Arrivée 154 – Winter 2021

Arrivee

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list ce cyc n a t s i g- d zine the lonbers’ maga – K U Audax tion – mem2021 a associ 54 • winter 1 Issue

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INSIDE ISSUE 154

Arrivee

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sts’ ce cycli istan ine long-d agaz – the embers’ m x UK Auda tion – m r 2021 associa154 • winte ue Iss

Just a Sec

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Membership matters

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Cycling shorts

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Letters 07

Front cover… Ollie Skittery takes the heat on the Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol epic.

Picture by Mike Warren page 32

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Cycling shorts 2

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Wandering the wild, windy and wonderful Western Isles

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Racing against time – is such a trial

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The pie’s the limit

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Glam rocks

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I vowed never to ride another Audax but the next day I changed my mind

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Stand and deliver… a chilly ride in a highwayman’s hoof prints

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Something wicked beneath your wheels

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The only way is Audax… in Essex

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Dome to dome – a tale of two cities

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The birth of a monster

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Smoke signals

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The baking biker

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AUK calendar

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Prize crossword No. 7

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AUK contacts

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52 Welcome to the winter 2021 issue of Arrivée Spoiling our last wilderness

Arrivée154Winter2021

One of the side effects of the pandemic has been to deny British tourists the opportunity to flock to foreign hot spots – so they’ve mostly flocked instead to home destinations, sending the cost of even the grottiest holiday cottage into orbit…and bringing gridlock to country lanes never designed to cope with such excesses of traffic.

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The Lake District has been so strangled by holiday traffic this summer that it is reported the authorities are considering a ban on cars to some of its most popular corners next year. The Peak District is said to be considering a similar sanction.

Summer 2021 has been described as “peak car” for many holiday destinations.

It’s not only national parks and seaside resorts which have suffered. The Scottish Highlands and Islands, always a

much-loved destination for bike riders, has been swamped by wave after wave of car-borne visitors this summer.

Many endurance cyclists have tackled the 500 mile route around the north of Scotland, pitting themselves against the challenges of wind, weather, and rough, lonely roads in some of the most spectacular landscapes in these islands.

But in 2015 the loop was given the official designation The North Coast 500 – a deliberate attempt to attract more visitors to this out-of-the-way paradise. The consequence, as anyone who tried to cycle the route this summer will know, is that the whole world is mooching about up there, clogging the roads, dawdling, gawping and stopping to use the toilets, complaining as they do that there aren’t any!

We are, most of us, guilty. How many times have you winced at a travel feature

which has shone an unwelcome spotlight on that secret destination of yours – a place untouched by progress, unsullied by commercialisation, and unknown to great unwashed? Nothing kills beauty faster than the discovery of it.

If the aim was to attract more people to the north of Scotland, then the tourism initiative has been successful. But many locals, who must deal with the constant privations and the isolation of the place in the depths of winter, are bitter. Sure, there are winners – tourists bring cash – but there are losers too. The windswept beauty of the route is frequently despoiled by the junk and debris left behind by the visitors.

Cyclists have always had an affinity with the route, but they must now share it with motor bikes, cars and hundreds and hundreds of meandering caravans and motor homes. It’s a conundrum: cyclists

can’t claim the place for themselves, but they can mourn the loss of this last wilderness, sacrificed for the sake of the tourism dollar.

And we can all, surely, question the logic, in an age of looming climate catastrophe, of an initiative which deliberately encourages polluting vehicles to travel the length of Britain to find this lonely nirvana – and spoil it for everyone.

Tony Lennox former editor, Birmingham Post and Warwickshire Life, 45 years in regional newspapers

SEND US YOUR STORIES Arrivée is the magazine of Audax UK, written entirely by members. Your stories are essential and everyone is welcome to contribute.

We edit all copy we receive because of the magazine’s space limitations, and we amend or abridge as required. Our aim is to keep stories to within a range of 500 to 3,000 words. If your story has a higher word-count we will trim and edit it accordingly.

We cannot publish anonymously, so your original submitted copy must contain your name and membership number, together with an email address – we will, however, withold your name if requested, from the published article.

While we will always strive to present your story to your satisfaction, in common with all other publishers, our duty is primarily to our readers, and we maintain the right to make changes if necessary.

We will always endeavour to publish everything we receive, but it might be in a later issue as we are currently limited to 64 pages.

ISSUE 155 – SPRING 2022 EDITION Send your stories to gedlennox@me.com There is no copy deadline for stories as most will be published, but not necessarily immediately unless they are timeimperative.

COPY DEADLINE FOR ADVERTISERS: 28 January 2022 ● Send your text in any word-processor format and your pictures as separate files (i.e. not embedded in the document). ● Images must be as big as possible, anything below 1Mb jpeg is not usable ● It is essential that your photographs are captioned, preferably in a separate document, cross referenced to your pictures. ● Include your full contact details – including your AUK number – we cannot publish your story otherwise ● Package all the content into a single compressed .zip archive. ● If it is too large to email (i.e. more than 10Mb) please use WeTransfer, MailBigFile or a cloudbased platform. ● Please do not use the old Mediafire gateway as it is no longer functional.

2022 KW Audax Rides Schedule The KW Audax Chapter is planning monthly rides from March through to October, building up to LAL 1,000 km event in July across Wales and back again.

To book your place go to the link on our website www.kingstonwheelers.com or directly at audax.uk Sun 20 Mar – Gently Bentley 200km Sat 9 Apr – Amesbury Amble 300km Sat 21 May – Dauntsey Dawdle 400km Sat 11 Jun – Wander Wye 600km Wed 13 Jul – London – Anglesey – London 1,000km Sun 4 Sep – Rowlands Ramble 200km Sun 2 Oct – Brace of Bramleys 200 km

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Just a sec

GRAEME PROVAN, General secretary, Audax UK

As one season ends and a new one begins, it seems like a good time to take stock of where AUK is after the upheaval of the last year and a half.

The short answer is that it is in good shape.

Membership numbers held firm during the lockdowns and have recently increased above the 8,000 mark. Events are running again and participation is recovering well. The IT Refresh Project continues to make solid progress despite the loss of our main contractor. Our finances remain strong and we have healthy reserves in place to weather future storms and finish the work we have started on our IT infrastructure.

All of this is testament to the hard work of our volunteers and to the dedication of our members.

AGM You will see that the formal notice of AGM is included on this page.

Last year’s AGM was held virtually but the current intention is to hold a physical meeting in Birmingham. We also plan to hold a virtual meeting (probably on the evening of the 4th of January) to give members the opportunity to discuss any resolutions being put to the AGM and to ask the Board questions in advance of the meeting. Details will be posted on the AUK Forum.

At this year’s AGM we have; two executive directors (Financial Director and Communications Director) at the end of their respective terms and the usual two vacancies for the non-executive positions.

The Board of AUK works extremely hard but it is rewarding to be part of the continuing growth and success of our Association.

Please give some consideration to standing for a board position. I will be happy to discuss what is involved.

Annual Reunion With the new season now starting later, the Annual Reunion will become a spring event. This season’s is scheduled to take place in the South East of England and further details will follow.

The event will include awards for each of the last two seasons. We do need your input on various awards – see the AUK forum for details.

In the meantime, our new Awards Secretary, Peter Davies is working hard with our Events Services Director, Dan Smith, to identify those who have achieved single or multi-season awards over last season.

Arrivée154Winter2021

Board meeting

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Our latest board meeting took place on the 6th of October.

It was agreed that, subject to the usual caveats, all points and other championships should resume for next season.

In line with ACP’s extensions to their Brevet 5000 and 10000 awards, AUK will extend the period for each of the above AUK awards by 2 years where the original application period included 2020 and 2021.

One other point of note is that the Peter Tandy trophy, awarded to the youngest randonneur each season, will be discontinued.

The Board also made a slight technical change to the Events Regulations to clarify the position on refunds for entry fees. This will be put to the AGM for ratification.

As usual, you can find the minutes of the meeting in the official section of Aukweb. I will also publish a short summary of the main points in the AUK forum immediately after the conclusion of each meeting.

I hope that all your cycling plans for the season bear fruit and take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the festive season and the year ahead.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Audax United Kingdom Long Distance Cyclists’ Association (“Audax Uk”) Notice is given that the Annual General Meeting of Audax UK will be held on Saturday 12 February 2022, at 12.00pm at The George Stephenson Room, Ibis Birmingham New Street, 21 Ladywell Walk, Birmingham B5 4ST. Graeme Provan General Secretary secretary@audax.uk Resolutions should be submitted by members acting as proposer and seconder and in all cases should be submitted by post or email to the General Secretary to arrive no later than 17 December 2021. Special or Ordinary Resolutions of the Company and any resolutions to alter the AUK Regulations should additionally be supported in writing by not fewer than 25 members. Each resolution may include a statement of no more than 1000 words.

The draft resolutions will then be available via www.audax.uk on the AUK Forum for a period of not less than 21 days for review. During this period proposers of resolutions may withdraw or amend resolutions so long as they continue to address the resolution’s original subject

Elections for the following posts will take place at the AGM: Non-Executive Directors (2 posts) Director – Financial Director ● Director – Communications Director ● ●

Nominations with details of the members proposing and seconding the nomination and the consent of the nominated person to serve together with a statement of that person’s relevant abilities or experience of no more than 1000 words should be sent by post or email to the General Secretary to be received no later than the 14th January 2022.

A detailed agenda including the final resolutions and nominations and annual reports and accounts will be published on the website not later than the 21st January 2022.

All members are very welcome to attend the meeting and tea and coffee will be provided.

Alternatively, any member may appoint a proxy to attend, speak and vote in his or her place. Proxy voting will go live on the 21st January 2022. If you or your proxy wishes to attend the meeting, I would be grateful if you could let me know in good time so that I can ensure adequate space at the venue as well as adequate supplies of refreshments.

It is important that all members ensure that their email details on www.aukweb.net are accurate. Details of proxy voting will be sent to all members with email addresses.

For reasons of cost, the final agenda and annual report will be published via the website save in respect of any members who apply to the Registrar using the form provided below.

To: Mr L Hereward, Audax UK Registrar, ‘Polvellan’, School Hill, Mevagissey, Cornwall PL26 6TG I would like to register to receive the AGM papers and proxy form by post.

Signed: Date: Name: AUK Membership No:

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS… with Caroline Fenton, AUK Membership Secretary

Make sure you’re up to date Hello to all the new members who have joined us since September, and also to the many past members who have come back to us after taking a sabbatical in 2021 (I wonder why!)

If your membership will expire this December, we very much hope you will want to renew so please read on to find out how.

Membership renewals are due by 31st December – if you have been a member continuously since 12/09/18 and want to retain your guaranteed place on LEL in 2022 then you must renew by then. This is not negotiable as I will need to supply the LEL team with a list of the members entitled to a place early in the new year. If you normally pay by cheque or standing order, please pay online if possible, to make sure we get your payment in good time.

Does your membership expire on December 31st? ● Log into your account on audax.uk and you should see the phrase “valid until

31st December 20xx”. If your membership does not expire, but that of any household members does, you will see a warning message and also a red triangle against “Household Members” in the “My Account” menu. You can then renew just for your household member(s) or remove them from your membership. ● Or check your Arrivée envelope (hopefully it is in the recycling bin not landfill!)

– as well as your address, it has a personalised message to tell you whether you need to renew or not.

● Note that if you have a valid DD mandate you won’t be able to choose another

method of payment. If you want to switch away from DD payment then please cancel your mandate and also contact me.

Life membership: Any Audax UK member who is over 65 on Jan 1st and has 10 or more years’ continuous membership may become a “life member”. This is free, although if you wish to receive all four copies of Arrivée, not just the December issue, a subscription is payable. If according to our records you qualify for 2022 then you should have received a personalised email (if we have an email address) and/or a message on the magazine envelope, and when you logon you will be offered the life membership subscription options. If you think you should qualify but haven’t been advised, then contact me asap.

Contact the Membership Secretary Caroline Fenton by email: membership@ audax.uk or by post: 56 Lockesfield Place, London E14 3AJ.

Membership Rates: One Year: £18 (until December 2022) Two years: £36 (until December 2023) Commuted (5 year): £72 (until December 2026) Life Members: free or £11 (one year) or £55 (5 years) to receive all issues of Arrivée ● Overseas Members: add £9 pa postal surcharge (£45 for 5 years) to the above. ● Household: £6 pa (or £24 for 5 years) ● ● ● ●

Note that after a short grace period in January (until the next Arrivée mailing list is compiled) you will also need to pay a £5 fee to cover the extra admin costs we incur.

How to renew your membership: ● Direct Debit: Log into audax.uk and click on the Renew button or the

warning message – if you haven’t already completed a mandate, you can choose this option when you renew online. As long as you do this no later than 31/12/21, it will count for continuous membership and for LEL entitlement, even if we don’t take payment until after that date. ● Online using a Credit/Debit card: Log in as above and choose the “Pay with

Card” option via our payment service Stripe (new this year). ● Online using PayPal: Log in as above and choose the “PayPal” option ● By Post: Send a cheque payable to “Audax UK”, with your membership

number and name on the back, to me at the address below. Please be aware that getting cheques to the bank takes time, so do not be surprised if there is a delay before it clears. Please choose an online payment method if at all possible. ● Standing Order: If you still have a Standing Order, please consider cancelling

it and switching to another payment method. Otherwise check that it is payable before Dec 31st and is for the correct amount as we cannot change this for you. Many of the SO payments we receive are for the wrong amount and we won’t renew your membership if you underpay. If you are not sure of your standing order details please contact your bank.

Already completed a direct debit mandate? ● If you don’t need to make any changes to your membership details (add or

remove household members) and you want a one year subscription, then you don’t need to do anything and we will renew your membership around 10/12/21. ● If you want to change any details such as adding/removing household

members or you want to choose a 2 or 5 year subscription then please go through the manual renewal process before the beginning of December and the payment will be charged to your existing mandate.

www.audax.uk

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CYCLINGSHORTS

Cycling Shorts is your platform for news, call-outs, views and opinions on anything cycling-related. We’re keen to hear your biking tales, old or new.

Drop us an email with the details. We’re looking for all types of short stories from Audax riders, with a picture of yourself too if possible.

Send to: gedlennox@me.com

Cold enough to freeze your whiskers off

Arrivée154Winter2021

Peter Trevis left it late to complete his 2020 RRtY schedule – riding his final 200km of the year, around Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire, on a wintery New Year’s Eve. Despite the Covidinduced solitude – and a beard frozen to his jacket – he survived to tell the tale…

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DECEMBER 2020 slipped by without me really noticing – which triggered a panic. To keep my Randonneur Round the Year (RRtY) dream alive, I needed to fit in a 200km ride before the start of 2021.

Unsurprisingly, thanks to the pandemic, I had no plans for New Year’s Eve last year – so I double-checked, and confirmed that, provided I started my ride no later than one minute before midnight on the 31st, my ride would be validated.

So I conceived a plan. Audax is supposed to be a bit of an adventure, after all – and I enjoy riding at night. You tend to see sights that you wouldn’t normally see – and it’s fun when your eyes play tricks on you! I ate an early dinner and set off into the inky black night at 6pm. I reckoned I’d be at the halfway point by midnight, and back home by 6am.

My planned route was a rough triangle of three local rivers – the Stour, the Wylye and the Avon. Parts on the route involved old railway paths and riverside cycle paths. The night was cold and crisp, and the dirt surfaces were as hard as iron. After the initial section, along two kilometres of bridleway, I reached the top of a field and was greeted by a wide view of the valley in the moonlight. The vibe was good.

On an old rail track, which runs parallel to the river Stour I found I had no drive from my free hub. I hopped off and spun the crank – it was perfectly smooth and free in both directions. I carried on, and it came back to life. The puddles on the trail were still free of ice, so the going was easy.

After negotiating some gates, I tried to pull away – and again, no drive. I was only 17km in at this point, and thought about turning for home. Instead I decided to pull my hub apart. It turned out there was frozen water in the hub shell, stopping the clutch working. I cleaned it off, doused it in chain lube and reassembled it. Then I realised I had a flat and had to stop and fix it.

Finally I started to make headway towards the village of Mere at breakneck speed, worried about how much time I’d lost. I was also pretty cold by now but there was some climbing to do around Stourhead which was lit up for the festive season. I whizzed down off the Wiltshire chalk under

the bright moon and into Mere. Here I stopped to put on a warm jacket and woolly hat, and drank some hot Ribena from a flask, together with a half-frozen jam and peanut butter sandwich.

The temperature was plummeting. I slid on ice when braking for a turn, and overshot the junction – fortunately without any consequences. I meandered along the river valley towards Wilton under the clear skies. Tendrils of fog were hanging over the river, and the atmosphere was eerie. I felt like I was the only soul around.

As I came into the lights of Wilton, heading for Salisbury, the fog lifted a little. It was about to strike midnight and folk were coming to their doorways. As I passed, I waved and wished them a Happy New Year. There were a few half-hearted fireworks let off into the misty sky which lifted the spirits.

I was hoping that something in Salisbury would be open, but there was nothing, not even a kebab shop. It was proper cold in the city, but I was heading south, closer to Africa, and hoped it might be warmer!

By 1am I was climbing up along the edge of the New Forest. At Godshill I disturbed a group of youths welcoming in the New Year. They must have been spooked by my flickering dynamo drifting up the hill, and they hastily sped off. I dropped back down to the flood plain and the river, where the fog was now very thick. I tried to adjust my Buff and realised that it had frozen solid to my jacket.

Luckily, I’m pretty well covered with whiskers, so didn’t worry. I was brought wide awake by a herd of donkeys lolloping towards me out of the mist in the middle of the road. I carved around them and picked it up a little into Ringwood.

The going was good, but the harder I rode, the cooler it got. I circled Christchurch harbour and rode the trail to the mouth of the river at Hengistbury Head. I was hoping to refill my bottles at the beach huts but everything was iced solid. The view across the harbour was compensation – like a mirror to the clear sky with just the moon floating across.

Still on the lookout for water, I passed a colossal Tesco – it was closed, obviously. I even had a poke about in the service yard. I dropped on to another trial alongside the river. It began enjoyably enough, then turned into an icy struggle, even on my 35mm tyres, so I cut away to the road.

On a hill near my parent’s house I stopped to take in the view down to the river, while eating some ginger cake.

Now heading for home I knew that if I rode hard I might keep to my original schedule But riding faster whipped up the air around my face and I realised my beard had frozen

PETER TREVIS

Peter Trevis is a 32 year old Audaxer from Blandford Forum, Dorset. He’s been an AUK member for nine years, having ridden his first Dorset Coast event in 2013. He has also raced mountain bikes, and still rides his BMX once a week with friends. Together with his wife Kate, they had planned to complete RRtYs together. Due to the pandemic, Kate is planning to restart her attempt in the new season. to my jacket I had to tease it gently apart – to remove the risk of tearing my beard off when I turned my head at junctions!

Finally I was back in our valley and following the last river – the river Tarrant, making it home only 15 minutes behind the plan. All considered, a great way of seeing in the New Year and keeping the RRtY spirt alive!

Peter Trevis CS

A bouquet …

Sir, Just to say a big thank you for publishing my article (Out of Africa – Arrivée 153) and for doing such an amazing job with the layout. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Arrivée magazine is a very impressive publication, including riders’ accounts and supporting photos of the utmost quality. The graphical layout and composition too is of the highest order. All those involved with the magazine are doing a brilliant job.

Sadly after arriving home after my latest ride I was wiped out on a roundabout a “sorry didn’t see you” classic. Snapped achillies, so I’m now in a “boot” for ten weeks and I guess lots of physio ahead. I’ve cycled thousands of miles all over the world and have had three serious accidents – all within 15 miles of my front door! Maybe the statistics are telling me something?

Target – back on my bike by Christmas.

Martin Philpot CS

OBITUARY

Audax stalwart dies on eve of 74th birthday The Audax community has been saddened to learn of the death of stalwart cyclist Michael McGovern, one day before his 74th birthday in October.

Michael was a longstanding member of AUK, but in his youth was a renowned fell-runner. As a young man he completed the gruelling Bob Graham Round of 42 Lake District peaks in under 24 hours.

In later life he became a passionate cyclist, completing many Audax routes and distances, ranging from 100k to 600k. He was also an enthusiastic touring cyclist, and travelled across many parts of Europe with family and friends every year, until ill health made such tours impossible.

Michael worked as a fire-fighter in Chorley, Lancashire, where he lived with his wife Pauline. The couple have two grown-up sons, Matt and Adam. Pauline says: “Working as a fire-fighter gave him lots of time to indulge his love of adventurous outdoor activities, including climbing, mountain-walking, fellrunning and cycling.”

She added: “He cycled the Giro d’Italia route in 2006 with a friend and then rode home to Lancashire from Italy. Together we cycled all over the UK and Ireland, had a lovely trip to Cuba and several trips to Spain, including biking to the Vuelta in 2016. He never lost his love of cycling and motored to the Tour de France in 2018.”

Michael died from complications caused by heart failure on 20 October this year. His funeral took place at Overdale Crematorium, in Bolton on 5 November.

Pauline said: “As a former fire-fighter that date would have made him smile.”

Michael was a family man, and very close to Sophie, his granddaughter. He will be sadly missed by his widow, Pauline, his son Matt and family, and his son Adam, who lives in Australia.

… and a brickbat Sir, I’ve only just got around to reading the summer edition of Arrivée magazine (152). I am very disappointed with the content and tone of the comment column. I assume this was written before the Euro 2020 (football) championships and before (Home Secretary) Priti Patel referred to taking the knee as gesture politics. After the debate that followed the reaction to the missed penalties in the final I would hope you have had a rethink about this. I don’t think this is something to air in a cycling magazine.

