding calendar. For the past two years I’ve headed down to Winchcombe with the roadrat in tow, but this year, with the 24hr race just round the corner I had to forget ideas of trying to be first back and ride the single speed mountain bike instead. I knew I would not be able to ride with the Tri-1st boys with their gears and array of carbon bikes, instead I would have to take it easy and enjoy the day with steel and one gear.

Well ‘take it easy’ lasted about as long as it took me to get out of the school gate at the start. I thought I might just be able to catch the front group if I spin like a mad man. I did catch two Tri-1st riders and was only about 30 seconds behind the lead group by the top of the first climb, but then we hit the first road section and alas, the geared bikes just drifted away into the distance.

I continued to push on and found that despite being dropped on the roads I was catching and passing everyone else on the hills. Great games of leap frog commenced with a number of riders as the sun warmed up and gave the trails and southern Mediterranean feel.

I finished the 100km route after 5 hours and still  feeling good which has given me a boast of confidence for the 24hr race on the 7-8th of May.

Congratulations to Steve who was the first rider back. He’s wanted that for a couple of years.

This weekend the 24hr prep continue, I’ve just made arrangements for some additional lighting and Rach and I head down south to ride the Ridgeway. Rach on road, myself off road. Should be a good one 🙂

Riding a single speed mountain bike

I’ve decided to try a different way to ride off road this year. No gears, or ‘single speed’ as it’s known. I’ve always sworn that I’m happy with my gears when off road, never had any trouble with them, but something changed quite suddenly and I wanted to have a go without them. So after what feels like too long, I finally stripped the gears and other clutter off the Soul and headed out to give it a go. The plan was to ride from home in Balsall Heath out across the hills and fields of North Worcestershire to Bewdley where if I had time I’d pick up the Worcestershire way and ride to Malvern (that last bit did not happen – another day).

Well, it was quite an experience! One word, punishing! I’ve been riding bikes off road since I was about 8-9, and with the exception of my Raleigh Grifter and its 3 speed hub I’ve had plenty of gears to play with. Clawing your way up a muddy hill on one gear with tired legs, your arms burning, trying not to lose traction or put a foot down is hard work, very hard work! The payoff is a light, silent bike, no gears to grind in the mud, no chain slap and nice clean lines. Don’t laugh but, I love how the bike looks.

The main reason I’ve decided to go down this route is that I’ve entered two races this year and I’d like to be a little bit competitive, but I lack the bike to really do that with. No carbon, titanium or aluminum for me. Then it occurred to me. I ride thousands of miles on my fixie each year, I’m used to grinding up endless steep, shitty roads in Wales with one gear and tired legs, then spinning like a mad man down the other side whilst trying to avoid wheel busting holes and sheep. Actually, I rather like the experience. So I figured, why not play to my strengths and race in the single speed category? Who knows, I might do OK.

So with the exception of a few long road rides, over the coming months you will find me mainly mucking around in the dirt of North Worcestershire getting used to the bike set up. I might even make it over to the Long Mynd, well that’s if I can find someone to go with me.

Mud, Flowers, & Cotswolds Hills: Happy Days in February

A quick ride last Wednesday, well quick in the planning. Download the Beacon Roads CC Cotswold Expedition Audax route and head out at 9.30 for a proper tour of the Cotswolds.

My chosen route is a slight modification of the Beacon CC route but both deliver great views early on over the Vale of Evesham. This view is amazing, but especially so during a mid-summer sunrise.

However, great views mean dealing with the frequent long drawn out hills on the North West side of the Cotswolds. I dread and love riding up on this hill with the fixie in equal amounts.

The ride was marked by 70 miles of head winds on the way down to Burford, and by very muddy roads thereafter. I had to stop twice to scrape the mud out from under the mudguards on both wheels as the build up was causing noticeable drag! But it also gave me an exscuse to stop and whimper by the side of the road. By mile 85 I was struggling!

Looking at that photo again, I can’t believe just how muddy the bike became. Despite the hard riding, I could but not notice numerous small woods where the entire floor was covered in snowdrops. And the beautiful Cotswold houses with the first signs of spring budding and flowering in their gardens. I even passed daffodils that were in full yellow flower. It’s been a long, cold, gray winter but the Cotswolds in February is the perfect place for an early taste of spring. Unfortunatly, the snow drops always seemed to appeared on the way down big hills, and the daffodils on the steepest uphills, so no stopping for pictures of either. After a much needed final stop for hot chocolate I perked up pushed on back to Brum to finish in the dark a little after 7.15pm. 144 miles in about 10 hours, not a fast ride but well worth it for the flowers, the views and the sense of having completed my first real journey of the year. I love riding in the Cotswolds, might have to go there again next Wednesday.

