Arrivee issue 156 Summer 2022

Welcome to the spring 2022 issue of Arrivée

There was a time when, if a cyclist experienced aggression on the road, or an example of dangerous driving, all he could do was shake his head – or fist – in impotent rage. Today, however, many riders routinely affix a camera to their bikes or cycle helmets. And the practice is having an impact.

There’s a profusion of footage on social media these days featuring cyclists coming face to face with the nation’s Ronnie Pickerings (and if you don’t know who he is, he’s worth a quick google), regularly chronicling examples of illegal behaviour – from driving while using a phone, to driving too close, or cutting in dangerously.

Mike van Erp doesn’t like the label “cycle vigilante”, but his bike-mounted camera has helped convict around 1,000 erring

drivers since he started confronting dangerous motorists in 2006. He is one of thousands of cyclists fighting back against a wave of shocking driving.

Since Mike began filming, cameras have become smaller and much more sophisticated, and the footage is of much better quality. The attitude of the police to camera evidence of wrongdoing has also improved. Today, in most police authorities, such footage is positively encouraged.

There are exceptions – in Scotland, for instance, the Old Bill have a quaintly turn-of-the-century attitude to video evidence from cyclists – insisting that footage will only be considered if it’s on a DVD!

Even so, a huge number of offences are now being reported daily by cyclists to their local police. It’s believed that around

50 per cent of motorists forced to attend driver awareness courses are there because they’ve been caught on camera by cyclists.

YouTube, and similar internet platforms, are awash with encounters between drivers and cyclists, and watching them, one wonders whether the possession of a bike or helmet-mounted camera makes it more or less likely that the cyclist will get a punch up the throat.

Conversations tend to develop along these lines: “I’m getting all this on film, you know! It’ll be all over YouTube tonight, mate!” This is usually followed by a menacing close-up of an angry driver’s bulging eyes as he approaches his target. Quite often the footage then goes all wobbly, and the soundtrack becomes a jumble of crashing and clattering.

Mike van Erp’s advice is to always be calm when filming. Not only might this prevent an escalation – it makes any violent reaction by the driver look so much worse. And remember – it’s all very well being a vigilante, but it’s best to consider that even the Lone Ranger always had Tonto by his side. Our advice? Go cycling with the biggest mate you’ve got…

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

157 – AUTUMN 2022 EDITION

Send your stories to gedlennox@me.com The next edition of Arrivée will be out in September 2022. If you have a story for the magazine try and get it to us by the end of July 2022 – the sooner you send it in the better.

● 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

● Copy all the content into a new folder on your desktop.

● 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

Wed 13 Jul London – Anglesey – London 1,000km

Sun 4 Sep Rowlands Ramble 200km

Sun 2 Oct Brace of Bramleys 200 km

Just a sec

With the Audax season in full swing and an encouraging number of events in the calendar, it is starting to feel like business as usual for our sport.

This is backed up by continued growth in our membership.

Many of you will be honing your fitness ahead of LEL in August or trying to find the time and energy to fit in a BRM event of suitable length for prequalification for PBP. Some of you, like me, may be finding it harder than you thought to regain pre-pandemic form. Whatever your situation, it is just good to be looking ahead to a full programme of events. We all owe our organisers a huge debt for keeping the faith and continuing to plan and run events in such difficult circumstances.

Awards and Annual Reunion

One of the unfortunate consequences of the pandemic has been the ongoing cancellation of our Annual Reunion. The Annual Reunion delegates were in full planning mode just as the Omicron restrictions hit at the turn of the year. With venues across the country full to capacity as people caught up on postponed events and continuing uncertainty about restrictions, our delegates took the difficult decision to postpone this year’s Reunion to 2023. One of the knock-on effects of these

cancellations has been a complete absence of awards ceremonies for those awards that were still made during the championship suspensions. Some awards have been sent out by post but there is still a backlog. We have a new Awards Secretary, Peter Davis, who is working hard to bring everything back on track.

On the subject of awards, at our latest board meeting we reviewed the nominations for the various discretionary awards before making final decisions on the deserved recipients. Peter will be in touch with the winners prior to posting details on the website.

Board Meeting

Our latest board meeting took place on the 6th April. The meeting was held via Zoom.

One of the items for discussion was AUK’s response to the war in Ukraine. With LEL on the horizon, this was a topic with more relevance than other years. Chris Crossland had been monitoring the responses from Audax Club Parisien and LRM which had been somewhat mixed. Our view was that Russian and Belorussian riders should be excluded from AUK events until further notice.

Kevin Lake, our IT Manager, joined the meeting to give us an update on progress on the IT Refresh Project. He

The Dartmoor Ghost…

returns for its 2022 haunting on Saturday 13 August. The spectre of five haunted sites await.

This is a night time Audax, which departs as the waning full moon rises, circumnavigates the edge of the moor under the arc of the nocturnal orb, then crosses the traffic-free high moor as dawn awakens.

reported that, with the introduction of the new event entry pages, an important milestone had been reached with audax. uk no longer simply being a front end for the older aukweb.net site.

It was now possible to see the point when aukweb.net would no longer be necessary as part of the active processes on the website. When AUK had achieved “one system” it would be time to review the current provision of development work which continued to be heavily weighted towards volunteer input.

Kevin proposed to convene a working party of organisers to help drive the next stage of the development. He was also looking at the user experience for the approximately 50% of users who accessed the website via mobile devices.

Our finance director, Nigel Armstrong, reported that AUK was in good financial health with substantial cash reserves available to meet future needs. He was working on budget forecasts for 2022/23 in a welcome backdrop of increased revenue. At the same time, he was keeping an eye on inflation in case of a need to increase subscription fees.

A full English breakfast is included in the £17 entry fee along with pizza slices at the start and a hall control in the middle of the night.

GRAEME PROVAN, General secretary, Audax UK

As always, I am going to start by welcoming all our recent new members – there have been approximately 500 of you since the last Arrivée issue, most new to Audax UK, although we are also pleased to say hello again to several re-joiners.

Anyone who has entered an event online in the last 6 weeks or so will have seen our new event entry screens which we launched at the end of April. Although not strictly a membership feature, they do make use of the household member set up. The “main” member can now enter events on behalf of household members, as long as they have accepted the entry terms and conditions. It would have been nice to promote equality and allow any member of the household to enter on behalf of any others, but that proved to be a bit tricky, sorry! So, if you are an Audaxing family or household and want to make one entry and payment for multiple people, then the “main” member must be the one logged on. If you can’t remember who is “main” then you can check via the “Household members” option on the “My account” menu (only the main member sees the option), or if you prefer just try the event entry and see who gets the multiple names.

One big benefit of the new process is that paper forms are no longer necessary for under 18 riders IF they are a household member and the main member makes the entry on their behalf. This benefit doesn’t extend to non-member under 18s (not yet), so if your younger family members might do one or two events a year, then it could be worth subscribing them as household members (£6 per year) to avoid the hassle of printing and signing consent forms.

Although we have had a very high number of new joiners in 2022 so far, there is plenty of room for more. If you have friends or clubmates who have ridden an event as a non-member and enjoyed it enough to want to join, please remind them that they can claim a discount to refund their non-member supplement – some organisers will provide a code, but if not, I can supply one.

As part of their welcome pack, we send all our new joiners Audax UK – formerly known as “mudguard stickers” but can be affixed anywhere you like! Stocks are getting low of our current dark blue (600km distance) stickers, so we will be ordering new ones soon with the trimmed eagle logo and a new colour. For old timers you will be able to get the new design from the Audax badges and medals shop or you may find your event organiser has a few to give away.

A quick reminder that I do have a few back copies of Arrivée which I am happy to send out for a small charge, so if you want something specific I may be able to help, or if you are a new joiner and just want a couple of extra issues for inspiration then get in touch. Finally, if you are an organizer and want to make some copies available at your events, or you have a good local bike shop or café that would like some for publicity purposes, I can help with that too.

with Caroline Fenton, AUK Membership Secretary

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

Dented in the Dales

North Country riders enjoyed a new event in April this year – the “A Bit Dented” – a 152km Brevet Populaire through Lancashire’s lanes, and up into the Yorkshire Dales. The ride, which was due to have its inaugural running in 2021 but was cancelled due to the pandemic, started from Caton, near Lancaster, winding its way through quiet country lanes and into the Dales, towards Settle.

The scenic, hilly route was tackled by a field which included Geoff Day on his Brompton, pictured here with Matthew Corns, riding his first Audax, on the High Hill Lane stretch out of Settle, heading for Airton.

TEAM STELA’S ROUND THE WORLD RECORD BID

Daring duo’s double dilemma ARE THEY TOURISTS OR TREKKERS?

On the eve of their attempt to set a new round-the-world cycle record, husband and wife tandem team, Laura Pugh and Steven Massey put their new kit to the test with an 820 mile trek around Wales – while pondering the essential differences between touring and bike-packing. Here is Laura’s latest report on the couple’s preparations…

CYCLE TOURING versus bike-packing – are they two different things, or just a rebranding? On our “training camp”, circumnavigating Wales at Easter, we weren’t sure which tradition we were engaged in – but doing it certainly provided food for thought ahead of our Round-the-World record attempt, due to start in June 2022.

With every Audax or long ride we attempt, we learn something new from the experience – things that will be important on our record attempt. We know that cycling and fitness are just small elements of what will spell success.

An eight day trip around Wales, covering over 820 miles as close to the coast or border, was a great challenge in itself. We hoped it would iron out any problems before our big trip, testing kit and strategy.

The Welsh ride was planned using an online mapping platform and app which allowed us to see distance, elevation and road type, and compare options easily. Once uploaded on to our GPS all we needed was to follow the purple line. We still prefer to use a good, old-fashioned

route sheet on Audaxes with the GPS as back-up, but for route planning it certainly makes things easier. Maybe some of the magic of unfolding an OS map is lost, but it’s certainly quicker. Problems can come making changes on the road as it’s a bit fiddlier on a phone and this is where unfolding a map of more detailed scale might well help. Your trusty cycle tourist would certainly be quick to unfold his Ordnance Survey!

In terms of where to stay we chose a mix of luxury and leisure – and roughing it. We didn’t take this to the extreme of a bike-packers’ bivvy (or the good old Audax hotel) but we did factor in a couple of wild camps as well as Warmshowers (warmshowers.org) which proved a great way to meet like-minded cyclists, and we were over the moon to be treated to a hearty dinner on two occasions.

To stay in Warmshowers you must arrive on a bicycle and offer to look after yourself, while the host provides somewhere to pitch a tent (at least) and a warm shower. This is probably surplus to requirement for most Audaxes but we’d certainly recommend it for longer tours.

and

are due to set off from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in June this year to tackle a 180-day journey around the globe, with the aim of breaking the world record for a tandem circumnavigation, while raising money for charity. You can follow their progress and read their blogs on www.stelatandem.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and watch their Stelatandem YouTube channel. For information about donating to their chosen charities (MIND, Sustrans, and VetLife), visit www.justgiving.com/ team/SteLa-Tandem.

We also had a night of luxury in a real Bed and Breakfast which resulted in a pannier explosion as we tried to wash and dry everything, including ourselves – definitely not bike-packing! With our still damp cycling shorts wafting in the breeze from our pannier rack the next morning we were certainly on tour.

Wild camping was made much more comfortable by having the right kit. Having relied on heavy synthetic sleeping bags and trusty inflatable foam mats for many years we found the newer lightweight products pretty revolutionary. Air pocket inflatable sleeping mats are extremely comfortable and have so far proved durable. Downfilled sleeping bags kept us comfy, so maybe a bike-packing bivvy wouldn’t be roughing it so much after all? We also erred towards touring by taking a gas stove – a 44g gas burner which allowed us to brew up in a matter of minutes. I think both bike-packers and tourists would agree a hot drink is essential but will let you judge who’s more likely to go for a good old cuppa or freshly ground coffee!

This kit was all stowed away in four panniers, two frame bags and two “nosebags”. Again, mixing traditional with modern frame bags allowed us to use up space on the tandem efficiently, have things easily accessible and snack on the

move when timings did not allow for another cafe stop.

The panniers were easy to pack and the contents easy to retrieve, an issue which seems to be a problem with some more modern chute packs. There was also plenty of space for extra provisions. The panniers are a rather startling yellow (which got us recognised by a keen Audax UK Facebook follower!) as opposed to traditional waxed cotton.

The pace of our ride didn’t necessitate being as aerodynamic as possible, and the speed of the tandem through the hilly Welsh coastline would, on paper, look like an ideal cycle touring pace, but the distances and duration were definitely in the realms of not being a holiday! We did however stick to asphalt where possible, and apart from a couple of sandy bits, steered clear of the gravel and mud.

With back-to-back days of long riding we needed to sustain ourselves, and gels, bars or dehydrated meals were just not going to cut it. The full Welsh breakfasts, and a surprising number of curries, saw us through. Snacks were Mars Bars, cheesestrings and dried apricots supplemented frequently with a protein recovery ice cream. We discovered the vegan breakfast in a Tesco café to be delightfully multicoloured but still succumbed to a Cornish pasty in St.Davids.

Our new kit from our sponsors made

us feel pretty swish and the layering worked well for the varying temperatures. Lycra padded shorts were essential for comfort on our new Brooks B17 carved saddles.

Posting on social media and with me filming on a GoPro from the backseat for the next YouTube instalment definitely put us at risk of being classed as influencers, but there are some great Audaxing Youtubers providing tips and advice as well as numerous profiles to follow for those that like to dot-watch.

Our rides were uploaded to Strava every evening to prove they really happened; because if it’s not on Strava

Derby-based veterinary surgeon, Laura Pugh,

her husband Steven Massey,

Steven, looking very pleased with his panniers

who can say if it did or didn’t happen? Mind you, I reckon my achy thighs were evidence enough! We also revelled in the kudos, especially when the full map was made up at the end. I expect many have done similar, harder or faster rides and not been as public about it, but at the end of the day the more followers we have the more we hope to raise for charity.