Robin Clarke CS

Michael on the Col du Donon on the border between Alsace and Lorraine in 2011

Tony Lennox replies: One may hold the opinion that gesture politics are futile while at the same time deploring racism. It is also perfectly legitimate, when bicycles are used in a political gesture, to comment upon the fact in a cycling magazine. www.audax.uk

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CYCLING

SHORTS

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Arrivée154Winter2021

Yummy return for the Clwyd

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THE CLWYD AUDAX Rides made a welcome return in October 2021, after Covid-19 disruption – though not without several months of stress for the organisers.

The popular rides, which were last held in 2019, were once again in the hands of organiser David Matthews, who had last been responsible for the event five years ago. He was assisted this year by apprentice organiser Graham Hines, who will manage both the Clwyd and Barmouth rides once he has completed the mentoring period required by Audax UK. The Clwyd event has traditionally started from The Old Workhouse in Corwen, but this venue is no longer available, so the organisers approached the owners of the nearby Yum Yums café in The Square, who agreed to host the event on a trial basis.

The existing route sheets were checked out during several car-assist bike rides (from St Asaph, Mold, Loggerheads and Corwen) to look for any changes, re-visit information controls and ensure the café controls were still present and prepared for the event.

The Clwydian 200k route uses the Black Lion pub at Babel, in the sparsely-populated Halkyns Hills, as a key marker for an important right turn. David said: ”The first time I went to check, I couldn’t find the pub, though I remembered visiting it in the past. I then got caught in a massive rainstorm and gave up the search, returning to Loggerheads.

“On the next visit in early October I still couldn’t find it. Luckily, I bumped into a local man walking his dog who told me that the pub was two miles back up the hill – but had been demolished ages ago. I rode back to where the pub used to be, to discover it is now a house.”

He also discovered that the bridge between Tremeirchion and Trefnant had been washed away some time ago – and was unlikely to be replaced in the near future. He said: “The bridge is crucial to both the 200k and 138k routes. Fortunately, there is an alternative river crossing nearby which is now indicated on the amended route sheets, requiring little extra distance.”

Having dealt with these issues, the three rides went ahead on schedule on 16 October, 2021.

The Clwydian 212km – 3150m ascent: A field of 23 riders entered this tough ride,

Clwydian riders at start

with 15 riders starting out and two DNF. Times varied between eight hours, 40 minutes to a more sedate 13 hours, 20 minutes.

The Clwyd Gate 138km – 2200m ascent: There were also 23 entries for this event with 15 starters and two DNF. Times varied between seven hours, 50 minutes to nine hours, 35 minutes.

The Bala Mini-Bash 60km – 700m ascent: A total of 27 riders entered this fun event. There were five DNFs. Times varied from three hours, 15 minutes to five hours,

Approaching Horseshoe pass on old coach road

35 minutes. There were also two junior riders cycling with their parents, who successfully completed the course.

David said: “The few months leading up to this event were quite stressful due to all the changes. Happily, the day itself went well with fine dry weather and little wind. Returning riders enjoyed the scenic beauty of the rides.”

Yum Yums café will be hosting the Barmouth/Brenig/Bala rides next July.

David Matthews CS

CS

Mike Smith has ridden 6000km on his new tubeless tyres and has yet to be bothered by a puncture. Here he tells of his conversion and why he is never going back down the road to inner tubes…

I’ve ridden 6000km on my tyres and never had a puncture… tubeless tyres are great and you should just fit them, end of…

The modern bicycle wheel is a great invention, however, you need an interface between the carbon or alloy rims and the road. Something that provides grip and cushions the ride – enter the tyre, with an airtight inner tube, and you have a solution which has stood the test of time.

Pneumatic tyres with inner tubes first appeared in the 1880s and saw no sign of waning, that is until the recent reincarnation of the tubeless tyre which promises to solve the biggest bug bear of the inner tube… the puncture.

Tubeless tyres do exactly what they say on the tin... they are tyres that don't have any tubes which means the tyre provides an airtight seal to the rim. This requires finer tolerances in manufacture and inevitably leads to increased costs. So, given the inner tube has been so successful as a product, what are the tangible benefits of going tubeless?

Most importantly you can run them at much lower pressures. For my 28mm tyre, I go down to 45psi which has the benefits of greater traction, reduced impact of sharp object and substantially increased ride comfort.

Then there is the reduced likelihood of puncturing. This benefit isn't because of any innate improvement in the quality of the rubber, you will still get punctures with a tubeless, but because they are airtight, they can have liquid latex sealant inside them – if you get a puncture the latex, which is spinning around inside the tyre, is forced out of the hole, sealing it as it dries.

When you eventually come to change your tyre you might well find a whole host of debris inside from past punctures. If you do notice your tyre going flat, the best option is to spin the wheel, forcing the sealant to the outside of the tyre and so increasing the likelihood of sealing any hole.

It's not all happy at the other end of the rainbow though… you need rims designed for tubeless along with the requisite valves. Then, because the tyre must fit tightly, it can be difficult – read that as fiendishly difficult – to put on. In fact, you may well find some tyres don’t

IMAGE © PIXABAY.COM

Tubeless clinch the deal

play fair with some rims. If you find tyres that work for you and your rims then stick with them but, even when you have got a good combination, they can still be a bugger to fit.

Great tyre levers are essential along with a good track pump. A liberal dose of soapy water while fitting will help and it is often an iterative process of pumping and “washing”; you’ll hear loudish pop when the bead beds on the rim. Work your way around to check that it is fully on, just make sure you don’t over-pressurise the tire otherwise you’ll blow it off the rim! In harder cases you may well need a flash can which can blast a short burst of highpressure air into the tyre to achieve the same effect. Otherwise, take it to your bike shop who’ll have a compressor. You then need to get the latex inside; I prefer doing this after the tyre is fitted using a syringe to inject it. Just beware you don’t get a face full of latex at this point – I’ve learnt from experience here! A road tyre takes about 45ml of latex, which requires topping up at about 15ml every month.

Given the difficulties some experience with tyre fitting, if you do get a puncture on a ride then you’ll need to put a tube in it (and possibly fit a tyre boot/patch). That obviously means you need to carry a tube (no weight saving there) and then fit it but, going such a distance puncture-free has persuaded me that they are worth the effort.

Weight saving isn’t one of the benefits – while you don't have an inner tube, the tyre itself tends to be a bit beefier. I run the Bontrager AW2 28mm which are great high mileage tyres – my current pair are now on more than 6000km – and weigh in at 385g (against 330g for the clincher).

Latex tubes come in at around 80g so the saving is negligible.

For me, never getting that heartsinking feeling of a tyre deflating, then sitting in the road – usually in the dark and rain – repairing a puncture with cold hands, is wonderful. It’s revolutionised my cycling.

David Matthews CS

BIKE FOR SALE

Dolan titanium frame (50cm), Carbon fork. Mudguard/rack eyes.

Campag Chorus/Veloce 10 spd group set. 28 bladed spoke wheels, Hope hubs, Mavic rims.

£875

Full details from: Richard.newell@ntlworld.com; 07855 011335 (Cambs.) www.audax.uk

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Emma Haxell and her partner Iain Aitchison travelled to Britain’s remote Atlantic fringe to experience the stunning beauty of the Outer Hebrides on a 185 mile ride from the southern tip of the island of Barra to the northernmost point of Lewis.

Here are Emma’s impressions of a cycling adventure through an archipelago of stunning beauty.

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Wandering the wild, windy and wonderful Western Isles

WORDS EMMA HAXELL PICTURES EMMA HAXELL & IAIN AITCHISON

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The start of the Hebridean Way on the Isle of Vatersay

THE HEBRIDEAN WAY spans ten islands and is rich in breath-taking white beaches and inquisitive wildlife. Since becoming an official route in 2016 it has grown in popularity as a route to complete either by foot or bicycle – the latter being the best way, in my opinion.

After a day of travelling by plane, bus, train and sea-ferry, we finally arrived at Barra at the southern tip of the island chain. The route is usually ridden from south to north, due to the prevailing winds.

There was minimal planning involved since my partner Iain and I were intending to be wild-camping along the route.

We caught sight of a pod of dolphins as we travelled to the start point at Vatersay. Then our adventure began.

Within the first mile we were treated to a 12.5 per cent incline. This definitely warmed us up, but it turned out to be the only real ascent of the day.

We joined other cyclists tackling the Hebridean Way – and they were to become familiar faces over the next few days. During the first ferry crossing, a 40 minute journey, we were treated to the spectacular sight of gannets divebombing for fish.

Despite being only three miles in length, our visit to Eriskay wasn’t exactly a flying visit. After a stop at the island store to replenish our supplies, we took liquid refreshment at the only pub, and soon lost a couple of hours – time well spent though!

The pub, the Am Politician, was a very slight detour off the main route but one which everyone on the ferry seemed to make. It was a lovely little place which looked like it used to be somebody’s home. It’s named after the wreck of SS Politician which ran aground off the coast of Eriskay in 1941 – carrying 22,000 cases of whisky! The event was fictionalised by the writer Compton Mackenzie in Whisky Galore, which was made into a popular film in 1949. Sadly we didn’t find any whisky when wandering along the beach behind the pub!

Following our break, we were back on our bikes and soon crossing the second causeway of the day on to South Uist. Here we began to lose sight of the coast as the route veered inland and the views of the sea were swapped for crofts and sporadic houses.

After a few hours, and a stop at a Co-op, we sensed we were nearing the coast again, although we couldn’t see it.

We stopped and climbed a high stone barricade wall which revealed a pristine white sandy beach – completely untouched for as far as the eye could see.

A perfect spot to rest our legs.

We decided it was time to head on and

The Hebridean Way

Spanning 185 miles from Vatersay in the south of Barra, to the Butt of Lewis in the north, across ten islands, six causeways and two ferries, the Hebridean Way is a dazzling route of rugged landscapes and glittering white Atlantic beaches and spectacular cliffs. The holder of the fastest round-theworld bike ride, Britain’s Mark Beaumont, launched the cycling route in 2016, completing the ride in just 12 hours. A film of his journey, which gives a vivid illustration of the landscape and conditions, can be found on YouTube. www.audax.uk

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cycle toward the camp spot we’d previously scouted out via Google Maps – located on the next island, Benbecula.

We spent a long time trying to find a camp spot. It’s worth remembering that the spots on Google Maps may not be as perfect in real life! After unintentionally cycling the whole island we reached a series of causeways which linked Benbecula to Grimsay, and Grimsay to North Uist. It was off one of these causeways we found a spit of land to pitch up for the night and were rewarded with an amazing sunset out at sea. Accounting for the ferry journey we’d clocked up approximately 65 miles.

We started our second day with our first Hebridean dip – refreshing but very cold! Having cycled over six islands on the first day, majority of day two was to be spent on North Uist.

We noticed many differences between

each island and this one was different again – with characteristics of the Scottish Highlands. The roads were undulating in terrain but without any serious climbs. It was on one of these roads we encountered our first traffic jam – a local farmer moving his highland cows!

When stocking up on supplies at the village shop, we spoke to a local man who was interested in our travels. When he heard we were planning to cycle back to Stornoway after completing the Hebridean Way, he warned us about the very open moorland road we’d need to take and that we’d need to batten down the hatches.

We headed to the ferry port on the very small island of Berneray but with a few hours to spare and not many miles to complete, we decided to follow a “beach access”. Following the detour downhill we pushed our bikes to the top of the sand

Behind the dunes… ❝ pristine white sand as far as you could see in each direction, and turquoise water which could easily fool you into thinking you were in the Caribbean

❞

… off one of these ❝ causeways we found a spit of land to pitch up for the night and were rewarded with an amazing sunset out at sea

❞

dunes, and found the most amazing beach we’d ever seen – pristine white sand as far as you could see in each direction, and turquoise water which could easily fool you into thinking you were in the Caribbean. To make it even better, there wasn’t a soul in sight.

With time to spare before the ferry, we visited the island’s tea room, and took advantage of the public showers at the old harbour. Feeling refreshed we hopped on to the ferry, with some familiar faces, and headed to the Isle of Harris. Once off, the task of finding a camp spot began again. We found a lovely spot on the headland with the sound of the waves of the open Atlantic crashing below us. Including the ferry journey we finished the day on 50 miles.

On day three we woke to an overcast sky but thankfully no rain. As we reached the village of Seilebost we stopped to take in the view – and watched an otter in the sea below, darting around in search of fish.

Harris is notably hillier than the other islands, with quite a mountainous terrain.

We soon began to gain height but were shrouded in a wet mist which stole our views. A tea stop in Tarbet was a very welcome place to dry off and refuel.

After Tarbet is the biggest climb of the route – a continuous slight ascent with a few long steep pulls thrown in for good measure. Once we levelled out we were rewarded with a brilliant decent on a winding road with a couple of switchbacks. The broken views of the loch through the mist would have been brilliant in clear weather.

Shortly afterwards we reached the Isle of Lewis, and the afternoon was spent cycling further north and stopping in

Crust Like That pizza cabin, in the middle of nowhere!

various bus stops to dodge the sporadic showers, which had finally caught up with us.

We had a treat booked for dinner that evening – in a place called Crust Like That, a converted shipping container selling takeaway wood-fired pizzas in the middle of nowhere. We’d pre-ordered the pizzas earlier that day, and having assumed we’d be very hungry by then, we asked for three pizzas between the two of us. Although they were delicious, it turns out we were just being greedy. The third pizza was not wasted. We strapped it to the top of the pannier rack!

We’d only planned to ride a few miles after the pizza stop before pitching our tent, but the vast moorland terrain, consisting of thick heather, made it impossible to find anywhere suitable. We finally somewhere, though it was less than ideal, and the wind had dropped, so the midges came out to play! Our travel for the

www.audax.uk

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day was 55 miles.

There was no rush as we started day four and headed to Dail Mor for breakfast on the beach. We had the beach to ourselves – apart from the thousands of midges. The only time they left us alone was when we went for a dip.

The views on Lewis changed once again. It was predominantly moorland with a few lochs. We came across a bonus tea room, the Grinneabhat, which was not marked on our map. Naturally we had to stop.

We got talking about our cycling exploits to the only other couple in the tea room. They’d been cyclists and had ridden all over the world – 45 years ago! They said that our story had inspired them to get back on their bikes. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, we told them to look up Audax UK. The rest of the day was spent following the same long, unforgiving road with a tea stop and then finally a pub stop at the Cross Inn, only a few miles from the official finish point at the Butt of Lewis, which is a very wild place with steep cliffs, huge sea stacks and rough seas. Having finished, it was time to find our final camp spot of the trip.

Port Stoth Beach lies only a mile from the Butt of Lewis, we had clocked it on the way to the finish point, with it being so quiet and sheltered it was too good not to stop and go for a swim.

As we got out of the sea it started to

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Early warning… Iain watches out for those crossing otters

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A port in a storm… Emma sits gratefully in a bus shelter, AKA the wind and rain protector

rain. It hadn’t rained much so far on the trip – but this was torrential. The rain forced us into a manic 30 minute ride to find a camp spot and pitch the tent on the headland.

We were thankful to have kept the pizza from the night before as it was too wet and windy to get out of the tent to cook dinner!

The wind continued through the night, together with relentless rain – we were glad this weather had arrived on the last night rather than the first. On day four we completed 40 miles.

The end of our bike packing trip was sadly in sight, however the wind and rain

from the previous night didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping, which made it slightly easier knowing this would be our last day cycling.

After packing up in the rain, the only thing that stood between us and a warm, dry hotel (our reward for wild camping for the duration of the trip), was a 30 mile ride, of which 11 miles were across open moorland, with relentless wind and driving rain. The guy we’d spoken to a couple of days earlier had not been joking when he said we’d have to batten down the hatches – it was a tough ride!

No speed records were broken during this trip but that was never our intention.

One of the many joys of bike-backing is that you’re not beholden to time – unless you have a ferry to catch! Over the course of our trip we covered ten islands via six causeways and two ferries.

Wild camping meant we could stop when and where we wanted, moorland permitting, and the best part of all was that we could explore hidden treasures – ones that would have been missed by those who were time and speed conscious.

Emma feels inexplicably at home on her bike…

Emma Haxell is a 30 year old Audaxer from north Essex, who rides for Chelmsford-based Athlon CC. When she’s not on her bike she can be found climbing mountains in Scotland – she’s in the process of ticking off all 282 Scottish Munros (peaks above 3,000ft).

During the recent Covid lockdowns Emma took part, with a group of friends, in a virtual climb to Everest base camp – using a set of brick steps in her back garden.

She’s been an Audax UK member for just under a year, but previously rode in several events. “I’ve since realised I’ve missed out on many points,” she says.

Emma owns three bikes and is currently eyeing the purchase of a gravel bike.

She’s also working her way through the longer distances, and is in the process of tackling RRtY. Next on her riding agenda is a bike pack tour around Lake Constance, taking her through Germany Switzerland and Austria.

She says: “I’ve always been around cycling, whether that was on the back of a tandem while growing up, cheering my dad on during his time-trials or listening to the many stories my grandparents told of their worldwide cycling trips. I’ve an inexplicable feeling of being at home when I’m on my bike.”

Hidden jewel…

Port Stoth Beach

… only a mile from the ❝ Butt of Lewis, we had clocked it on the way to the finish point, with it being so quiet and sheltered it was too good not to stop and go for a swim

❞

www.audax.uk www.audax.uk

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Racing

against time is such a trial

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Audaxer Andy Walsh describes the highs and lows of his journey into the pitiless world of time-trialling, or “clock-bashing” as it’s known by its hard-riding exponents.

He sought the help and advice of the discipline’s veterans, and dived right in…

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Andy on the Aslackby TT event

Before 2021 I’d only ridden once in a team time-trial – as part of the 2018 Tour of Cambridgeshire, as a last minute stand-in for a friend. After that I wasn’t in a rush to do it again. It was a brutal effort that really took me by surprise.

In the spring of 2021 a work colleague indicated that his club, Bourne Wheelers, were running time-trials beginning in April. The first “come and try” event would be a five mile out-and-back time-trial. It went well. I was the only person on a steel road bike in a field of weapon-level, sculpted, disc wheeled, time-trial specific rigs, and I was very pleased with my result: My time over the five miles was 12.33 at an average speed of 23.7mph. I was placed eighth in a field of 30.

My interest in time-trialling had been firmed, and I was speaking to anyone I knew who’d previously time-trialled, in search of information and words of experience to be able to better my approach, my technique and my speed.

It turns out there is a depth of time-trialling experience within Audax UK, and it was John Gallagher of Crewe Clarion Wheelers who pointed out a similarity between Audaxing and timetrialling.

In fact, for a Briton to be able to ride Paris-BrestParis (PBP) back in the early 1970s, the qualifying criteria was to have ridden over 375 Miles in a 24-hour TT. Thankfully, Audax UK was formed and a successful Super Randonneur (SR) Award has superseded the earlier requirement for PBP qualification.

I’d trawled through back copies of Arrivée in search of articles on the 24-hour TT, and as recently as 2020 a piece by Greg Melia on the 2019 Mersey Roads National 24-hour TT was featured in issue 147, and going further back issue 122 had two accounts of the 2013 24-hour TT. I read these articles with interest.

John Gallagher dispensed some thoughts to me based on his history of time-trialling, which consisted mostly of racing his club 10s. He suggested I recce different courses, keep a log of my ride data, eat well before a ride, ride on full gas until over the line – and not to be hard on myself if my times were slower than the field. He also said that I should remember that if you’re hating it, so is everyone else.

I knew my friend Jim Churton had ridden many time-trials. When I told him I was considering dipping my toes into the discipline, his words were helpful, and came from years of experience against the clock.

He said that if you pass the chequer board without being all in, you haven’t tried hard enough.

There was only one way to ride a TT, he said – total concentration

coupled with maximum effort. You must discipline yourself to fast pedalling.

He added that the TT was “a conflict between mind and body” – when they are in tune “you can do anything”. He made the point that the TT is a combination of concentration and strength, not big gears you can barely turn over, but a gear that propels you at speed, turned with strength, and an ability to conquer its resistance.

Jim doesn’t openly talk about his palmarès but when you chat with him you gradually learn that his cycling experience is vast, and now I was understanding that Jim had laid down fantastic Personal Bests for each of the fixed standard time-trial distances and times (10, 25, 50, 100 mile, 12 and 24-hours). He’d done these times in the 80s and 90s on steel TT bikes of the day; very short wheelbase frames, made to measure with limited clearances and no additional aero accoutrements. For me, having ridden a handful of time-trials at this point, my understanding of Jim’s performances was deepened – and I had a very long way to go.

Throughout April, May and into June, I continued to race the midweek TTs organised by Bourne Wheelers, and I continued to place respectably. I was trying to put into practice some of the advice I’d been given, particularly around position on the bike (low/aero) and on pedalling speed. During the races I would concentrate on: speed, keeping it as high as possible; power, not blowing up but keeping it as high as possible; and cadence, keeping it over 90rpm minimum.

As John had suggested, I kept a log of all my races and the key stats so I could study each performance, weighing up what went well and what didn’t.

Throughout this time I was listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, reading blogs and forums, and talking to Jim and others, immersing myself in material. I was really enjoying learning more about the discipline, and through racing regularly, was becoming more familiar with the hard efforts required.

I’d heard of “open” events and “nationals” but didn’t really have a clue what these meant other than what is given away in the name. I learned that Cycling Time-Trials (CTT) was the governing body for these events. The CTT website provides lots of information on courses, riders, clubs, results, competitions and news. It seemed that there were in excess of 1,000 open time-trials being run throughout the year, and to ride in them you needed to be a member of a club affiliated to CTT. I discovered that Audax UK was affiliated to CTT. The next step was to find a local open event to enter.