We do have hills in the Midlands

It’s time to start getting in the long miles, and time to really ingrain that appreciation of winter riding in the UK before the spring comes along and injects some colour back in to our lives. The route was simple, and one that I noted in my last post. A sensible 100 mile loop taking in all that the midlands has to offer in the way of hills, lanes and river crossings. From Brum in to a headwind, three times over the Clent hills, a climb out of Bewdley and up on to a fog and drizzle shrouded Clee Hill. Drop down towards Ludlow to fight with the GPS before lunch in Tenbury Wells.

 

Head South East with views back over towards Clee Hill and then on a rolling road to Martley. With legs feeling very heavy and rain threatening the Lickey Hills come in to view for the seventh and last major climb of the day. Thoughts turn to cake, but with a ban on until my Birthday it was straight to the chippy and a large haddock for dinner number 1.

Dinner number 2 arrived three hours later in the form of veggi sausages and mash. The route did what it was supposed to, it ate me up and spat me out. I found new hills, new roads, one’s that I expect will become good friends in time.

Adventures with the GPS thingy

I like paper maps, I really do! They are nice to touch, they fold out to give a great overview of where you are, and just using one makes me feel good. But when your on a bike and have hundreds of miles to cover they can become a real pain to use. As my rides have increased in length, the further I have travel from home the less interesting the roads I use have become. I can’t realistically use paper maps to navigate the many thousands of narrow lanes that cover this country. On top of this, I’d like to take my cycling adventures off the tarmac and on to the even more complex network of bridleways that cover the countryside. There was only one solution, use a GPS device to navigate. So after much research, and by a lot I mean A LOT! A lot more than went in to buying our new house, I ordered a Garmin Dakota 20.

It would seem that deciding which device to buy was the easy part. Most people’s experience of using a GPS is in the car. You tell it where you want to get to, it works out how to get there and then the women directs you, most of the time. On the bike it’s a little different. Often you want to follow a route that starts and finishes in the same place and to do this you either follow a  a route that someone else has created or you created the route yourself before you set of. This is where the fun starts.

I’ve spent the last 2-3 weeks learning GPS talk. What is a track? How is this different to a route? How does my device follow a track? How does it follow a route? Can I get it to beep at me and tell me which way to go at a junction? How do I turn the screen off to save the batteries? Which maps should I use? Can I get on-screen instructions? It’s all a complete minefield as it seems there’s more than one way to skin a GPS.

So what have I learnt so far about the Dakota 20? I have to stress that I’m not going to explain how to do things on the Dakota, such as how to load the maps, or how the software works. What I want to do is let people know how I have found using the Dakota as that might inform other people’s decision as whether to buy it not. If you do have any questions and if I can help then I will gladly reply.

First up some basics, it uses AA batteries which are easy to replace, so if you carry spares you will never run out of power. Not tested battery life properly yet, but the biggest variable seems to be how much screen backlight is used. It has a touchscreen which works well and I’ve used it with big winter gloves whilst riding and not found it a problem. The screen is also more visible than I had thought it would be. The Garmin bike mounting kit is a lot smaller, neater and effective than I thought it would be.

I have loaded UK Open Street Maps onto the device which are free. I’m using the maps produced by Andy Gates which you can get from here: http://ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps/. I want to get a copy of 1:50,000 UK OS maps for off-road and walking use as the Open Street Maps can be patchy when off the road network. I use both G5 and Intel mac’s. The Dakota mounts with no problems on both systems. I’m using Garmin’s Bascamp software on both mac’s with copies of Andy’s maps available from the link above. For creating tracks and routes (see below) I’ve been playing with Bascamp as well as Bikehike and Bike Route Toaster. You can view Ordnance Survey maps using bikehike which is very handy.

If following a route using autorouting in follow road mode then the Dakota works like a car GPS and gives you instructions on where to go. Using it like this you can turn the screen off and set it to beep and light up when you approach a junction. I think this will be good for saving the battery. A route is the journey between any two way-points. The Garmin can create a route that contains up to 50 way-points. This means a long route will need to be broken down in to smaller chunks in order to fit within the 50 way-point limit. The way-points should not be too far apart or the GPS may direct you down a road you do not wish to take.

A track is like an electronic breadcrumb trail. You can set your GPS to record where you have been, it will record a track point every few seconds which can show up on the map if you wish, like an electronic breadcrumb trail. You can also create a track using either software on the computer such as Basecamp or a websites such as Bikehike. You can load a pre-created track on to the GPS that will show up as pink line on the map. You can follow that pink line when cycling but I have not yet worked out how to get the Dakota to behave as it does when following a route, alerting me at a junctions, and turning the screen on, I don’t think it will. This means when following a track the screen always has to be on which I think will take its toll on the battery. However, a track can have up to 1000 track points, which means you don’t need to break a long track into smaller chunks.  I’m finding the differences in functionality between using routes and tracks slightly annoying. I believe other devices such as the Garmin Edge series may not suffer from this problem as they also use courses that are kind of a combination between a route and track, I think?

