Same Again but Less Rain, Please
I’ve enjoyed the ride through Reading, Hermitage and back to West London, all the more so since I discovered The Pantry at Yattendon. My last ride (on 13 September) had been wet so I planned to do this ride again on a drier day. The forecast for Friday 23 September was good, with a small chance of early rain and little or no precipitation for the rest of the day. On Thursday evening I registered my DIY on the Audax site, checked the tyre pressures and went to bed.
It was to be an early start, earlier than I had planned. WHOOP 4.0 fitness band has a feature where you can set the device to vibrate at a chosen time or up to an hour earlier if you have a “green recovery” - 67% or more. As my previous day’s recovery had not been great, I expected that WHOOP would wake me at 5.55 am, giving me just over an hour to eat, take my bottles out of the fridge and get away at first light. As my wrist felt the insistent vibration I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to start my usual pre-ride breakfast of poached egg and beans on toast, with fresh coffee. As I began to wake up, I looked at the kitchen clock - 5.15 am! WHOOP had detected a great recovery and roused me at 4.55 am.
Despite the early wakeup, I faffed around and didn’t leave the house until 7.30 am. By this time drivers were anxious to get to work and the 20 mph speed limit on narrow roads with cars parked both sides was totally ignored. My route took me through Greenford, alongside the A312 to the A40 cyclepath.
Uxbridge, Iver, Langley (heavy traffic tailing back from the A4 junction), Datchet, Windsor and at last the relatively quiet Oakley Green Road (B3024). Just past Braywood School on the right stand large figures of the erstwhile Queen and Prince Philip. As I remember, Prince Philip was bedecked with ivy after he died. The Queen has had a similar treatment. Whenever I pass these figures, I am always sorry that they don’t look happy.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip
Braywood House from Fifield Lane
Shortly after the royal couple, I turned left and ascended Fifield Lane where a bit of dodging the combination of stretches of poor surface and fast moving traffic needs some care.
I generally stop towards the top, taking a break in the drive to an equestrian centre. From here there’s a distant view of Braywood House.
The direct route to Twyford and Reading would take me right. I turned left along Drift Road.
The Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel at Warfield - my first control
A right turn into Winkfield Lane and along the Bracknell Road took me to Malt Hill and shortly to Warfield Church or, to give it its full name, the Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel. At 44 km, this was my first “control”. As my ride was following a mandatory route using a virtual brevet (more about that under “Stuff”), the only evidence required was the trackfile of the completed ride. There was no need for a till or cash machine which was just as well as churches don’t tend to provide these.
Pressing on, I turned right onto Howe Lane to join Drift Road for a fairly straightforward ride through Twyford to Reading. At the junction with Howe Lane, I made a mental note to investigate Westley Mill. Looking at a map I am not sure whether there is a mill but there is certainly a minor road which joins Howe Lane close to the roundabout where I would turn left towards Reading.
A disadvantage of mandatory routes is that there is not the freedom to go off piste to explore; in this case I found a route variation which I will use another day to avoid some traffic.
Riding out of Twyford towards the A4 junction I spotted another cyclist with an orange rain jacket. As I left the roundabout I saw him emerging from the bushes by the side of the road; he caught me up and remarked that he had expected more rain and regretted his rain jacket. We did the usual “How far are you going?” where I use my 200 km as a reason for my relatively slow speed. Learning that I was heading for Hermitage, he was ready to offer advice on cafes as he knew the area well. We both agreed that The Pantry at Yattendon was a great cafe. He was “just” doing 120 km and left me to ride on quite a bit faster.
Through Sonning, where there was only a short queue for the bridge, and on to the A4130 Henley Road into Reading. Mid morning on a weekday saw the usual heavy traffic which was held up by a bus, giving me a clear ride across Caversham Bridge where I turned right to pick up the cyclepath by Richfield Avenue alongside which the Reading Festival was held earlier this year.
Richfield Avenue cyclepath - start of a traffic free route all the way to Norcot Road
The surface is not always great but there is a traffic free route alongside Richfield Avenue, Cow Lane and Portman Road all the way to the ascent of Norcot Road into Tilehurst. At times you have to cross the road to continue on the cyclepaths which is not ideal but drivers are well used to cyclists and do stop - thanks if you are reading this.
Norcot Road is the first of five climbs shown on ClimbPro on my Garmin 1030 Plus. The entire route has many short, sharp climbs but Garmin ignores any climbs less than 500 m long. Try telling my legs when they have to get me up a 300m climb at 12 - 16%.
Left at the top of Norcot Road, right before a prominent water tower and left into Pincents Lane. This is quite well surfaced at first and promises a glimpse of the countryside with horses grazing in a field to the left. The surface deteriorates as the Lane descends. It was here on an earlier ride that I met a man well into his 80s who was wheeling a mountain bike up the Lane. I stopped for a chat and learned that he still rides a few miles each day, having been a keen rider in his younger days.
Shortly after on that same ride, I met a young man who was pushing mountain bike up. I stopped again for quick chat. He told me that his legs were still sore after giving chase for over a mile to a man who had stolen his bike; this was the second bike he had had stolen in quite a short time and as he got no help from the police with the first theft, he decided that he would pursue the thief. I’m not sure how, but he was successful - well done!