As a member of Audax UK, it was easy, and free, to register with CTT, set up a profile and start looking for events to enter. I quickly found an open 10 Mile event run by Bourne Wheelers – the club whose

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TT RESOURCE If you read only one book on TTs, make it Adam Topham’s 2012 publication, “Timetrialling: Fly through the pain barrier”. It’s an excellent resource which comprehensively explains the many elements of timetrialling. It is written in a way which is accessible and aimed at the rider who has to balance work, family and an interest in time-trialling. It becomes clear through reading this book that timetrialling is a power and endurance event, and getting faster at it will require a person to push oneself hard in their training sessions.

WHAT’S IN A NUMBER?

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Jim Churton explained the time-trial numbering hierarchy. When I was allocated number 59 in my first open TT, I just assumed that was the number given on an application basis, but I was wrong.

The number 59 indicated me as a slow rider. This is how it works; In a field of 120 racers the numbers work like this: ● 1 – The organising club’s slowest rider in the race. ● Numbers ending in 0 – The 12 fastest riders on paper, with the fastest being 120, then 110, 100 etc. ● Numbers ending in 5 – Second wave of fast riders, with the 13th fastest being 115, then 105, 95 etc. ● Numbers ending in 8 – Next quickest after the 5s, with the 26th fastest being 118, then 108, 98 etc. ● Numbers ending in 9 – The slowest in the field.

All other numbers are field fillers.

The numbering protocol is designed to keep riders well separated when on the course, such that similarly paced riders don’t end up on top of each other during the race.

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mid-week TTs I’d already been riding. The course was near Grantham and was an east/west out-and-back on the A52. I paid up and awaited the next step, which was to be accepted to race by the organisers.

Ten days before the event, I was notified that I’d been accepted to race, and a few days after that the start list was published along with details of the race HQ, exact course details and timings for the day.

There were 71 people on the start sheet, and a good representation of clubs from the South Lincolnshire, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire areas.

At the event there were riders on weapon-level carbon bikes, some were warming up on rollers and turbo trainers in the car park and all of them had a level of focus while getting themselves ready. I felt like this would be a step up in terms of competition and seriousness, and it was difficult not to feel a little amateurish with my steel-framed Kalavinka and normal kit. At this point I was really hoping that I wouldn’t be absolute last on the results sheet.

The race went fairly well, even though I was passed by three riders. Later in the day the results were published on the CTT website. I’d placed 41st out of 60 riders, with 11 riders of the 71 who entered, either not starting or not finishing. My time was 24:59, and I was very pleased with that, mainly because I’d not finished last, and had just beaten my target – which was to be under 25 minutes.

Time-trialling kit is a big and expensive subject.

I’ve ridden nine TTs on my steel bike with clip-on aero bars and it’s been perfectly adequate. As the TT discipline took greater hold I found myself looking for second hand TT bikes. I bought a second hand Ridley TT bike and rode it on a couple of TTs. The difference between my steel bike and the TT specific carbon bike is very noticeable. I’ve also bought a cheap aero helmet. The next “threshold” items on the list are a skin suit, a deep section front wheel and a rear disc wheel. All of which can wait a while.

In terms of training, I’ve not been particularly structured. I do sufficient to be in good enough shape to do the things I want to do. I tend to just do more when there are bigger rides on the horizon.

I’ve also looked for methods to improve my speed and technique, to help give me an advantages in the TTs, and also provide a benefit in the long distance rides I like to do. I needed to increase my Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which would mean increased power, and hence speed, for TTs. It would also work for longer rides. I’d operate at a lower power for a given speed, which is a good thing for Audax and randoneurring.

Through the time-trialling forum I found a link to a good blog site (wattkg.com) – an excellent resource for accessing research studies on training methods. I settled on a polarised training plan lasting nine weeks. This would see me mixing tough intervals with longer, easy rides each week. I had weekly TTs to squeeze in too and I knew that life would get in the way of absolute plan compliance and execution, but having a plan was the first step.

These intervals were very tough indeed – eight minutes at 102 per cent of my FTP (300Watts) repeated four times, which is daunting. You need to be prepared in your head to let some hurt in to be able to complete the workout. It took me five attempts before I could fully complete the last interval, and from then on I was able to complete each session. I could feel it was doing me good.

What’s next? My initial interest in the 24-hour TT had naturally come from my Audax and long distance riding. I thought I’d like to experience its emotion one day, maybe. But to me it was more accessible to start out by riding in shorter local races.

By doing that I have a better appreciation of how hard it must be to ride a good distance at a 12 or 24 hour TT. I want to build to the longer TT distances through structured training, and as I write this piece I have another open 10 mile TT scheduled in July 2021 along with my first open 25 mile TT in August. I’d also like to enter a 50 mile TT before the season’s end.

My longer term aspirations are to ride a 100 mile TT, a 12 and a 24 hour TT. I’ve ridden several times at these distances and times through Audax but I now realise there is a huge difference between riding and

INSPIRATIONAL DAMON PEACOCK In 2021, after deciding to write up my 2005 LEJOG ride, I found myself re-watching Michael Broadwith’s record-breaking attempt on the classic route. Damon Peacock made an excellent video of Michael’s attempt and as Damon made many interesting videos, I veered into watching some of his Mersey Roads 24 hour TT videos. This is what first inspired me to line up on a TT start line. I was very saddened to learn of Damon’s passing, and watching the online funeral service was moving, but it was great to learn about all the good Damon had done in his life, hearing from the many people he had touched.

I didn’t know Damon, but I’d met him at PBP 2019 where I talked with him and his partner Heather at the start, and then later on day three when he was quick to point the camera at me and my friend Phil to ask us for some thoughts.

(Damon Peacock’s obituary is on page 8 of the Autumn issue 153 of Arrivée)

racing such a distance or time. I think it would be rewarding to race a 24 hour TT, and I know that when the time comes for me I will have the backbone of a decent support crew behind me.

Thanks to Jim Churton, John Gallagher and Rick Smith for their encouragement and generous sharing of advice and experience.

NOVEMBER 2021 – UPDATE I was unable to make the 50 Mile TT work with family commitments, but I did compete in two 25 Mile TTs towards the end of the season. Both were a brutal effort, but in my first 25 I was able to get under the hour and produce a 58:26! It represented a huge amount to me, that I was able to ride 25 miles at a speed of 25Mph or more seemed incomprehensible earlier in the year, but I was able to do it, and I feel there could be more in me as I refine my position, technique and kit to develop in the discipline of TT…

Andy on his third TT with Bourne Wheelers

THE LEGENDARY F.T. BIDLAKE Jim Churton introduced me to F.T. Bidlake.

He told me of the significance of Bidlake, as a record-setting rider in the 1880s, who went on to carry out administration activities as a timekeeper, and is credited by many as a major component in establishing time-trialling as it’s known today. I was so engaged in learning about Bidlake that I made a 220Km DIY Audax out to the Bidlake memorial garden near Eaton Socon on the A1 in Bedfordshire. Each year, the Bidlake prize is awarded for outstanding achievements in cycling, and a list of winners is can be found at www.bidlakememorial.org.uk.

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Fans lure Dan to the finish line with tasty Staffordshire titbits…

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BEING A USUALLY solitary rider I’m not accustomed to roadside supporters and dot-watchers. During the four days of the incredible Pan Celtic Race I naively supposed that the people at the side of the road were there simply to wave to their loved ones.

It wasn’t until well into the ride that I realised that some of these people were actually following our progress – dotwatchers who’d turned up to cheer us on!

As the ride went into day three, they provided little explosions of sunshine

WORDS & PICTURES DAN CAMPELL

In July this year, Stoke-on-Trentbased rider Dan Campbell tackled the ultra-gruelling Pan Celtic Race, from the south coast of Cornwall to North Wales – and was grateful for the support of his followers, especially those who arrived with his favourite Staffordshire delicacies to entice him over the line – oatcakes and a Wrights pie

during dark moments.

During the ride I’d seen a post on social media of a couple who were making cakes for the riders at the finish. Being somewhere towards the back of the field, I posted a comment saying: “Save one for me!” On the last day I heard a voice in the crowd: “We have your jam cakes!” Simply amazing. But I have to also thank the couple from Stoke-on-Trent who’d been watching my dot and had travelled all the way to the Llandudno finish line to deliver Staffordshire oatcakes and a Wrights pie – true Stokie food, and a lovely touch!

So why was I, an Audaxer, having a crack at ultra-racing? The short answer is that I enjoy riding a long way but due to my weight problem I find it exceptionally difficult to arrive at the Audax finish line before the cut-off time for hilly 400km rides or greater, as I can’t maintain a high enough average speed.

This constant fight with the clock takes some of the enjoyment out of my longer rides. The key difference between

Audaxing and ultra-cycling is the way the time works. In Audaxing everyone is riding against the clock, and if you arrive at the finish line before the time limit you are successful, otherwise you are not.

Ultra-cycling is more about you and your journey. There are the riders who are racing for a top ten spot, and then you have the riders who are racing themselves.

There is no ticking clock, just the time you cross the finish line. So, you end up with lots of mini-races within the ultra-race.

So what was it like? In many ways the PCR is like an Audax event – self-sufficient, sleep where you want, controls and a finish line. But the race takes on a life of its own. For those who have ridden the London-Edinburgh-London event or similar, you will understand what I mean.

However, the Pan Celtic Race has two controls and no food, unlike LEL which typically has a control with food every 60 miles or so. There are no “cycling trains” for riders to jump on to as this would result in disqualification. Solo riders ride alone –

most of the time! This made the human contact with other riders something to look forward to as you leapfrog your way to the finish line. This is one of my favourite aspects of ultra-cycling experience (mini-races within the race) and I came at the back of the field!

The route, which changes every year, always includes shops and 24 hour petrol stations. The only concern I had was when riding through Snowdonia National Park late at night. Thanks to my DIY Audax experience, I spent some time mapping out food stops before the race to reduce my stress levels. I always knew where my next food stop would be, and what time it closed. In terms of equipment, I took my normal 600km Audax kit but added an overnight sleeping kit and USB quick charger which totalled ten litres across all bike bags.

My Ribble Ti 105 never missed a beat and the bespoke wheelset from 23MM. CO.UK with a SONdelux dynamo hub were excellent – as were the Continental hard-shell tyres, no punctures and solid performance all the way. But I’ll take a small amount of chain lube next time.

The biggest issue was with wet feet and shoes. We had monsoon rain for three days. By the end my feet were so big they no longer fitted in the shoes, making it painful to ride. The other problem area was the top of my fingerless gloves. The dampness created a ring of fire around both my wrists from where the top of the glove had rubbed away the skin.

All the riders I met were extremely supportive and friendly. One rider even slowed down on a long climb to offer me

Pre-race… riders and supporters gather for entertainment

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Flag waving… a warm welcome in Falmouth

encouragement. When I was struggling with my feet, another rider rode with me for a couple of miles into Caerphilly. It wasn’t until after the ride, when I looked up these riders on Facebook that I realised that many of them were extraordinary cyclists. And they’d taken time to have everyday conversations with everyday people.

Given Covid was impacting on everything, I was surprised that the event actually went ahead, but this was due to the determination of the PCR team. This commitment came through into the race itself. They certainly went the extra mile.

Even though they looked more tired than the riders, they were still enthusiastic and every time I met them I left laughing.

They’ve created an excellent event in a great place. It caters for the hardcore riders and “weekend warriors” like me. I really do think that PCR will become an international must-do event, like LEL. I loved the start of the race and the Celtic warrior battle cry, although it was a little surreal listening to this while standing in monsoon rains!

The roadside support was also fantastic. It wasn’t until I was chatting with a fellow rider in the dead of the night that I realised these people were dot watchers.

Their presence certainly helped me to stay positive when I was struggling with my feet.

I loved doing the PCR and I will go back and do another in the future. I may even explore other occasional ultra-races; they bring a new dimension to riding which I really enjoy – but Audax will always be my spiritual home!

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THE PAN CELTIC RACE

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Beside the seaside…

St. Ives on a fine day

The Pan Celtic Race is a selfsupported ultra-endurance cycle race through a combination of Celtic lands – Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany. It involves a different route each year, but always tackling challenging terrains in stunning landscapes.

In 2021 the race was divided into two routes – a longer and shorter version. Dan Campbell opted for the shorter route – 852 miles through Cornwall, south-west England and Wales, starting in Maker Heights in the south of Cornwall and finishing in Llandudno, North Wales.

Dan was in a field of 36 for the shorter route – finishing 21st.

DAN'S PREPARATION Having made the decision to take on PCR, I realised I’d need to do some targeted training. These three training routes give an insight into my fitness, or lack of it.

SEA, BEACHES, AND THE WIRRAL CIRCULAR (AUDAX DIY, 200KM)

I wanted an easy 200km ride to judge fitness levels. Having never cycled around the Wirral peninsula, I thought it would be a useful test. My cycling buddy, Sarah Roberts from Market Drayton, joined me.

She is super strong, and it felt like I spent most of the ride trying to keep up.

The Welsh side of the Wirral was lovely except for a few miles around to Hoylake and the Irish Sea, where you pick up the concrete sea defence – which is nice, except for the families! The section from Birkenhead to Ellesmere Port was horrible, but there were interesting things to see along the way – including a replica of a Victorian submarine.

There was a head wind all the way back to the finish line, so I took the opportunity to apply my strategy of high

cadence and low heart rate. This reduced my overall average speed, but I was feeling strong when I arrived at the finish line.

However, my knees were starting to remind me that they were old and broken!

SWEET JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH (AUDAX, DIY, 100KM)

You might guess that I created this ride after watching “Line of Duty”. I knew that the first day of the PCR would involve 5,000 and 6,000 metres of climbing – and that most would be very steep. My White Peaks route contained lots of steep, long climbs. I assumed that if I couldn’t achieve 3,000m within 100km then I wouldn’t get through day one of PCR! It was a dry day with a strong, cold wind, especially on the open moorlands.

Some of the climbs were on the boundary of being too steep for me to ride up with a fully loaded bike. The hills were so steep my heart rate shot up to “stop now before you explode” zone! But I made a point between hills to ride slowly, to allow muscle recovery.

LAKE VYRNWY VIA LAKE BALA (AUDAX, DIY, 3.25AAA)

My next test was to check if I could complete a 200-mile ride with significant climbing (3,660 meters). This would be my last real ride before the PCR, and I used it to estimate my 24-hour mileage.

I was thinking about 200-miles with 4,000m of climbing every 24 hours.

The route was excellent with virtually no traffic for most of the night and the K-light ultra-backpack V2 dynamo light was incredible. I had one of those special moments at the top of the climb, heading for Bala. The sun was rising but I could see stars and the moon. I think that moment will live with me for the rest of my life.

I increased my food intake to one Snickers bar every 30 minutes to cope with the volume of climbing. My formula for the PCR would not rely on energy gels or powders, but on food available at shops along the way. I was able to complete the 300km ride within the Audax time allowance and the next day my legs were ready to go again.

Tall order… near Crackington Haven

Grating… slogging up Cheddar Gorge

There's lovely…

Swansea bay at it's best

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Ray Cox, his wife Alexandra and daughter Claudia, were among the first to take advantage of a new venture – a fully-supported, 800km, week-long cycling tour to Snowdonia, which promised all the pleasures of cycling without any of the usual anxiety. This is Ray’s impression of the glitzy world of Glaudax touring

It was one of those ❝ sunny days when the green of the trees and grass shone as if back-lit, full of promise

❞

THE IDEA of a long bike trip with friends and family, with all the organisation and support done by someone else? What’s not to like about that? This is Glaudax, a new venture by Richard Evans and his brother Tony. We joined the first of these supported bike tours at the end of May, 2021 – for a cheerful week-long tour to Snowdonia.

Getting to know Wales better was a big draw. My wife Alexandra signed up to the plan, relying on being able to get in the support van if need be. Our daughter Claudia, and a friend, Lizzie, were in training to do the Ride Across Britain (LEJOG) later in the year and were therefore keen. A friend and cycling buddy of ours, Mick, was also persuaded to make a group of five of us.

Stage 1 Aldbury to Tewkesbury – 139km, 1,300m We started from Café Musette, a lovely bike-themed establishment between Tring and Aldbury in the Chilterns. This saved us flogging through London on the bike. Over bacon rolls, coffee, and much other breakfast fare we had the first of our daily briefs from Richard or Tony. For some reason, some in our group had trouble distinguishing between them, so they simply became “Richard or Tony” without distinction, or difficulty.

It was here we met the Bellavelos, a group of six girls from the SW London cycling club, who were also on our trip. They were very friendly, but there seemed to

be an awful lot of carbon and Rapha, and it looked like we might have trouble keeping up.

Our bags for the week were loaded into the support van. Richard or Tony inhabited this for the week, although they also got out to ride with us whenever they could. One of the joys of the ride was that during the day you just took what you would take on a day ride, like puncture stuff, and layers.

We set off with a GPX route to Tewkesbury. The road book gave details, maps and suggested places to stop. The support van was waiting at 55km in a lay-by with water and snacks. During the week we would generally see the van twice a day, morning and afternoon. Some of us shared our location on Google Maps for the week, with Richard or Tony, which meant they could, as Richard said: “Watch the ducklings coming in”.

The route took us due west, over the Cherwell at Kidlington, gently rising up to Stow-on-the-Wold, where we had lunch in a sunny graveyard, to Tewkesbury on the River Avon where it meets the Severn. It was one of those sunny days when the green of the trees and grass shone as if back-lit, full of promise for the week – pretty much correctly as it turned out.

The Royal Hop Pole pub in the centre of Tewkesbury was the first of several pubs we stayed in.

Some nights it was a hotel. The standard varied: it didn’t

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Day one in the Cotswolds

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It was one of those ❝ sunny days when the green of the trees and grass shone as if back-lit, full of promise

❞

Team Glaudax near Cheltenham

matter to us any more than it would on an Audax ride.

We were there to ride. Richard or Tony organised room keys and brought our bags into the pub. This was the daily ritual. Sun-burned, we sauntered to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

The accommodation, breakfasts, and all support, were included in the price of the tour which struck me as incredibly reasonable, especially after an inaugural discount for Dulwich Paragon members. We basically only paid for lunch and dinner.

Stage 2 Tewkesbury to Rhayader – 134km, 1,350m The route went over the Malvern Hills and Haugh Wood, then dropped into the Wye Valley. We followed the Wye for the rest of the day, gently uphill through Hereford to Hay-on-Wye for lunch, and then into Wales to Rhayader.

The rolling countryside was at its most inviting – it was like being in a warm, green bath all day. The roads were blissfully quiet. I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be just then.

Stage 3 Rhayader to Barmouth – 133km, 2,000m I’ll never forget the Elan Valley, although I’d never heard of it before. It covers some 70 square miles and is sometimes understandably called the Welsh Lake District. From Rhayader we followed the Elan River to Elan village and then climbed past a series of major reservoirs, bordered by steep hillsides. Strange, tall towers stranded in some of the reservoirs were apparently for water intake. The views were breathtaking; water, hills, mountainside everywhere, and wonderfully remote.

Not far from Elan village our road followed the north side of the first reservoir, Caban Coch. Had we known it then we would have paid homage to a spot on the opposite side, where, hidden away, lie the remains of the Nant-y-Gro dam which was used in July 1942 to test a prototype of the bouncing bomb which later destroyed dams in the Ruhr in a bombing raid immortalised in the 1955 film, The Dambusters. The test of a relatively small explosive charge which was designed to bounce over water and sink down to the

foot of a dam before exploding, was successful, and Nant-y-Gro dam was destroyed, although the remains are apparently still there to be seen.

Sheep were of course everywhere, but at one point hundreds of them blocked the road in a streaming horde. Numerous dogs and farmers were working to get them off the road. It was as though many herds had come together, creating an incredible noise and spectacle.

The road wound up the valley, rising over various peaks, until a final, glorious eight kilometre descent into Tal-y-Bont, after which we entered the Snowdonia National Park at Machynlleth. The coast road took us to the seaside town of Barmouth, which we reached by an 820m low, rickety, wooden, pier-like structure which carries trains, cyclists, and pedestrians across the estuary there.

Stage 4 Barmouth to Welshpool – 114km, 1,950m Snowdonia continued with an easy ride further along the coast, past the sweeping Harlech beach. But then

Day two along the Wye Valley

The rolling ❝ countryside was at its most inviting – it was like being in a warm, green bath all day

❞

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Day three, Garreg Ddu dam Elan Valley

we cut inland along the River Dwyryd to a tiny place called Maentwrog – a name forever burned into the memory as the start of a nasty 20 per cent climb. After that was a long ascent to a high peak and descent to a lake at Bala, followed by a longer climb up the highest mountain road pass in Wales, Bwlch-y-Groes (otherwise known as the Path of the Cross, 546m), and a descent to Lake Vyrnwy.

The wind had got up and the going was hard. The support van came into its own, collecting an exhausted Alex near the top of one peak. After the charm of the Elan Valley this was raw and austere. We were glad to get to Welshpool.

Stage 5 Welshpool to Pershore – 122km, 1,350m Leaving Welshpool, we also left Wales. We climbed the Shropshire Hills, and down a spectacular descent to Craven Arms. We then basically followed the River Onny to Ludlow and the River Teme to Worcester and then to Pershore.

Final stage Pershore to Aldbury – 131km, 1,250m The last day felt like a breeze although we went up and over the Cotswolds at Chipping Campden. I was delighted to see we crossed the River Ray near Bicester.

In conclusion, I felt this was a holiday for Audax riders. The route was truly inspiring, helped no doubt by benign weather.

We loved riding together. But above all, I think we revelled in enjoying an 800km tour with the freedom not to worry about all the usual things: hotel bookings, mechanicals, what to carry or whether or not you would make it at all. It was all done for you. Support was only ever a phone call away.