That’s it for now. I’ve not used the Dakota for off-road navigation yet because I’m in the process of servicing the mtb, but I suspect I will have to use the track approach. Well that’s unless I can use autorouting in follow road mode on the OS maps to navigate down bridleways, which would be very useful! We shall see.

Despite the slight track/route frustration I love having this device. My long road rides have typically headed south from Birmingham and into the Cotswolds, but this morning I put together a nice 100 mile loop using Bike Route Toaster that goes West to Shropshire and then South to Worcestershire on roads that I’m not very familiar with. See all that open space to the West of Birmingham, it’s quite exciting. Click on the picture below to see the route.

What’s most exciting about this route is that I’ve found the much talked about but all elusive Western passage from South Birmingham to Shropshire avoiding the Black Country and Kidderminster. Yay!

OK, time to go exploring.

Looking back and then forward – where next on my bike?

Those of you that follow either myself or Rachel on Twitter and or face-book, or if you happen to know us real life will know that that last couple of months have been a little bit…well distracting. We had a death in the family, news of a new  baby, concussion, dodgy knees, very persistent colds, birthdays, house packing, the mother in laws fart leaving, job applications, edits, sick bikes, and snow. OK so most peolpe have also had to deal with a lot of those things too but it’s left little time for much else, cycling included. So in order to fight the guilt monkeys sitting on my shoulder I’ve found myself thinking back over the year to reflect on what I’ve achieved in order to focus my mind on the year to come and get all excited by it.

What sticks in my cycling mind from last year?

• Riding every Tuesday night from November 2009 to late April with Rich, no matter what the weather
• An early March 200km Audax round the Forest of Dean with Rich
• A sub 12 hour 300km in late March
• Riding the Elenth with Rich during Early April. 300km in to Wales and back where I decided riding fixed is not always a good idea!
• Absolutely punishing myself on the HONC, losing my water bottle and blowing up with horrendous cramp
• Not riding the South Downs Double but riding 400km to Kent on the fixie to see my mum instead
• Not starting the Brian Chapman memorial as I could not be arsed with riding 600km that weekend
• Being on the bike in Kent after midnight in the worst rain I have ever cycled in. What a fantastic night on the bike!
• Following the 2010 Tour Divide and making a promise with Rach to ride it within 2 years!
• Achieved my goal of not riding during the night on the Mille Cymru 1000km and realising that Wales is flat, when your not going up a hill
• A 24 minute, 10 mile time trail on my touring/cross bike
• 3 days of Trans Pennine bikehiking with Simon
• Punctures on the South Downs Double attempt, I really do still kick myself about that!
• A short and very poorly planned tour with Rach, and my first visit to Dorset
• My first time to the Brecon Beacons on the mtb

All in all a year of good cycling memories, but one that was again seriously lacking in off-road miles.

Given those memories I’ve been musing on next year. I did have an initial idea, an un-supported off-road Lands-end to John O’groats attempt to follow in the footsteps of Rob Lee. But Rach and I are about to move house and I just don’t have the kit or the funds required to do that ride, so it will have to wait for now. However, I really want to spend more time off-road and I have some unfinished business that should keep me busy next year.

First up is the South Downs Double.  Seems that another rider has become the 12th person to ride the double in under 24hours but I hope to avoid all the bad luck of my last attempt and add myself to the hall of fame during mid April. I also feel the need to race and finish a 24 solo event. Now I have gone on record for saying that I find going round and round in circles for a day just a little bit boring, but hey I need to give it another go.  I’ve have tentatively penciled in the 24 hours of exposure on the 7th May. I’d better get my entry in for that one soon. Next up is a ride I’ve wanted to do for a while, the Trans Cambrian Way, 100 miles across the middle of Wales. So in true spirit I intend to ride that as a double. I’m thinking of late July for that one as I need to go and ride it during June before I try and put down a good time in July.  And then there is the Keilder 100 in September which I’ve been delaying riding whilst waiting for the right bike. No point waiting any longer, the right bike is not going to happen this year so I might as well just get on and ride it! I need to think about what to do after September but I’m open to ideas.

So a good list of off-road challenges but it seems that I’ve also been sorted out with a Lands-end to John O’groats ride next year. Not off-road as planned but on the road as an embedded rider on the Action Medical Research ride at the end of May. This will be a very different ride to what I’m used too but I’m sure it will be fun, just hope that April and May don’t end up being too much for my poor legs. Rach also want’s to ride the Dunwich Dynamo which is a 200km night ride from London to the Coast at Dunwich which should be a lot of fun. And of course in and among those other rides there will be a steady flow of Audax. The plan is to ride at least 200km every calendar month for 12 months to collect a Round the Year Award, which I think might prove harder to do than it sounds. I hope this challenge will give me something to focus on next Autumn and early winter I would nearly of finished.