One bit of kit that brought us back into the cycle touring category was my SPD sandals, with and without socks underneath! These worked well, however, and were not too hot or cold and worth any perceived fashion faux pas. They’ll be especially beneficial in monsoon season on RTW.

Our speed was definitely in the realms of touring, but arguably our distances/ride time was verging on “long-distance”, although not a full brevet. We believe that Audaxing happily bridges the gap between tradition and innovations, and our rather tongue-in-cheek description of the “cycle tourist” and “bike-packer” is actually a much greyer area where we can learn from both ends of the spectrum.

We celebrated our success with a few pints of craft beer and real ale – so we’ll let you decide what that makes us!

Here’s how to tell the difference…

Routing

2022 SEVERN BRIDGE RANDONNEURS RIDES SCHEDULE

Severn Bridge Randonneurs is proud to offer a range of rides from 50km to 300km, ranging from the very flat to the most challenging Audacious rides possible.

Complete a 100km, 150km, 200km and 300km SBR ride this season a receive a free SUPER ROULEUR medal.

To book your place visit our website www.sbraudax.com or book directly at audax.uk

25th June – Tintern Express 50km, 1 AAA

25th June – Devilish Devauden 100km, 1.75AAA

23rd July – 10 Peaks Challenge 200km, 4.5AAA

23rd July – Canal Boats & Mountain Roads 160km, 2.5AAA

23rd July – Devils Hell 300km, 6.5AAA

13th Aug – Looks Like a Welsh Dragon 200km, 3.5AAA

13th Aug – All That Glitters isn’t Gold 160km, 2.25AAA

10th Sept – Welsh Ruins 200km, 3.75AAA

29th October – Turn Back Time 100km

29th October – The Ticking Tortoise 160km

All rides come with a Free Event Patch for all finishers

Only took a few hundred hours analysing heatmaps, terrain and elevation...

CYCLE TOURIST

Wherever the wind takes me...

Distance Aiming at least 200km, any less isn’t worth posting on Strava. To the pub Speed Is determined by a combination of my wattage and HR zones (and maybe the segment KOM)

Terrain The gnarlier the better, I don’t want to be able to tell what colour my bike is

Kit Fortunately this year’s most recent release just arrived and I look forward to reviewing it online later… it’s gifted of course!

Sleeping New lightweight bivvy bag +/- sleeping bag and mat if I’m feeling luxurious. A good night is when I crack the ice off after 2-3 hours

Nutrition strategy

Recovery strategy

Carbo gels every 40 minutes, electrolytes in every other bottle in the meantime, back pockets full of vegan, gluten free, paleo bars

Protein shake immediately the pedals stop

What’s the rush?

Back lanes are the best, but nothing that involves mud, sand, gravel or tree roots

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

8 hours minimum

A bed

Food Lots of it

A decent pint, or two, or three…

The noise outside my window in the morning Spare kit Huh? – My kit stands up by itself!

Twitter Updated at all costs, carrying 2 spare battery packs for this purpose

None of it’s spare... all essential…especially the evening wear, slippers and bikini

Hash… Tag # Brown. And the rest please!

BIKE PACKER

Audax UK

Feeling at home

BEFORE TACKLING my first Audax, I spent a lot of time thinking about time. Family life is fraught, and you spend a lot of time just keeping things on an even keel. My wife has no interest in Audaxing, being a runner, but we’ve managed to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement. Sometimes your most important training partners aren’t with you on the road.

So I did a lot of thinking before that first Audax ride – a DIY fixed-wheel 200k in late November. Thinking about time, finding a steady pace in the daylight, rolling safely in the dark, and arriving home before the kids’ bedtime story.

I should have gone to look at the sea before setting off from Whitstable. My day

would have had a symmetry – north coast/ south coast/High Weald. But I left the thematic trickery slide, and instead set off early. I crept out of one of Whitstable’s overgrown alleyways and on to the road. The day was forecast for a bit of sun and a dependable westerly, which meant a day of easy spinning.

My route from the top of Kent down to Hythe was finger-kissing perfect, staying west of the Roman Stone Street which bisects the Downs south of Canterbury. I cut along the bottom of the green valley with clusters of yew, beech and ash trees on the ridge off to my right. I felt a few moments of despair for the ash, forever losing their battle to dieback disease, but

otherwise it was peaceful as I moved south along the western shoulder of the valley with barely an incline.

The no-hills section to the south coast was like cheating but also like magic. With no real climbing behind me I descended, skirting Hythe and on to the wide Romney salt marsh. I’ve always loved it here. The saturated plains are like a photographic negative of the high desert steppe on the edge of Idaho’s Lost River Range where I grew up.

I don’t feel nostalgia – it’s more like entering a time loop where past geography circles around and overlays itself on to the present. The canals become straight highways, the sheep turn into rabbitbrush,

American cyclist Dan Rudd only joined

in 2021, but has already discovered the delights of Britain’s long-distance cycling community.

Here he describes finding echoes of his native Idaho in the landscapes of Kent

under big skies

and about 50 miles away, Calais becomes one of the volcanic Menan Buttes. Exposed to the big sky, I feel at home here.

Moving through Romney I purposefully routed past the famous Thomas-a-Beckett church in Fairfield, but lacking true Audax experience I hadn’t built in time in to go inside. I regretted not being able to see the huge beams clustered down under the roof or the pew boxes crammed underneath. They sit so straight, strict little metaphors for a Protestantism now long past.

From the road I took in what I could of the church, all alone and exposed in the marsh but seemingly unworried – a good metaphor for Audaxing, I thought. I left the church grounds and wondered if the

historical St Thomas really did fall in one of those canals nearby, and then I wondered what an 11th century canal might smell like.

I escaped the gravity of Romney and entered the High Weald’s canopy and rolling roads which were a kind of relief. I enjoyed the Weald but in a mercenary turn I had only come to this area for a turnaround at Broad Oak and leverage its proximity to its straight and wildly charmless B-roads.

But well played me! With a tailwind at the route’s highest point I positively danced all the way downhill on the Udimore Road to Rye – and then beyond as the tailwind continued to carry me without much

thought. I was still flying, blown through Camber Sands and on to Dungeness. I spun like mad, wasting the wind as it swirled faster than I could hitch on to it, felt it blow past me, then out over the arcades, curry houses and chippies, holiday bungalows and Dungeness powerlines and finally off over the beach into the North Sea. What a wind. I think of it often still.

But then at the Coast Drive T-junction on outskirts of Lydd-On-Sea the tailwind disappeared. I turned north and it was as if time stopped, or folded back on itself. Coast Drive at Lydd is set way back from the sea and the depth of the Mojavecoloured beach pushes the sea even further from view and into a thin strip.

Startled by the stillness – it seemed no-one was anywhere and the sea had turned grey – I rode past bungalows which hemmed the beach for the next five miles. Every home seemed about one foot tall, hiding from the sea or the beach or even the road. As I passed the tiny houses I looked through the front windows expecting to see dollhouse furniture.

But its inhabitants were asleep, sucked into armchairs in cavernous, ballroom-like sitting areas. It reminded of the book House of Leaves where a family moves into a large and creaky home only to discover that the house is impossibly larger on the inside than the outside, full

unconnected but unending corridors. The book is dark and quite unsettling but is also a love story, though not the kind where the characters love for each other is allowed to occupy the same space or time.

I felt as old as the occupants, like I suddenly had a sparrow skeleton, and pedalled easy northwards. The homes started getting taller, each roof rising a bit and I saw some younger people, or at least more elastic, finally moving about their houses and occasionally padding around gravel drives. I breathed a little easier, the sea finally playing the hypotenuse by clawing away at the beach until the water nearly met me in town at the Grand Parade. The temporal interlude fiasco seemed to right itself.

Out of Lydd I headed back across Romney Marsh, this time south of the St-Thomas-aBeckett church

and the sun, which had been obscured by clouds for some time, finally disappeared for the day. I climbed out of Hythe where it turned into Christmas evening – or at least it was dark and I saw houses with Christmas lights already up. Christmas and December are too much for me; I prefer November and January. November holds in with anticipation the dead but not freezing air before the December shenanigans, and frozen January frozen when everything finally gets bitterly cold.

I headed north along east side of Stone Street. It’s less scenic but even flatter and I was north of Canterbury in no time. My only low point on the ride was just outside Whitstable on Owls Hatch Road. It’s is completely empty but runs alongside the Thanet Way and its thunderous traffic feels like it’s right on top of you. I wanted to be home, and the parallel spectre of traffic messed with my head quite badly.

Twenty minutes later I was home, a terrible American beer in hand. Ten minutes later my wife came in the back door with my two kids trailing behind. Perfect, I thought, I made it just in time.

Born and raised in Idaho, USA, Dan Rudd has always been a keen fixed-wheel cyclist. He moved to London in his mid-twenties and joined a community of like-minded riders – the LFGSS (London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed). He’s had adventures in track cycling, single-speed cyclocross and night riding – and eventually found Audax UK. The father of two says: “I’ve always loved a challenge, and Audax seemed to be just my ‘vibe’. My ultimate dream is to be a fixed-wheel SR… and I look forward to mixing DIYs and calendar events with life as a busy dad!”

Dan's fixed wheel Genesis flyer

St-Thomas-a-Beckett church on Romney Marsh

While riding Mr Pickwick's March Madness this year, Arrivèe editor Ged Lennox admired the bike being ridden by Herefordshire-based Richard Tofts. It turned out the machine, complete with unique hedgehog badge, had been entirely designed and built from scratch by Richard himself. In this feature, Richard explains how he did it – and urges anyone who’s ever thought about building their own bicycle to give it a try…

I’VE LONG BEEN INTERESTED in tinkering and ‘rolling my own’ – designing and building my own equipment. In recent years, I’ve enjoyed participating in Audax rides, often on my trusty old fixed gear Raleigh. It was therefore probably inevitable that at some point I’d try making my own bike too.

One advantage of making your own bicycle is that you can balance the various compromises and if you plan carefully, you should end up with exactly what you want. Another is that, having built the thing, you’ll have a much better grasp of how to fix it when something goes wrong. And things will go wrong from time to time. Based on my own preferences, experience and many discussions with other riders, I started to put together a wish list for my bike. My top priorities were to have a reliable and comfortable bike.

I didn’t have the facilities or the skills to build my own frame without some expert assistance so I looked around for suitable frame-building courses. I decided on a course run by Dave Yates. In summer 2019 I spent a fascinating and very rewarding week working in Dave’s workshop, just south of Tattershall, Lincolnshire.

With the design concept clear in my head, once in the workshop the first job was to decide on the type of tubing (Reynolds 631) and to select the various lugs and other bits from the parts store. Then, after brazing (a metal-joining by soldering process) a couple of test pieces for practice, it was time to get down to the proper work and braze the cast bottom bracket shell to the lower end of the seat stay. The parts were held in the correct positions using a purpose-built jig.

The dropouts were filed to fit. Dave brazed the front dropouts because they were rather specialised stainless steel ones to suit the SON internal cable routing system I’d chosen. The brazing of stainless steel required a more experienced hand and special flux. After a bit more work the steering tube, crown and forks were ready, the crown having been worked on the lathe to turn it to the correct diameter to allow a friction fit with the crown race in due course. These parts were then held in another jig and brazed together to produce the front fork unit. It was then time to fit the rear dropouts to the chainstays.

The various main tubes were cut to size and filed to provide a flush fit (without lugs in place) thus maximising contact between the metal and creating a strong joint. A fter this, the tubes were slipped into the

A PRICKLY PROJECT

How Richard built his very own ‘hedgehog’ bike from scratch

lugs which were brazed using yet another purpose-built jig, the top tube being worked on first. The overall strategy now was to build up the separate parts of the frame with their associated lugs before brazing the subsections together in the frame jig to complete the frame.

Two pairs of brake bosses were brazed and turned to the correct diameter on the lathe to fit the Mafac Raid brakes which I obtained as “new old stock”. The first pair of mounts was then brazed to the front forks using yet another special jig. The chainstays were bent outwards (using brute force!) to give the correct rear spacing (120 mm in my case) and the now brazed front fork unit was bent over a wooden former to give the desired amount of trail and further bending was undertaken using a threaded metal cylinder to ensure the forks were in proper alignment.

After filing and fitting the two bridges, it was simply a case of finishing off, including drilling and brazing the bottle cage bosses, mudguard bosses, pump pegs and reaming the interior of the steering tube. Dave then sandblasted the frame to clean off the flux and other debris and that was that.

With the pandemic and family matters, I didn’t do anything with the frame until early 2021. In the meantime I gathered the parts I needed to build the bike and I’d made the wheels (lacing the SON28 SL and Grand Cru hubs to Grand Bois 650b rims using butted stainless steel spokes), with advice provided by Roger Musson’s excellent Wheel Building Guide.

To do this, I’d built myself a truing stand, dishing gauge and other basic wheel-building tools from garage scraps and bits from B&Q. I couldn’t find anyone who had the equipment to bend narrow gauge tubes, or who was also prepared to teach me to braze the stainless steel tubes for the front rack I had in mind, so I got Richard Hallett to make it for me instead.

I’d also designed a head tube badge and had it manufactured by a seller on Etsy. I don’t like too many logos and decals on bike frames but to my mind they look rather naked without a head tube badge. Mine combines a hedgehog, the symbol of my home town of Ross-on-Wye, with a cog as a nod to my fondness for riding fixed gear. The hedgehog also symbolises my average speed on an Audax ride nowadays! I then left the frame and forks with Argos Cycles in Bristol for spraying.

I was a little apprehensive at this stage because it meant lavishing more money on the frame before I’d had a chance to see how the bike handled. There was a nagging doubt that maybe I hadn’t got the amount of trail quite right, given that a large bar bag inevitably puts more weight on the front wheel than if I’d made a similar bike but with a saddlebag.