Claudia and Lizzie also got their first multi-day bike tour under their belts, and in September did LEJOG over nine days. Within our group, as within the Bellavelos, there were riders who went at different paces. This did not matter at all, we met up as and when we wanted to. In the end, nothing noteworthy went wrong; maybe Richard or Tony were lucky, but

Alexandra’s version…

I’m not an Audaxer, nor ever will be. I’m adding my bit to this report to maybe encourage the steadier cyclists among us. By steady, I mean those who struggle around the 20kph mark – which was definitely me among my group of five, who were all much stronger cyclists. I’m happy at around 100km a day with probably a maximum of 1,000m a day climbing.

Why did I go? To cycle with my friends and family, to enjoy the fabulous scenery, much of which I didn’t know; and, to be frank, because I knew Richard and Tony would organise it beautifully, which they did. Yes, I was worried about the 120-140k daily rides with 1,250-2,000m metres of climbing but knew I could rely on the van if in dire need.

Which was exactly what I did. Hugely encouraged by my fellow riders, I managed the entire trip save that fateful day four when the climbs proved too much for me and I called in the van. I don’t think Richard could quite believe it: “Are you sure you don’t want to get back on, now you’ve had a rest?” he queried as the skies blackened and our one and only downpour of the whole trip did its worst. I remained steadfastly in the warm, dry van. Good timing, that.

To anyone weaker than the hardies I was with, I’d say, do try it. As long as your group is willing to adapt to your speeds, and Richard or Tony is there to bail you out, it’s a fabulous trip. On top of that, you gain fitness: a week later I was on the NC500, again intermittently in the van, but doing it; and that, after all, is what cycling is all about.

they seemed to work most of the time, and I suspect the harder they worked the luckier they got.

Make no mistake, Glaudax is not cycling for softies.

Even with support, the distances and climbs are designed for those comfortable doing 100-200km rides.

For these people, this kind of tour is a holiday, doing what they like most with others.

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THE GLAUDAX EXPERIENCE

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Glaudax is the brainchild of cycling brothers Richard and Tony Evans – experienced Kingston Wheels riders who decided to add a touch of glamour to long-distance cycling, offering custom-made cycle tours to iconic destinations.

The idea is to provide riders with a fully-supported holiday tour over meticulously designed routes, involving quiet roads and spectacular scenery. Distances are challenging but achievable. There’s no sleeping in village halls or bus shelters – everything is sorted out by the organisers, from hotels, dinners, baggage transfers, plus the constant availability of a support crew.

Since launching Glaudax with the Snowdonia Tour in 2021, Tony and Richard have added three new tours of varying lengths and difficulty for 2022, covering the Wye Valley, East Anglia and Land’s End. All the tours are multi-day circular routes from the Glaudax base at Aldbury, near Tring, in the Chilterns. The maximum group size is just 12 riders, with two “domestiques” to look after organisational matters. Richard and Tony will even tailor a route to your specific requirements. It should be noted that the Glaudax organisation is not connected to Audax UK. To find out more about supported cycle tours, visit glaudax.co.uk.

In more than 20 years riding Audax events, Stroud cyclist Steve Brawley has experienced plenty of highs – but an equal number of lows, including exhaustion, hyperthermia, hallucinations, and even an inability to speak.

Here he reflects upon the paradox faced by so many riders who have asked the question: Why do we do this?

My collection of brevet cards and my ride spreadsheet going back to 2000

I VOWED NEVER TO RIDE ANOTHER AUDAX BUT THE NEXT DAY I CHANGED MY MIND WO

RDS

The second was the Gospel Pass Brevet, 150km from Chepstow.

IC T It was organised by the late Nik UR ES Peregrine and I later discovered that it is BY STE an iconic Audax. When I arrived at the VE BR AWLEY lunch stop at the Granary Café in Hay on Wye I felt part of a shared adventure. I’ve Gavin Greenhow used to run some ridden this one eight times since my very good rides from Droitwich and one debut. which I found invariably challenging and Why have I repeated these rides so enjoyable was Across to the Cotswold, a many times? Because we like to repeat an 200km trip down to Cirencester and back. I enjoyable experience, and no two rides on remember sitting down in Greasy Joe’s 24 the same route are ever the same. hour transport café at Cirencester (which is There are some other Audax rides I’ve no sadly more) on my first ride. I asked my repeated many times. The Cotswold fellow sufferer, Richard Harding, whether Corker from Bishops Cleeve is a 100km trip he’d done the ride before. “No, and I won’t involving around 2,000 metres of climbing. be doing it again,” he replied.

It’s run in February, so the weather can be But I ended up doing it again four a challenge. I rode it four times before it more times despite feeling wrecked after dropped out of the calendar and became three hours of climbing and descending a permanent. I’ve turned it into my own on lanes which resembled cart tracks version of a permanent from home and rather than roads. have enjoyed it more than 30 times.

I’d concentrated on rides of no more Stopping at my favourite cafe in than 200km until 2008, when I tried Peter Winchcombe for coffee and a bacon roll in Holden’s Heart of England from winter, and a cake in summer is always Cirencester up to the outskirts of Leicester something I enjoy!

– 300km later I was tired but happy. I’ve

AN

DP

YOU CAN SPEND a long time on your bike, especially if you are an unremarkable chap like me – a full value rider. Since joining AUK in 1999 I’ve spent the equivalent of five months actually in the saddle, on Audax events.

“Enjoyment” is an elastic term. The experience at the time is often less than positive but afterwards you feel a sense of satisfaction and pride in having completed the ride. The toughest rides stay in the memory long after the more straightforward ones have gone.

So here are some reflections on why we ride…

Living in Stroud gives me plenty of opportunity to practice my hill-climbing in the Cotswolds and to travel to the start of the many Audax events in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and South Wales.

The first Audax I did was the Windrush Winter Warm Up –100km from Cirencester.

The terrain is fairly flat but it is run in January so the weather can be your biggest challenge. I’ve ridden it eleven times since then.

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The large medal I received on completion of the Raid Alpine in 2006 – a tough but memorable trip

Why have I repeated ❝ these rides so many times?

Greenhow’s Across to the Cotswold. I asked the chap alongside me if he knew the route. He replied that he ought to since he was the organiser!

A third reason for riding an event is because it will be a real challenge.

I put off entering the Kidderminster Killer until 2006 because I’d heard of its fearsome reputation. I felt pretty fit after completing the Raid Alpine (Rod Dalitz was on that trip) but the Killer lived up to its reputation and I was just ahead of the Lanterne Rouge.

I rode it again in 2007, when a rider just behind me crashed badly near the start and we had to summon an ambulance because he was unconscious. The late Dave Pountney, who organised the ride then, helped too and I heard afterwards that the lad was in hospital for a week.

Incidents like that put any ride into perspective and call to mind Jack Eason’s

comment that even some mammoth Audax is “only a bike ride”.

I persuaded my young nephew to accompany me on the Killer in 2019 and he was good enough to wait for me at the top of every hill. When we reached Ludlow, the last control, we had to decide whether to time-trial to the finish or have a nice meal and go at a steady pace to complete out of time. We chose the latter and both of us were quite happy with that decision.

I ventured on to my first 400km trip in 2010, when I tried Gavin Greenhow’s West and Midlands 400. As a result of poor management of my time on and off the bike I managed to finish 15 minutes after the 27 hour cut off.

Gavin, Roy Bishop and another of the riders met up at his house for a bite to eat before we headed home. After munching our way through quite a lot of food I remember falling asleep sitting on a chair at his dining room table, only to wake up after about half an hour to find everybody else was also fast asleep!

My second attempt at a 400km ride was Mark Rigby’s Brevet Cymru in 2011. I started well but went off route at Tregaron and found myself on the dreaded road to

Because we like to repeat an enjoyable experience, and no two rides on the same route are ever the same

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❞

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enjoyed the experience five times since then.

In 2010 I discovered Mark Rigby’s incomparable series of rides from Tewkesbury. A particular favourite since 2014 has been Mr Pickwick’s January Sale.

It’s a bargain at £1, and because it takes place on the first Saturday in January it kicks off your Audax year nicely with a varied mixture of adverse weather and darkness on a 200km route. I’ve got six editions under my belt although I shouldn’t really count the one which saw me wander into the Royal Hop Pole 40 minutes after the cut-off.

Mark is invariably helpful, encouraging and sympathetic and he’s a mine of information and knowledge about the world of Audax and cycling in general.

That takes me on to my next reason for riding a particular event – because the organiser is top notch so you know the ride will be well-organised. The experienced organisers are the real stars of Audax. They put in a great deal of work to make an event happen.

Sometimes they also ride the event, as I discovered on my debut on Gavin

Completion of LeJog on 4 August 2000 – I’m on the front row on the right, wearing longs. It is not always hot at John O’Groats in the summer

I asked the chap alongside ❝ me if he knew the route. He replied that he ought to since he was the organiser!

❞

On the Cotswold Audax run by the Beacon Roads CC in 2007

Beulah. At least I ended up descending the Devil’s Staircase instead of climbing it. I pitched up at the West End café at Llandovery for the second time and caught up with some of the Audax royalty, riders like Ian Hennessy, who I’d only seen before on the start line. They’d actually stayed on the route and hadn’t taken my painful short cut.

I felt that the Brevet Cymru was unfinished business and in 2018 I tried again, this time to raise money as a sponsored ride for a charity in my industry.

I don’t recommend using an Audax ride to raise money for a charity because it places unwanted additional pressure on you – and you can’t back out without a cast-iron excuse.

This time I managed to avoid going off route by attaching myself to a group who left the West End Café at around 12.30am. I got through the trickiest part of the night successfully and with only mild hallucinations. I finished back at Chepstow with an hour and a half to spare, completely knackered but happy.

A fourth reason for riding is that being an Audax rider becomes part of your identity. I’m always interested in the hobbies and pastimes people choose.

When interviewing candidates for a job I’ve always asked what they did in their spare time. It tells you something about their personality and character.

You don’t have that much choice in the

I asked my fellow sufferer, ❝ Richard Harding, whether he’d done the ride before. “No, and I won’t be doing it again,” he replied

❞

career or job you do as it’s often determined by your school qualifications.

But your hobbies are your own choice and they tell you much about the individual.

If you’re looking for someone who’ll put in a lot of effort and be reluctant to give up, an Audax cyclist may fit the bill rather well if they have the relevant qualifications and experience. On the other hand, you do need to know when to stop flogging a dead horse. Not every objective in business deserves to succeed.

I’ve abandoned three rides over the years. The first was completely my own fault, when I ran into Peter Holden on an off road section of Mark Rigby’s Dr Foster’s Spring Clean in 2010 and broke his gear hanger. He couldn’t change gear so we both walked into Monmouth and he got a lift home and I rode home.

The second was Stephen Poulton’s New Cheltenham Flyer in 2013. All went well until it started to rain heavily and the temperature dropped to 4C. I don’t carry much natural insulation and I started to get very cold because I couldn’t generate

enough heat whilst cycling to stay warm.

I went off route in the dark near Tetbury and discovered that I could scarcely speak when I asked for directions in a pub. Hypothermia seemed to be the sensible diagnosis so I called it a day, and my wife picked me up. I vowed never to ride another Audax on my way home. I meant it at the time but of course next day I changed my mind.

The third was another Mark Rigby ride, Helfa Cymraeg Benjamin Allen in 2016, when I had multiple punctures and gave up at Llanwrtyd Wells. A call to my son to rescue me was not greeted with enthusiasm when he worked out that it was a 220 mile round trip!

A final thought… I usually cycle on my own because I am a plodder and it suits me. I like to go at my own pace. I find that I need to concentrate all the time because it’s very easy to get into trouble if you have a moment of inattention – and I’ve come off my bike a few times because I wasn’t doing my job properly.

But cycling is an excellent stress reliever. Of course it is also wonderful low impact physical exercise and it’s no wonder there are loads of very fit cyclists in their 70s and 80s.

Shortly before I retired I went for my regular health check. I still remember the doctor telling me “Whatever you do, keep on cycling!” I have taken his advice. www.audax.uk

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Essex-based Audax organiser Tom Deakins weaves plenty of history into his rides – none more so than his challenging Dick Turpin’s Day Out 200km permanent. As the event, around the notorious 18th century highwayman’s haunts, enters its second decade, Tom describes its origins as a celebration of a scoundrel who remains a local hero in his home county

DICK TURPIN was hanged in York for horse-thieving in 1739 – just another common criminal in an age of villains. But thanks to a Victorian novelist, who turned him into a dashing anti-hero, Turpin is right up there on the list of celebrated Essex villains, portrayed by the likes of Sid James in Carry On Dick. I guess he had a good PR man. Whatever the truth of his exploits, randonneurs of an Essex persuasion may contemplate his extraordinary life – especially in the pitch dark, somewhere between London and York.

It all started with the Randonneur Round the Year. I got on the treadmill of riding a 200km-plus event every month sometime in the 2000s when the AUK calendar was not the treasure trove of events it is now, especially in what we used to think of as the off-season, from late autumn through to some time in February.

I used Herman Ramsey’s Manningtree

200km for the RRtY at first, starting from Saffron Walden, heading west to Buntingford, then along the Suffolk-Essex border (a section later pinched for my Kingdom of the East Saxons 400km), eastwards to Manningtree and back through Lavenham.

I’d already used the AUK Midlands Mesh, organised by Peter Coulson, to put together longer rides for early Super Randonneur series. Conveniently my home town of Great Dunmow lay on one of the routes between “nodes” with set minimum distances, which made initial planning a doddle. As things almost always turned out there were bonus kilometres involved, as many shortest routes were a bit too busy at certain times of the day.

A 200km starting from home seemed ideal – a triangular route up to Saffron Walden for the first control, on to Woolpit, with a long hypotenuse to Ongar via

Lavenham and back to Dunmow with the option of B-roads at the beginning and end if icy.

This was ridden a few times solo, then Deniece Davidson came along for the ride one very cold winter Saturday. Deniece has been a contender for AUK points champion, and a former red-hot racer.

Originally from Dundee, she now lives in Colchester. All was well until we got on to the lanes after sunset and the frost came down, with puddles freezing over fast.

Caution led to a slowing of the pace and we soon got chilled. By Fyfield we were both really feeling the cold.

Seeing a house with lights blazing, Deniece knocked on the door with frozen fingers and asked for sanctuary. We were very kindly given tea and directed to the Aga to warm up gloves and outer layers.

The aroma of singeing kit was a sign we might be outstaying our welcome.

Deniece’s hands were very warm for the next few miles.

So I thought, I can do better than this route, with a few tweaks, to make it a winter-friendly 200. The mesh route went past Dick Turpin’s cottage in Thaxted and his birthplace, the Bluebell Inn at

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DICK TURPIN'S DAY OUT

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Buffing up…

Riders meet at the Organiser's place

Dick Turpin’s Day Out is a 200km permanent, starting from Great Dunmow, Essex, with controls at Saffron Walden, Acton/Lavenham, Walsham-le-Willows, Debenham and Sudbury. The ride is, according to its creator, Tom, good for a winter 200.

Proper breakfast… at Wally's, Acton

Any port… calorie catching at McDonalds

Hempstead, so already there was a title forming in my mind. Pushing the route further out into Suffolk to Walsham-leWillows meant I could miss out going down to Ongar.

Walsham has a thriving village shop, two pubs, and a café too, so plenty of control options. The Six Bells opposite the handsome church is a proper old pub – no food other than crisps, several local ales to tempt you, old dogs, open fires most of the year, old boys playing dominoes, and a wonky clock on the wall which apparently has to be hung crooked to keep good time.

Local cycling author Ian Toulson sells his travel books here. After retiring from teaching he set out to cycle around the North Sea route one summer, and almost every possible mishap afflicted him – mechanical, meteorological or physical.

After Walsham comes Debenham, about an hour further on, with more café

No food here… leaving the Six Bells Alan Barnard and Allen O'Leary

and shop options if needed. Then there’s a run south through to Needham Market and a bit of the reversed Dunwich Dynamo route to the next control at Sudbury – McDonalds or Greggs in the town centre for a quick feed, but often an ATM receipt will do for me.

Back to Dunmow there’s an option, including the category three slog up Ballingdon Hill out of the Stour valley, or for a few bonus kilometres, a pleasant laney route through Bulmer, Gestingthorpe – home to heroic Captain Lawrence Oates’ of Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition.

I rode round the route in the autumn of 2009, then, happy with it, I submitted it to John Ward for approval, along with a simple cartoon silhouette of the highwayman with crossed pistols for the card.

Over the years there have been some memorable rides – for myself, 24 in total in the past decade. Digging out my tapereinforced file has dredged up some memories of rides past. One was in the company of the late, great “Viking” Lars Ericsson on his first Audax. Coming from the world of triathlon he was without mudguards on a wet November day, and at our pub stop at the Six Bells he apologised for being moody, then I twigged – the big Swede just had a muddy bottom!

On 7 July 2014, David Coupe and Tim Knights, having begun their ride in Debenham, paused a while in Finchingfield to enjoy the spectacle of the Tour de France passing through on stage three, Cambridge to London. They were then of course, and in more ways than one, full-value in their overall time. Raymond Cheung, “the Straggler” of CC Sudbury, holds the record for the most DTDO brevets – 34 and counting.

The real Dick Turpin was nothing like the romantic anti-hero of legend – that was all down to novelist W. Harrison Ainsworth’s Gothic shocker, Rookwood, published in 1834, which featured Turpin as a minor character in a tale of disputed inheritance, witchcraft, incest and murder.

Ainsworth was as prolific as Dickens, publishing 39 novels and countless other writings, but is chiefly remembered for dragging Dick Turpin from obscurity.

Turpin’s epic ride on Black Bess to York was apparently borrowed from the exploits of another highwayman altogether, John ‘Swift Nick’ Nevison in 1676. Riding one horse the 150 miles to York in 15 hours to establish an alibi is probably impossible, though perfectly do-able on a bike, as we all know!

No portraits exist, but Turpin was described as tall, ruddy complexioned, and marked by smallpox. He was born in 1706 in Hempstead, Essex, son of the landlord of the Bluebell Inn, who was also the village butcher. Turpin, possibly because of debts run up through his own butcher’s shop or maybe his wife’s hat shop in Thaxted, turned to crime, initially deer poaching, then falling in with a gang of housebreakers in London, where he was implicated in a murder.

He moved on to highway robbery around London, avoiding capture on numerous occasions. He led an outwardly normal life but when things became too risky in London he moved north to Lincolnshire and used the name of John Palmer. Falling under suspicion, he was jailed pending investigation. From prison in York, he wrote to his brother-in-law, but the postmaster in Saffron Walden recognised the handwriting, having been the schoolmaster in Hempstead years before, and Turpin’s true identity was revealed, and he was tried and hanged. www.audax.uk

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The Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol 1,600km (BGB), earned the soubriquet “Beautiful-Grim-Bananas” from Bristol-based rider, Mike Warren when he tackled the inaugural ride this year.

Here’s his account of a punishingly long and bumpy expedition which tested his mental and physical stamina to the limits

SOMETHING WICKED BENEATH YOUR WHEELS

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WORDS & PICTURES MIKE WARREN

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MIDNIGHT CAME clear and still. The moon shone brightly enough to wash out the Lakeland stars and condense my view to a pair of silhouettes – a lenticular cloud hanging over Harter Fell, and below it, the jagged droop of Hardknott Pass which ripped my world in two.

My grotty chain was silent for the first time in days… because I was pushing my bike. Everything else was silent too. Lights off, road empty, air warm, wind absent. As I tiptoed up a ribbon of funhouse tarmac, an odd thought came. Here I am, staggering at a snail’s pace, in the dark, way behind schedule, with no accommodation to welcome me, and everything is working out just fine.

Earlier and some way to the west, I’d persuaded a fully-booked tavern to park

me in a corner and fill me with pudding. As I was leaving, a group of young cycle tourists struck up a conversation. They had rooms above the bar that night. When I told them what I was doing, they ushered me upstairs to use their shower. So I was clean and fed, if a little drowsy. And with the weather so calm, I needn’t worry about the dangers of a dozy descent. At the col, I rolled out my mat by the roadside, put on a few layers and sank into a devouring ocean of sleep.

How did five days of fine-weather, summer riding turn me into this creature? By now I was feral. I’d given up on sleeping indoors. At mealtimes I sat in shop doorways and drank whole pots of cream to keep my legs turning. I dreamed of sleep while waking; I woke like a startled animal. My plan had

splintered into a mess of odd timings and wild variations. My mood oscillated between triumph and despair. My pace mutated just as freely. In truth, I didn’t know I had a finish in me until the final 100km.

Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol emerged from the mind of local organiser Will Pomeroy, whose Great Western Randonnées have invented scores of new Audax routes, and challenged plenty of seasoned veterans. The concept takes obvious inspiration from LEL, but the similarities end rather abruptly. Forget long pelotons, lively controls and stately Alpine climbs – BGB offers solitude, till receipts and stemchewing sickeners.

Great Western regulars will note the organiser’s knack for hilly mischief and roads-less-ridden. BGB is what happens

… a Who’s-Who of ❝ celebrity climbs – Hirnant, Hardknott, Wrynose, Cross o’Greet, Snake, Nick of Pendle and others – all in one meandering journey around the lumpiest parts of Wales, the Pennines and the Southern Uplands

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Golden dusk…

Mike Warren contemplates Hirnant Pass, with the first evening approaching

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Rising over Radnorshire…

New Zealand rider Robert Chandler

This ride makes no compromises. ❝ It’s not your friend and it doesn’t care that you’re tired or hungry. All it can offer you in return for your grit is a constant flood of Britain at its wildest

❞

when such a mean streak is given free rein.

A thousand miles allows Will to introduce you to a Who’s-Who of celebrity climbs – Hirnant, Hardknott, Wrynose, Cross o’Greet, Snake, Nick of Pendle and others – all in one meandering journey around the lumpiest parts of Wales, the Pennines and the Southern Uplands.

These epic summits are glued together with innumerable, unnamed local lung-busting lumps, such that throughout the week’s riding, there’s always something wicked beneath your wheels.