One ride I shall not be doing this year is the Paris-Brest-Paris. This is the classic French 1400km road race. I want to get off the road and in to the countryside and signing up for this event would prove a distraction from that goal. And anyway, the PBP is not going anywhere, so I might do it in 2015 for my 40th Birthday.

I think I’ve a nice year lined up where I get to try some new challenges and with any luck I will get to meet some other cyclists here and there. And it’s all going to start’s with the Rapha Festive 500 challenge (riding 500km between 23rd and 30th December) which should give me a nice distraction among the moving house craziness that will be Christmas 2010. Watch this space for my Festive 500 short.

 

An autumnal slog across to the Cotswolds

It’s been a little while since I’ve blogged but that’s because this blog has essentially become a place where I share my cycling trips, and to my surprise I’ve learnt that people do actually read my stories. Well since the South Downs Double I’ve had some down time from the epic rides, I’ve had a few beers, been walking, put on a couple of pounds and tried to work out what next year will be about on the bike. I’ve not entirety figured that last point out yet but what I do know is that getting some big miles in before the new years starts will be a good thing.

So that’s what I did last Saturday, getting the miles in. A quick flick through the Audax calendar reveled a 209km ride from Droitwich down to the Cotswolds to ride around the stunning hills between Cheltenham, Stroud and Cirencester. Now if like me and you have never ridden around this part of the Cotswolds then I highly recommended it, especially at this time of the year, but I also strongly suggest you take some gears!

I set off from home at 6.30am to ride the 21 miles to the start of the ride at 7.45. It’s a 209km ride so I figured riding the fixie I’d be done by 4pm…a nice day out. My plan was to take it easy (ish) have a cuppa or two, maybe a sandwich and generally ease off a bit from my normal pace. Well that was the plan, which went straight out the window within 2 minutes of the start. I just could not help but jump on the wheel of a guy that went of the front, and there I stayed for the remainder of the ride, on his wheel, grovelling up the hills and spinning like a madman down the hills!

The ride was rated as 0.5AA points, which on paper means it’s not that hilly, in reality it’s one of the hardest rides I’ve ever done. Most of the hills were only just about rideable, except for the few I had to walk up, and the downhills a bit bonkers! The first climb was out of Broadway to Snowshill and on to the Cotswolds. After that the hills just kept on coming. Shortly before Cirencester in the area around Syde I very nearly cracked just before picking up my 6th puncture of the week. But what a god send that puncture was as it gave me 10 very valuable minutes off the bike and time to get some food and drink down my neck, the bonk avoided!

After Cirencester the route climbed steadily uphill for 7 miles before dropping all that height gained in half a mile only to go straight back up another stonker of a hill. By this point I was really cursing my choice of bike! We dropped (literally) off the side of Cotswolds and in to Winchcombe and after 100km that was the hills done for the day. All that lay between us and the finish was a fast 30 mile mad dash. My riding partner for the day and I made it back to the finish just after night fall at 5.30pm, nearly 10 hours after setting off where uppon arrival we got stuck in to a great plate off pub grub!

So what set out to be a pleasant 150 miles ended up being nothing but a very rode and cruel re-awakening off my long distance cycling legs. I’ll do this ride again as I think it’s a classic but with gears next time. My next long ride is a 200km jaunt from Tewksbury in to the Brecon Beacons and back on the 20th November, anyone care to join me?

The Empire That Was Russia

The Tsarist Russian Empire is a curiosity to me, I have Rachel and Orlando Figes to blame for that! I’m slowly learning more about this large and rather unique Empire, especially in the period running up to the 1917 October Revolution. A couple of days ago Rachel came across an online documentary photo exhibition of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii’s work. Between 1909-1912 and again in 1915, Prokudin-Gorskii conducted a photographic survey of the Russian Empire at a time when Tsar Nicholas II’s Empire was on the eve of World War 1 and events were unfolding that would take the country to Revolution. During the political backdrop of that period Prokudin-Gorskii’s subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia’s diverse population.

Apart from the extent and quality of the survey, what makes Prokudin-Gorskii’s work so remarkable is that he constructed his own photographic technique and equipment so his images could be viewed in colour. By taking a series of three black and white slides in short succession using red, green and blue filters that he combined by projection on to a screen, he was able to reproduce Russian scenes in colour.

The Library of Congress in the USA purchased the photographs and are currently presenting Prokudin-Gorskii’s survey in colour on their website. Just click on the 1911 portrait of The Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan below for The Empire that was Russia exhibition:

South Downs Double (SDD) Attempt – What Happened?

Good question, so what did happen?

I blogged about my reasons for wanting to ride the South Downs Double (SDD) back in April but instead I ended up doing a 243 road ride from Birmingham to Kent on my fixie. But last Friday, Friday the 13th no less, things came together and I was able to have a go.