Having collected the sprayed frame, putting all the bits together was fairly straightforward. The only matters worthy of comment concern the mudguards and the internal wiring.

I’d chosen metal mudguards because I wanted to mount the rear light directly to the mudguard and a fairly robust design was therefore needed. In the

end I opted for Honjo aluminium mudguards; reasonably light, beautifully made and strong but flexible enough for me to be able to shape and modify as necessary.

Even after selecting the correct size of mudguard, it’s almost inevitable that some fine tuning will be needed. The mudguards need to be formed into the correct shape to follow the circumference of the wheels as closely as possible. It is all too easy to end up with them being too close at some points and too far away at others.

Not only is a well-fitted mudguard aesthetically pleasing, but if a bit of road debris is picked up by the wheel and ends up between the tyre and the mudguard, the last thing you want is a pinch point where it gets stuck and jams the wheel. If the space is large enough for the debris to enter the tyre/ mudguard gap, it needs to remain large enough for it to be thrown out again. Riding fixed gear can complicate this, however.

The front wheel is no problem, but if the rear wheel can move back and forth in the dropouts to allow correct chain tensioning and wheel removal, then the mudguard needs to be bent into a slightly elliptical shape to accommodate this. And unless they are very narrow or stop above the chainstay bridge, the rear mudguards will need an indentation on either side to accommodate the chainstays.

Of course they also need to be drilled in the right places. Additionally, I decided to make my own diamond-shaped aluminium strengthener to reduce the likelihood of failure where the rear mudguard is fixed to the seat stay bridge.

With the internal wiring, I chose a SON28 SL hub which lacks the usual spade connectors (I’d had one of those fail on me previously) and instead uses the axle and one of the faces of the hub combined with an insulated dropout to make the necessary connections with the generator inside the hub.

From the insulated dropout, a wire runs up the inside of the right fork and emerges at the fork crown. I then routed it via the mudguard to the rack-mounted front light and then back again to run from the mudguard to a hole in the downtube. My intention was to use a coaxial connector to allow the cable to be detached when necessary for easy removal of the front forks, but none of the UK suppliers had any connectors when I needed one so I’ve left it for now and will fit one in due course.

I’ve also left a tapping point on the rack so I can incorporate a charging point for mobile phone or GPS in due course, should I choose to. The electrical cable then runs along the downtube to emerge through the bottom bracket and thence to the rear mudguard and around to the mudguard-mounted light. Both lights are activated by the switch on the front light, something I’ve found to be a useful convenience.

Aluminium mudguards have an inrolled edge that is hidden from view when they’re mounted, and I simply needed to prise this open slightly and run the wire through the cavity before closing it up again using pliers with the jaws cushioned by a piece of scrap leather.

One thing to bear in mind is that if you run a small diameter floppy electrical cable through a much larger diameter tube (the downtube in this case), the cable is likely to flap around every time you go over a bump and make an annoying pinging sound. One way to avoid this is to fix cable ties around the cable every couple of inches or so but to leave the free ends of the cable ties intact. Once the cable is pulled into the tube, the natural tension provided by the cable ties ensures that the cable remains pressed against the inside of the tube.

My 2022 Audax season got off to an inauspicious start. I abandoned my first ride soon after the start on account of an old knee injury which flared up. But in March I rode Mr Pickwick’s March Madness, a 200km route with some hilly sections over the Malverns and around the Forest of Dean. I took it easy and the bike went like a dream, the handling being neither twitchy nor dead but reassuringly predictable. I’ve now completed Helfa Cymraeg Benjamin Allen, a good 300km workout on fixed and have a couple of other rides in the calendar to bring me up to a fixed gear SR series, I hope I’m also booked to ride LEL this summer. On fixed? We’ll have to see…

I would encourage anyone who’s interested to take up the challenge and build a bike from scratch. I found it hugely rewarding and I picked up a lot of useful mechanical skills and tips along the way. Why not give it a go?

RICHARD’S KEY REQUIREMENTS:

◗ Fixed gear with “horizontal”’ rear dropouts to facilitate chain tensioning.

◗ Permanently fitted mudguards suitable for mounting rear light.

◗ Steel frame, a practical material for an inexperienced fabricator like me, with a reasonably high bottom bracket and 165mm cranks to minimise the risk of pedal strike and decent clearance between forward foot position and front mudguard when turning.

◗ Internal wiring for dynamo lighting, front and rear, for reasons of aesthetics, to reduce the possibility of snagging, failure at the spade connector join and to ease cleaning.

◗ Handlebar bag for ease of access to jelly babies, extra clothing etc., and rack-mounted to keep centre of gravity as low as possible.

◗ Robust 650b wheels with 32 spokes and wide tyres to give a “plush” ride quality.

◗ Rim brakes for ease of maintenance because I’m already familiar with them.

◗ Frame-mounted full-sized pump on seat stay, because it’s liable to be knocked by a stray knee when grinding uphill if mounted under the crossbar, and obstructing bottle cage locations if mounted on the forward-facing side of the seat tube or upper part of the down tube.

Having twice failed to conquer the notoriously punishing 1001 Miglia Italia, 58 year old Audax veteran Alan Parkinson finally overcame the heat and the hills of northern Italy in August 2021. The London-based rider reports on how he put his previous experiences to good use in hot and challenging conditions…

SOME LIKE IT HOT

In 2011, after flying around Paris-BrestParis in 62 hours, I was looking for another challenge. The 1001 Miglia seemed to tick all the boxes, and it was due to run in 2012. So I sent in my application and prepared.

Stepping off the plane at Milan was like hitting a wall of heat. Italy in August is hot. All went well until the 500km mark, when things began to go badly wrong. I failed to finish, thanks to a series of problems – the main one being heat. I tried again in 2016, but was again beaten by the conditions.

In August 2021 I found myself back for a third attempt. This time, following the example of AUK stalwart, John Spooner, I

decided to ride all the way to Italy, acclimatising along the way. A week after leaving the ferry in Dunkirk I arrived at my usual Milan hotel with 1,200km and two alpine passes in my legs.

A total of 320 cyclists lined up for the start. We faced five and a half days, from Monday to Sunday to complete the 1,000 miles across northern Italy’s picturesque but rugged and hilly landscapes.

The route is split into 17 stages, the shortest being 53km and the longest 139km, all graded between flat, one star and very hilly, four stars. On paper, stage four, through the Cinque Terra, looked the

hardest with 2,365m of climbing over the 105km stage. There would be a total of 14,600m of climbing.

Stage 1 – 112km, 594m climbing

Previous editions had been a mass start, but with pandemic restrictions in place, we left in small groups at five-minute intervals. I set off by myself but within minutes had joined a group of five from Romania who were cruising at 30kph. A little later I tagged on to a group of five Americans riding at the correct pace.

At the first control in Castellania I filled both bottles and ate from my saddlebag.

PICTURES BY ALAN PARKINSON AND DYLAN HUBBLE

Many riders were hanging around – the village is dedicated to the famous Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi. We didn’t stop for too long and left after ten minutes.

Stage 2 – 54km, 496m

At control two, Casella Ligure, just after midnight, I bought a tub of yogurt and ate it there. I was reminded how reliant I was on my GPS route file being accurate. No-one wants to be looking around an unknown town in the middle of the night. There were 50 riders and only one person serving bowls of pasta. I was glad I’d taken food in my saddlebag.

Alan’s Miglia Italia

The 1001 Miglia Italia is one of the longest, most gruelling, extreme events in the European calendar. The route takes competitors across a tortuous loop of 1,001 miles (1,611 kilometres) through the beautiful landscapes of northern Italy, over the valley of the River Po, and into the Tuscan Apennines.

Alan Parkinson, a member of the South Western Road Club of London since 1975, comes from a cycling dynasty – his father was a racing cyclist and his grandfather raced time trials well into his eighties. Both Alan’s brothers are also keen riders. Until his mid-forties Alan was mainly involved in road racing, mountain biking, track and TTs, but found long-distance cycling an enjoyable new challenge.

In the Miglia Italia Alan rode a bike he’s been using since 2018 – a titanium Kinesis Tripster ATR with frame bag and saddlebag. A total of 320 riders started. He came in 106th in a field of 230 finishers in just less than five days. His overall time was 119 hours and 20 minutes. He adds: “I had no punctures or mechanical issues with my bicycle during the five days. I didn’t get saddle sores, any numbness in my hands, no hot foot and thankfully no Shermer's Neck.”

Stage 3 – 92km, 1,301m

We climbed up to 700m then descended to the coast at Chiavari, crossed over the River Entello, and followed the coast road to Sestri Levant before climbing back up to 570m, which we all rode at our own pace and took about an hour. I was hot and sweaty, as the coast was humid even at night. I waited around for a while but then decided to carry on, and it wasn’t long before I was getting cold, so stopped and put on my jacket.

I arrived at control three, Deiva Marina, at 5.20am with the Americans but it was a nice warm sports hall, and I thought I’d stay

because I was incredibly cold. The Americans headed back up into the hills.

Stage 4 – 105km, 2,526m

After an hour’s sleep I headed out into the cold morning at 6.35am – and the route started to get hilly, but the scenery was dramatic. From the coast I climbed to 430m then descended to the quaint coastal town of Levanto where I stopped at the first coffee house I saw. It was time for a milky coffee which I added to a bag of porridge for my standard breakfast.

The sun was out and after a couple of climbs I caught up with the Americans

❝ … following the example of AUK stalwart, John Spooner, I decided to ride all the way to Italy, acclimatising along the way. A week after leaving the ferry at Dunkirk

I arrived at my usual Milan hotel with 1,200km and two alpine passes in my legs ❞

who’d stopped at a bar for lunch. The final climb of this stage was 30km long and rose up to 780m from sea level. I rode at my own pace filling bottles at a clean looking river adjacent the road.

Eight hours after leaving, and only having ridden 105km, I arrived at control four, Gorfigliano. It had been a long, testing stage, and incredibly hot. I didn’t want to end up in the same situation as my previous attempts. There were showers here, so I cooled down and found some shade to sleep the rest of the afternoon. I left feeling refreshed. I’d gained a buffer of 7.5 hours during the first three stages but then lost three hours on this strenuous and hilly stage.

Stage 5 – 117km, 1263m

As the afternoon became evening and cooler, I began to feel better and better. On passing a sports shop I stopped to buy some loose-fitting shorts as I’d neglected to bring any with me, and with it being so humid I wanted something better to wear while I aired my cycling shorts at the night controls. This is an area of the body you really need to look after.

There was only one climb of 650m. I didn’t want to run out of energy before reaching the next control so started looking on my phone for somewhere to eat. I chose a takeaway pizza restaurant and ordered two – one to eat and one to take away for later. I popped to the supermarket next door and bought some other provisions. My Nelson long flap can absorb anything.

The climb was a narrow quiet road with very little traffic, and at one point I could hear a wild boar nearby snorting and rummaging in the undergrowth. It reminded me to be careful on the descents – you never know what might be around the next corner on these twisty roads at night.

I descended to the town of Collodi, home of the writer of Pinocchio, and the world’s tallest Pinocchio statue, standing 20m high. I thought I was hallucinating. From here the road was flat for 35km and quite easy going to the control at Pontedera. I found a quiet place to lie down and set my alarm for two hours’ sleep. I didn’t feel I needed more and wanted to make the most of the cool night air.

My plan was to complete three stages each day – morning, afternoon and evening. It was all pretty loose, but at this point I was one stage ahead of my pre-event schedule. I knew from previous editions, things crop up and schedules are easily thrown.

Stage 6 – 112km, 1,661m On day one I’d covered 480km which, if

compared to my last two editions of PBP where I travelled the 620km to Brest in the same time, makes you appreciate just how hard this first day had been. I’d slept more than normal, once to warm up, once to cool down, and once to actually rest. I’d eaten properly, the legs were working, and my bike was faultless, everything was going to plan.

Today I was passing through the vineyards of the Tuscany. I stopped and bought a latte (hot milk) and added it to my porridge. These small portions were working out really well.

Now we were on the tourist route. I stopped, like them, to take photographs – and this was eating into my time on the bike. I met other riders, including Brazilian Alan da Silva who’s been living in Cambridge. Most of the day, however, was spent with fellow British rider, Dylan Hubble from Windsor. We were of similar ability, and we’d ride together for a while before one of us would stop for something and the other would carry on. We’d inevitably meet up later.

I arrived at Castelnuovo Berardenga at 9.30am, ready for food. All the stage control food stops were excellent, and this always put me in a good mood because it was just the right amount and ready as soon as you sat down. Much of this article is about eating, but apart from the cycling, that’s one of the highlights!

At the end of the stage I’d ridden

nearly 600km and there was an official bag drop for riders who didn’t have their own support vehicle following. The bag contained a second cycling kit and some individual portions of porridge. The inflatable sleep mat I’d bought a few days earlier, was not needed. I’d proved I could sleep anywhere. I’d have loved a shower, but there was only one – outside and cold water. Two women riders were using it so I carried on, happy that I’d reached the distance where in 2012 my ride had started to fall apart.

Stage 7 – 60km, 940m

Even though this was one of the shortest stages it was hot and I was still running out of water, and had to keep filling my bottles. I found a fountain where other riders were gathered, and took a ten minute rest, eating some fruit while sitting in the shade of some trees. At San Quirico D’Orcia I washed my vest and jersey and hung them out to dry, and then decided it was too hot to carry on so found some shade and had an afternoon snooze.

Stage 8 – 113km, 1,402m

I made a mistake leaving San Quirico, I was still half asleep, and I didn’t fill my bottles properly. Luckily Dylan gave me a bottle. This sort of thing would never be allowed in a backpacking race. We’ve both ridden the Transcontinental (TCR), but here it’s all fine and I accepted his generosity and rode on.