And that’s to say nothing of the vast stretches without resupply, or the timehoovering, bike-murdering rough stuff

that crops up when you need it least.

This ride makes no compromises. It’s not your friend and it doesn’t care that you’re tired or hungry. All it can offer you in return for your grit is a constant flood of Britain at its wildest – silent fells, vertiginous dales, ancient tracks and towering pines – for days on end, virtually uninterrupted. If you find that’s enough to motivate your next pedal stroke, then you’ve accepted BGB’s bargain, and there may be no saving you from what comes next.

Entrants gathered at five o’clock on a Sunday morning, in a city centre still roiling with washed-up party animals.

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Another treasure… the aptly-named descent into Crackpot

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… the time-hoovering, ❝ bike-murdering rough stuff that crops up when you need it least

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Framed by the cathedral and chanted in by kebab-shop choirs, Will gave the benediction and set us off. Vilas Silverton, who’d survived the challenge a few years ago, waved on with twinkling encouragement.

Having escaped England by bridge, the initial stretch rattles through the Welsh Marches to Hay-on-Wye. Hosting the breakfast control at a bike shop may seem over-cautious, but with only four hours gone, I was down one inner tube and had to queue for it – the rider in front had misplaced a spoke. Coffee and bara brith would need to suffice for the next stint, bouncing up and down Radnorshire’s

grottiest lanes, with our first taste of the high ground coming as we crossed the commons at Rhulen and Dolfor. Afternoon tea was a more salubrious affair, with hot pizzas and warm welcomes at the now-famous Dafarn Newydd stores by Lake Vyrnwy.

Solitude followed. I trundled alone by the lakeshore, pondering the evening ahead. The route hops the Berwyns before turning to join the Bala-Ruthin road, and the day was dying as I tacked east. I met Hirnant Pass in golden dusk, the Clwydians in scowling shadow. Cheshire was tranquil and sodium-lit. My night’s work was to thread between urban sprawls from the Mersey to the Ribble. The towns fell behind me in pleasing order.

In Preston, with 380km and 22 hours behind me, I trudged contentedly into a hotel room. The phenomenal elevation profile elicits a generous time allowance, and by my standards it had been an efficient day’s riding. I fell asleep with 14 spare hours in my back pocket and a sense of optimism. BGB would consume both of these promptly and with relish.

The next day began pleasantly enough. The weather remained somewhere close to miraculous. The Forest of Bowland wore its best colours, green shot through with gold gorse and violet

heather. I heaved up to Cross o’Greet, gawping at paint-pot fellsides, and descended like a fireball from the heavens.

The heart of the ride was in view, but the terrain was stiffening noticeably.

At Ingleton I lost half an hour reassembling my chain, and questioned my wisdom in hacking together a spareparts drivetrain the night before departure. Moments later, with Ingleborough and Whernside gating the Dales ahead, I was collected by clubmate and PBP tandem ancien Ollie Skittery. He’d risen earlier than me, and carried a spring in his cadence. I got a hurry on, and we rode together, passing the Ribblehead Viaduct, before peeling off the tarmac for the first stretch of rough-stuff on Cam High Road. The crunchy surface quickly gave way to a rutted, boulder-strewn ditch. My handlebars started bucking like a pneumatic drill, and we won our next few kilometres at a slow, nervous clatter.

Overall, we were exhausting ourselves, at little better than walking pace.

We spent an hour depleting the tea-room at Bainbridge before lurching up The Fleak, behind which Will had hidden another treasure – a rubble-yard descent to the hamlet of Crackpot. Walking this cost us time; riding might’ve cost metal.

And with yet another mountain to clamber

Stem-chewing… the climb over the Fleak from Askrigg

We spent an hour ❝ depleting the tea-room at

Lockerbie… a ❝ serious cooked breakfast

Bainbridge before lurching up The Fleak

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occurred – I demolished it without blinking

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Filling station…

A very full Scottish breakfast with PBP ancien Ollie Skittery

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In dawn’s chill we ❝ followed the Tyne up to Kielder Water, deer and hares springing across our path. The forest trail was deserted.

❞

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Towering taiga… much of the ride takes you through deep boreal forest

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ahead of that, our Barnard Castle dinnerdate became a haggard Co-op lurk. Night was on us by the time we struck out for Northumberland, but its enchanting stillness proved enough to settle the nerves. The North Pennine ridge roads laid on garlands of eerie mist, and the hillcountry rhythm of struggle and swoop took on a metronomic feel.

My plan had been to use day two to push into Scotland. After one mechanical, vicious gradients and hours of arresting gravel, midnight saw me hours behind target. On the sunny side, since noon I’d had the best possible weather, scenery and company. Ollie had planned his trip thoroughly and had booked a cabin north of Hexham, and when he offered me a space in the room I gladly accepted.

In dawn’s chill we followed the Tyne up to Kielder Water, deer and hares springing across our path. The forest trail

was deserted. On the Roan Fell road our pace quickened as we looked ahead to Lockerbie. Here a serious cooked breakfast occurred – I demolished it without blinking.

We reached Galloway Forest Park in the afternoon, having drifted apart sometime earlier. The tracks were tougher going than I’d expected, and each climb challenged me to out-pedal the midges.

The landscape rose to the mood; Loch Dee was a mirror in a mouth of mountainfangs. I found Ollie on the other side of a gut-loosening descent, fixing a puncture.

The evening approached, and we paired up for the dark hours, tearing into the Ayrshire plains.

After Kilmarnock, one last cluster of climbs brought Glasgow glittering into view. Halfway had come and gone, and here at the zenith, facing home for the first time in three days, I expected some

… facing home for the first ❝ time in three days, I expected some swell of emotion. What I got was a workmanlike urge to continue

❞

swell of emotion. What I got was a workmanlike urge to continue. At one in the morning, crossing the Clyde, we parted ways – Ollie to his pre-booked accommodation, me to a shaky plan involving “carry on” and “nice bench somewhere” – I wanted out of the city before morning. Carrying on was easy enough, but the bench I chose was far from nice.

I swilled down coffee and rolls in a truck stop and for once the route shed

miles without a fight, coach roads tracing the Clyde and Annan rivers through border country. In Lochmaben I dined with a fellow rider and about four hundred wasps. I felt like a heap of jelly by this point.

Back in Lakeland, Ollie shot past me while I loaded up on kiosk sandwiches. I got going quickly enough to see glimpses of him for the next hour. The following morning, I was caught again crawling out

of Hornby. Together, Ollie and I traversed a long gravel ridge-road, a cruel sequence of Bowland fells, and finally the historic Cotton Famine Road. This resembled a quarry spoil-heap on the way up, and a frightful cobbled ‘berg on the descent, both to be tackled with a combination of dopey mind, broken body and battered bike. It was not a relaxing experience.

Duly rattled, we took tea on the steps of Rochdale’s Co-op. It was here I noticed a

weakening of my own grip on reality. I forgot how to chew. My hands and feet felt like they were miles away. Shadows flickered like bulbs, and I struggled to remember where I was. Several nights of disco-naps and disorientation were about to converge, and I had maybe an hour to find a bed and buckle in. My whole ride was going down the tubes. I was wrecked.

Ollie and I parted ways, him making a beeline for Snake Pass and the High Peak

Together, Ollie and I traversed ❝ a long gravel ridge-road, a cruel sequence of Bowland fells, and finally the historic Cotton Famine Road

❞

Returning south… through Bowland on the spectacular Hornby Road

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… the defining hour was pushing ❝ my bike uphill, alone, at night, and sleeping on the summit because I had nowhere better to be

❞

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Rising mist…

Lakeland in the late summer evening sun

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while I booked a no-star hotel in Oldham and got ready to sit still.

Twelve blissful hours later, things were a little different. I felt great! I had 350km left to ride – not insignificant, but nothing I hadn’t done before. And two whole days to get it done! I still have no idea how I managed to lose and rediscover such a time-buffer along the way. Aside from a few Peak-land passes and Cotswold

stingers, the rest of the route was a rolling, flowing dream. By lunchtime I was through Derby with a bellyful, and early in the evening I heard a “forsooth” flying over the parapet of Stratford’s outdoor theatre.

The final hours were wracked with impatience – I always feel this at the end of a long journey – and featured a minor crash on a squirrelly Cotswold descent.

Finally, at bang-on two in the morning, I

saw the organiser standing outside his house to welcome me in with a big grin, a homemade pizza and a splash of good whisky.

Big rides like this spark so many experiences that prized moments must compete fiercely for their place in the tale.

I’d gladly relive the first epic Pennine climb at Cross o’ Greet, the swirls of night-fog on Crawleyside Bank, deer leaping across the

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mike Warren is a 34 year-old Bristolian who rides with Audax Club Bristol. He says: “I found Audax through cycle touring, and became rather deeply obsessed. I somehow managed to finish the Transcontinental Race in 2019. Nowadays I spend a lot of time getting lost in bleak moorland.”

An indication of BGB’s unforgiving nature is that only nine people have completed the route: seven in this year’s event, and two pioneers beforehand, including the organiser, Will Pomeroy, who’s ridden it twice.

THE BGB EVENT

Kielder forest track, the technicolour hush of heathered Cheviot fells, my sheer hare-brained terror at descending the Cotton Famine Road cobbles with drop bars and luggage, or the kindness of strangers in a Cumbrian pub.

For me though, the defining hour was pushing my bike uphill, alone, at night, and sleeping on the summit because I had nowhere better to be.

Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol is organised by Audaxer Will Pomeroy, Audax Club Bristol and Great Western Randonnées. It’s an x-rated ride with no sleep facilities, few dedicated controls and no bag drops.

The route, which mainly follows B-roads, forest tracks and cobbled moorland roads, is mandatory. The event is ridden over seven days, though an alternative, known as the Big Gert Brevet, can be Will Pomeroy pictured with ridden over ten. his son Red Following the inaugural ride in 2021, Will is back in 2016 already planning next year’s event – making it slightly shorter, but adding even more climbing.

The Great Western Randonnees, founded in 2017, is a collection of rides aimed at showcasing the South-West and beyond, based on the extent of the former Great Western Railway. www.audax.uk

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Veteran rider Felix Ormerod takes a nostalgic trip back to the early days of Audax in out-of-the-way Essex, where the county’s many windmills provided ideal landmarks for long-distance cycling “steeple-chasers”

Happy returns… Felix outside Great Chishill, no longer a control, this year, with the same bike (and lights) he was using in the 1980s

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The only way is Audax…

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IN 1983, LONG BEFORE Audax Club Mid-Essex (ACME), the secretary of the Essex District Association, Dot Sharp, received a letter from CTC headquarters with guidance on how to organise a randonnee under Audax UK rules.

I’m not sure what prompted the letter.

Keith Matthews had organised the very first National 400 the year previously.

Perhaps the CTC had their eye on future organisers of that annual event. Indeed it was staged in Essex again in 1990.

Keith had been running the classic Dorset Coast 200 since 1978 but the Audax seed still hadn’t been sown in Essex – the scope for gatherings of the Essex CTC sections didn’t extend beyond long-established reliability rides, off-road rides and map-reading competitions.

The suggested ride may well have been 200km. There was little emphasis on the shorter populaire event at the time –

that wasn’t really “long distance cycling”.

But 200km in almost 14 hours didn’t seem too onerous a task for cyclists used to completing day rides in the dark or 100s in eight hours or 150 miles in 12 hours. What did start the head scratching was how to manage the long opening hours of the necessary controls due to the large spread of minimum and maximum speeds. In addition, the birth of Audax UK seven years before had gone almost unnoticed in insular Essex.

This was not the first randonnee to start in Essex. Herman Ramsey of Colchester Rovers CC desperately required a 400km brevet in 1979 in order to qualify for PBP that year (which he completed) so he ran one himself at short notice. Back then, a phone call to John Nicholas was all that was required for him to get out his gothic type and printing press.

Herman continued to run an annual

300 or 400 from that date – rides that still operate in the safe hands of ACME. So it was perhaps unsurprising that the most enthusiasm for running a 200km ride came from members of the soon to disband Colchester section, Len Harris and Terry Harding. Havering CTC also showed interest – Brian Phipps had completed Windsor-Chester-Windsor in 1979, following in the wheel marks of his brother Len, along with a good number of other shorter randonnees.

Other sections were somewhat dumbfounded but went along with the idea. Brian must have been one of the very few AUK members riding in the 1984 event. Perhaps for that reason, Charles Comport never bothered to list who belonged to Audax UK in his “results sheet”. After discussion at committee level, the die was cast and the randonnee would go ahead the following year, 1984.

Six Mile Bottom post mill, a control point used in the early 90s

in Essex This initial foray into running an Audax ride would consist solely of a 200km event, and Charles Comport, who would later organise the National 400, took on the task of organising this voyage into the cycling unknown.

A starting point in mid Essex seemed sensible. An initial idea was to use Mountnessing village hall in the shadow of the restored post windmill, but the hiring charges proved prohibitive. More recently Stefan Eichenseher has actually managed to run a 110km event from that location without a milling theme!

So the start was planned for the vicinity of Chelmsford, which had the advantage of being on a railway line, and the village hall at Boreham was chosen, just a few miles outside the county town.

The smock mill, converted to a house at Terling, having been used in the 1937 Will Hay comedy film, “Oh Mr Porter!” was only

a few miles away and could be viewed towards the end of the ride.

Essex is not famous for dramatic scenery or fierce climbs, especially in its more rural parts, but it does have a number of restored windmills, identifiable landmarks which set it apart from many counties, allowing for a kind of architectural and historical cycling steeplechase. The county also has a number of fords, and I believe a punning “Fords Populaire” event was created later in the 1980s, which somehow I missed.

A route was devised which passed a sizeable number of surviving windmills, not only in Essex but also in the neighbouring counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

In true CTC tradition, the catering emphasis was on booked “elevenses” and afternoon tea, with a do-it-yourself or free-foraging lunch suggestion – either

food carried, or taking advantage of the many village pubs. The afternoon stop was at one of the cycling club huts close to the 32nd milestone at Ugley, kindly afforded

by Shaftesbury CC, mainly through the enthusiasm of that club’s Brian and Senta Jordan. CTC councillor Peter Jackson was also a member. In more recent times, other clubs’ huts have been used, most recently that of the Comrades CC. Few people who enjoyed the “Windmill Ride” will have forgotten the social occasion around the tea stop.

For this first event, Charles tracked down and booked Evelyn’s Chuck Wagon from Basildon which was parked midmorning on a grassy roadside outside Gestingthorpe, the village which was home to Captain Lawrence Oates of the ill-fated Scott Polar Expedition of 1911-

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1912, and to whom there is a memorial in the church.

All controls – including the long forgotten “secret control” – were to have marshals sourced from among non-riding CTC members who would sign the brevet cards and apply a specially cut rubber windmill authenticating stamp. It was also agreed to advertise the event not just in the pages of Cycletouring but also in Cycling Weekly and Cycling World. An advertising poster was also produced for local bike shops and local racing clubs.

Then it was a question of waiting for entries to start rolling in – by post of course. In addition to the “essay-style”

route sheet, entrants would also receive an A4 page of touring notes which contained potted histories of the various windmills passed en route. Well, these were touring events, not races.

Other parts of the country were well ahead of Essex in welcoming the Audax format, especially the West Country and North of England, but there was little evidence of AUK members racing across the country to Boreham in order to pick up points. Was anyone interested in points in those years in Essex? And that situation wouldn’t change in the country when the AAA award was introduced! However, Essex did welcome for a few years running

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Ron Turner at Great Thurlow mill control 77km with his Viscount and my Major bike

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a Bristol CTC member and Chippenham Wheeler, Martin Dean.

The Boreham start and finish served Essex well for a few years before it migrated to the club hut of Chelmer CC, where it has remained to date apart from three years 2013-2015 when Galleywood was the location and, of course 2020 when there was no event. Otherwise this minor classic has run unbroken, perhaps one of the longest running AUK events, along with the populaire introduced the following year in 1985.

To be strictly accurate, the 1985 200k event didn’t have a windmill theme, rather it was a tour along the Stour and Brett valleys on the Suffolk border but with the same tea stop which has been the constant for all rides since the beginning.

The earlier Colchester Rovers’ 300 and 400 events which Herman Ramsey started also continue under ACME stewardship, designated the Green and Yellow Fields and Asparagus and Strawberries 300 and 400 randonnees.

We must not forget the contribution to Audax in East Anglia by Jacqui and

Burwell Mill control 1986 with four members of Havering CTC

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Great Chishill control in 1984, from left, Steve Goodfellow, Peter, Rita and Robin Jackson, Brian Phipps, Tony Parkins (on Sturmey Archer 5 gear) myself, Margaret Davis

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Paul Denny who also organised many events from the Norwich area.

In that first Windmill 200 there was a good number of “full value” rides, not because of age, but rather many of the participants hadn’t ridden more than 75 or 100 miles in a day before and were stopping to have picnics from their saddlebags and take photographs or chat to the human controllers. Ernie Vesper of the 40 Plus CC and a subsequent secretary and president of that club, crept home with minutes to spare – he was 72 but far from the oldest on the road. That accolade went to a former world record holder, Harry Grant of Colchester Rovers who was 78. He’d held the one-hour motor paced record in 1932, and when he was 80 he rode the 110km populaire.

Chairman and President, Doug Brunwin was always one of the first back on the 200k – in around nine hours despite being in his 60s. But nowadays that would be considered an average age for participants in Audax events. Other well known names who completed the event successfully were the Swallow frame builders Robert Wade and Pete Bird now of Ironbridge Bicycles.

After a debrief after the inaugural event, there was a feeling that a different route ought to be tried in 1985, taking the riders to the valleys of the rivers Brett and Stour, with elevenses at Bures but calling in again at Ugley for tea. A supporting 100km populaire was added which

In addition to the “essay❝ style” route sheet, entrants would also receive an A4 page of touring notes which contained potted histories of the various windmills passed en route

❞

increased the popularity of the event.

The vital statistics for 1985 were: 154 entries split 81-76 in favour of the 200.

Although there were fewer entries for the longer distance, the total number was up more than 50 per cent on the 1984 single event entry of 97, starting a golden period for the Windmill Ride.

In 1986, although windmills were back on the menu, perhaps the 1985 rivers theme was not strong enough, along with the cakes and trifle at the Shaftesbury CC hut. The route was extended into Cambridgeshire for rather longer than the only transitory crossing of the border in 1984 to Chishill Windmill.

Beyond Six Mile Bottom the tower windmill control at Burwell, working until the early 1950s, was reached via the outskirts of Newmarket. This mill, as at Chishill, was open to visiting cyclists which afforded aerial views of the controllers at work. This meant a steeper climb up to Chishill after a long flat stretch once the

Gog Magog Hills had been crossed.

For obsessives of 1960s TV series, Chishill Mill is featured in episode 29 of ITV series “The Baron” in1967 – still available on YouTube. After a car chase involving a Rover P5 and Jensen C-V8, shots ring out within the post mill and a body lies dying of stab wounds…

Combined entries in 1986 were 137, of which 66 passed through the Burwell control which I myself was manning, having ridden out from Chelmsford earlier in the morning. No helper ride points then!

I wonder how many of these riders were AUK members? Probably very few although I had just joined as member C155, sadly not continued after 1993 until I recently re-joined.

In 1984 51 of the 82 successful finishers were CTC members – at a time when CTC District Associations hosted the majority of Audax events. Two riders were denied brevets for the cardinal sin of failing to fit mudguards, one being Neil Esko, a Californian living in England – who would no doubt referred to them as fenders.

Many of the first riders are no longer with us but a good proportion of the youngsters are still cycling – some are still active Audax UK members riding 200km events and longer. By the late 1980s, the total entries managed to top 200 and briefly a 75km option was added to the staple 200/110 pairing.

In the pioneering 1984 event, the youngest rider was Matthew Cant, who

A view from Burwell mill of the control in 1988

had not yet turned 13 and who rode around with his father Mick. He was a regular rider in Eastern Audax events until only a few years ago. Only one year older was Robin Jackson, stoking his father’s tandem alongside his mother on her curly Hetchins. I myself may even have been above average age at the time, but my task was to shepherd CTC club mate Ron Turner, who took some of the photos, back home on his Viscount Aerospace with half chromed blades: the non-death-fork model. It was probably his longest ever cycle ride. Our time was a moderately full-value 12.5 hours.

At Burwell, Stevens’ Mill, used as the most distant control for a few years from 1986 onwards, was under restoration during the 80s and 90s, having been bought by a trust in 1972, so either had scaffolding up it, or was missing a pair of sails. It has since been restored to its full working glory after a £425,000 grant from the lottery fund. The locally quarried clunch has been tarred and it looks a treat.

It’s a shame that it’s no longer used as a control.

Six Mile Bottom post mill has since become “privatised”, or rather the privately-owned building is now unapproachable. Chishill has also been purchased from Cambridgeshire County Council and undergone a complete external restoration. It reopened in time for the 2019 running of the Windmill Ride which that year had a resurgence in the

number of entries. Although I didn’t enter that year, and had planned to ride in 2020, I finally renewed my relationship with Chishill windmill in 2021, in a more attenuated list of riders.

Fortunately I managed to ride with a trio from CC Sudbury whom I cajoled to stop for a nostalgic photo session just before the light rain started to fall. Although known as Great Chishill, my OS map shows it just over the boundary in the sparsely populated, elongated parish of Little Chishill which also stretches down to the A505 at Flint Cross. For the occasion I was using one of the same frames I was riding through the 1980s with toe clips, saddle bag and rack.

What had changed? For a start, not so many steel frames or mudguards, busier roads especially around Newmarket, the absence of smiling faces at all controls, and almost universal helmet wearing.

Essex CTC were behind the Audax curve in 1984 but the shock-of-the-new produced one of the longest running series of events in the Audax calendar and long may these rides – run capably over recent years by Stefan Eichenseher – continue.