The South Downs Double is a 200 mile double crossing of the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne and back to Winchester. My goal was to do it unsupported in under 24 hours. This meas I would have to carry all my food, tools, spares, and find my own water en-route. I’m not sure how many people have done this unsupported in under 24 hours, but I do know that 12 have managed it in under 24 hours and are therefore members of the South Downs Double Club. I hoped to be the 13th.

I suppose planning started back in August 2008 when I first rode the route with Simon, I was learning the route. Rachel was on a visit to Berlin with her Dad in the week before and this gave me a few evenings for pure unadulterated fettling, but, as I would later learn, I had overlooked something. I cleaned the bike, oiled the chain, bagged up energy drink, cereal bars and made a stack of sandwiches. I even went to the effort of calculating how many calories I would need to ensure that I would not pack too much food. Bit sad really, but do you know how many calories there are in a cheese sandwich? Thought not. Well mind had 375.

The plan was simple, catch a train from Birmingham to Winchester. I was due to arrive at 12.30pm. Faff for 30 minutes and set of towards Eastbourne at 1pm. Arrive at Paradise Drive, Eastbourne before 1am, and head back towards Winchester to arrive by 1pm Saturday. Catch a train back to Birmingham and head to a friends leaving party for beer. I didn’t have a GPS tracking device so I would tweet my location whenever I stopped for water. Simple!

So on Friday 13th I was stood in front of King Alfred’s statue in Winchester waiting for 13.00 to arrive hoping to be the 13th person to make the journey in under 24 hours. Think I was a bit nervous about all the 13’s.

At 1pm the rain started and of I went. I can’t remember too much for the first hour, a mother and daughter by a gate, ran over their water bottle, happy walkers, a guy saying something about bikes, rain stopping, going the wrong way for a couple of minutes, the pub with camping in the garden and then Old Winchester Hill. This is where the ride starts for me. It’s the first real hill on the route so things slow down a little and I started to settled down a little. I pass Whitewool Farm where we camped two years ago and quickly found myself climbing up Salt Hill and past the Sustainability Center (should go there sometime). Heading towards Buster Hill the rain started again and I get a proper soaking! Before long I was weaving through the trails of the Queen Elizabeth County Park. I’d made it there in a little over 1 1/2 hours, I was going well. The next section too Cocking provides the first real sight of the downs, the steep slopes, the views North over the flat lands and the bare chalk paths. The rain had eased, the sun came out and it was a real pleasure to be riding. I could hardly believe that I was actually having a go at the double!

Cocking and my first water stop was soon upon me. Looking back at my tweet, it would seem I was there by 3.37pm. That was only 2 hours 37 minutes for 35 miles, this was quick. I filled up quickly and set of up the hill but it looked like I was going to get wet again. The next milestone was Amberley at around 47 miles. Between Cocking and Amberley I had to deal with my second real soaking, lot’s of mud, a heard of cow’s blocking the route and the lethal wet downs chalk! By the time I reached the top of Amberley Mount I was covered in mud, very wet had nearly come of a few times and was wondering if this was really a good idea? But I do remember looking at my computer at this point and thinking “I’m going too fast, if I keep this pace I’ll make Eastbourne in a little over 8 hours, I’m not Ian Leitch, Mike Cotty, Rob Dean or Rob Lee, that’s too fast, I don’t know how I will deal with this pace, I’d better slow down!” So I eased of a bit.

Thankfully the rain stopped on top of Amberley Mount and little patches of blue sky appeared, but no sun. The next couple of hours ticked along nicely. The views from the tops of the hills were great, the rain stayed away and the trails were much dryer. However, I was becoming increasingly aware that my forks were not working as they should, it’s was like someone had wound up the re-bound damping and the ride was becoming firmer. There was also a rattly sound coming from the rear wheel and I was aware that the bottom bracket really could do with being replaced.  At 6.31pm I decided to stop at Devils Dyke, have a stretch and take a look a look at the bike. Sure enough the cassette was coming lose, so I tightened it the best I could, the bottom bracket was a bit loose, nothing I could do about that, and I regained some travel and rebound in the forks after some twiddling. I really need to send them for a service when I get home. Quick look at the computer and tap locations, I’d done 66 miles, so 2/3 of the way to Eastbourne and the next water tap was 11 miles away, I was still going well and had water so I pressed on.

The next 11 miles went very fast, I can’t recall much apart from clocking the location of the water tap at Saddlescombe. I was at the A27 and the Housedown Farm water tap before I knew it. Time for more water and my first protein drink.

This is where Simon and I had to bail on our first attempt at the South Downs Way. Back then it had taken us 14 hours to reach this point. My 3rd tweet confirms I had made it there in 6 hours 45 mins this time. Twice as fast. It was 7.45 pm and despite the hills I knew were still to come, Eastbourne was just 23 miles away, I was sure I could make it there by 10pm thus completing the first 100 miles in 9 hours, and without having to thrash myself to do so. So after filling up I pushed on.

