Some of you know that I take part in Audax events, but I thought I would share a few details this time.
This was my first attempt at this distance, which I
successfully completed but my Edge 800 nearly died on me just before 2am on a
country road in the middle of nowhere.
As the weather is improving I didn’t think that I would see
any more ice, but before I could drive off I had to de-ice the car. On my way
to start at Chalfont St Peter community centre I wondered how many people take
part in these long distance events. About 40 people turned up, which is more
than I thought. The ride out sent us through Little Missenden, Thame, Stanton
St. John, Woodstock, Stow on the Wold, Tewkesbury, Newent, Simmons Yat and down
to Chepstow. From here it was across the Severn Bridge, Hawkesbury, Malmesbury,
Brinkworth, Great Shefford, Streatley, Goring, Henley on Thames and back to the
start.
When 6am came almost half the group shot off down the road
and disappeared from sight. After about 45 minutes of cycling my hands started
to go numb and when I looked at the temperature on my satnav it was -1.7. I didn’t
think I would need winter gloves, but at least the cold didn’t last for long
and the day turned out to be dry and fairly warm.
The first stage from the start to the Blenheim Tea Rooms at
Woodstock was uneventful and when I got there a large group of the Audax riders
were just setting off for Tewksbury. A familiar face with a smile greeted me to
stamp my card. It was Chris Beynon, who I have been on CTC tours with in the
past and a few Audax rides. We had a chat while I eat my beans on toast. I was
one of the last to leave there and thought I would be on my own for the rest of
the day, but that was not to be even though it was slow going for me over the
Cotswolds. When I finally got to the control at the Bay Tree restaurant in
Tewksbury after 90 miles there was a large group there. The Bay Tree was told
that a large group of hungry cyclists would be coming, but I’m not sure if the
staff were that bothered as several of us were left waiting quite a long time
for food. This gave me a chance to leave the place and ride with others for the
first time. From here to the top of Simmons Yat I rode off and on with small
groups, before I left them behind until the next control at the Tesco petrol
station in Chepstow.
After crossing over the River Severn motorway bridge it was
the start of the return journey. After climbing up yet another hill I passed the
Somerset Monument near Hawkesbury Upton built in 1846. It looked rather tall so
I thought I would try to remember that one. Here is the Wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Monument.
Later on I rode through Brinkworth. Normally I don’t take
much notice of town or village names but this one caught my eye. As the road
sign said that it is England’s longest village. Here is the Wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinkworth,_Wiltshire.
The rest of the day time ride was fairly uneventful. Occasionally riding with
others, or seeing some of them up ahead and moving out of sight.
I have ridden my bike in the dark loads of times but none of
those rides were for more than a few hours. This ride was about to change that
as I ended up riding all night long. I wondered how I would cope with the night
stage but it didn’t seem to bother me at all, apart from getting a bit cold
when stopping at the controls.
At 2am Sunday morning I found the mileage limitation of the
edge 800. When it gets to 216 miles it white screens then shuts down. When this
happened I was in the middle of nowhere and I didn’t want to hold no paper
route sheet for the rest of the route. After about 5 minutes of trying to sort
it out two Willesden Cycle Club riders came past so I rode with them to the
finish. I was nearly at Streatley when I managed to save what I had done and
reset the counters, then it was happy and started recording again. At Henley on
Thames the two guys I was riding with told me they were going to cross the
Thames so we found the footbridge, and while we were crossing it I could hear
lots of ducks but couldn’t see them.
Not far from the end the dawn chorus started and went on for
what seemed like ages then I realised I had just ridden all night long with
only a few stops.
When we finally made it to the finish at 5.15am and sat down
with coffee and a cheese toasty the organiser told us the first rider back
finished at 10.20pm. He must have been flying along. He also told me that my
time for this event was respectable and finished about half way down the field.
I’m not sure if the Satnav shutting itself down or the new
Garmin website has caused the errors but there is a straight red line on the
route map. It’s not a huge problem as I have recorded most of the final part of
the ride.
Satnav summary part 1
Distance: 216.02 miles
Time: 15:24:54
Elapsed Time: 19:20:21
Avg Speed: 14.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 5,938 m
Calories: 7,411 C
Avg Temperature: 9.8 °C
Avg HR: 130 bpm
Max HR: 180 bpm
Satnav summary part 2
Distance: 34.33 miles
Time: 2:51:17
Elapsed Time: 17:53:18 ??
Avg Speed: 12.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 406 m
Calories: 1,365 C
Avg Temperature:1.2 °C
Avg HR: 113 bpm
Max HR: 149 bpm
Map part 1
Map part 2
Taking the waters at Hascombe fountain before the fun of Mare Lane
We dined
comfortably in the garden until the leader’s trumpet called us to remount and
head back, skirting Windsor by Virginia Water, to savour tea and cake to the sounds
of a miniature Puffing Billy at Great Cockrow. Numbers then discretely dwindled
and a final foursome parted company at Addlestone, in anticipation of an early
homecoming.
However, such was not to be for me, as at
Byfleet the gear shifter seized. It did not take long to diagnose a severed
cable nipple. It took a little longer to secure the broken cable most elegantly to the frame
and longer still to limp home in much too low a gear but still manageable for
the hills ahead. Within sight of home, it dawned upon me that I could have used
the larger chain ring as well as the small; but home at least, with 80 miles on
the clock and in the legs. Finding and removing the errant nipple would have to
await another day.
The Eight
Bells Inn was welcoming and we dined well outside in the shade of a parasol. Our
return was via Handcross and Pease Pottage, to retrace our wheel tracks through
Rusper and make an unscheduled tea stop at Tanhurst Farm, instead of the
scheduled Brockham, where an unsuspecting Daniel had headed to join us for tea.
Our humble apologies to Daniel! 