Sunset… yet another beautiful evening but Alan still has many more kilometres to cover

During the hottest part of the day I’d drink one large 700ml bottle every hour. Two hours after leaving the control I dived into a petrol station for my default water, coke, ice cream, coffee and cake. I was, after all, still in debt to Dylan for the earlier bottle of water he had given me

The sun went down as we arrived at the picturesque city of Sorano, perched on a hillside and illuminated – so obviously a tourist attraction. I fancied a pizza, but all the restaurants were busy, so we found a roadside stall and got ourselves Nuttella crepes. These were enough to see us on our way but not before I took numerous photos of the spectacular illuminated city from the other side of the valley. This was a four star hilly stage and we still had to climb up to 640m before the descent to Lake Bolsena and the night control.

Bolsena is approximately halfway on this event, and as far from Milan as you can get. We rode by the lake for a while then arrived at the control sports hall at 11pm. From my brevet card I could tell this gave me a full 12 hour buffer, so I could allow for a slightly longer sleep.

The control seemed to be run singlehandedly by a guy who was making pulled pork sandwiches. This went down a

treat with me, but I guess vegetarians would have to sort themselves out as there were nothing else on offer.

Stage 9 – 139km, 1815m

I slept well at the comfortable hall in Bolsena lying on a thick exercise mat with my inflatable pillow. I headed off at 4.20am for a stage with a couple of climbs, the first to 600m was in the dark but as the sun came up the second climb was easier, even though I climbed up to 800m. Once near the top I could see for miles. It was now time for breakfast and on the descent, I saw an open café and stopped for my usual latte and bag of porridge. I was ahead of the cut off by eight hours. This was the longest stage but after the two climbs and passing Marsciano the next 70km was relatively flat and around Lake Trasimeno where I joined another group of riders

I arrived at the Tavernelle control at lunch time, and was ready for another meal. These plates of cold pasta, cheese and ham, iced tea, tart and melon were going down a treat. This control added in a buckwheat salad, which is why I voted it the best of the best. It was run by the local cycling club – Polisportiva Val di Loreto –and they knew what we all wanted.

Stage 10 – 81km, 825m

It wasn’t long before I was on the climb to Valico La Foce at 578m and another place I remember from 2012, though it was less hot this time. I had plenty of sun cream on and lots of water to drink, with mineral tablets of course. I was back in Tuscany with those skinny Cyprus trees, pretty, but offering so little shade.

When I saw a couple of nuns sitting outside a gelateria I had to stop. It was cool inside and there was a huge choice of flavours. It was 3pm and the hottest part of the day. An hour later I caught up with Dylan who was sitting in the shade by the side of the road, taking a break. I didn’t have the heart to tell him how nice my gelato was. Dylan was low on water so I was able to return his favour as I’d been carrying a 1.5 litre bottle of water in my saddlebag since yesterday and I could fill

Illuminati… the switch-on city of Pitigliano

Got the power… Typical recharging station at one of the controls

Improvisation… Dylan uses a towel zip-tied to his helmet to keep the worst of the heat off his neck. He was nearly out of water when I found him here

his bottle as well as my own. We were both drinking so much during these scorching hot afternoons.

There was a second bag drop at the Matassino control I changed into my spare set of bib shorts as I’d been carrying them since the first bag drop and didn’t want to carry them without actually wearing them.

Stage 11 – 78km, 1,434m

Luckily it was in the cool of the evening that we set off on the longest climb of the event – 1,000m. I rode alone, but met up with Dylan near the top. We were very close to Florence again and the impressive Vallombrosa Abbey with its ornate ponds and surrounding spruce forest. The last few remaining tourists were making their way back home and I was getting hungry again.

There were supplies in my saddlebag but the lure of an open restaurant was too much, like a moth to a candle. I asked Dylan if he wanted to stop for something

to eat and he agreed. It wasn’t long before we were sitting at a table in our cycling kit. Everyone else was dressed up to the nines. It seemed quite normal. Cyclists generally get a good reception in most places in Italy. Pizza was the order of the day, quick and easy and restaurants can’t get them wrong.

Ukraine rider Taras had joined us, and we had an excellent break from the riding. Taras was developing the horrible Shermer's Neck and when he got back on the bike I could see he was struggling. I spent the whole way to the night control riding at the front so he could follow my wheel and avoid any potholes. If I’d been in the same situation I’m sure I’d have quit.

Stage 12 – 91km, 1,033m

Only a couple more days to go and the end was in sight. The only thing that could stop me was if I developed Shermer's neck. I’ve always said that if that develops then I would just stop the ride, unless I was on the last stage. It just looks so painful and a bit dangerous.

This was the last hilly stage and once I’d climbed the Passo Del Giogo at 900m it was all downhill for the next 50km. With fresh legs, good company, and cool air the climb was easy. We arrived at the top to find a group of riders sitting in the sunshine outside an open café. What could be better? I ordered my usual latte for my bag of porridge then a coffee and patisserie.

The descent went on for miles and in the cool morning it was very pleasant. I

stopped to buy more fruit from a road-side stall hoping it would be riper than the fruit I’d been getting from supermarkets. It was.

Soon I was passing by the Imola racetrack, the location for last year’s cycling world road race championship but better known as the motor racing circuit. There is a memorial to Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian F1 driver who died there in 1994. I stopped to pay my respects as many others have done before me. I arrived at the Lugo control at 11.50am. The food was good again – cold Pasta, tart, and melon but I wanted to push on before the heat of the afternoon. I was now seven hours ahead of the cut off.

Stage 13 – 92km, 212m

From now on it was practically flat for 450km, all the way to Milan. The big hills were all behind us and we could relax as the end was in sight. The only thing that could go wrong as far as I was concerned was the afternoon heat and developing Shermer's.

The area was incredibly flat and agricultural – lots of fruit trees and vegetable fields. Many fields had waterfilled ditches running alongside similar to those in Lincolnshire. There was very little tree cover to protect from the sun. To take my mind off the incessant heat I headed off in search of gelato. At Molinella I found a bar selling some in the main square, plus a type of iced coffee, so tried that too.

I’d hardly met any other cyclists on this stage but did catch up with Italian rider Fiore, looking very smart in the customary

❝ … the very impressive final control in Fombio at 9.50am. Tables were set up in the courtyard of a beautiful mansion; there were rooms to sleep in and a very nice shower tent ❞

white National Italian Randonneur jersey. Then I noticed his head was drooping and he had a neck brace hanging over his handlebars – another case of Shermer's Neck. Here was a guy used to riding long miles in the heat – and still succumbing to this dreadful ailment. He said the brace didn’t allow him to breathe properly, so he’d taken it off. I didn’t know what to suggest but I did know we both still had 350km to ride, which is a long time to be staring at the road.

I arrived at Massa Finalese at 4.50pm, having survived the rigours of the afternoon heat, so perhaps I was eventually acclimatising to the Italian summer. The tables were set out nicely in the shade but first I treated myself to a shower to cool down. I was ready for more pasta, tart, melon and a cold drink. I was happy to be able to eat – a major problem during previous editions, when suffering heat stroke dehydration.

Stage 14 – 68km, 250m

The next section followed the River Po where we rode up on an elevated cycle path. Gradually the sun began to drop and soon I was riding in the dark and reliant on my front light to spot any potholes. I arrived at the Pieve di Coriano control at 9.15pm, again ready for food – this time not only pasta but some delicious potatoes. I took a photo to remind me how nice they were.

The control was staffed by friends and family members, all making my short stay very pleasant. Too nice in fact as there was a large sleeping area in an adjacent sports hall that looked very tempting. I decided that 10pm was far too early to stop and so got my stuff together, filled bottles and headed out into the dark.

Stage 15 – 87km, 318m

I was alone in the dark with no other cyclists but knew that once this stage was over, there was only 200km to go, meaning I’d finish early enough to book a bed back at my hotel in Milan. A while later I found a high viz jacket lying in the middle of the path, which must have fallen off a rider’s pack. I stowed it in my saddlebag hoping to find the owner later. Just after midnight I spotted a rider’s bike parked outside a restaurant. It was Tommi from Rome, and I was able to reunite him with his jacket.

We arrived at the control in Colorno at 2.30am. This was unlike the other controls, being just a café – which at this time of night was closed. I’d been banking on sleeping. Having found a bank ATM lobby I prepared to settle down – only to be startled by a robotic Italian voice saying: “Once you have collected your money, please leave the premises”. I was tired but couldn’t put up with that voice all night, so

left. It’s not like the UK where you might worry about getting cold, so I just put all my clothes on, and we found a quiet entrance and made myself comfortable on the pavement.

Stage 16 – 79km, 277m.

In the morning the café was open. Dylan was there with half a dozen other riders. The sun was up, we had a flat 200km to go, and that would be it. We set off at 6.20am with just two stages to complete. A stroll in the park.

We arrived at the very impressive final control in Fombio at 9.50am. Tables were set up in the courtyard of a beautiful mansion; there were rooms to sleep in and a very nice shower tent at the back. We were 14 hours ahead and looking to finish later that afternoon and so were in no mad rush

Stage 17 – 121km, 457m

It dawned on me that we should at least try to finish within the five days. It was quite easy to ride on the flat at 25kph and there were few hold-ups or traffic lights. But the riders I was with wanted to stop for water, food, and ice cream. Suddenly time was slipping through my fingers like sand. At this rate we weren’t going to make it.

It was now a race against time and the pace rose to 30kph. We set up a line-out for the final 50km. This was working until the route diverted on to a gravel path alongside a canal in the outer suburbs of Milan. After a while the race was too much and I bid farewell to my companions and rode the last few kilometres back to the arrivée on my own, happy in the knowledge that after all the previous attempts to finish this super tough randonneur, I’d eventually managed it.

Finishers… The final group at the end of the ride

Bob Damper is an enthusiastic devotee of the famous Dursley Pedersen bicycle – a relic of a bygone age, perhaps, but still a remarkable feat of inventive engineering. Hampshire-based Bob describes the history of the iconic machine – and explains how he found himself on a personal pilgrimage in April this year, dressed in Edwardian gentleman’s attire, riding a 111 year old bike – and trying to secure his deerstalker hat on the highest, windiest hill in the Cotswolds…

BobDamper at llanarmon

Hang on to your deerstalker… it’s going to be an historic ride

EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, the history of cycle design and cycling takes a dramatic turn away from established orthodoxy. Sometimes, as when the front-driver high-wheel “ordinary” gave way to the rear-driven safety bicycle in the late 1880s, this dramatic turn marks a permanent, revolutionary change in cycle technology, never to be reversed.

At other times, the new design is found wanting in some respect and consequently has a relatively short life as a commercial offering or develops into a niche product – often with a fiercely loyal following, as with Alex Moulton’s smallwheel design of the 1960s featuring its then unique suspension frame.

One of the most interesting turns was the highly distinctive machine designed by Danish inventor Mikael Pedersen (1855-1929) towards the end of the 19th century. By 1889, Mikael was living in the small Gloucestershire town of Dursley where he was employed as a consultant to R.A. Lister engineering company. Pedersen started to give increased attention to the further development of the unusual cycle design he’d come up with before leaving Denmark.

Pedersen had found the conventional bicycle saddle, rigidly attached to the machine, uncomfortable. In fact, as a highly individualistic and opinionated man, it is fair to say that it offended deeply his sense of engineering propriety. To his mind, a cyclist should be mounted on a much more forgiving attachment; one capable of moving flexibly with the rider, more akin to a hammock than a saddle.

The strikingly different frame geometry of the Pedersen bicycle – quite unlike anything else on the market – was designed to be both light and strong, but just as importantly, to accommodate the

woven silk hammock-saddle that he favoured.

The strength and lightness of the frame were achieved by the use of thin, cross-braced steel tubes (specially supplied by Accles & Pollock of Birmingham, who later produced the highly regarded Kromo frame tubing) arranged in what Pedersen called a “cantilever” design. This is actually a misnomer, although the frame did have a more than passing resemblance to the Forth Rail Bridge, which is a true cantilever design.

Mikael formed the Dursley Pedersen Cycle Company in 1899 to market this unusual machine. The company also made and sold early 2- and 3-speed hub gears built to his design. These operated on a countershaft principle, unlike the contemporary competitor products of the Sturmey-Archer company in Nottingham, which used epicyclic (planetary) gearing.

The Dursley-Pedersen machine enjoyed some modest commercial success, but construction costs for the intricate “cantilever” frame were high and it was accordingly an expensive machine, well beyond the pocket of the ordinary working man of the time. There were also production and reliability problems with the friction clutch used in the early hub gears.

The combination of high production costs and selling price plus sporadic delivery issues (particularly with the hub gear) affected profitability to the extent that the company was wound up in 1905 and taken over by R.A. Lister, which continued production of the DursleyPedersen bicycle until around 1917.

In more recent years the design has been revived by various makers in Denmark, England and Germany so that it

is now possible to have a more modern Pedersen with up-to-date componentry.

This quirky machine has long had a devoted following of enthusiasts. Since 2017, I’ve been the proud owner of a very fine 1910 (or possibly 1911) DP equipped with Pedersen 3-speed hub gear. In April 2022, Ben Amor of the Veteran-Cycle Club organised a “Pedersen Pilgrimage” for both original and more modern machines, based in Gloucestershire. This excellent event was attended by more than 40 devotees and their mounts.

It featured a short ride from the meeting point in Slimbridge, to Dursley on the Saturday morning, where we were met by the deputy mayor, local media and a throng of bemused townsfolk. A tour of sites associated with Mikael Pedersen and the cycle works was followed by an excellent ploughman’s lunch, and a return to Slimbridge for tea.

On the Sunday morning, we took our DPs for a most enjoyable spin around the

My 1910 Dursley-Pedersen at Cleeve Cloud summit

lovely Vale of Berkeley in wonderful spring sunshine, returning to Berkeley for lunch. I’d decided to stay on in Berkeley for another night because I had something rather special in mind for the Monday morning.