The first climb after the A27 is long and steady around a big bowl in the hillside and from the top you can see where the South Downs Way must drop over the River Ouse to then climb up Itford Hill. Looking down over the Ouse you can feel the end of the South Downs Way and the mid point of this ride. The route takes you along the top of Kingston Escarpment before heading down a concrete farm track towards Southease. Shortly after blasting down this track my rear tire went flat. Bugger!

No problem, just change the tube. Bike upside down, wheel off, tube out, fit new tube, what’s this? I’d packed a tube for the Roadrat, completely the wrong size. Shit! OK, fine just fix it. Found the hole, patched it, found the thorn responsible, pull it out. Put the wheel back on, oil up the chain. Night was falling, so I put another layer on and set the lights up. Then I go to ride away, shit! The tire was flat gain. OK, bike back upside down, wheel off, tire off, tube out. Found the hole, patched after two attempts, now for the thorn, where is it? Where is it? WHERE IS IT? Umm! Ok, just put the tube back in and see what happens, but I’m not happy about it!

By this point I’d been on the side of the hill for 40 minutes in fading light, with the temperature dropping and I was cold. And then it happened. Do I carry on knowing I have no spare tube, only a couple of patches with the possibility of a thorn I cannot find still in the tire or do I bail?

It was a hard decision to make. If a flint slashes my tire and tube I could not fix with the patches I have, I’d seen guys puncture 4-5 times over just 60 miles of this route before. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck at 1 or 2 am with a puncture I could not fix and no real bailout option. If I bailed now I could at least head to Lewes and catch the last train to somewhere. So at mile 82, with my legs still going strong my attempt at the South Downs Double ended because of a fettling oversight. With a heavy heart and a tire full of patches I headed off route towards Lewes train station.

Luckily my parents were happy to collect me from a train station. Gatwick seemed the logical choice, a short train journey from Lewes and a quick blast down the motorway for them. Before long I was sat on a train covered in mud talking to the train manager about the ride. Just a few hours earlier I had been on-route for a sub 24 hour maybe even a sub 20 hour ride of the double and here I was eating my cheese sandwiches and emergency chocolate on a train bound for Gatwick. It just got weirder when on exiting Gatwick train station I found myself in the middle of the South terminal covered in mud and surrounded by squeaky clean holiday makers looking at me like I’d arrived from another planet. Planet South Downs Double indeed! Before long I’d been whisked away from the crazy airport world by my parents, and told them stories of my adventure whilst they cooked up some grub. Thanks Mum and Chris 🙂

So, I’ve had a real taste of long distance off-road rides and it seems that despite my concerns Trio was right, it’s not about the bike. But I still believe the bike helps. Despite not finishing I really enjoyed myself and it’s given me a massive confidence boast, I’m able to ride long miles off-road at a good pace. I was going really well, keeping a pace that I know I could have maintained for the duration and apart from the fettling oversight, I’d prepared well. Just means that I’ll have to try the double again sometime.

Seems the 13’s may have got the better of me.

Mille Cymru ride report delivered through the medium of cartography

One of the Mille Cymru riders has put together an innovative ride report. Essentially it’s an annotated map of the ride. Just click on the picture below, download the pdf and zoom in to read the report. Just to note, the line depicting the route relates to the hilliness of the route. The thicker the line, the more hilly!

2010 Mersey Roads 24hr Time Trail

Whilst I was grinding my way round the Welsh hills last weekend an equally mad group of cyclists were taking on the Mersey Roads 24hr time trail. The winning distance was 516.11 miles by John Warnock. Maybe one day, if I have the right bike, I’ll give it a go. Anyone want to be on my support crew?

Fellowship of the (Granny) Ring – My Tales of the Mille Cymru & 1000km round Wales #mc1k

Well that was one hell of a ride!

Not sure where to start with this one. When a single ride has been the focus and reason behind all other rides for seven months it becomes hard to put into words the experience. I find myself wanting to describe why I love Audax. It’s the fact that it’s non competitive, that you can stop, sit down and have a coffee or tea whenever you want, that it’s essentially you, your bike, the road and the world around you. There’s no safety net of marshals, road closures, or people cheering you on, if things go wrong you have to figure it out yourself. There are the other riders, their stories, their reasons for being out there, their bikes, and then there’s the night riding, the lack of sleep, the sore butt, and the massive distances you cover. It creates a special mix of adventure, a sense of achievement that can take days to fulfill, something quite in contrast to the fast world of instant gratification that we normally inhabit.

The Mille Cymru brought all that together in an event that was designed in places to be utterly brutal and in places sublimely stunning, playing chaos with your emotions and senses. The mirror polished Lake Bala reflecting Moel Llyfnant, views over to the Irish Sea from Pen-Y-Pass, the beautiful Pembrokeshire beaches, the three brutal crossings of the B4358, the even more brutal but equally stunning B4518 to Llanidloes. And then to come back to the comfort of the control in Llanwrtyd Wells to be received with warmth by the volunteers, to have a hot shower, good food and to share stories at the end of the day’s journey.

