Three Chiltern Villages - Shortest Day, Long Ride
It’s the evening of Tuesday 20 December and the exceptionally cold weather with icy condtions has ended. I have two more 200 km rides to complete this month if I am to achieve my goal of 3 RRtYs in one year.
Reasonably good weather is helpful, preparation and confidence are key.
Preparation was easy. With the tyres inspected for cuts and the wax treatment on the chain topped up after the last ride, all I had to do was check the tyre pressures, mix my energy drinks, make some sandwiches and put a banana in a plastic bag ready to stash in my Miss Grape top tube bag.
Wax coating “topped up” with Silca Super Secret Chain Lube
Confidence was a bigger issue. My last 200 km ride had been on Sunday 4 December and with the poor weather I had not ridden on the road since then. Riding 200 km is not beyond the ability of a reasonably fit cyclist but so often on Audax calendar events I have met cyclists of all ages embarking on one of their first long rides who aren’t sure they can complete it. Rouleur issue 116, exploring the relationship between cycling and the mind, quotes the Norwegian chess grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen: “Confidence is crucial and also fragile.”
I was not filled with confidence at the thought of embarking on the following day’s ride. It really helped me that I had been training with Pillar, an app that provides a tailored programme for each individual. Since my last 200 km road ride I had been working on a combination of endurance workouts and VO2 Microbursts. For me, the main benefit of these was that I had to keep pedalling - no freewheeling or slowing for junctions or traffic. Probably I had become stronger, certainly I had become more able to keep pedalling and not take the short rests that freewheeling gave me.
VO2 Microbursts workout from Pillar imported into Rouvy
Once on the road, that confidence flooded back. It felt so great to be outside, free to move “under my own steam”. I’m not going to give a turn by turn account of my ride, simply to say that I had planned to follow one of my many variations through Twyford to Stoke Row and on to Ewelme. Whichever way you want to ride back towards London it’s always going to be uphill; for this ride I had planned to ascend Britwell Hill to reach the B480 at the top of Howe Hill between Watlington and Christmas Common.
About 60 km into the ride I rode through the village of Stoke Row, passing the Village Store and Kitchen which is high on my list of cafes, with excellent food and the best facilities for locking a bike that I had found in the area. Today I had to press on as it was the shortest day. Almost opposite is the Maharajah’s Well, funded by the Maharaja of Benares through his friendship with a local man who spent his entire life working in India. The Maharaja learned of the miserable conditions of the poor in the Chilterns with limited access to clean water: Stoke Row is high up in the hills and water does not flow uphill unaided. It’s easy to ride past the Well, thinking “been there, seen that, got the T-shirt” without realising the importance of the neighbouring cottage and the cherry orchard. There’s a booklet available and the Chiltern Society has run guided tours which are really interesting.
Shortly after Stoke Row the NCN5 takes riders down Garson’s Hill towards Ipsden. It is gritty in places; I decided to continue and turn left to descend Berins Hill which is steeper but with a slightly better surface; if you ride down it, be warned that as you turn left at the bottom (Well Place), it is very gritty; Google Street View shows a good surface but the imagery dates from April 2011. I rode along the valley at the bottom with views that really lift my spirits.
Turning right towards Hailey and Crowmarsh Gifford I sensed that the rear tyre was soft. This was my first puncture of 2022. My experience of riding tubeless is that if the tyre is simply soft and not totally deflated, it’s perfectly possible to ride quite a long way - as I have done on Audax calendar events in Kent to the bemusement of other riders at controls who’ve seen me topping up the pressure rather than trying to mend the puncture. I knew that I was not far from Ewelme where the Village Store has a track pump, funded (I believe) by Oxfordshire County Council to encourage cycling. I rode on, taking a little care not to bump heavily over the kerbs where the cyclepath crosses the main road at Crowmarsh.
The Ewelme Store
Relieved to see that the Ewelme Store was open, I went in and asked if I could use the bike pump; I explained that I often stopped for food but that today I needed to make just a very quick stop and would be grateful if they could make me a hot chocolate, warm but not hot, so that I could drink it and get on my way. I didn’t find the Park Tool pump with its press on connector easy to use but managed to get some more air in the tyre. The staff in the Store were so kind in getting my drink ready and asking if it was the right temperature: “Perfect”, I said as I drank it, paid and got on my way.