As an OCD CycloClimbing obsessive, I am always on the lookout for possible claims and had spotted that my base for the weekend at the Malthouse Inn in Berkeley was but a short drive from Cleeve Cloud on the Cotswold Edge limestone escarpment above Cheltenham.

At 330 metres (1,080 feet), Cleeve Cloud is the highest point on the Cotswold Hills. As such, it represents a very valid OCD claim, provided it is reached after at least 100 metres of ascent. Furthermore, Cleeve Cloud was my first ever OCD claim

on 11 April 1963 and I could not resist the lure of climbing it again exactly 59 years to the very day on 11 April 2022. So after a good full English breakfast, I drove along the A38, M5 and A40 through Cheltenham to park in the pretty and peaceful little village of Whittington, lying secluded below the Cotswold Edge.

I soon had the DP out of the back of the car and was on the road and climbing gently from a starting elevation of 185 metres on a very pleasant lane. After the best part of a mile in a westerly direction, I took a right turn to the north on a narrow lane with indifferent surface. The climb became steeper, but this was compensated by a very strong southerly tail wind. The wind was such a help that I managed to ride most of the way to the

point where the road ends at Cleeve Common without dismounting.

One of the quirks of the Pedersen 3-speed gear is that it has enormous steps of 50 per cent between gears, as opposed to the ubiquitous Sturmey-Archer AW with its 25 per cent drop from normal to low and 33 per cent step up from normal to high. This means that my DP has a bottom gear of 44 inches rather than the 50 inches I would have with a Sturmey-Archer hub for the same direct drive of 66 inches. Along with the tail wind, this made climbing relatively easy, but I’m acutely aware that my Pedersen gear is well over 100 years old and largely irreplaceable, so I am reluctant to give it a lot of stick when hill-climbing. Much more prudent to get off and walk when the going gets tough; that way I get to conserve an historic working machine to ride another day.

It was a bit of a struggle to get my bike through the kissing gate by the three radio masts (which form a prominent landmark for miles around) and on to the open common. Strictly, this is just a footpath across open access land and so provision for cycles has not been a consideration. Once on the common, it was an easy (if illegal) ride to the trig point at the summit. The recent Glover Review of protected landscapes recommended granting higher rights to riders of horses and cycles on open access land, but the early indications are that this is one of many sensible recommendations that the government will conveniently ignore.

Arriving at the trig point, I mused on the fact that this was my first ever OCD claim on a pre-WW1 bike, so that it was really something of an occasion. The terrain is rather flat around the trig point; consequently, this is not the best viewpoint from the hill. The view is considerably better closer to the Edge itself, with the Malvern Hills and Black Mountains in Wales prominent across the Severn Valley, and Exmoor just about visible far away to the south west. The wind was pretty fierce, strong enough to blow off my period deerstalker hat and making it necessary to tie it down by the ear flaps – for the first time in its long life.

As it was decidedly cold at this altitude, I did not tarry too long but soon set off across the open common to join the bridleway running eastwards to Wontley Farm. The long dry spell we enjoyed in early 2022 meant that the bridleway was in good condition and easily rideable, if a little rough and stony on the descent to the farm. Here I turned south on another excellent bridleway to rejoin the tarmac road at West Down.

When I acquired the Dursley-Pedersen in 2017, the brakes were quite awful –

The Pedersen 3-speed hub gear

The hugely complicated braking on the Dursley-Pedersen

At 330 metres (1080 feet), Cleeve Cloud is the highest point in Gloucestershire and the highest point in the Cotswolds

essentially ineffective if travelling downhill at anything more than about 12 miles an hour. The brakes are a bit of a work of art, with inverted (bar-end) levers operating a cable hidden inside the handlebars to emerge through a tiny tube that interfaces with a rod actuating a stirrup mechanism. The rear brake is especially exotic with a complicated linkage mechanism between the handlebars and rear wheel.

So bad were the brakes that, at first, I found it necessary to walk down any kind of serious hill. As you can imagine, this rather limited my enjoyment of riding the DP in hilly country, so I tried many and various things to improve the braking. After a great deal of trial and error, I found some brake blocks that not only fitted the original brake shoes, but also seemed to work tolerably well on the DP’s steel Westwood rims. But the real breakthrough came when I discovered that the hollow part of the stirrup, into which the interfacing rod slides to give adjustment, was caked with some 100 years’ worth of corrosion and muck. A thorough clean out meant that, for the first time in many years, it was now possible to adjust the brakes to give a semblance of efficient stopping power.

This was just as well, as it was quite a drop off the Cotswold Edge at this point, while not exactly alpine is enough to require caution at the steeper (and inevitably potholed) sections. Just over 100 metres of descent saw me back at Whittington after a thoroughly enjoyable 75 minute, eight mile ride, of which just over a mile and a half was easily rideable roughstuff.

As Audaxers, we all know the pleasure to be had from setting and meeting personal challenges, but this does not always have to mean long days (and sometimes nights) in the saddle, as this little expedition showed. What a joy it had been to combine my three loves of cyclo-climbing, veteran cycles and roughstuff, and who cares if it was only eight miles.

BOB DAMPER

Seventy-three year old Bob, from Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, joined CTC in 1960, and is now a life member. He’s also a vice president of the Veteran-Cycle Club and has been a member of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship, Sotonia CC, and the Moulton Bicycle Club.

He completed PBP in 1987, but admits to a heroic failure, aged 71, in 2019 after 1,030km with a foot injury due to pedal pressure. He suffered a similar fate on LEL in 2017, when a pedal axle broke in the middle of the night after 1,100km. He has completed a Super Randoneur several times.

For those interested in the Pedersen Dursley story, Bob points readers to the book, “Mr Pedersen: A Man of Genius” by David Evans, published by Tempus Publishing of Stroud.

My 1910 DP at Mikael’s graveside during the Veteran-Cycle Club’s “Pedersen Pilgrimage” in April 2022

Ancient cartographers knew of the existence of an island in the cold, far north – and on their maps, surrounded by dragons and sea monsters, they wrote the word “Thule” – literally meaning a place beyond the borders of the known world. London-based Canadian Mark Kowalski, right, didn’t know much about Iceland before pandemic travel restrictions forced him to pick the place for a bike-packing tour. What ensued was the start of a love affair with a strange, alien landscape. This is his story of a remarkable cycling adventure…

Nobody’s

Enchanted by a land of fire and ice at the edge of the world

just three days before my flight, but Iceland wasn’t a spontaneous choice for a cycling tour. In summer 2021 it was one of the few countries on the travel green list. In hindsight, it was the perfect destination. The remote island, just below the Arctic Circle, is a three-hour flight from London. Who could say no to that?

Reykjavík had plenty of traffic, but more bike lanes than London, and once beyond the capital, drivers become patient and courteous. Campsites are plentiful, and most have showers, shelters, sockets, laundry, and don’t require reservations. A single pitch cost around £10. Of course, Iceland is expensive, but from a cyclist’s perspective you receive a seismic bang for your buck.

DAY ONE – REYKJAVIK

Looking out of the airport bus window as it carried me and my 1987 Raleigh Royal the 50 km to the first campsite, I thought we’d been dropped off on one of Jupiter’s moons. I’d be spending the next two weeks riding through a lunar landscape where geological activity was high.

Unlike Jupiter’s moons, Iceland has an established network of service stations

where you can refuel on local lamb hot dogs (£2.75 each), and where water is so obviously clean and abundant it was not sold anywhere.

Following the coastal path network, I snuck out of Reykjavík, avoiding its busy arterials, before turning inland where I discovered lush fields of the controversially invasive, but wonderfully pretty, purple Alaskan Lupin, growing everywhere. The Lupins were introduced as a soil preserver, to combat centuries of extreme soil erosion. The locals either love them or hate them.

It was soon obvious that I couldn’t pronounce anything. The Hvalfjörður Tunnel runs for six kilometres, 165 m below sea level. Bicycles aren’t allowed to use it. Cyclists get the pleasure of a 50 km scenic route into the whale fjord. A total of three cars passed me the entire way as I skirted its coastal mountains. There were remains of British and American wartime naval bases, built after the Allies invaded Iceland to defend transatlantic shipping lanes.

The American base had been converted into a whaling station, Iceland’s last remaining. As recently as 2019, whaling was carried on here, but due to

I BOUGHT MY TICKET TO REYKJAVIK

Mark fell in love with long-distance cycling after touring coast-to-coast across his native Canada in 2017. On returning to London, where he lives and works, he Googled “long-distance UK cycling events” to find a way to continue discovering new places by bike. He’s been a member of Audax UK ever since. Mark posts video stories of his cycling adventures on instagram.com/kowalifornication, where you will also find a three-part video series of his 2021 trip to Iceland.

Thule

Receding outlet glacier flowing down from Vatnajökull

the pandemic and the resulting drop in tourism, ceased operations. It’s uncertain if commercial whaling will resume – fingers crossed it doesn't.

After battling the wind while crossing Iceland’s second longest bridge into Borgarnes, traffic reduced significantly, and an accommodating tailwind whizzed me 100km north in four hours. I arrived at the peaceful Sæberg Campsite in time and with sufficient 4G, to catch most of England’s victory over Denmark in the Euros. Just before midnight I took a lonesome dip in the camp’s thermal pool, and ended the day watching the midnight sun dip across Hrútafjörður.

DAY TWO – 217KM

NORTH-EAST TO AKUREYRI

Two ascents divided this day, climbing 350m and 530m, but they were gratifying. The second climb was up through a gorge beside a raging glacial blue river, cutting its way down through the rocky cliffs. I arrived in Akureyri, Iceland’s “Capital of the North”, nestled at the base of a mountain on the edge of a fjord, Eyjafjörður, is a cosy historic town with shops, cafes and food stalls, all constructed with brightly painted sheetmetal and dominated by the stoic Lutheran church. The mood felt alpine.

Mark Kowalski

After setting up at the city campsite, I explored. I struck up a conversation with Lello, the owner of an Italian pasta stall, who treated me to a sweet antipasti of sfogliatella filled with a cinnamon and ricotta icing. Later on I checked in at a local music venue. The doorman waved me through without charge as the gig was winding down. The headline act seemed to be Iceland’s version of Jack Black. He shared funny stories and songs in both Icelandic and English to a very cheery local crowd.

DAY THREE – 100KM NORTH-EAST TO HÚSAVÍK

Húsavík was a 75km detour, but I was keen to see the little fishing village where Will Ferrell’s 2020 Eurovision Song Contest was filmed. Highlights included befriending the employees of the very well-curated whale museum, and taking a carbon-neutral schooner out into a blue-skied Skjálfandi Bay, where we came across a humpback whale rolling around.

DAY FOUR – 56KM

SOUTH-EAST TO MÝVATN

Departing late after the whale-watching tour, I was alone again, finally catching a tailwind. I passed through the Holasandur

The second summit of day two with lenticular cap cloud in the background

The alpine town of Akureyri on day two

(“the Hills of Sand”), a man-made desert caused by 300 years of overgrazing and soil erosion. There is an ongoing project, funded by taxes on supermarket shopping bags, to plant lupins here to recover soil.

As the evening turned golden I rode across the remnants of a vast volcanic eruption 2,300 years ago. The grass was recovering, and it breathed life. Just outside Mývatn, a van whooshed by, the smiling face of Nicole hanging out the window, waving. She, her boyfriend and I had met on the schooner. Iceland being the small place that it is, we ended up finding each other in the next campsite and sharing tea and the one beer I had on me.

DAY FIVE – 120KM SOUTH-EAST

Mývatn translates to “Midge Lake”, but really they should just call northern Iceland “Midge Island”. I was told they didn’t bite – but that was a lie. My ears were soon riddled with bites, becoming inflamed and infected. Midges and my ears aside, the Mývatn area is stunning. High in biology, and a geological hot zone, I discovered “pseudo-craters”, formed when lava flowed over moist bogs, causing giant steam explosions, hot lagoons in underground lava caves, bubbling mud

pools, sulfuric fumaroles, and a rocky landscape that seemed to have simply boiled, leaving behind fissured domes.

My favourite part of the hot zone was seeing Iceland’s first, and smallest, geothermal power plant. There was no one around, so I rode gingerly up to it and admired the steaming pipes feeding and venting hot boiling water, energised by the earth’s core.

The temperature hit 28 degrees as I crossed Iceland’s northern desert, fighting headwinds but beaming from ear to ear. A desolate lunar world, with flat-topped, steep-sided and snow-capped Herðubreið

(“the Queen of the Mountains”) to the south. This rare mountain type is known as a tuya, formed when a volcano punctured a hole in the then-present 1.5km thick ice sheet – its icy embrace forcing the lava to cool upwards well over a kilometre into the sky.

My only stop was a restaurant made of grass turf in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of Iceland’s most elevated settlement, Möðrudalur (469m). Forests once covered 30 per cent of the island. It’s now only two per cent, thanks to the Norse settlers cutting down everything for grazing and building materials. I ordered

Sustainability

Húsavík fishing village with whale-friendly electric-powered schooner Ópal

Iceland style makes Mark happy

the traditional lamb stew and a deep fried cake ball which pairs well with coffee. They are actually called ástarpungar, which translates as “love bags”. Yup.

I pushed onwards into headwinds hoping to make it to Egilsstaðir in time for the Euro final, but it was not meant to be. Thankfully, I happened upon a quirky reindeer farm campsite and hotel at the

side of the road. The kind receptionist said she would show the game on the restaurant’s TV. Unfortunately, the game was on the one channel the hotel didn’t have (there are two channels in Iceland). Undeterred, I teamed up with a Kiwi from London and we drank Viking beer and ate reindeer burgers while watching the nail-biting game on his laptop.