That’s why I like Audax!

The ride started not as I expected it to finish. I pushed on ahead of the 6.15am start group and I soon found myself at the front of the ride with three other guys whilst heading towards Snowdonia.

We rolled in to Llanberis at a little after midday with an average of 18mph but going well. The bridge at Barmoth and its £1 toll was crossed and we headed towards Dolgellau where I downed three pints of water and a coffee. By 5pm I’d put in my fastest ever 300km as we headed through the mid Welsh hills and valleys. On the B4518 to Llanidloes I discovered just how deep I would have to dig over the next two days. A little after 8pm, 356km after leaving Shropshire us three riders rolled into Victoria Hall and dug into plates of Macaroni Cheese, satisfied that we had made it to all the controls at or before the time they opened.  That night I laid down but did not sleep, whilst one of the riders rolled on through the night.

Out again at 5pm and into Welsh drizzle heading South towards Pendine for a cuppa and fried egg sandwich only to be followed by a 25% climb. The route hugged the Pembrokshire Coast, Tenby, Pembroke, St Davids, Fishguard up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down on and on until one final big up to the bizarre control at the Mason’s arms. Slower riders would later recount stories of the hen party, the singing and the bananas. One final push through drizzle over Mynydd Cynros and again a group of three would roll back after 310km to the warm welcome of Irish vegetable stew, showers, stories of the day and bed by 9pm. I slept like a log!

My first conversation on Sunday started with a bright light!

“What!”

“It’s 4.15”

“Really? … shit! … thanks”

And out we went, a group of 6-7 into the 5am mist and up past Drum Ddu onto and over the Brecon Beacons. The demons followed me up this hill and I nearly became their sacrifice to the Welsh Dragons.  By Llandovery and the road to Tregaron I had found my legs and seen off the demons as we pushed onto a town of people nursing hangovers. We rode out of Aberystwyth and up one last climb past the Devil’s Bridge and into a sunny Elan Valley and on towards our final visit to Llanwrtyd Wells. By now after his epic 700km ride without stopping, the first rider had arrived back in Shropshire. Our small group of three just had 127km to go. We rolled out into glorious sunlight and headed towards Newtown and the border knowing that once there, we were home. What followed was a crazy dash through the Shropshire lanes to finish 1026km and 60 hours after leaving on Friday morning. By the time I left for home that night, no more riders would arrive.

My approach to this this ride was to ride each leg fast so that I could see as much of Wales in the daylight as possible. And I accomplished that. Seems that my training approach to combine endurance and speed actually worked.

The journey I’ve been on to finish this ride, the training, the atmosphere building around the event and the adventure of riding the ride itself have been fantastic, one I will not forget. But I’m going to put big Audax rides on hold for a few years, I want to head off-road, for a spot of bikehiking.

Keeping up with James

Obviously not keeping up with James LITERALLY – that would be silly.  But if you want to keep track of how he’s getting on this weekend with his 1000km bike ride through Wales you can follow his updates on Twitter www.twitter.com/james_gillies.  If you don’t use Twitter then the updates also appear on the bottom left of our website.  There are also plenty of general updates and photos from all the riders and stewards at the event on the Mille Cymru blog.

As James has started off by leaving the house without his huge rucksack hopefully things will improve from here!  The forecast is favourable and he’s in good spirits, so keep you fingers crossed the smiley one will still be grinning after 1000km of Welsh hills!

The Mille Cymru #mc1k

So what is the Mille Cymru? Well it starts at 6am on Friday 23rd July, is 1026km, and we have 75 hours to finish. There is a set route to follow and controls to visit at which we have to collect a stamp to prove we have been there. Controls open and close at set times and you have make it between those times. The route has four legs, the first, 356km will take us from near Shrewsbury in Shropshire into North Wales and then back south to finish in Llanwrtyd Wells having climbed 4,727metres. Leg 2, 311km, is from Llanwrtyd Wells out to the Pembrokeshire round to Cardigan Bay via St Davids before heading back inland to Llanwrtyd Wells having climbed 4,125m. Leg 3, 231km, once again will take us from Llanwrtyd Wells on a loop round Mid-Wales taking in places such as Aberystwyth and the Elan Valley before again heading back to Llanwrtyd Wells one final time after climbing 3.756m. The final 127km leg, heads from Llanwrtyd Wells over 1,274m of hills back into Shropshire to finish where we started near Shrewsbury.