A map of Windmills in the area, not all of which have been visited on the routes over time

Two riders were denied ❝ brevets for the cardinal sin of failing to fit mudguards ❞

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WORDS & PICTURES MALCOLM WILLS

From St. Pauls in London to the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur in Paris, Malcolm Wills recalls tracing a 495km “dome to dome” ride in 2016 to experience the history and culture of a well-ridden route between two great cities

Dome to dome

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a tale of two cities

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FOR ME, NO JOURNEY is more compelling than London to Paris – I’ve ridden it four times. The urge to experience journey times that existed before trains, cars and planes shrank the distances between major cities is one of the fascinations that attracts me to long bike rides.

The shortest route from London to Paris is about 200 miles, via the Newhaven to Dieppe crossing. With a new endurance road bike, I wanted a route that was a bit longer. This meant using the Dover to Calais crossing – a total distance of about 300 miles.

I also wanted to make sure the route would pass through towns large enough to avoid the French “curse of dimanche” so I could be sure of finding shops and restaurants open on a Sunday. Finally, I wanted the ride to be suitable for a bike with road tyres and achievable by a wide range of abilities. This meant using surfaced roads without too much traffic and avoiding the hillier countryside south of Calais. I couldn’t find any existing routes that fitted the bill, so I created my own.

I planned the route by starting with the most easterly result from a Google Maps search for cycling directions from Calais to Paris and then refined it turn-byturn. I used the Street View feature to check the suitability of the roads. This took a fair bit of time but was well worth it.

The resulting route takes in beautiful Dutch-style landscapes criss-crossed by waterways, then gently rolling countryside through Picardy which gives way to traditional hunting forests, before

Red eye… A dawn departure from St Paul’s Cathedral

No correction needed …

Malcolm outside the former Canterbury prison

approaching Paris on a well-surfaced canal tow path. By stalking the A26 and A1 autoroutes to Paris (without ever being spoiled by them), the balance between benign terrain and directness is optimised.

The route can be ridden as a short tour in anything from two days to a week, depending on how much you want to sample the many distractions along the way.

My second ride from London to Paris had been “tower-to-tower” (Tower Bridge to the Eiffel Tower), so I decided to make this journey “dome-to-dome”. The Basilica of the Sacre Coeur was an obvious destination in Paris. It is on a hill with great views, you can ride by a canal to within two kilometres of it. The depart had to be from St Paul’s Cathedral.

To pioneer the route, I teamed up with fellow AUK member Julian Sharples. We planned a three-day trip, with two days of about 180km and a final day of 130km, to allow for proper meal and hotel stops as well as time to explore points of interest on the route.

It was 5.50am when I set off from St Paul’s. Julian and I enjoyed dawn views of the city as we crossed London Bridge. In Greenwich Park, home of another famous London dome at the Royal Observatory, we came across 300 cyclists who were preparing to set off on a charity ride to Paris… with the benefit of rolling road closures, food stations, mechanics, massage therapists and an extra day!

We then joined the old Roman road over Shooter’s Hill, heading straight towards Dover. Gravesend looked at its

Julian prepares to tackle the steepest climb of the ride

best as we passed through around 8am on a sunny September morning.

After crossing the Medway we stopped for coffee in Rochester, then weaved through Chatham and Gillingham and out into the country, admiring the “candlesnuffer” steeple in Upchurch which made a surprising change from towers and domes.

We rode through Kemsley and Sittingbourne as quickly as possible and

into the country again, passing farms where the hop harvest was in progress.

After Faversham there was a climb of about 100m up to Dunkirk, Kent, followed by a welcome downhill into Canterbury.

However disappointment lurked at Christchurch Gate, where it turned out you couldn’t get close to the exterior of the

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Old style… the Café Au Stop in Busnes

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cathedral between 9am and 5.30pm without parting with north of a tenner.

Fortunately, spiritual consolation was on hand from a monk standing by the gate, who turned out to be an actor shooting a road trip film about a pilgrimage.

Feeling blessed to be on our way again, we headed out of Canterbury, passing the former prison. Have you noticed that many long distance cycle routes pass prisons? Perhaps I’m particularly tuned into this because I was working at the headquarters of the prison and probation service when I first starting Audaxing. HMPs Erlestoke, Channings Wood and Dartmoor are all on celebrated Audax routes, and my Easter Arrow in 2017 took in HMPs Whitemoor and Humber.

We finished off the last of more than 1,300 metres of climbing on the 134km stretch to Dover, comforted by the knowledge that the English stage of this ride is by far the hilliest. The day’s only route-planning failure involved having to wheel our bikes across the frenetic A2 just above Dover, due to a footbridge I’d imagined would be there, but wasn’t.

At the port, Julian successfully attacked the 10 per cent ramp to the ferry on his single speed bike, watched by an audience of truckers waiting for us before they could embark. The drivers had the last laugh, though, as we had to wait until every other vehicle was off the ferry in Calais, as there was no cycle lane in the port.

From Calais, we made an easy getaway into the French landscape of canals and red brick houses. Many of the place names in the area are a reminder of the influence of nearby Flanders – Nortkerque, Zutkerque. Where’s Kaptinkerque, I wondered?

An early point of interest is the Pont D’Ardres where the Calais to St. Omer Canal meets the Ardres Canal at the same point that the main road from Calais to St Omer is crossed by a minor road, the D228.

To further complicate the junction, it must

also accommodate four towpaths and another minor road. The solution built in 1750 was known as the “Bridge without Equal” – until it was blown up in 1944.

Arriving at our hotel in St Omer at 8.30pm, the manager denied that they had agreed to let us keep the bikes in our rooms but eventually allowed them into the conference room. St Omer was buzzing on a Friday night with lots of

Are we there already… a surprise awaited us just after Bethune, when we spotted the Eiffel Tower looming in the distance

options for dinner.

Day two started with another engineering feat, a few hundred metres off the main road heading south east from St Omer. The Fontinettes boat-lift at Arques levitated vessels 13 metres (replacing five locks) until it was retired in 1967. Once out of town, the route leaves the busy D943 and delivers some carefree riding, criss-crossing the Canal du Nord.

In Busnes, the Café Au Stop is an old-style cycling café which serves as the headquarters of the local cycling club. We au-stopped there for an espresso, admiring the trophy cabinet and chatting to the locals.

Entering Bethune from the north west I was able to tick off my second prison of the ride as we passed the Maison d’Arret de Bethune – conveniently located near the fantastic Art Deco style Palais de Justice in Place Lamartine. The main square in Bethune, with its typical belfry, is a scenic spot for coffee and snacks.

A surprise awaited us on the D937 just after Bethune, when we spotted the Eiffel Tower looming in the distance. We reached it quicker than expected, as it turned out

The day’s highlight… the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy

to be a scale model in the middle of a roundabout in Sains-en-Gohelle. Even the wisdom of the internet does not tell us why it is there, but it saved having to cycle across Paris to take selfies at the end of the ride!

During the day, we saw a number of war cemeteries, reminding us of a less peaceful period for this part of Europe. A highlight of the day was the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy. On the climb to the ridge we were passed by two WW2 jeeps, loaded with tourists in army fatigues. The atmosphere at the memorial was very peaceful, contrasting with the echoes of history created by the surrounding trenches and shell craters, left untouched and defenceless against advancing nature. We pedalled reflectively to Arras where the mood was lifted by pizza in the square.

That afternoon, the landscape of big fields and even bigger skies was punctured by the futuristic spire of the church of Our Lady of Rocquigny. This architectural homage to NASA’s Cape Canaveral launch pad must be secret as it doesn’t appear on Google Street. It made a stunningly modern contrast to the many traditional churches we passed.

We re-joined the roads running alongside the Canal du Nord, culminating in a steep hill, then a refreshing swoop down through suburbs to the centre of Peronne. As we were behind schedule, we could only explore the chateau housing

the Museum de la Grande Guerre from a nice bench in a car park. Leaving Peronne, the route crosses lots of waterways connected to the Somme river. To recoup some time, we stayed on the D1017 rather than the towpath alternative.

The final stage of our second day included some fast riding on undulating roads which swept us to Noyon, where the imposing 12th century cathedral looks out of proportion to the buildings crammed around it. Noyon is the birthplace of Jean Calvin, a Protestant reformer who fled to Switzerland in the 1530s – thereby missing

out on some decent restaurants if our experience nearly 500 years later was anything to go by.

Departure on our third day was nearly delayed after I slid down some tiled steps on my cleats, on the way to retrieve the No through road… one of the roads I’d checked on Google Street View turned out to be blocked by a recently constructed embankment for a new bypass!

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bikes from the basement. A quiet route out of Noyon provided a relaxed start to the day. However, plans went awry when one of the roads I’d reconnoitred on Google Street View turned out to be blocked by a recently constructed embankment for a new bypass. The silver lining materialised when we retraced our steps and found signs to the Oise Piste Cyclable 3, also not on Google. This is a fantastic route through forests to Choisyau-Bac and on to Compeigne for our breakfast stop.

The town of Compeigne is famous as the start of the Paris-Roubaix bike race. It also boasts a fine Hotel de Ville (town hall), where a small band with hunting horns and dressed in red coats played us on our way as we set off into the Foret de Compiegne. As well as being a hunting ground for Louis XIV, the forest is where the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.

After leaving the trees behind we were challenged by a rare climb up the escarpment to Villeneuve-sur-Verberie.

Once on higher ground the route runs at right angles to a series of four ridges, spread out over a distance of about 40 kilometres, and feels surprisingly remote despite the proximity of the metropolis.

This section is fast riding on quiet rounds, including some fun descents off the ridges, the best about halfway between Rully and Baron, featuring a single elegant hairpin on silky smooth tarmac.

We messed up our lunch stop on the final day – reaching Ermenonville (with its landscaped park honouring 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau) too early to eat and then making the mistake of assuming there would be plenty of opportunities later on. There weren’t.

The only option was a four-star hotel, where the receptionist dealt coolly if professionally with two English cyclists in search of nutritional salvation. In any case, the menu offered the opposite of fast food and we settled for a liquid lunch.

As we climbed to the highest point on the day’s ride, we were sucked into a bewildering one-way system in the hilltop town of Dammartin-en-Goele. But it was worth the effort as the descent offered our first view of Paris, just over 30km away.

After passing through the villages of Messy and Gressy, we joined the Canal de l’Ourcq cycle path for a 20km ride from the rural fringes to the urban heart of Paris. As you near the centre of the city, look out for the sculpture of a half-buried giant bicycle in the park of La Villette.

After leaving the canal, the final two kilometres along the Boulevard de la Chappelle provides a complete contrast and culture shock after three days of riding the quiet country lanes. Surging crowds of people and honking traffic made me feel disorientated. But at the right turn just after Metro Barbes Rouchechouart the climb to Montmartre started. A fantastic hilltop finish on cobbled streets delivered us to our destination, the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. Our Dome-to-Dome distance was 495 kilometres.

The area to the front of the church was heaving with tourists in 32 degree heat.

After the obligatory photo opportunities, we retraced our steps down to Rue Lamark where we got every cent’s worth from our beers at 7.5 euros each and then moved to the restaurant next door for an even better value pizza.

With a train to catch, we headed round the back of the Basilica to complete a loop back to the Boulevard de la Chappelle and then to the Gare du Nord. We checked in our bikes (with thanks to the London Cycling Campaign and others who campaigned to make the operator keep open the option of carrying bikes without disassembling them first).

By 10pm we were collecting the bikes from the back of St Pancras and by 11pm we were home. With no mechanicals and no rain, it felt like this dome-to-dome ride was truly blessed by the cycling gods!

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Dome sweet dome…

Our final destinations the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur in Paris

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THE BIRTH OF A A new there-and-back challenge to test the toughest rider The first edition of the London-Land’s End-London 1,000km Audax, surely destined to become an enduranceride epic, started on a warm July evening as most of the country was glued to the England-Denmark Euros semi-final on television. More than 30 riders set off, dodging the drunken celebrations of football fans as they picked their way through the metropolis, riding hard through the night towards the killer hills and moors of south-west England. Here are just two accounts – from riders Alan Parkinson and Harry Bunell – which clearly illustrate the event’s x-rated classification

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ALAN PARKINSON

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WE WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE, JUST TRYING TO GET ACROSS THE INCESSANT HILLS RAYNES PARK, the location of the 10pm start, is only a ten minute ride from home, and I didn’t have much planning to do. But I was late getting away – because the EnglandDenmark match had gone into extra time.

Nevertheless, I got there and met Dave Sachs. We rode through the dark to the first control at 75km where we picked up some others and continued down to Amesbury, and on into the dawn. It’s always good to have companions during the night, and with plenty of rest leading up to the event the first night passed relatively easily.

Day one was sunny and going well until we hit the hills of Dartmoor just

after leaving Exeter. This 50km stage was tough. I hadn’t really looked at the route beforehand so this came as a bit of a shock. It started to rain. Everyone seemed to be all over the place just trying to get across the incessant hills. It felt very much like the Yorkshire Moors during the Pennine 1000km I’d ridden the other year.

We arrived in Tavistock a little shellshocked. I found a chip shop in the high street, bought some fish and chips and called home. The next stage to the night control was almost as hilly, and in the dark was actually more testing. But a good front light, disk brakes and tubeless tyres saw me through, and I arrived at the 24-hour Asda in St Austell at midnight.

There’d been 420km and 5,723m of climbing since the start, and I’d enjoyed it – most of the time. With hotels at the control town costing £135, I’d opted for my tarp and sleeping bag, and it worked out better than expected. I found a spot just after St Austell, with no streetlights, so I parked my bike against a wall and set up my tarp, mat and bag and was asleep within minutes. I was warm enough, and it was quick and easy to get going in the morning.

Ivan Cornell

St. Michael’s Mount

Day two involved more hills. In fact the 87km first stage to Land’s End had 1,250m of climbing but in the daylight the quaint, quiet lanes were lovely to cycle along and I was in a good mood. The control cafe near Land’s End was excellent and I had a tasty cooked breakfast and chat with Ivan Cornell who’d ridden there on his fixed wheel bike. Chapeau!

The rain started again but we all headed off with new enthusiasm, full stomachs and a tail wind.

The faster roads heading north meant more traffic and the road to Newquay was rammed. I’d ridden this route in the Kernow 600. In May the

roads are empty, but on this particular Friday afternoon it was anything but.

The main road was busy with cars and the pavements were crammed with holidaymakers, but we found a café and chip shop with a pavement seating area so we could all keep an eye on the bikes. Within a few minutes we were joined by some of the other riders and had an enjoyable rest and catch-up on what the others had been doing. I could have spent longer there but time is the enemy of an Audax rider and I didn’t hang around too long. Onward to Exeter and I had a nice stage with Lucy Hurn for company.

I bought some breakfast supplies at the Exeter control 24-hour store and then

Lucy Hern

headed out to find a suitable camping spot to set up my tarp. Day two had been 300km and 3,000m of climbing – pretty standard for these types of rides.

On day three I woke to the sound of rain on the tarp, and as I was quite comfortable I decided to sleep until 6am.

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Then I headed off towards Langport where I was caught by John Barkman. We stopped for a delicious breakfast at the Bridge Bakery, and although I was wet through I wasn’t too cold. My knee was beginning to ache, so I bought painkillers at a petrol station and removed the wet leggings I’d been wearing for the past two days. Whatever it was that I did, it seemed to work, and soon the pain had gone – as had the hills.

From here to the finish I rode with Lee Killestein and we were a good match. The hills were a distant memory, and the last 150km was relatively flat, allowing us to pull back some of time on the schedule, arriving at 11.30pm, 90 minutes inside the maximum time. There was only 1,555m of climbing on the third day, which for a 300km is pretty flat. Beer and hot food at the arrivee marquee was very welcome and went down a treat. Thanks are due to Richard Evans, the organiser, and his team of helpers. And well done to the riders who took part.

Alan at breakfast with John Barkman – day 3 in Langport

Lee in Longstock

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HARRY BUNELL

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IF YOU FANCY A BIG CHALLENGE, THIS IS THE ONE WHAT A TOUGH RIDE – epic and awful in equal measure. And my back pain added another level of suffering, making me doubt, many times, whether I could finish.

But I learned lots of lessons – particularly about kit, and the need to test one’s set-up in advance.

I signed up for this event early in 2021, and hadn’t really spent much time thinking about it. I just had to finish my new bike build with compact gearing and disc brakes to tackle the steep climbs and descents.

But this came down to the wire. The new steed was only ready the week before. I would, ideally, have done a big ride prior to the event to test it properly, but after a

30km spin it felt pretty good.

The first stage, from London to Truro, was due to start at 10pm, which clashed with the England-Denmark Euro semi-final.

I tried to watch the match, but in reality spent most of the time on last minute faffing. By the time I got to Raynes Park at 10.20pm most people had already set off. I immediately regretted not going early.

I’d timed it badly. Drunken football fans were pouring out of the pubs and heckling people in Lycra cycling into the night. It quietened down after Woking, and then I hit the A31, which was pretty deserted. I got in the aero bars for a quick blast down to Winchester after four hours riding.

My back was starting to spasm and by the next control at Amesbury, just 150km in, I thought there was no way I’d be able to finish the ride carrying this pain. I’ve had pain before on long rides, but never so early.

I ploughed on to Castle Cary at 200km, where I knew I could get the train back to London if needed. I stopped at a Co-op to get some Nurofen and a big group of riders sailed past. Knocking back a couple of pills seemed to help and I carried on to the village of Keinton Mandeville to stop at a friend’s house for coffee. This cost me about an hour, but lifted my spirits and I decided to carry on to Cornwall.

The next control at the pretty Somerset village of Langport came shortly afterwards and I stopped for an epic bacon sandwich at the Little Bakery, which really sorted me out. I was feeling confident about eating up the miles ahead.

The run to Exeter over the Blackdown Hills was pretty lumpy and I could see my average speed dropping. Just before Exeter I hit a barrier – a road closed by roadworks. I wasted 30 minutes diverting around it, to later discover that everyone

else had just been waved through! I made it to Exeter by 2pm after more than 15 hours riding. By now it was clear I wouldn’t make it to Land’s End by sunset as originally planned, but I’d booked a place in Truro as a fall back.

Immediately after leaving the city I hit a killer hill which set the tone for the rest of the ride to St Austell. Just over 10km out of Exeter I came to Dunsford on the edge of Dartmoor National Park – more hills, and the highest point of the ride at Higher White Tor. Black clouds were looming and it started to lash it down, with the temperature dropping pretty low for July. I had several “what am I doing?” moments at this point of the ride.

With Dartmoor out of the way, I came to the village of Gunnislake, signalling our arrival in Cornwall where more crazy hills followed. It felt like I’d arrived at rush hour as I battled with cars and close passes. At least the rain had eased off.

The next few hours dragged by and I was really feeling the sleep deprivation. I’d decided to throw in the towel and get the train back tomorrow after a massive breakfast at the B&B. Most people had booked in at the Travelodge in St Austell, but I still had another hilly 20km to ride to Truro, which I reached at 9.30pm. After a quick spin around the town centre with its magnificent cathedral I checked in at my B&B on the edge of town, where I ordered a Chinese takeaway – 24 hours riding and 460km in the bank.

Harry has a welcome pint at the end of the ride

I woke at 7am feeling refreshed, and decided to carry on and complete the ride.

I’d come this far and, after seeing train prices back to London, decided to just keep pedalling. After cycling the beautiful little lanes beyond Truro I arrived at the Land’s End control, The Apple Tree cafe, in good spirits.

The next major stop was Newquay and the traffic was a nightmare. I satisfied my calorie deficit with a massive fish and chips washed down with a Peroni on the main strip. The route then took the Atlantic Highway, busy but fast all the way to Launceston. The rest of the ride was beautifully quiet – arriving at the Travelodge at 10pm after 48 hours riding and 730km ticked off.

I was back on the road by 6.30am in pretty heavy drizzle with legs feeling totally empty. It was a pretty miserable couple of hours, knowing I still had 300km to go. This part of the route retraced our route through Somerset and back to Langport. The bakery saved the day for me, thanks to another bacon sandwich and a cappuccino.

The rain was easing off and my spirits lifted knowing that 80 per cent of the ride was now down – and just 200km to go. I was still having issues with back and neck pain, but popping painkillers kept it in check.

With the sun out, the final 100km flashed by and after a quick stop at a petrol station in Ascot to buy nuts, I zipped home to Raynes Park in the fading evening

Truro Cathedral

light, making it back to control at 9pm on the dot. 71 hours riding and 1,045km on the Wahoo.

Many thanks go to Richard Evans and the Kingston Wheelers Audax Chapter for the impeccable organisation and warm welcome at the finish. The keg of Park Brewery was a nice touch. If you fancy a big challenge this is definitely one to sign up for next year.

LONDON LAND’S END LONDON This brand new calendar event, originally due to premiere in 2020, but cancelled due to pandemic restrictions, is a demanding ultra-distance ride for experienced Audaxers. The event covers 1,026km in distance and includes 13,000m of ascent over the hills and moors of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The route starts from a scouts’ hall in Raynes Park in south-west London, with controls at Winchester, Amesbury, Langport, Exeter, Tavistock, St Austell, Lands End, Newquay, Launceston, Exeter, Langport, Salisbury, Whitchurch, Wokingham, and back to Raynes Park. Organised by Richard Evans of Kingston Wheelers, the LLEL looks like becoming a classic Audax epic. An incentive to finish includes the promise of a pasta and beer feast in the Raynes Park scout hall.

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David Twitchett presents a potted history of the bicycle, illustrated with carved Meerschaum cigar-holders and pipes. The intricate engravings and sculptures perfectly demonstrate how smoking and cycling captured the Zeitgeist

Smoke signals When cycling and tobacco rode in tandem in the popular imagination

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DURING THE YEAR 1817 in Mannheim, Germany, one Karl von Drais is first recorded as riding his “Draisienne”, as the French were later to call it, and by which name the machine is known today.