DAY SIX – 137KM SOUTH-EAST OVER THE ÖXI PASS TO THE EASTERN FJORDS

When I arrived at the gravel turn-off for road 939, which ascends up and over the Öxi Pass, two Hungarian riders who’d just completed it shared in broken English what I could expect. The one who couldn’t speak English simply smiled, kissed his fingers and flicked them into the air. Dangerousroads.org describes it as a road “not for sissies – where one mistake can have consequences.” I rolled my 28s on to the bouldered track.

Beyond the Öxi Pass are the Eastern Fjords. Once at the top, the track drops at 17 per cent as you descend 500m over eight kilometres on to black sand beaches. My rim brakes burned as I skidded down, pulling to the side to let vehicles pass, and stopping frequently to comprehend the scene. This world was alien. To my right, a ridgeline made of cascading basalt terraces rose up from the earth. Snowcapped mountains flanked my left, the fjords down in the middle. I was definitely not on planet Earth anymore.

Ástarpungar stop near Möðrudalur

Descending the Öxi Pass

DAY SEVEN – 106KM SOUTH-WEST TO HÖFN

In Djúpivogur I met Ben from Montana on his first cycling tour. With a strong south westerly discouraging me from pushing on into the night, we agreed to cycle to Höfn together in the morning. The continuing wind made it slow-going. The wind was easily ignored as we shared in both good conversation and awe at our surroundings, marvelling at another new and alien world we were discovering – eastern Iceland’s black volcanic beaches and scree mountains.

The dark and ominous mountains endemic to this stretch of coastline, with their cores made of solid gabbro and granophyre rock, give the appearance of jagged stone giants rising out of black sand pyramids – defences which make them impossible to climb.

This type of rock forms deep in the Earth’s ocean crust and geologists estimate this range rose up around 11 million years ago. Iceland as a landmass is one of the youngest on Earth, estimated to have risen from the ocean 16 to18 million years ago. There is evidence to suggest that the first settlers of Iceland made this coastline their home during the seventh century – monks from Ireland – some 200 years before the arrival of the Vikings in 874.

Before reaching Höfn, we spotted a gargantuan ice sheet on the horizon. Towering over and sweeping down towards the sea, it was one of 30 outlet glaciers flowing down from Vatnajökull

– the largest ice cap by volume in Europe, covering an area of 8,200 sq km. With this behemoth on the horizon awaiting us the next day, we toasted our progress over an array of craft beers in town. Our schedules meant I had to depart solo in the morning.

DAY EIGHT – 136 KM SOUTH-WEST TO SKAFTAFELL

Leaving Höfn, the wind seemed to have lost track of me and I made the first 80km to the Glacier Lagoon in a joyful breeze. This was tourist territory; we all took selfies as the calving icebergs proceeded at a

snail’s pace, until occasionally one was sucked out by the river and into the Atlantic, where they tumbled around in the surf, polished smooth, and then deposited back on to the black sand beaches, where they gradually melt, giving the area its name: Diamond Beach.

It is estimated that Iceland’s glaciers have lost around 32 per cent of their volume due to human activity since 1890. And the pace of loss is accelerating, with around half of this occurring in the last 20 years.

Upon leaving, the headwinds found

Gabbro and granophyre mountains with Vestrahorn in the distance

Fjarðarárgljúfur canyon; with paths now roped off after tourism increased 300 per cent following a Justin Beiber music video, with the influx damaging local vegetation

me with a vengeance. It was a further 55km, uphill, where the next bend in the road seemed never to come, and where the ominous clouds weren’t quite sure whether they were going to unload their freezing rain. A cyclist’s and conservationist’s principle came to mind: keep pressing on and maintain a positive mind-set, or perish.

DAY NINE – 148KM

SOUTH-WEST TO VÍK

At the day’s halfway point, visibility deteriorated with an influx of fog and a permeating rain. The endless lava fields closed in around me. I was warm and happy, but after about an hour completely soaked through. I had a tailwind, otherwise I may have had to take nonexistent shelter. I recalled my only chance of this being a toilet in the middle of nowhere with a slanted exterior wall. Though that would have probably been a mistake; with food and water but no soft ground to stake a tent, hypothermia would have quickly set in.

Vík is the most southerly outpost in Iceland and its warmest and wettest

coastal settlement. The local beach is said to be one of the most beautiful on Earth, where Atlantic rollers batter against bluffs of rising basalt cliffs. Despite my visit in what is meant to be its warmest and driest month, it felt anything but. And regrettably, I did not think I had the right clothing, tyres or mental fortitude to make the hike out to see them.

DAY 10 – 177KM

NORTH-WEST TO GULLFOSS

I awoke to more rain. A storm had come in overnight so I hung my tent in the laundry room and chatted with a group of Red Cross workers from Austria. The rain eventually stopped but it led to a late start.

I didn’t set off until noon. With a strong south-westerly over my left shoulder, I altered my plan, aiming to make it to Gullfoss on the Golden Circle. My enemy became my friend, and I sailed north.

Traffic picked up as I came within range of Reykjavík. Despite being late leaving camp, I couldn’t help stopping at Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss for some excellent waterfall sightseeing.

I often hyperbolise that a headwind

can be the worst feeling in the world, both physically and psychologically. However, a tailwind brings the opposite feelings. It energises you. I think it’s the closest thing to flying. The air turns silent as your bike matches the speed of the wind. You can relax and turn your full attention to the world around you. For the next two hours it was just me – a secret back entrance into the Golden Circle.

With five kilometres to go the pavement ended and a construction zone began. I bumped and bobbled my way across cobbles of all shapes and sizes, rocked up to the campsite and headed straight to the shower block.

On entering the bar, a sheep dog greeted me, and people turned to see who’d come in. I introduced myself as someone in need of beer and pizza. The bartender told me the kitchen had shut an hour ago. Beer would suffice. I plopped myself down at the end of the bar and greeted the others.

The patrons were all local farmers and inevitably the conversation turned to the Lycra-clad cyclist among them who had apparently not known that they had cars

Gullfoss. Sigríður Tómasdóttir threatened to throw herself in to protect this place

in Iceland for travelling great distances. A young couple slid their leftover pizza down to me. It’s hard to beat free pizza when the kitchen is closed and you’re half starving. Last orders rang out so I ordered a second pint with a round of shots for the company – Brennivín, Iceland’s national spirit. It went down smoothly and tasted quite nice.

DAY 11 – 81KM

WEST TO THINGVELLIR

Next on my agenda was to visit the Great Geysir – the first geyser known to modern Europeans. It has in the past reached heights of up to 70 metres, and as high as 170 metres. In the last few years activity has ceased. You must either wait for an earthquakes to revive it, or be content with the 30 metre plumes of Strokkur, erupting every few minutes to its left. Geyser fields are extremely rare, located in only four places on the planet –Yellowstone, the Valley of Geysers in Russia, El Tatio in Chile, and here in Iceland.

Back on the road, I rolled at a leisurely pace to Thingvellir National Park where the park rangers guided me to a secret

camping spot on the lake, for tents only. The rangers recommended I take the time to walk the rift canyon, the tourists having left for the day.

It’s hard to put the next scene into words. I’ve dreamed about tectonic plates since boyhood, but always struggled with the concept. How could continents really be surfing over a layer of lava, forcing the Rocky Mountains up a little higher, a little more each year? If you too find it hard to visualise the plates, you must visit Thingvellir.

I followed the forest trails until I stood between two great stone walls, stretching back behind and in front of me – like something the Mayans might have built. The western wall rose higher, and appeared almost to topple over me. I was standing on the edge of a retreating tectonic plate – the North American. To the east, the Thingvellir rift valley sinks into Lake Thingvallavatn, and on the horizon. the Eurasian Plate.

Thingvellir once served a great political purpose for the early peoples of Iceland, who would trek from all four corners to hear and enforce new laws. Like a

sacrificial ceremony, women accused of infidelity were drowned, murderous men were beheaded, and supposed witches were burned.

Finding the campsite on the shore of Lake Thingvallavatn, I set my tent up next to the stone foundations of a turf-roofed hut. The 11pm sun still over the horizon gave ample light for a fly fisherman. Everything glistened.

DAY 12 – 78KM

SOUTH TO HVERAGERÐI

I joined a snorkelling tour through the Silfra fissure. We spent most of the three hour tour being man-handled into dry suits, before plunging ourselves into the clearest water I’d have ever seen. The fissure is fed by spring water, filtered through porous lava rock far below us, having started its journey 30 to 100 years ago as meltwater from Langjökull, Iceland’s second largest glacier 50 km to the north. We bobbed around in our buoyant suits, gargled astonished cries through our snorkels, while the constant current created by the percolating water below us pushed us through rocky crevasses. Below

us the walls disappear into an abyss. The only life one noted was the half dozen humans and an alien form of bright green algae which grew long stringy “troll hair” that waved to us in the current. I took a gulp – it was the best water I’ve ever tasted in my life.

I was told that the small road around the western side of Lake Thingvellir might or might not be gravel – but it would avoid the late afternoon traffic, so I chanced it. I had the road to myself – a wonderful unwinding ride along the water’s edge. After making my way around Thingvellir’s southwestern side I turned south to make a circle around the Grensdalur volcano region, my track for the day making a giant ‘S’ shape. For the last 11 km from Selfoss to Hveragerði I had no choice but to cling to the crumbling edge of Route 1.

In Hveragerði I headed straight for Ölverk – a geothermal-powered pizza place and pub. The place was rammed but I found a seat at the bar where I patiently waited for a waitress to find her breath. I ordered, and polished off, a spicy vegetarian pizza. Elva and Laufey, the brew master and pizza power couple, opened in 2017. I was so enthralled by the place, I cheekily asked Laufey if she had a spare staff hat. She gave me one, covered in a light dusting of flour, with the name “Cheesus” scribbled on the underside of the brim. Thank you Laufey, and Cheesus, for a great evening.

DAY 13 – 111KM

SOUTH-WEST TO THE VOLCANO

The day began with another 10km of Route 1 traffic, this time with a bit more shoulder, but a small sacrifice to visit another bucket list destination – the Hellisheiði Power Station, the third largest geothermal power plant in the world. I took the back road in, getting to see the inner workings of the plant site. A zigzagging set of six giant pipes carrying boiling water led me down a mountain side. The steam, which turns turbines to generate electricity, is recondensed and carried to Reykjavík to provide its populace with hot water. Any waste hot water is then used to keep walkways clear of ice.

Leaving the powerplant I ascended a quiet road into a Martian landscape under a blue sky. I was surprised to find a set of ski lifts – and even more surprised to see the road ended there. I’d missed the turn off. Backtracking, I discovered why. The road was barricaded off. Google suggested the road was passable, but a new search of a translated site declared the road closed due to the risk of cars “rolling over with the associated risk of oil pollution”. Well, the road’s lunar surface suggested I might roll

over but there was no risk of oil pollution, so I edged around the concrete barrier and wobbled my way down the track – singing the “Road to Nowhere” as I went. It would be 12km before I returned to the pavement – I wanted to kiss it.

On 19 March 2021, four months before my visit, an eruption shook the earth and a deep fissure cracked open along a nondescript hillside in the Fagradalsfjall region, just 50km from Reykjavík. Up from within the earth came gushing a continuous column of lava. I arrived at one of the impromptu car parks set up to cater to the thousands of tourists who, since the eruption, had come to trek up to the Fagradalsfjall Volcano. I noticed a Troll Expedition guide unloading his shuttle bus of visitors. I asked him what the conditions were like, should I be crazy enough to want to take my bicycle up with me. He responded with a firm: “Not possible”.

So I figured I would walk my bike up a bit, leave it somewhere before embarking on the major ascent. An elderly man stopped me to remark how he wished he’d brought his bike with him. He encouraged me. I said: “This bike? Up there?” He nodded. I began the ascent, a fully-loaded bike in tow.

As other hikers saw me they stopped in their tracks, mouths agape. I pushed and pulled my way up, two steps forward, one step back. What was that fool talking about? I was the fool of course, but I didn’t let it visibly stir me and I laughed and joked about the situation with those witnessing it.

I made it to the top of the first peak overlooking a lake of cooling black rock, with no lava river in sight. Dormant. I imagined the Reykjavík Evening News that night – “Man drags bicycle up volcano, sees nothing”. Exasperation fizzled into my head, the wind blew cold and fierce, and evening was approaching. I turned back, knowing I had a second chance to return in the morning when maybe Mother Nature would cooperate.

DAY 14 – 86KM

NORTH-EAST TO REYKJAVÍK

As a touring cyclist I live by an irrational rule of never back-tracking. An exception could be made to see lava. I’d been texting back and forth with Montana Ben. He was spending his last day in Iceland and took a bus from Reykjavík to see the volcano. A French woman had been to the volcano the prior evening. I asked her if she had seen anything, as I hadn’t. Her eyes lit up. “Oui! C'était extrêmement magnifique!” I’d not hiked in far enough. Past the first peak, and then again over a second, lay the main

Our second attempt at sighting the Fagradalsfjall volcano, sans bike, with Montana Ben

event. I texted Ben saying I’d meet him at the base of the climb – where I’d leave my bike.

The morning brought a new weather front, and the peaks above us were shrouded in cloud. Ben arrived as part of a tour group, which I joined. The guides hoped the cloud would disperse by the time we took the longer way up around the back of the mountain. The cloud dispersed. And, lo and behold, there it was

– sounding like an aircraft flying by, thrusting its engines as massive gobs belched high into the air, cascading down and frothing over the edge of the fissure.

A gushing river was flying down the hillside, splashing up into the air like white water through a canyon, before disappearing into a valley below, cooling into new black rock lakes. Ben and I made a run for it, hopping along the rocky path to make the most of it in the time given to

us. We found some seats on boulders and settled in for the show.

Bright-eyed and high on life, Ben and I made our way back down the valley where I reunited with my bike. While I cycled my final leg back to Reykjavík he visited the Blue Lagoon. We arranged to go for a final beer that evening before he departed the next day.