Now how to ride this? We start at 6am on Friday morning, and have to finish by 9am Monday morning. My plan is to ride leg 1 on Friday, leg 2 on Saturday, and legs 3 & 4 on Sunday. I hope to finish before midnight on Sunday. I’m lucky, I can move along at a decent speed, this means I should be able to ride each leg in a decent time, mostly during daylight hours allowing me time to have a decent night’s sleep without having to get up to early. This way I should be able to enjoy the ride and treat it as three long tour days, and not as a 1,000km ride. If you’re not so quick, then you will have to ride into the night, and get up early in order to make the distance each day. The really unlucky ones will get only 3-4 hours sleep a night, maybe less, and that will make it a very hard ride.

However, cycling 1000km round Wales is no easy task and I hope the my plan works for me, time will tell. I will be updating my progress via twitter, you can follow me at www.twitter.com/james_gillies

A tour of the North West’s Reservoirs and Gates with the dragon looming

Time seems to be running away with itself at the moment, what with work, meeting up with friends and family and the bike rides, there seems to be very little time left for anything else, especially writing blogposts. Priorities!

Anyway, for the past couple of years Simon and I have, from time to time, made time to go on some long off-road rides. For those of you who don’t know Simon, this is him in Wales:

We’ve ridden the South Downs Way and the Coast-to-Coast (that was my stag do). This year has been a bit hectic, new houses, new jobs, and we are now both married, so it’s taken a while to sort a ride out but we got it together and planed a trip up and around the Pennine Bridle Way from Sheffield taking in the Trans Pennine Trail, over three days. The best part is that apart from the route, we had done NO planning for this! Quite liberating really as a lot of trips get planned within an inch of death. So we set off last Friday with various bits of camping gear and very little else strapped to our bikes and backs with no real idea of where we were going to camp, eat or anything else really.

The Trans Pennine Trail follows an old railway line from Sheffield to Manchester and with the exception of one hill is essentially flat. It makes for a nice fast alternative to the A628 for getting across the Pennines to the real objective, the Pennine Bridalway which we picked up in Hadfield.

Heading North out of Hadfield the ride changes nature as you head up onto the moors and to the reservoirs and gates. The landscape is quite different from what I’m used to, the stone walls, the sheep, the mist are all very different to Warwickshire, and bring back fond memories of living and riding in and around Lancaster.

We dropped off the fells north of Hadfield and the cityscape of Greater Manchester unfolded in front of us before we headed up the Tame Valley and back onto the moors for more reservoirs and gates. As the evening drew on we went under the M62 and dropped down to Hollingworth Lake, which I can only describe as a little seaside town next to a lake in the hills. There we found a small campsite, pitched the tent and headed to the pub.

Despite its odd character, Hollingworth Lake was the perfect place to leave our gear on Saturday and ride the 47 mile Mary Towneley Loop section of the Pennine Bridleway, a nice easy day we thought. So getting up at the crack of dawn around 10am, and after finding breakfast and some food for the day it was 11.30am before we actually headed in to the hills for our easy day.

After 7 miles, lots of rain, gates and an animal sanctuary we finally made it to the loop an hour after setting off. We headed anti-clockwise so the Mary Towneley loop takes you into Calderdale which is a bit of a mountain bike haven in the UK and home to a great magazine and several notable mountain bikers and at least one designer. It was my first time there, and I can see why, apart from all the gates it’s so popular. I will go there again sometime so will leave it to then to write about the area. So we pushed on round the loop through more gates and past more reservoirs. Now our lack of planning was beginning to tell, we had not factored in where to pick up water, where to get food and we had no idea how hilly the route would be. Progress was slow and it became clear that maybe we should have left before we did. So before we finished the loop we had to get the map out and take roads back to Hollingworth Lake. What we did ride we enjoyed and shall be back to enjoy this area again, but next time a bit more prepared.

By now it’s Sunday and we have the task of backtracking to Sheffield. It’s amazing how the world can look so different when you turn around and come back the other way. Where had all these hills come from? We stopped at a pub in Hadfield for a sandwich before heading East back across the Pennines to Sheffield to arrive at the train station covered in mud.

It was a great unplanned little bike hiking adventure, and a first for both Simon and I. Looking at the maps we realised that there are literally years of off-road bike hiking adventures to be had in this country, and it makes such a change from touring on the road. We just need to figure out how to better pack the gear, I can feel an order being made to one of these guys, Epic Designs, Carousel Design Work.

Now, I had questioned the wisdom of actually doing this ride at all as next weekend is the 1000km Mille Cymru. I should have been taking it easy, making sure that I’m well rested. As it turns out the last couple of weekends have been good for my confidence. On the 10th July I rode 240 miles and kept an average speed of 17.6 mph, and this weekend despite the hills and the heavy rucksack my legs just ticked away for three days without getting tired.

A story by numbers

Yesterday’s ride started at 3.30am and finished at 7.15pm. The 300km audax started at 6am. In the end I rode 240 miles with an average moving speed of 17.5 mph. I went off route 4 times, and drank at least 14 litres of water. The computer tells a satisfying story.

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