Descending Pincents Lane
Through a traffic barrier at the bottom of Pincents Lane, I passed the small business centre/ office complex where I will be going next week for a body scan and some tests as part of the BIOBANK project. I could cycle there but as they want me to avoid strenuous exercise for a day or two prior to the event, it will be train and taxi. Passing the IKEA store I used the footbridge to cross the motorway and rode into Theale. It’s quite picturesque for a suburb with places to refuel but not a bike stand in sight. Onward - crossing the A340 and climbing (the second of Garmin’s climbs) and turning left into Union Road for a longer but quite easy climb towards Bradfield Southend. For the direct route to Lambourn and back I would continue past Bradfield Village Hall (with its small shop and somewhere to tether the bike) but for a quieter route I had planned to turn right to meander through the tiny village of Stanford Dingley and back to the South End Road. I turned too soon - an error to which the Garmin Edge alerted me. I turned round and ignored the offer to reroute me; affronted by this slight, the Edge decided to reboot. Not a disaster for recording as I had set my Fenix 6 watch to record my ride too. As I took the correct turn, the Edge displayed a screen that was blank except for a message telling me to press the Start/ Stop button to continue. This I did and shortly it began loading the route again - slowly.
Perhaps the Edge is trying to tell me something. Many of us have had cars that seem to know when they are ready for a new owner or the scrapyard. Maybe it is time for a 1040 now that many of the bugs appear to have been ironed out.
Bradfield Hall Farm, Stanford Dingley
A short descent led me past Bradfield Hall Farm and eventually back to South End Road towards Chapel Row and the Blackbird Cafe. This gets good reviews and as it was about lunch time I decided to stop there. Alas, nowhere to secure my bike. There was a bench at the front of the cafe, accessible if I was prepared to clog my cleats with mud but nowhere I could see. So, onwards. I soon turned right into Bucklebury Quiet Lane, all the more quiet because it sported a “Road Closed” sign. The first section (Fannys Lane) was a delightful gentle descent to the junction with Tylers Lane where the Garmin alerted me to the longest climb of the day. Nothing dramatic at first but after the turn into Holly Lane it became quite steep with a poor surface. It was a beautiful ride with trees obscuring occasional glimpses to a built up area - Thatcham, perhaps.
View to the left from Holly Lane, continuing Bucklebury Quiet Lane. Steep from here.
Audax Hotel at Hermitage. Space for bike and rider.
Back on a less minor road, I pressed on through Ashmore Green and Shaw, passing the Castle School where well behaved pupils were returning for the afternoon session. From there to the Oxford Road, a right turn towards Curridge and the Cat Adoption Centre and into Hermitage. I stopped briefly at an Audax Hotel, if only to show where I had sheltered on my wet ride earlier this month.
From here it was a right turn to climb Marlston Road, mostly 6% but steeper in places. It’s a straight road and if it were a little longer or steeper it would be like a wall. At the top I had completed 123 km; The Pantry was at 130 km but I knew that those last 7 km were quite tough.
Descending into Bucklebury, I was quite close to the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin which had been a stop for refuelling from my Tailfin on a previous ride. My route took me left just before the church, past The Victory Room which is the centre for local events. Although it was closed, the porch door was open, providing somewhere to shelter from the rain on a future ride: always good to know where to shelter and where to get food and drink.
The Pot Kiln, south of Yattendon
A sharp right into Chapel Lane began flat with wide views but soon the contour lines closed in on me as I climbed towards the Pot Kiln, described on TripAdvisor as “a characterful little country pub owned by the Yattendon Estate.” On rides I generally prefer cafes to pubs but each to his or her own. A fast descent - too fast as I met a van coming towards me - took me to the final km or so to The Pantry at Yattendon. The server met my request for an Americano in a smallish cup (less water, same double espresso) and cut a large slice of raspberry sponge cake. My bike sat just outside the window, not readily accessible from the road: Yattendon is hardly the bike theft capital of Berkshire but one cannot be too careful!
Fuelled up, I was ready for the two short sharp climbs on the way to Reading. These are both less than 500m and do not meet the requirements for Garmin’s ClimbPro algorithm; but they are steep, especially the second out of Tidmarsh where I followed a food delivery van which was patiently waiting for two teenage boys on their mountain bikes. They eventually pulled off at St Nicolas Church in Nunhide Lane, leaving cars to pass me as I ground my way to the top.
Nothing much to say about the ride through Reading, Sonning, Twyford and Windsor. Traffic was still reasonably light as I crossed the A4 and made my way through Iver towards the Mill Bridge at West Drayton. In its post-milling days, this was the home of Allan Lane, the Penguin books magnate; I believe it is now apartments. As I waited at the traffic lights a man probably in his sixties rode into the site on his red mountain bike with a speaker in this bottle cage playing “I say a little prayer”. Whether this was the original Aretha Franklin version or not, I can’t say but he was enjoying it. I’ve read that playing pop music from one’s youth helps some people with their mood and memory. The mountain bike added an element of exercise and physical health.
And so back to the Uxbridge Road and Southall. My route map shows the ride ending at the station which is on the Elizabeth Line, easily accessible from much of West London.