Day 15 was my last full day in Iceland and I spent it on a walking tour of the city

and trying on second-hand lamb’s wool sweaters, then falling into a panic because of leaving my return covid-testing arrangements to the last minute. As I walked on to the highway from the parking lot of the airport testing centre, ready to walk a few kilometres back in the rain to save the return taxi fare, a car pulled over. The driver, with his little daughter in the back, offered me a lift. “You looked like you needed a ride”, he said.

When the Covid-19 lockdown was in full force, many frustrated Audaxers sought ways to enjoy long-distance riding while sticking to the ten-milesfrom-home rule. But can any have been as inventive as the 100 mile route, in the shape of a virus spike and vaccine needle, through the capital city?

Pete Davis explains…

Spiky biking…

IT SEEMS A LONG TIME AGO but at the beginning of lockdown you might remember that we were discouraged from travelling too far from home to avoid unnecessary burdens on the emergency services. This presented a challenge to many a long distance cyclist.

But a silk lining was created in this cloud by fellow Audaxer Mark Kowalski who devised a 100 mile route venturing no further than 10 miles from his home in South London, and it followed the London streets in the outline of a virus.

This route design was eventually supplemented by a needle and syringe to mark the release of the first vaccines. He refined the route over a period of time and released it publicly via the Yet Another Cycling Forum (https://yacf.co.uk) as a mandatory route Group DIY. He had chosen a start time of 10pm to ensure empty streets for most of the route.

And so a group of five complete strangers assembled at Victoria Station at the appointed time on a Friday night in March. Mark set off with his superior route

knowledge into two red traffic lights in the first 300m. The unspoken thought shared by all was that it was going to be a very long night.

We headed out through Fulham, across Battersea Bridge and on to a wiggling, crescent-shaped route around south London. Once past midnight the streets became much quieter and varied from straight, fast arteries heading towards and away from the West End to residential streets lined by parked cars. In addition there were a good few cycle paths which Mark negotiated without hesitation, a feature which ensured rapid progress throughout.

My palmares of only one 400km ride along with a host of 200s made me feel slightly out of my depth. Fellow riders were mostly PBP anciens. Thankfully London is remarkably flat, and while I generally found the pace at the limit of my ability I was noticeably exposed on the few hills and lagged behind only to discover the whole team waiting for me at the top allowing me to replenish sugar levels.

Being relieved of navigation responsibilities meant that for long stretches I had no idea where I was. However, excursions through Streatham, Lewisham and Greenwich reminded me of my student days, and passage under the Thames through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel was a major landmark. Next we passed through Canary Wharf and on to a series of canal towpaths which we all agreed felt more secure in a group.

The only lengthy stop was at just past half way in Bow at 3am where a 24 hour McDonalds gave us new resolve. Daybreak appeared as we approached Holloway and we remarked how the cool night air seemed to keep us all alert despite the hour.

The final climb was up towards Hampstead Heath before heading out west to complete the virus outline. The crowning glory of the ride was the final run in to central London with perfect blue skies and a low sun illuminating some of London’s iconic buildings in their glorious splendour – the Natural History Museum,

Going viral… the CoV19 ride devised by Mark Kowalski

it’s infectious!

Harrods and Buckingham Palace. There was a quick dash up and down the Mall to Aldwych (the drip on the end of the needle) before a finish back at Victoria at 7.40am.

I managed to fit in a full English before getting the train back to Worcestershire. On reflection it’s remarkable to think how five individuals, never previously known to each other, had effortlessly maintained good humour throughout a lengthy and tiring adventure, but that’s long distance cycling for you.

Mark is hoping to host the ride again next year and I strongly recommend it –it’s one that will live long in my memory. The route is available on ridewithgps but navigating alone with a GPX or riding during the day is certainly going to be a lengthy, though not impossible affair. I was happy to make a donation to the Lewisham Bank of Things as an optional entry fee and I’m sure the others did too.

Thanks to Mark for the ride and the photos and to Paul Stewart for validating it.

Bryn leading the way in glorious early morning sunshine

On the Mall, almost there

TeamCov… from left, Pete, Mark, Bryn, Tom and Dave in the lift descending into the Greenwich Foot Tunnel

On the relentlessly punishing last leg of 2021’s inaugural Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol 1,600km, 37 year old Halifax rider John Allan, right, experienced such serious eye problems he thought he was losing his eyesight. This is John’s account of an exhausting seven-day slog on a ride which is surely destined to become a must-do Audax – for masochists!

‘I prayed I’d done no lasting damage to my eyes’

I DIDN’T REALLY THINK this through!

Actually, that’s a lie. I did think it through… but rather too quickly. I decided to give Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol a shot just three weeks before the start. I’m not at my fittest, but I had a suitable bike, pretty much ready to ride, some spare holiday entitlement… and it sounded like fun.

You can’t get much fitter in three weeks, but you can get tired trying. I just made sure my bike was in good fettle, and aimed to get plenty of rest. I persuaded myself that this would be a sort of holiday. Seven days of cycling. I’d only need to cover 233k each day… totally manageable in my head, even though it was twice as far as I’d ever ridden in a week. So – almost like a proper holiday…except without rest, company or luxuries.

DAY 1

I stole a few hours’ sleep in my van before a 3.15am alarm. Quickly dressed and fed, I cycled the 30-minutes into Bristol city centre, ahead of the scheduled 5am departure from the cathedral.

The ride into the city was a real awakening. The nightlife was in full swing, bars and cafes still open, music playing and revellers staggering the streets. My preferred type of nightlife these days is spotting owls, badgers and foxes in the countryside and these city creatures made me feel uneasy. Still, I located the cathedral and met the other riders for the Grand Depart. There were only 12 of us but grand enough for me.

After a few encouraging words from organiser Will Pomeroy of Audax Club

Bristol, we were off – and the group instantly spread out. I don’t like riding in a group anyway so it suited me just fine. It was warm and dry, and the forecast suggested it would stay that way for the week ahead. I had reservations, knowing that the route goes through Wales, northern England and Scotland before heading south again. The British weather can be fickle.

I crossed the Severn and headed into South Wales, through the gently rolling roads of the Wye Valley, past the Black Mountains and the eastern side of the Brecon Beacons, then northwards to the first control at Hay-on-Wye. Things ramped up a bit in Mid-Wales; steeper gradients, narrow lanes with grass up the middle, and wild ponies. I was keeping my eye open for birds of prey, having learned that

About the author:

John Allan is an engineer whose home is in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He joined AUK just a couple of years ago, having completed several local calendar events of up to 200km before joining. John rode the Steele Roads and Woolly Hills 400 – his only long-distance Audax – before tackling Bristol-Glasgow-Bristol. He’s taken part in a number of non-Audax rides, though, including the Hell of the North West 800km, the Yorkshire Dales 300km, and the Dales Divide 600km. Readers will be keen to learn if John recovered full eyesight after the problems encountered on BGB. He says: “I think the main issue was overuse of contact lenses and possibly poor hygiene – sweat, dirty hands, etc. The discomfort disappeared a couple of days after the ride, but my prescription has changed permanently, which is worrying. If I do anything like that again, I’ll wear prescription cycling glasses.”

merlins were hunting in pairs in the area. I was keen to catch a glimpse of the UK’s smallest birds of prey. Sadly the only thing I experienced was a close encounter with a common buzzard – still a magnificent creature.

My goal for the day was to clear the Welsh hills and hit the flatlands of Cheshire. Cycling in Wales is fantastic, and gets better as you head north. Along the shore of Lake Vyrnwy, over Bwlch-y-Groes in Snowdonia, then towards the last of the hills and a serious kick to make certain the legs were battered before crossing the border.

The Clwydian Range is only small but the brutally steep Bwlch Pen Barras gets the job done with a series of 25 per cent ramps and hairpins. The sun dropped as I topped out. The result was a landscape of soft light. I pulled on an

extra layer for the descent, and the coming darkness.

In Chester I ordered the largest vegetarian pizza on the menu. It was 10pm, and I felt I could pedal for a few more hours. There was still a long way to go. Chester golf course was a good place to pitch the tent for the night. Distance 300.5km. Ascent 5,788m. Time 17 hours

DAY 2

I broke camp at 5.30am, expecting a reasonably fast start to the day. The first 100km from Chester to Preston was almost flat, but my legs weren’t responding. The humpback bridges felt like mountains, and the morning traffic, road works and red lights slowed progress. The fastest stretch was along the Chester Greenway – being chased

Summit view… on top of the Wrynose Pass, Langdale in Cumbria

by a relentless Jack Russell.

I was glad to leave Preston, the last urban area before the Forest of Bowland. I enjoyed a chocolate Magnum in the pretty village Slaidburn to remind myself I was on holiday, then hit the climb up the wonderfully picturesque Cross of Greet road, passing the medieval cross base – a sandstone block which once held a stone cross marking the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire. Then it was a rapid descent towards the Yorkshire Dales. I was having a great time.

The summit of Cam High Road marks the highest point above sea level on the whole route – and the first proper off-road

section. A long, loose gravel climb followed by a bone-shaking, bike-breaking drop down the rocky old Roman road into Bainbridge. Then it was up the Fleak Moss, and a rocky mountain bike descent to Crackpot.

The hideously steep track to Reeth High Moor and the Old Gang smelting mills completely toasted the legs ahead of the final Dales climb, the Stang. Sighting a beautiful white barn owl hunting low over the fields in the fading light is a moment I’ll remember.

I caught up with another couple of riders outside the Co-op in Barnard Castle. We all agreed the ride was taking longer

than expected. I’d only covered 200km so far that day. I stocked up on supplies, pulled on another layer and headed off into the evening fog rolling over the north Pennines.

After 60km of steep, dark, foggy and remote Pennine hills I rolled into Hexham – the thought of a midnight pizza keeping me going. At a 24 hour garage I used the facilities to wash off two days of grime. Not a pretty sight.

Having fallen a bit short, I decided to save time by not pitching the tent, settling down instead in my sleeping back at the back of a fence. I could hear lots of scurrying, but assuming it to be rabbits, I dropped off to sleep for a few hours before my 4.30am alarm.

Distance 269km. Ascent 4,824m. Time 19 hours.

DAY 3

Having brewed coffee and instant porridge, curiosity got the better of me. I decided to check the area next to fence where I’d slept. It was the gate to a bin area. The scurrying must have been rats!

With freezing mist hanging the valleys I was struggling to keep warm. My knees were aching and sitting on the saddle hurt. Two lumps had appeared on my sit bones, each the size of an apple. I swallowed a couple of painkillers and an hour later the lumps seemed to flatten out.

I took a detour for coffee in Bellingham, then on to the gravel section in the Keilder Forest. The Scottish border felt like a

❝ The nightlife was in full swing, bars and cafes still open, music playing and revellers staggering the streets ❞

Early start… Bristol city centre

Picturesque… Cross of Greet Road

milestone, so I took a picture of the ‘welcome’ sign and let my fiancée, Kirsty Patten, know I was ok.

Macaroni pies and Iron Bru settled my grumbling stomach in Newcastleton, then it was onwards across moors and farmland towards Lochmaben – the last re-supply point for a long time. This is a nice, quiet part of the world; not hugely spectacular, but green and pleasant.

All I really noticed about Dumfries and Galloway was the lack of shops along the route. I’d never visited the area before and didn’t expect much, but Galloway Forest was a real treat – 20km of gravel track between Clatteringshaws Loch and Glentrool, along the loch shores then into the forest.

The roads which followed were nothing short of perfect – smooth and fast, up and down, traffic free and beautifully remote. Cresting Nick of the Ballock pass, the sun set and the temperature dropped but I was feeling stronger than I’d felt all day. I was learning to enjoy the highs and just ride out the lows – they don’t last forever.

Tiredness came on fast with the onset of darkness. Riding along an unlit road I

braced myself for the large moth that appeared at eye level – as a bat snatched it, inches from my face.

Reaching Dalrymple I decided I’d had enough for the day. The village didn’t seem to offer any bivvy spots. It was only 10pm so too early to crash in a bus shelter. I pitched the tent in a corner of a quiet field. I don’t really like camping on private land but I couldn’t see any option.

Distance 268km. Ascent 3,779m. Time 17.30 hours.

DAY 4

By now, my tent and sleeping bag were soaked with condensation. I decided to stay in a Travelodge the next night, and dry everything out. The morning ride was unremarkable, but I was tired, hungry and still heading north. I needed to get to Glasgow, and turn back south.

Glasgow was far too busy. I crossed the Clyde to obtain proof of passage, and turned straight around. My clothes by this time were filthy, and I was stinking. Good for social distancing, I guess. Progress away from the city was good. It was baking hot with little wind. The GPS was reading 30 degrees – surely a first for Scotland?

About 50km south of Glasgow the route picked up the NCN 74 which runs adjacent to the M74. The surface was terrible – the worst I’ve ever experienced, like golf balls bonded with tar. I’d not given much thought to my feet and the heat and constant vibration was taking its toll. My toes were numb and the soles were on fire. It was an energy-sapping 50km stretch. By the time I reached Lochmaben I was cooked.

I considered my options for the night. My sleeping stuff was still soaking. I needed to re-charge the power bank. A Premier Inn in Carlisle seemed an obvious destination for a shower, cooked meal and an early night – until I saw the prices. A second option was riding a bit further, to Caldbeck, to stay on an actual campsite with a shower for £5.

The temperature dropped as the sun set on the approach to Caldbeck. The familiar landscape of the fells made it feel like home. It was dark when I reached the campsite, so no chance of drying my gear. I was so tired I wasn’t even bothered about drinking a beer at the local pub. I ate an Aldi falafel, my gear still wet, the Power Bank uncharged, but £163 richer. Distance 251km. Ascent 2,396m. Time 15.10 hours.