Two years later Denis Johnson introduced the vehicle to England where it seems to have made more of an impact, inspiring much newsprint and many prints by caricaturists of the day.

The hobby-horse, as it became more generally known in England, was a simple device – basically a wooden bar supported by two wheels, the front one steerable. Motion was gained by the rider striking the ground with his feet. Its popularity was short-lived and it had to be admitted that the caricaturist had a point when describing it as a conveyance by which one could “go for a ride and walk in the mud at the same time!”

It was to be 45 years before anybody had the idea of attaching cranks to the front wheel of the old hobby-horse and transforming it into a simple bicycle with front wheel drive. I never

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Cheroot holder with Parisian velocipede

cease to marvel that man had been crossing the Atlantic in steam ships for 20 years, and steam railways were all around the globe before anyone thought of the bicycle, surely one of mankind’s simplest pieces of engineering.

Two Parisians claimed credit for this method of removing the rider’s feet from the mud. One was Michaux, the other Lallement. We shall probably never know which of these two claimants was first but really it doesn’t matter, for the world was big enough for them both. The Michaux family produced these early machines in France, and Lallement went to America and lodged his patent there.

The Michaux machines were copied by many English makers, producing a velocipede craze from February to October 1869, before, as fashions do, it petered out.

A few stalwarts, however, persevered and tried to improve the design. Perhaps they just had faith in the invention, but they could not have foreseen the transport revolution they’d

Cheroot holder with hobby-horse initiated. The diameter of the front drive-wheel was increased so that a greater distance would be covered by each turn of the pedals, but this advantage was negated by the resultant increase in weight. These transitional machines of 1870 were the shape of things to come even though the technology had not progressed.

Soon the first high machine appeared, constructed from metal tubes, with and rubber-tyres and wire-spoked wheels. The old high-bicycle was refined over the next 20 years, and for much of this time was the fastest vehicle on the roads.

The agile young men of the day greeted the new machines enthusiastically so that the sport and pastime of cycling evolved quickly. By 1874 English cycling handbooks were giving advice on touring in Switzerland! The cycling way of life – the racing, touring, club runs, the favoured pubs and cafes – had arrived.

The old high bicycle’s superiority was challenged in the mid-1880s by, firstly, the safety bicycle, which in many respects still resembled the established or “ordinary” bicycles, but with smaller front wheels. These in turn were superseded by “dwarf safety” bicycles, which had wheels of equal size and were chain-driven to the back wheel. Many and varied were the frames designed to accommodate the new system, but all eventually evolved into the diamond frame with which we are all familiar.

By the early 1890s, the pneumatic tyre was sufficiently efficient for use on the road and the modern bicycle had arrived.

These new, safe, fast and comfortable machines inspired a new type of rider. Cycling became fashionable – with the aristocracy taking to the wheel. Ladies were able to ride them too, when frames were adapted to accommodate the long skirts of the period. Some avant-garde young ladies chose to ignore ridicule and rode in knickerbockers.

Women had ridden solid-tyre, high-wheeled tricycles on private roads from the 1880s, and on the front of tandem-tricycles on public roads. A

feature of 19th century tandems is that the lady went in front, the steering being coupled to the rear handlebars.

From its bone-shaking inception in the 1860s, the bicycle was also popular with music-hall artists and circus folk.

A double-gents tandem with a ‘New Woman’ taking the front seat around 1898

A pair of high-wheelers

Diamond-frame safety bicycles from 1893 – 1900

MINING MEERSCHAUM

The literal translation of Meerschaum, from the German, is “sea foam” – in recognition of the clay’s paleness. It was prized for its carving properties, especially for tobacco products like pipes, cigar and cigarette-holders in Victorian times. The clay is rare – found only in a few places on earth – the best coming from an area of modern-day Turkey.

In view of our illustrations it is appropriate that one of the early cycle tourists has left us a description of the mining of the clay. Hugh Callan’s book, From the Clyde to the Jordan, was published in 1895. He made the trip on his Singer bicycle in the late 1880s. After leaving Istanbul, Callan headed south-east, where he came upon “a great heap of the pure white light stone drying in the sun. No matter where one digs, some blocks are always found. It does not run in veins, but occurs in nodules or kidneys, like huge white potatoes.”

When smoked, the nicotine stained the pipe clay yellow, then brown and ultimately black. If a Meerschaum is white it has never been smoked.

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The

Baking Biker FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT

Ginger up your ride with this hot and spicy chilli potato snack – easy to prepare, and guaranteed to add pep to your pedals on the toughest ride. This recipe makes four flat breads

Potato flat breads

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INGREDIENTS ● 100g of mashed potato ● 1tsp chopped fresh ginger ● 1tsp chopped chilli ● 140g yoghurt ● 140g wholemeal flour ● 3 tbsp chopped coriander

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METHOD Mix the ginger and chili into the mashed potato and leave to cool. Mix the yoghurt, flour and coriander together to form a stiff dough, adding a bit more flour if necessary.

Leave to rest.

Roll the dough and cut out eight rounds using a 98mm/3.75inch cutter. The dough needs to be quite thin. Dollop a tablespoon of the potato mix into the middle of four of the rounds and place a dough circle on the top, gently pressing the edges down to seal.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and once it is hot pop in each flatbread, gently pushing it into the pan to seal it and to cook the dough through. Turn every 60-90 seconds and once they’re brown, which usually takes around 10 minutes per flatbread, remove from the pan and leave to cool.

SARAH FREEMAN Our baking biker, Sarah Freeman, is dedicated to searching out tasty recipes designed for the Audax enthusiast, providing handy and nourishing home-made snacks to provide that calorie boost on a long ride.

The Lincolnshire-based cook is a member of the WI, and also a keen cyclist.

AUK CALENDAR

KEY 1826m Total elevation AAA Audax Altitude Award points A(1) Free/cheap accommodation (1 night) B Very basic – no halls/beds, et c BD Bag drop R Refreshments at start and/or finish S Showers Z Sleeping facilities on route YH Youth hostel at/near start C Camping at or near the start F Some free food and/or drink on ride L Left luggage facilities at start P Free or cheap motor parking at start T Toilets at start M/NM Mudguards required/not required X Some very basic controls (eg service stations) G GPS files provided by the organiser 175 Entries close at 175 riders 14/4 Entries close 14th April 15-30kph Minimum-maximum speeds

For the most up-to-date information, please see the dedicated pages on the Audax UK web site: audax.uk/static-data/covid-restrictions 200

04 Dec Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 2SE The South of Bucks Winter Warmer 08:00 Sat BR 208km 1550m £5.00 YH A1 G P T S X (100) 15-30kph Terry Lister lister4cycling@btinternet.com 4 Abbey Walk, Great Missenden HP16 0AY 100 04 Dec Haughton, Darlington Pit Ponies 09:30 Sat BP 850m £6.00 G R T 12-25kph Updated VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 200 04 Dec St Andrews, Fife Tour of the Ochils 08:30 Sat BR 1650m £3.00 X G P (30) 14.4-30kph Change of Date Audax Ecosse Niall Wallace, 5A Christiegait, Freuchie, Cupar KY15 7EG 200 04 Dec Tewkesbury Kings, Castles, Priests & Churches 07:30 Sat BR 202km 1600m AAA1.5 [2300m] £7.50 F L P R T NM 100 15-25kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 100 04 Dec Witham, Essex The Stansted Airport Express 10:00 Sat BP 650m £5.00 X M G P T 12.5-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA 200 11 Dec Canton, Cardiff The Bethlehem Mail 07:30 Sat BR [2160m] £5.00 X G 14.3-30kph Audax Cymru Ian Llewelyn, 18 Brook Road, Fairwater, Cardiff CF5 3AW 200 11 Dec Frenchay, Bristol George's Delightful Abbeys and Roads 07:00 Sat BR 2500m £7.50 YH F G P R T 15-30kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG

160

11 Dec Frenchay, Bristol George's Delightful Roads 07:45 Sat BP 1650m £7.00 YH F G P R T 12.5-25kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 100 11 Dec Frenchay, Bristol Abbeys and Minor Roads 08:30 Sat BP 1000m £6.50 YH G P R T 12.5-25kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 200 19 Dec Great Bromley, nr Colchester Santa Special 08:00 Sun BR 204km 1200m £7.00 L P R T M 15-30kph CTC Suffolk 07922772001 Andy Terry, 70 Queensway, Lawford, Manningtree, Essex CO11 1EW 100 27 Dec Dalkeith Post-Xmas Tour of Midlothian 09:00 Mon BP 991m [1200m] £5.50 X F P G P R (20) (26/12) 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur Ross Connell, 1 Viscount Drive Dalkeith EH22 3FX 1000 27 Dec Easton, Bristol Double Creamed 1000 16:00 Mon BR £15.00 YH X G L P R T 13.3-25kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 500 27 Dec Easton, Bristol Full Fat Festive 500 Pint 1 16:00 Mon BR 4915m £9.50 YH X G L P R T 14.3-25kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 500 29 Dec Easton, Bristol Full Fat Festive 500 Pint 2 06:00 Wed BR 3450m £9.50 YH X G L P R T 14.3-25kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 200 01 Jan Oxford The Poor Student 07:30 Sat BR 205km 1800m £6.00 (90) YH P X 15-30kph Pat Hurt 07887 87 61 62 iddu.audax@gmail.com Pat Hurt, 10 Newbury Road, Lambourn RG17 7LL 200 08 Jan Tewkesbury Mr. Pickwick's January Sale 07:00 Sat BR 201km 2300m £1.00 C G NM P T (100) 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 100 15 Jan Kelvedon, Essex The Kelvedon Oyster 10:00 Sat BP 104km 650m £5.00 X M T G 12-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex provanaudax@btinternet.com Graeme Provan, Unit 6 Whitelands, Terling Road, Hatfield Peverel, Essex CM3 2AG

200

15 Jan Warmley, Bristol Chalke and Cheese 07:00 Sat BR 2450m £7.50 YH G P R T 15-30kph Audax Club Bristol will@audaxclubbristol.co.uk Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG 200 22 Jan Chalfont St Peter The Willy Warmer 07:30 Sat BR 209km £9.00 X G 30 15-30kph Change of Date Willesden CC paudax@gmail.com Paul Stewart, 25 Devonshire Gardens, Chiswick, London W4 3TN 150 30 Jan Ashton Keynes, Cirencester Windrush Winter Warm Down 08:00 Sun BP 155km 1450m £6.00 L F P R T 15-30kph Corinium CC 01285 659 515 peter@quernsgate.co.uk ROA 10000 Peter Holden, 39 Querns Lane, Cirencester GL7 1RL 100 30 Jan Ashton Keynes, Cirencester Windrush Winter Warm-up 09:00 Sun BP 108km 650m £6.00 L F P R T 14-25kph Corinium CC 01285 659 515 peter@quernsgate.co.uk ROA 10000 Peter Holden, 39 Querns Lane, Cirencester GL7 1RL 200 05 Feb Tewkesbury Benjamin Allen's Spring Tonic 07:30 Sat BR 206km 2050m £7.50 C G P NM P R T 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 110 05 Feb Tewkesbury Bill's Theocsbury Ramble 09:00 Sat BP 650m £6.00 c p r t nm 100 12-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 100 12 Feb Witham Knights Templar Compasses 10:00 Sat BP 105km 800m £5.00 X G T P 12-25kph Audax Club Mid-Essex grant@huggys.co.uk Grant Huggins, 76 Bryony Close, Witham CM8 2XF 100 13 Feb Old Town Hall, Musselburgh Musselburgh RCC Tour of East Lothian 09:30 Sun BP 106km 1350m £5.00 X 12.5-30kph Musselburgh RCC 07956973196 douglaskirkham@aol.com Douglas Kirkham, 40 Seton Court, Port Seton, Port Seton EH32 0TU 200 19 Feb Rochdale North-West Passage 08:00 Sat BR 2200m £9.00 R T 15-30kph West Pennine RC ROA 5000 Noel Healey, 95 Shore Mount, Littleborough OL15 8EW 120 19 Feb Rochdale Mini-North-West Passage 09:00 Sat BP 1450m £9.00 R T 15-30kph West Pennine RC ROA 5000 Noel Healey, 95 Shore Mount, Littleborough OL15 8EW 200 19 Feb The Tichenham Inn, Ickenham The Winter Boat Ride 07:30 Sat BR 210km 1900m £6.00 X G 30 15-30kph Change of Date Audax Club DuBois 07974 670931 paudax@gmail.com Paul Stewart, 25 Devonshire Gardens, Chiswick, London W4 3TN

100

20 Feb Thurnby Scout Hut, Thurnby Leicester Rutland and Beyond 08:30 Sun BP 102km 1290m £7.00 F L P R S T (125) 12-30kph Leic. Forest CC Robert Jones, 20 Lavender Road, Leicester LE3 1AL 200 26 Feb Aylesbury, Bucks, HP21 7QX Mid Bucks Chiltern Grit 200 08:00 Sat BRM 209km 1650m £10.00 A G P X R T (100) 15-30kph Aylesbury CC 07763 249 776 htjoshua55@gmail.com (please enter online) 200 26 Feb Northallerton, Scout & Guide Centre Three Bromptons, a Moulton and a Bickerton 08:00 Sat BR £10.00 G R T 14.4-30kph VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 100 26 Feb Northallerton, Scout & Guide Centre Hovingham Hundred 09:00 Sat BP 1100m £6.00 G L P R T 15-25kph VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 120 26 Feb Whitlenge, Hartlebury, S of Kidderminster Sunrise Express 08:30 Sat BP 121km 1050m £8.50 P R T F 130 15-30kph Beacon Roads Cycling Club Phil Richards, Forge House Farm, Cooksey Green, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B61 9EP 120 26 Feb Whitlenge, Hartlebury, S of Kidderminster Snowdrop Express 09:00 Sat BP 1050m £8.50 P R T F 130 15-30kph Beacon Roads Cycling Club Phil Richards, Forge House Farm, Cooksey Green, Elmbridge Worcestershire B61 9EP 200 27 Feb Cranbrook,, Devon Up and down like a yo-yo 08:00 Sun BRM 3100m AAA3 £5.00 G T P R 15-30kph Exeter Whs shbritton@outlook.com Sarah Britton, 17 Copse Close Lane, Cranbrook, Devon EX5 7AP 200 27 Feb Lower Whitley, Nr Warrington NEW Mere Two Hundred 08:00 Sun BRM 207km 1850m [1450m] £7.50 P R T 100 15-30kph North Cheshire Clarion neilshand67@gmail.com Neil Shand, 12 Chapel Close, Comberbach, Northwich CW9 6BA 160 27 Feb Lower Whitley, Nr Warrington A Mere Century 08:30 Sun BP 1100m £7.50 P R T 60 15-30kph North Cheshire Clarion neilshand67@gmail.com Neil Shand, 12 Chapel Close, Comberbach, Northwich CW9 6BA 200 05 Mar Alfreton Roses to Wrags 08:00 Sat BR 212km 1400m £8.00 F P R T 150 14.3-30kph Updated Alfreton CTC tomandsuefox@yahoo.co.uk ROA 10000 Tom Fox, 180 Nottingham Road, Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 7FP 300 05 Mar Cardiff Burford Bumble 06:00 Sat BRM £15.00 X 15-30kph Cardiff Ajax Robyn Thomas, 44 Cosmeston Street, Cardiff CF24 4LR

www.audax.uk

59

AUK CALENDAR

Arrivée154Winter2021

200

60

05 Mar Churchend,Dunmow, Essex The Horsepower 200 07:00 Sat BR 1450m £10.00 X C L P R T G M 15-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA 100 05 Mar Churchend, Dunmow, Essex The Horsepower 100km 09:00 Sat BP 102km 900m £10.00 X C L P R T G M 12.5-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA 200 05 Mar Tewkesbury Mr. Pickwick's March Madness 07:30 Sat BRM 209km 2600m AAA2 [1700m] £7.50 C G NM P R T 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 110 05 Mar Tewkesbury Benjamin Allen's March Madness 09:00 Sat BP £6.50 c p r t nm 100 10-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 100 12 Mar Hope, Derbyshire Occasionally Hilly 09:30 Sat BP 106km 2100m AAA2 £4.00 P R T G F 12.5-30kph Common Lane Occasionals 07805100988 owright@mac.com ROA 3000 Oliver Wright, Townhead Farm, 345 Baslow Road, Sheffield S17 4AD 300 12 Mar Oxford, Peartree Services Park & Ride The Dean 06:00 Sat BRM 3390m £8.00 X G P 15-30kph Audax Club Hackney tsaudax@gmail.com Tim Sollesse, 59 Lynwood Rd, Ealing, London W5 1JG 200 12 Mar Ponteland Newcastleton and back 07:30 Sat BR 1974m £5.00 X G P T 14.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 300 12 Mar Tenby Velos' Cambrian Stretch 07:00 Sat BRM 4220m AAA4.25 £12.50 ACFGX NM PRT (30) 15-30kph Pembrokeshire Velo Richard Coomer, Cotts Equine Hospital, Robeston Wathen, Narberth, Pembrokeshire SA67 8EY 100 13 Mar Ponteland Winter's Gibbet 08:00 Sun BP 1050m £5.00 X G P T 12.5-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 100 19 Mar Bolsover Bolsover Jester 09:30 Sat BP 760m £8.50 G L P R T (100) (14/03) 15-30kph Audax Club Bolsover audaxbolsover@castlecycles.co.uk Malcolm Smith, 14 Highfield Road, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6TY 200 19 Mar Bonnyrigg (Original) Talla-Ho! 08:00 Sat BR 206km 2190m £8.00 F G L P (40) (05/03) 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur Ross Connell, 1 Viscount Drive, Dalkeith EH22 3FX

100

19 Mar Bonnyrigg CrystAAAl Rigg 09:00 Sat BP 109km 1561m AAA1.75 £6.00 G P R T (40) (05/03) 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur Ross Connell, 1 Viscount Drive, Dalkeith EH22 3FX 200 20 Mar Cranbrook Mad March, A river too far 08:00 Sun BRM 2800m AAA2.75 £5.00 YH F P R T X 15-30kph Exeter Whs shbritton@outlook.com Sarah Britton, 17 Copse Close Lane, Cranbrook EX5 7AP 100 20 Mar Cranbrook Mad March, Up and Blackdown 09:00 Sun BP 1150m £5.00 YH F P R T 12-25kph Exeter Whs 07443 471140 shbritton@outlook.com Sarah Britton, 17 Copse Close Lane, Cranbrook EX5 7AP 200 20 Mar Surbiton Gently Bentley 08:00 Sun BRM 1650m £12.00 G L P R T (150) (1/3) 15-30kph Kingston Wheelers dave_bradshaw@talk21.com Dave Bradshaw, 14 Sutton Grove, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4LT 200 26 Mar St Martins Approach Cpark, Ruislip HA4 8BD Steam Ride: London-Oxford-London (LOL) 2022 08:00 Sat BRM 1550m £9.50 L P R T YH 15-30kph Updated Audax Club Hackney tsaudax@gmail.com Tim Sollesse, 59 Lynwood Rd, Ealing, LONDON W5 1JG 160 26 Mar Warmley, Bristol Mendip Flip Flop – Century Ride 08:00 Sat BP 2250m AAA2.25 £10.00 G P(30) 15-30kph BlackSheep CC 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 54 26 Mar Warmley, Bristol Mind the Gap 09:30 Sat BP 710m £8.00 G P(30) 10-30kph BlackSheep CC 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 200 27 Mar Pound Street Car Park, Petworth, W Sussex Petworth Start of Summer Time BRM 08:30 Sun BRM 210km 2196m [2006m] £12.00 F G P T M 15-30kph Anton Brown abaudax@btconnect.com Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT 110

27 Mar Pound Street Car Park, Petworth, W Sussex Petworth Start of Summer Time 08:30 Sun BP 111km 1389m [1350m] £12.00 F G P T M 15-30kph Anton Brown abaudax@btconnect.com Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT 200 27 Mar Poynton, S of Stockport Chirk 08:00 Sun BR £6.00 F G P T 15-30kph Peak Audax CTC peakaudax@hotmail.co.uk ROA 25000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Farm, Millcroft Lane, Delph OL3 5UX

200

02 Apr Brampton Eden Valley 200 08:00 Sat BR 204km 2086m [1943m] £7.50 X G P T 14.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 160 02 Apr Brampton Eden Valley 160 08:00 Sat BP 162km 1226m [1492m] £7.50 X G P T 13.5-30kph Change of Date Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 120 02 Apr Brampton Eden Valley 120 09:00 Sat BP 905m £7.50 X G P T 12.5-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 100 02 Apr Bushley Emily Wardle's Spring Excursion 09:00 Sat BP 102km 994m [950m] £6.50 C G L NM P R T 12-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 300 02 Apr Bushley, Nr Tewkesbury Helfa Cymraeg Benjamin Allen ar.

