Returning to a failed ride
I prefer uneventful rides. Depending on how I feel, I choose rides that are just within, or just at the limits of, my perceived capabilities. Back in May 2022 I entered the Audax Dinton 100 starting from Dinton Pastures, just outside Reading. I decided to ride this as an ECE - extended calendar event - riding about 50 km from home to the start and 50 km back home afterwards. About 45 km from home I shipped the chain changing up from the small chain ring; it became completely stuck between the small chain ring and the frame and I had to abandon.
Double Dutch Infinity Beckons
The weather continued its pattern for March and the start of April. For the last few weeks the rain had bucketed down, ceasing only for Audax rides. The Double Dutch Infinity Beckons is a 200 km ride from Huntingdon to Kings Lynn and back to Huntingdon, passing fields of daffodils and taking in some virtually traffic free roads alongside the rivers and drainage dikes that are essential to the survival of the landscape. Almost flat, it is an ideal first 200 km Audax.
West London to Great Milton, Wallingford and back
Thursday 2 March was cold but sunny with a hint of warmth in the sun during the afternoon. It would have been an ideal day for my next 200 km ride but I still had planning and preparation to do. With rain, sleet and possibly snow forecast for the week ahead, I decided to ride on Saturday 4 March. This ride would complete my fifth RRtY since taking on this challenge in August 2020.
Out to Boxford, Showers, Torrential Rain, Hail
With the very cold weather forecast for the latter part of January, I decided to ride the second of my three 200 km DIYs on Sunday 8 January. With the Audax RRtY guidance “Miss a month and you have to start again” in my head I felt that Sunday had a “now or never” feel about it.
The weather forecast was for no rain in the morning and only a 24% chance of rain in the afternoon. How wrong the forecast was! It was to be a day of showers, torrential rain, flooding and hail.
First 200 of 2023 - Cake and Climbs
With a dry day forecast for Monday 2 January I registered a 200 km DIY to take me to some of my favourite places in the Chilterns. Recalling advice that it is preferable to start, rather than finish, in the dark, I set off shortly after 7 am to take one of my many routes to the west.
The route took me to a hot drink and homemade cake at the Ewelme Village Store before turning north through Cuxham to the A40 old Oxford to London road for a long but easy climb to Stokenchurch. It was then downhill through the picturesque village of Hambleden to the weir at Mill End. The route then took me on familiar roads passing the Velolife cafe at Warren Row before passing through Maidenhead for the return to West London.