I can thoroughly recommend the Ewelme Village Store: rolls made to order, cakes that are probably “homemade” in the village and tea served in a teapot with ceramic, not plastic, cups.
From Ewelme I ascended gently to the B4009, turning right for about 1.5 km to the turn to the village of Britwell Salome. As I left the houses and turned right I could see the hill in the distance rising up like a wall.
Britwell Hill in the distance (from Britwell Salome)
The OS map showed the road rising at first gently, then steeply from 165 m elevation to 225 m. Back in 2021 I found myself stopping - more than once - on the similar ascent of Smalldean Lane outside Princes Risborough. This time, I was confident that Pillar’s constant requirement to sustain my effort would get me up the hill. And so it proved.
Reaching the B480 at the top of Howe Hill, it was right and left towards Christmas Common and then on to Stokenchurch - quite a fast and fairly flat section. Stokenchurch has a cafe and some pubs within a short distance off route but I pressed on towards Ibstone. I passed the Chiltern Fox pub to which I was introduced through a voucher scheme in the weekend edition of The Times; it has good food but the smallest double room I’ve ever stayed in!
From Ibstone it is a fast ride towards Fingest; it’s easy to miss the distinctive windmill on the right as you begin to descend the steep hill into the village. The house at the bottom has had some very large rocks installed in its garden; I don’t know whether they have had vehicles landing there or are simply taking precautions.
In Fingest I often turn left towards Marlow and the climb of Quarry Wood Road back towards Maidenhead. For this ride I turned right towards my third Chiltern village, Hambleden, which has a Post Office and store with refreshments. Turning off the B road into Hambleden and passing the church, I found myself riding through gravel. I was somewhat mystified: was I riding through someone’s private road by mistake? Hambleden is a very picturesque little village which is often used for films and TV. The tarmac had been resurfaced in a sandy material with gravel, presumably to take the appearance of the village back to earlier times.
Hambleden Post Office and road surface
Through the village and on to Mill End, where it’s a right turn for a very short distance to a footpath leading to the Weir. I always dismount and put on my cleat covers because riding on a footpath gives cyclists “a bad name”.
The power of the Weir never ceases to amaze me.
The Weir at Mill End - photo taken earlier in the year
Fortunately I didn’t have to wait to cross at the lock because there was no activity on the river. On towards Aston and the Flower Pot Inn, then the final climb of the day to the road from Henley at White Hill. Left, then right through Warren Row with the Velolife cycling cafe and on through Knowl Hill and White Waltham towards Maidenhead.
At Cox Green just before a roundabout there’s a right turn into Ockwell’s Lane; this has no through traffic and is a route I prefer to taking Shoppenhangers Road from the roundabout, a busy road with its slip roads to and from the A404(M). Ockwell’s Lane crosses the motorway over a pedestrian bridge, after which the route can be a little muddy before it ascends to Manor Lane and joins Shoppenhangers Road into Maidenhead. Passing an exit from the station, the route (clearly marked as part of NCN4) runs past the retail park along Stafferton Way to a roundabout where I turned right to Bray village. After a left turn I followed the signs for cycles into Old Mill Lane, leading to Monkey Island Lane which crosses over the M4.
My route took me over the A308 Maidenhead to Windsor Road into Fifield Village where I took a right turn through Coningsbury and on to Forest Green Road for a familiar route back through Windsor to Datchet.
In Datchet I took the Horton Road to the right (south) of the Queen Mother Reservoir, simply for a change from my usual route along Riding Court Road to Langley. Crossing the A4 into Sutton Lane required some patience and care; Sutton Lane is busy with heavy traffic but there is a cyclepath to the side. Passing DHL and other warehouses to reach the end of Sutton Lane, it’s a right turn towards Iver and West Drayton.
Back into Ealing I had completed well over 160 km, all in daylight. Time to have a longer break and something more substantial than the sandwiches I had eaten during the ride. Then for the last 40 km around Ruislip and Pinner to complete my 200 km DIY.
I had my best night’s sleep for a while after this ride. When I first started doing 200 km rides on a regular basis, WHOOP would often show me a “red recovery” - less than 33% although this would often be followed by a “green recovery” (67% or more) the following day. With experience and the training from Pillar I achieved a much higher recovery than I have ever had after a long day ride.
Confidence is crucial but fragile. Riding more steadily, feeling stronger and recovering better all feed into confidence, ready for the next ride. I will certainly be keeping up the structured training with Pillar.