05:30 Sat BR 308km 3500m £8.50 100, C F L P R T S NM 15-25kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 300 02 Apr Chalfont St Peter, SL9 9QX 3Down London – New Forest 06:00 Sat BRM 2715m [3100m] £21.00 YH F G L NM P R T 170 15-30kph Willesden CC ianaudax@gmail.com Ian Oliver, 68 St Dunstans Avenue, London W3 6QJ 200 02 Apr Manningtree Essex and Suffolk Borders 08:15 Sat BRM 207km 2000m £5.50 X G P R T 15-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex Adam Young, 15A New Cut, Hadleigh IP7 5DA 100 02 Apr Manningtree Essex and Suffolk Estuaries 08:45 Sat BP 600m £4.75 X G P R T (100) 10-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex Adam Young, 15A New Cut, Hadleigh IP7 5DA 400 02 Apr Tenby Velos Tenby Tywyn 21:00 Sat BRM 422km 6100m AAA6 £15.00 YH X A CF G NM PRT (30) 15-30kph Pembrokeshire Velo Richard Coomer, Cotts Equine Hospital, Robeston Wathen, Narberth, Pembrokeshire SA67 8EY 200 03 Apr Clitheroe, Lancashire Delightful Dales 200 08:00 Sun BRM 205km 3150m AAA3.25 [3600m] £7.70 L P R T X 15-30kph Burnley CC burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive, Ightenhill, Burnley BB12 8AT 200 03 Apr Nairn, Nr Inverness Eilean Dubh 07:30 Sun BRM 208km 1730m £5.00 X C G NM P 15-30kph CTC Highland andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL

150

03 Apr Nairn, Nr Inverness Wolf & Whisky 150 08:30 Sun BP 157km £5.00 X C G NM P 15-30kph CTC Highland andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL 110 03 Apr Nairn, Nr Inverness The Wolf 100 09:30 Sun BP 1010m £5.00 X C G NM P 12-30kph CTC Highland andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL 200 09 Apr Cockerton, Darlington Durham & Northumberland redux 08:00 Sat BR 3320m AAA3.25 £10.00 G L P R T 14.3-30kph VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 400 09 Apr Coryton, NW Cardiff Buckingham Blinder 06:00 Sat BRM £20.00 X 15-30kph Change of Date Cardiff Ajax Robyn Thomas, 44 Cosmeston Street, Cardiff CF24 4LR 300 09 Apr Raynes Park Amesbury Amble 06:00 Sat BRM 312km 2200m £10.00 (60) G L P R T 15-30kph Kingston Wheelers Sarah Perkins, 1 Summer Gardens, East Molesey KT8 9LT 300 10 Apr Padiham, Lancashire Knock Ventoux 300 06:00 Sun BRM 302km 4900m AAA4.75 [4600m] £9.70 L P R T X 15-30kph Burnley CC burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive, Ightenhill, Burnley BB12 8AT 400 15 Apr Anywhere, to York Easter Fleches to York 06:00 Fri ARROW £15.00 X 16.666-30kph Audax UK andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL 200 15 Apr Anywhere, to York Easter Trail Fri BR 201km £12.00 X 15-30kph Audax UK andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL 300 15 Apr Ponteland Longtown Way Round 07:00 Fri BR 315km 2900m £5.00 X G P T 14.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 160 15 Apr Ponteland Up on the Roof 07:30 Fri BP 161km 2316m AAA2.25 [1800m] £5.00 X G P T 13.5-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 200 16 Apr Leominster The Cambrian 07:00 Sat BR 210km 3500m AAA3.5 £6.00 X 14.3-30kph Hereford & Dist. Whs cambrianaudax@gmail.com Daryl Hayter, Weir View, Breinton Common, Breinton, Hereford HR4 7PR

140

16 Apr Leominster The Cambrian – Minor 08:00 Sat BP 148km 2035m AAA2 [2250m] £6.00 X 12.5-30kph Hereford & Dist. Whs cambrianaudax@gmail.com Daryl Hayter, Weir View, Breinton Common, Breinton, Hereford HR4 7PR 300 16 Apr Poynton, S of Stockport Plains 23:00 Sat BRM 310km 1600m £5.00 P X 15-30kph Peak Audax CTC hamhort84@talktalk.net Peter Hammond, 3 Dorac Avenue, Heald Green, Cheadle, Stockport SK8 3NZ 200 16 Apr Tewkesbury Mr. Pickwick's Spring Clean 08:00 Sat BR 208km 1790m £7.50 C F G NM P R T 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 160 17 Apr Honiton Combwich Century 08:30 Sun BP 169km 2550m AAA2.5 £9.00 G L P R T (30) 14-30kph Exeter Whs ian@ukcyclist.co.uk ROA 25000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street, Honiton EX14 1PU 100 23 Apr Alveston, Bristol No Time to Yat 09:00 Sat BP 102km 1530m AAA1.5 [1800m] £9.00 F G L R T P 12.5-30kph Change of Date Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 52 23 Apr Alveston, Bristol Fishing Expedition 10:00 Sat BP 800m AAA0.75 £8.00 F G L R T P 12.5-30kph Change of Date Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 200 23 Apr Caton, nr Lancaster Stumped and Dented 08:00 Sat BR 206km 3190m AAA3.25 £10.00 G P R T 14.3-30kph Peak Audax CTC darrellwhittle@gmail.com Darrell Whittle, 20 Brookfield, Prestwich M25 1EL 150 23 Apr Caton, nr Lancaster A Bit Dented 09:30 Sat BP 152km 2060m AAA2 £10.00 G P R T 12-30kph Peak Audax CTC darrellwhittle@gmail.com Darrell Whittle, 20 Brookfield, Prestwich M25 1EL 300 23 Apr Cirencester Heart of England 300 06:00 Sat BRM 307km 2900m £7.00 A(2) L P R T 100 15-30kph Corinium CC 01285 659 515 peter@quernsgate.co.uk ROA 10000 Peter Holden, 39 Querns Lane, Cirencester, Glos GL7 1RL 200 23 Apr Honiton Valley of the Rocks 200 08:00 Sat BRM 205km 3800m AAA3.75 £9.00 G L P R T 40 15-30kph Exeter Whs ian@ukcyclist.co.uk ROA 25000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street, Honiton EX14 1PU 300 23 Apr Meopham Oasts and Coasts 300Km 06:00 Sat BRM 2776m [3000m] £9.00 L P T R 15-30kph Tom Jackson 07703 431827 tom56jackson@gmail.com ROA 5000 Tom Jackson, 19 Denesway, Meopham, Kent DA13 0EA

200

23 Apr Reading, Berks A Tribute to Alan Turing 07:30 Sat BR 209km 2000m [650m] £10.00 G NM P R T 15-30kph Cycling UK Reading Edwin Raj, 312 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 6LS 110 23 Apr Reading, Berks A Tribute to Robert Boyle 09:00 Sat BP 700m £10.00 G NM P R T 15-30kph Cycling UK Reading Edwin Raj, 312 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 6LS 55 23 Apr Reading, Berks A Tribute to Johnson & Matthey 09:45 Sat BP 540m £10.00 F G NM P R T 10-30kph Cycling UK Reading Edwin Raj, 312 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 6LS 200 23 Apr Selkirk Scottish Borders Randonnee 08:00 Sat BR 204km 2168m £7.50 X 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur 01750 20838 russellacarson@gmail.com Russell Carson, 21 Ladylands Terrace, Selkirk TD7 4BB 140 23 Apr Selkirk Scottish Borders Populaire 08:00 Sat BP 145km £7.50 X 12-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur 01750 20838 russellacarson@gmail.com Russell Carson, 21 Ladylands Terrace, Selkirk TD7 4BB 100 23 Apr Trowell, Nottingham Charnwood in the Spring 08:30 Sat BP 103km 750m £7.00 L P R T 150 11.5-30kph Nottinghamshire CTC Keith Barton, 13 Normanton Lane, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5HB 110 27 Apr Alnwick Harry's Wednesday Potter 09:00 Wed BP 113km 1680m AAA1.75 [1670m] £5.00 X G P 13.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 1000 29 Apr Harrowgate Hill, Darlington Highland Fling 14:00 Fri BRM 10610m AAA7.25 [7180m] £60.00 F G L R T Z (103) 13.3-25kph VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 200 30 Apr Bolsover Clumber to Humber (John Kerr Memorial Ride) 08:00 Sat BR 214km 1450m £6.00 L P R T G (100) 15-30kph Bolsover & District CC 01246 825 351 matt.connley@talktalk.net ROA 5000 Matt Connley, 7 Eskdale Close, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6RL 110 30 Apr Bolsover An NCN Audax 09:00 Sat BP 117km 1036m £6.00 G L P R T (50) 10-20kph Audax Club Bolsover 01246 825 351 matt.connley@talktalk.net ROA 5000 Matt Connley, 7 Eskdale Close, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6RL 400 30 Apr Chalfont St Peter, Bucks London Wales London 06:00 Sat BR 407km 3750m £27.00 F G L NM P R T 100 15-30kph Willesden CC paudax@gmail.com Paul Stewart, 25 Devonshire Gardens, Chiswick, London W4 3TN

400

30 Apr Chepstow Brevet Cymru 06:00 Sat BRM 401km 5050m AAA2.75 [2750m] £11.00 C F L P R T NM Z 100 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 300 30 Apr Cranbrook Old Roads 300 06:00 Sat BRM 3900m AAA3 [2900m] £6.00 G P R T 15-30kph Exeter Whs shbritton@outlook.com Sarah Britton, 17 Copse Close Lane, Cranbrook EX5 7AP 300 30 Apr Nairn, Nr Inverness The Turra Coo 06:00 Sat BRM 310km 2890m £5.00 C X G P T 15-30kph CTC Highland andrewuttley155@outlook.com ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL 300 30 Apr Poole Hard boiled 300 02:00 Sat BRM 4350m AAA4.25 [4400m] £10.00 L M (50)(16/4) 15-30kph CTC Wessex Cycling Shawn Shaw, 22 Shaftesbury Road, Denmark Gardens, Poole, Dorset BH15 2LT 200 01 May Wareham, Purbeck School Dorset Coast 08:00 Sun BRM 205km 2850m AAA2.75 £15.00 15-30kph Change of Date CTC Wessex Cycling ptrevissbell@hotmail.com Peter Treviss, 7 Blandford Road, Tarrant Hinton, Blandford Forum DT11 8HX 300 07 May Cardiff Tro Bro Aeron 06:00 Sat BRM £15.00 X 15-30kph Cardiff Ajax Robyn Thomas, 44 Cosmeston Street, Cardiff CF24 4LR 400 07 May Manningtree Asparagus & Strawberries 09:00 Sat BRM 414km 2700m £5.50 X P G 15-30kph Audax Club Mid-Essex grant@huggys.co.uk Grant Huggins, 76 Bryony Close, Witham CM8 2XF 400 07 May St Martins Approach C/Pk Ruislip HA4 8B London Circuit 400 08:30 Sat BRM [3500m] £13.00 T YH R NM G F 15-30kph Updated Audax Club Hackney tsaudax@gmail.com Tim Sollesse, 59 Lynwood Road, Ealing W5 1JG 200 07 May Walbottle, Newcastle Chevy Chase 07:00 Sat BRM 201km 2800m AAA2.75 [2750m] £9.00 F G (30)(24-4) 15-30kph Aidan Hedley, 16 The Close, Lanchester, Durham DH7 0PX 130 14 May Abbeywood Retail Park, Filton, Bristol Warrens & Burrows 08:30 Sat BP 1600m £9.00 G P(50) 12.5-30kph Updated BlackSheep CC 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 400 14 May Alfreton Moors and Wolds 400 10:30 Sat BR 406km 2996m [2425m] £5.00 P R T X G 14.3-30kph Alfreton CTC oggy.dude@gmail.com Stephen Ogden, 12 Primula Grove, Kirkby In Ashfield NG17 8SD

600

14 May Chepstow Bryan Chapman Memorial – Welsh End to End 06:00 Sat BRM 8459m AAA8.5 [8400m] £65.00 BD C F L P R S T Z 15-30kph Pembrokeshire Velo oldfield.tout@btinternet.com Ritchie Tout, Clawdd Coch, Capel Iwan, Newcastle Emlyn SA38 9NQ 300 14 May Galashiels Reiver Fever 06:00 Sat BR 3949m AAA2.75 [4000m] £5.00 X 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur 01750 20838 russellacarson@gmail.com Russell Carson, 21 Ladylands Terrace, Selkirk TD7 4BB 400 14 May Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire The Old 240 05:30 Sat BRM 407km 5650m AAA5.75 £10.00 A(2) G L P R S T Z (30) 15-30kph Calderdale CTC chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley Street West, Sowerby Bridge HX6 1EF 400 14 May Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire Not Quite The Spurn Head 400 05:30 Sat BRM 403km 2450m £9.00 A(2) G L P R S T Z (30) 15-30kph Calderdale CTC chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley Street West, Sowerby Bridge HX6 1EF 200 20 May Bewdley, Worcestershire HAY SKIVERS! 08:00 Fri BR 208km 3140m AAA3.25 £4.00 X,T,P 14.3-30kph Droitwich Cycling Club 01562 731606 p.whiteman@bham.ac.uk Dr Philip Whiteman, 2 Drayton Terrace, Drayton, Belbroughton, Stourbridge DY9 0BW 300 20 May Morpeth Northumberland Nightshift 22:00 Fri BR 301km 2582m [2610m] £5.00 X G P 14.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 600 21 May Bushley Benjamin Allen's Summer Outing 05:00 Sat BRM 605km 6850m AAA5.75 [5750m] £18.00 C F G L NM P R T Z 250 15-30kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 160 21 May Meriden, Warwickshire Cotswold Challenge 08:00 Sat BP 1200m £10.00 C F G P R T NM 100 15-30kph jonporteous@hotmail.com Jon Porteous, 12 Damson Close, Callow Hill, Redditch B97 5WA 100 21 May Meriden, Warwickshire Warwickshire Wanderer 09:00 Sat BP 105km 700m £10.00 C F G P R T NM 100 12-25kph jonporteous@hotmail.com Jon Porteous, 12 Damson Close, Callow Hill, Redditch B97 5WA 300 21 May Northallerton Scout Hut Northallerton 300 06:00 Sat BR £10.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph VC 167 paul.roberts901@tiscali.co.uk Paul Roberts, 37 The Close, Romanby, Northallerton DL7 8BL 400 21 May Raynes Park, London SW20 Dauntsey Dawdle 06:00 Sat BRM 3420m AAA1.75 [1660m] £12.00 G L P R T (100) 15-30kph Kingston Wheelers dauntseydawdle@gmail.com Chris Campbell, New Malden KT3 www.audax.uk

61

PRIZE CROSSWORD No.7 by Sprocket

WIN

£50

oice your ch m all f o r e h n fro vouc ill be draw ed by w r e n in w iv the entries rece the correct uary 2022 31 Jan Send your completed grid to: The editor Arrivée magazine crossword Walnut Farm, Bagpath, Kingscote Gloucestershire GL8 8YQ or email a picture/copy to: gedlennox@me.com YOUR NAME: MEMBERSHIP NUMBER: EMAIL ADDRESS:

ACROSS 1 Trente-trois, peut-être?

9 Could be the season to bounce back?

10 See 6d 12 Trial in Cumbria for riders that “broke tap & drank shots” 16 She’ll inherit media holding company 19 Enthusiastic piece grabs hearts over heads 21 Tricky to caption without it 22 Leftover broccoli-head kept for champion 24 Maybe Nick’s lunchbox is some way up near the border?

29 & 32d Numbers other than 10 are near-zero anyway...

31 Good ride for rich types who don’t mind litter?

33 Advice for anyone struggling with 12 or 24 – turn them around!

DOWN 1 Seek alternatives in allusion to boot 2 First-in rider tucking into something – ferociously hot grub 3 Last solitary penny controlled by town planners 4 Condition can leave you stiff, or behind the times?

5,5,5 10 9,4 8 4-2 6 8 6,4,3 4,2 5,5 4,2,9 4 5 5 8

5 Hostile state bordering on Eton, Miami and Tewkesbury 6 & 10a ...divided by numbers that aren’t 29 7 See 30 8 How to shave with relish?

11 How to upcycle a Christmas tree?

13 Attraction to spy in faculty 14 Jerk pork, tinned with added sulphur 15 Handsome Scottish lad travels around poles 17 Steep throughout Isle of Man, with the odd brute to finish 18 Dog to take a rest after highland crossing 20 Sleeveless, back-to-front, brand-named, not there when you need it 23 Out for the rest of the night?

25 What's the point of seeing clearly?

26 Flavour of the beast?

27 Follow Carol's directions to ground-floor board meeting?

28 To pull on the front can be a hassle – time-triallists avoid it!

30 & 7d Late-night cover to wrap up a ball?

32 See 29a

6 2,4 4 6 5 5 5 5 6 2,6 6 5 5 4 4 6

Arrivée154Winter2021

Solution for No.6

62

Congratulations to the winner of our crossword No.6: Gavin McCloskey-Lambert AUK members 17825

CONTACTS

Arrivée is the magazine of Audax United Kingdom, the long distance cyclists’ association which represents Les Randonneurs Mondiaux in the UK. AUK membership is open to any person, regardless of club or other affiliation, who is imbued with the spirit of long-distance cycling.

MEMBERSHIP Enquiries: Caroline Fenton (AUK Membership Secretary), 56 Lockesfield Place, London E14 3AJ membership@audax.uk One and five year membership available – for full details and fees see https://audax.uk/join-us/ ARRIVÉE Extra or back copies of Arrivée

subject to availability – please contact Caroline Fenton

ISSUE 155 – SPRING 2022 EDITION

TO ADVERTISE Rates per issue: ¼ page £75, pro rata to £300 per page. Payment in advance. We rely on good faith and Arrivée cannot be held responsible for advertisers’ misrepresentations or failure to supply goods or services.

Members’ Private Sales, Wants, Event Adverts: free.

Views expressed in Arrivée are not necessarily those of the Club.

Designed and produced for AUK by: gedesign, Bagpath, Gloucestershire.

Printed by: Taylor Brothers, Bristol Distribution data from: Caroline Fenton and the AUK Membership Team.

Send your stories to gedlennox@me.com There is no copy deadline for stories as most will be published, but not necessarily immediately unless they are time-relevant.

COPY DEADLINE FOR ADVERTISERS: 30 January 2022 ● Send your text in any word-processor format and your pictures as separate files (i.e. not embedded in the document). ● Images must be as big as possible, anything below 1Mb jpeg is not useable ● It is essential that your photographs are captioned, preferably in a separate document, cross referenced to your pictures. ● Include your full contact details – including your AUK number – we cannot publish your story otherwise ● Package the content into a single compressed zip archive. ● If it is too large (i.e. more than 10Mb) please use WeTransfer, MailBigFile or a cloud-based platform like Dropbox etc. ● Please do not use the old Mediafire gateway as it is no longer functional.

Board and delegates Individual email addresses are listed for Board members and delegates, where relevant. For general enquiries or if you are not sure who to contact, please use secretary@audax.uk.

Please bear in mind that all Board members and delegates are volunteers and so may not always be able to respond immediately.

Chair and LRM/ACP representative Chris Crossland 14 Stanley Street West, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX6 1EF chair@audax.uk 01422 832 853 The Chair supervises: IT Manager Kevin Lake it@audax.uk who is advised by: IT refresh project board including co-opted members: Dan Campbell Neil Goldsmith Otto Reinders Dan Smith and who has the following delegates: www.aukweb.net Website manager: Francis Cooke Systems administrator: Terry Kay audax.uk Web content manager: Dave Allison webcontent@audax.uk AUK forum administrator Kevin Lake AUK forum Moderator Kevin Lake The Chair also supervises these delegates: Mileater secretary (currently on a temporary basis) Chris Crossland (details as above)

FWC (Fixed Wheel Challenge) and Super Fixed Wheel Richard Phipps, 77 West Farm Avenue, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2JZ. richard@richardphipps.co.uk General Secretary Graeme Provan Whitelands, Terling Road, Hatfield Peverel, Essex CM3 2AG secretary@audax.uk The Secretary supervises these delegates: Registrar Les Hereward, 20 Webster Close, Oxshott, Surrey, KT22 OSF leshereward@gmail.com Annual reunion organisers Paul Rainbow paul@audaxclubbristol.co.uk and Mark Gibson Markg103@gmail.com Finance director Nigel Armstrong 13 Upper Bank End Road, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire HD91ES 01484 687587 fd@audax.uk Directors without portfolio Andy Yates Director and membership secretary Caroline Fenton 56 Lockesfield Place, London E14 3AJ membership@audax.uk The Membership secretary supervises these delegates: Membership admininistration Mike Wigley (Admin) Enrolments Peter Davis Howard Knight

Communications director Rob Mclvor communications@audax.uk The Communications director supervises these delegates: Arrivée managing editor Ged Lennox gedlennox@me.com Badge and medal shop secretary Allan Taylor www.audaxmedals.southportcc.co.uk Director and calendar events secretary Ian Hennessey 10 High Street, Honiton, EX14 1PU events@audax.uk The calendar events secretary supervises these delegates: Regional events delegates Scotland & Northern England: Andy Uttley Midlands & Eastern England: Grant Huggins South East England: Pat Hurt South West England & Wales: Andy Cox UAF delegate Dave Minter Director and Permanents secretary John Ward 34 Avenue Road, Lymington S041 9GJ permanents@audax.uk 01590 671205 The Permanents secretary supervises these delegates: DIY regional representatives Scotland: Martin Foley North East England: Joe Applegarth Yorkshire & East England: Andy Clarkson Midlands, North and Mid Wales: Mike Kelly

South West England and South Wales: Rob Baird South East England: Paul Stewart South East England (2): Martin Lucas ECE delegate Martin Malins Malinseastg@tiscali.co.uk OCD delegate Rod Dalitz 136 Muir Wood Road, Edinburgh EH14 5HF rod.dalitz@me.com Event Services director and recorder Dan Smith 95 Regents Court, Kingston upon Thames KT2 5AQ services@audax.uk 07596 248528 The Event Services director supervises these delegates: Validation secretary Cathy Brown 76 Victoria St, Kirkwall KW15 1DQ validations@audax.uk Awards secretary Peter Davis alfapete@yahoo.com RRTY award secretary Grant Huggins 76 Bryony Close, Witham, Essex CM8 2XF rrty@audax.uk AAA secretary Ivan Cornell aaa@audax.uk Brevet card production secretary Oliver lles 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG brevetcards@audax.uk Production of permanent cards is handled by: John Ward 34 Avenue Road, Lymington S041 9GJ permanents@audax.uk www.audax.uk

63

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