DAY 5

I thought a wet tent and bag would be a bigger issue but it wasn’t so bad. If I could camp every night I’ll be happier knowing I completed it unsupported. But it was becoming apparent that the early part of the days were becoming a struggle. Waking early was fine, but it was taking longer for my body to respond. My knees were wrecked, my undercarriage swollen and tender, and I couldn’t feel my toes. After a second breakfast of painkillers and Eccles cakes, I settled into a rhythm.

❝ I’d never visited the area before and didn’t expect much, but Galloway Forest was a real treat – 20km of gravel track between Clatteringshaws Loch and Glentrool, along the loch shores then into the forest ❞

Hardknott Pass has a fearful reputation but it’s probably one of my favourites. With 20kgs of bike and luggage, I knew I wouldn’t be breaking any records, but I was determined not to push. The setting is dramatic, and the hairpin bends make it the steepest road in England. I had to exert a lot of effort, and by the time I crested I realised I’d probably made a mistake. My knees were worse than ever, stiff, swollen and painful. Even walking was difficult.

Then it was along the valley, over Wrynose Pass and into the tourist traffic around Langdale. The roads were gridlocked, but I managed to filter my way to the front – where an HGV was struggling up the narrow, winding road. Following it was dangerous as it was bashing the lower branches of trees. Then it was on towards Ambleside, and south

along the shore of Windermere.

Lancashire is often a surprise. I enjoy the quiet roads, old churches and historic houses. The Bowland Fells presented the next obstacle. Hornby Road, also known as the Salter Fell track, is a special place. Described by A. Wainwright as one of the finest moorland walks in the country, I probably wouldn’t disagree but I was determined not to walk. It’s an old military road built by the Romans, but probably following an existing Iron-age track. It later became a medieval pack-horse route and likely the way the Pendle Witches were dragged from Clitheroe to Lancaster for trial and execution in the 17th century.

The area is captivating – wild and expansive, big skies, steep valleys and far-reaching views of windswept moors. The track disappears over the horizon in

the distance and once you reach the summit at 400m, it appears to stretch forever. Rocky and rutted, it required concentration to pick the best lines.

The Forest of Bowland symbol is a hen harrier and once-upon-a-time supported one of the largest populations in the UK. There are very few left, and it’s only through recent conservation work that they’ve been saved from extinction. Off the moors, another forecourt meal-deal and I was ready to climb Nick ‘O Pendle before the sun set.

My vision had been hazy for most of the day, becoming more apparent when swapping sunglasses for clear lenses. I tried to ignore it but it was no use. I decided to change my left contact lens at the roadside. Removing the lens was agony and replacing it made it worse. I

❝ Hardknott Pass has a fearful reputation but it’s probably one of my favourites. With 20kgs of bike and luggage, I knew I wouldn’t be breaking any records, but I was determined not to push ❞

can’t explain the pain but after riding a short distance I decided to remove it. By now I’d lost any useful vision in my left eye; it felt like it was burning and was streaming with water. I fashioned an eye patch out of a buff but the pressure caused a searing pain, so unbearable it was quickly removed.

With the fading light and loss of vision, things only got worse. I couldn’t see the GPS, there was no sense of depth perception and the light from oncoming vehicles became so dazzling I had to drop my head to block the light. I knew I couldn’t carry on so stopped to weigh up my options. My fiancé, Kirsty, was only about 30 minutes’ drive away in Halifax and I knew she’d pick me up in a heartbeat. That was the easy option but I’m not a quitter. I thought about asking her to drop off my glasses but realised they were in my van – in Bristol. I decided it was best to get some sleep and hope for a miraculous overnight recovery.

I followed the route slowly, nearly crashing a few times and missing several turns, heading towards the hills of Rooley Moor. I couldn’t ride without losing balance, so I got off and pushed for the first time. Barely able to see where to put my feet, I spent some time staggering around looking for somewhere to pitch the sodden tent. Getting into the wet

sleeping bag, I took out the other contact lens, which brought the same pain, and almost complete loss of vision in both eyes. I felt helpless and empty. I’d covered just 210km despite being on the move for 16 hours. I set my alarm and tried to rest. Distance 212km. Ascent 4,316m. Time 15.50 hours.

DAY 6

It was a restless sleep. When I woke I could see a little better. My eyes still hurt but were working again. I plucked up the

courage to try the contact lenses again. The searing pain returned, and water streamed down my cheeks. But I could see! Nothing quite wakes you like a cold, damp and bone-shaking decent down a mile of cobbles in the dark. It was still dark when riding through Rochdale and Oldham. Morning had broken by the time I reached Glossop. I was in desperate need of some charge for my GPS. Stopping for breakfast at a café I took advantage of the plug socket. This was day six of the ride –and the first time I’d sat down for a meal.

❝ Nothing quite wakes you like a cold, damp and boneshaking decent down a mile of cobbles in the dark ❞

Cobbles… descending the Cotton famine road into Rochdale

❝ I found a chippy with seating, so I settled for the second meal of the day ❞

On the trip to the toilet I glanced in the mirror and saw my shocking reflection. I didn’t feel too bad, but my face told a different story.

Only 300km to go. With the serious off-road sections and big climbs boxed off, I was confident I could finish in one go. The climb up Snake Pass was enjoyable – it’s a long drag, but the gradient is easy. It started raining, but it felt refreshing. It wouldn’t be a proper ride without a bit of weather and my clothes needed a wash anyway.

The long descent drained the heat from my body so I pedalled hard until the turning across Ladybower Reservoir. Still cold, I decided to put a jacket on but it was a bit late. I’d some flu-like symptoms which stayed with me for hours to come.

The Peak District passed by easily in a series of quite lanes and villages. Before long I was in Derby, riding down the high street and dodging swarms of people. Absolutely not prepared after six days of solitude and as much as wanted some fastfood, I rode on by.

The GPS battery needed another charge. On reaching Atherstone I found a chippy with seating, so I settled for the second meal of the day – a veggie burger with chips and salad, polished off with two full teapots while the charger did its thing.

An hour passed. I wished I was pushing towards the finish… and not for the first time, cursed my decision to leave the dynamo charger at home.

South of Derby was all new territory. I was enjoying the change – most notably, the quality of the tarmac. There were no pot holes, and very few hills, either. As the daylight faded, so did my eyesight. There’d been discomfort all day but after another 16 hours of wearing contact lenses, the cloudy vision of yesterday returned and it was getting worse. I suspected this might happen and was fairly certain it was caused by the lenses, rather than some condition brought about by extreme fatigue. I knew it was only going to get worse.

In Stafford-upon-Avon I bought final supplies. The light hurt my eyes and I couldn’t read the packaging. I felt like a drunk but managed to collect what I needed and pay the blurry character behind the till without seeing his face. It was obvious I couldn’t ride much further, so any hope of finishing without another camp was out of the question. I hoped that, with a few hours rest without lenses, my vision would be restored sufficiently for me to reach the finish. I was also praying that I’d done no lasting damage to my eyes.

Into the Cotswolds, I did my best to stay upright and follow the dim light. The light from oncoming cars was painfully blinding. Having never been to the Cotswolds I wasn’t sure what kind of camping spot I might find. I eventually found a National Trust car park. There were a couple of cars with their interior lights on, but I was past caring about dodgy characters. I went through a kissing gate, startled some sheep, and found a spot. I managed to get the tent up and get into my cold, wet and all-too-familiar sleeping bag.

Pulling the contact lenses off my eyeballs was the most painful thing I can recall. I was convinced I’d done irreversible damage and that I would never see again. It felt like part of my eye had come away with each lens. I couldn’t see anything. Keeping my eyes open hurt – closing them hurt more. The pain made sleep impossible, but eventually it subsided and I managed to get some rest. Only 100km from Bristol.

Distance 243km. Ascent 3,043m. Time 17.40 hours.

DAY 7

Once again, my vision had returned when I woke up. The pain was still there, but not as bad. My mood lifted, and the feelings of

❝ I went through a kissing gate, startled some sheep, and found a spot. I managed to get the tent up and get into my cold, wet and all-too-familiar sleeping bag ❞

disappointment of the night were replaced with hope. I had the whole day ahead to ride the final few kilometres, so no rush. I decided to enjoy the final day.

The stinking wet cycling clothes went back on, then the painful business of pressing on another set of contact lenses. The sky lightened to reveal a low mist and drizzle, so I pulled on my waterproof and took to the road at 6am.

My knees still felt stiff but tight tendons and swollen sit bones settled down after a cocktail of painkillers. I was soon zipping along the lanes with relative vigour. I must have looked a peculiar sight in the Colebourne petrol station where I stopped for final supplies. It was a posh store, full of tasty baked goods and artisan breads. I must have looked and smelled like a tramp with an armful of luxury items. The well-spoken female attendant politely asked if I needed help. She asked if I’d come far. She clearly didn’t expect my reply. She allowed me to charge my dead phone battery while drinking a coffee – outside on the forecourt.

The weather cleared up and I was enjoying the scenery when a cycling club zipped past in a well-practiced formation. Without a second thought I stomped on the power to catch the peloton. It seemed like a bit of fun on a loaded bike after a week on the road but after a few minutes of wheel-hugging, my legs died and I instantly regretted the effort.

The wide high street of the historic market town of Chipping Sodbury was lined with a hundred colourful stalls for the annual food festival. The air was full of delicious smells. Bunting criss-crossed the streets. I wasn’t tempted to stop. But after almost a week of solitude it was a bit

overwhelming and I felt almost alien among the crowds.

Looking forward to the homemade pizza I stopped and fired a quick WhatsApp message to Will to get the oven warmed up, and then steadily tapped out the remaining distance along quiet lanes and cycle ways, back to the heart of Bristol. My GPS announced my arrival, but I wasn’t sure where I’d actually arrived. I was in the middle of a residential street, and it took me a while to think for myself. Then I spotted a piece of paper pinned to a gate. Moving closer I saw it said “Arrivée!” Distance 106km. Ascent 1,410m. Time 6.21 hours.

● Many thanks to Will Pomeroy for putting together such a superb and challenging route. The pizza was the best thing I’d tasted all week and the whisky was a most welcome surprise.

❝ … after a few minutes of wheelhugging, my legs died and I instantly regretted the effort ❞

❝ …I had the whole day ahead to ride the final few kilometres, so no rush. I decided to enjoy the final day ❞

Local talent… getting dropped by a team near Stroud

Cotswold escarpment… Kingscote woods just 40km from the finish

Going down the

Ian Lovelock and his cycling

Andrew Hoppit

Reed, tackled The Dean in March this year – a gruelling 300km event, starting in Oxford, traversing the Cotswolds and into the Forest of Dean. The trio also learned a thing or two about punctures, leading them to question the wisdom of tubeless tyres. Here’s Ian’s report of an eventful, if ultimately unsuccessful bid to beat The Dean…

“CHALLENGE YOURSELF to ride further” is the mantra I’ve followed over 12 years of Audaxing – but it doesn’t stop the pre-ride anxiety. It was inevitable that these worries would my disrupt my sleep the night before The Dean. It’s always worse when I ride with others, knowing they’re usually faster, stronger and fitter.

This was the case today. I was riding with two regular partners, Andrew Hoppit and Jonathan Reed. Jonathan is a real mile-muncher, a veteran of many ultra Audax events, and a serial Randonneur Round the Year (RRtY). Andrew, on his second year RRtY, is also a stronger and faster rider than I am.

But when I joined the others at the ride’s start, all concerns seemed to magically drift away. It was an excited crowd, noisily jostling for position, checking in and receiving their allocated brevet cards. Then we were off, in the half light, out across the Oxford ring-road and

into the rolling countryside.

Despite our inland course, and benign conditions, I recalled the morning’s Shipping Forecast – increasing and changeable winds, and a warning of gales in the Bristol Channel. Jonathan and Andrew preferred the BBC’s prediction of a pleasant day ahead. We all like to believe a good forecast!

We made good time, climbing to Leafield, the March morning sunny, with no noticeable breeze – so different to the rides of January and February, and even the previous week where we were battered by strong winds and heavy, constant rain.

However, when things are going swimmingly an incident is just around the corner, and sure enough, descending into a corner Jonathan momentarily lost control – a slow front wheel puncture. We stopped on a green next to a bench allowing Andrew to effect a repair.

Puncture resolved, we got back on the route, heading into the Chilterns for the first of the day’s real climbing. We stopped in picturesque Stow-on-the-Wold, for a breakfast from the Co-Op while sheltering from a stiffening breeze. We left Stow, ahead of control point time, for the final 20km of incident-free cycling in bright sunny weather.

On the steep descent into Winchcombe we passed David Coupe wrestling with a puncture half-way down. We gained time on the flat ride into Newent, and a cafe stop – a plate of baked beans to sustain me into the Forest of Dean.

So far the ride had been pretty uneventful. We were enjoying the roads and each other’s company, speeding along lovely, quiet lanes with scenic views. In cheery demeanour, and ahead of time against the Brevet card, we hit the road and headed into the Forest of Dean. A bland ride was just about to become an unforgettable experience.

By mid-afternoon the weather was on the change, the sky now grey and the wind on the rise, though neither was having an impact on us as we had the shelter of the hills in the wintery bare leafed forest. These roads must be a treat to ride during summer months with sun streaming through the green canopy and birds serenading the rider.

The problem at this time of year is that the rider is plagued with thorny detritus littering the forest roads. Jonathan was the first to suffer a puncture and we came to rest alongside another luckless rider trying to fix his own puncture.

Back on the road, and Andrew was shedding latex from his tubeless tyres on some of the steeper descents. As we emerged from the forest another puncture brought us to a halt. It required Andrew re-inflating the tyre to allow the latex to effect a repair. Within a few kilometres the seal failed and I was blasted with fine, white latex spray. This led Andrew to attempt his first ever repair with a “worm”. I was sceptical about sticking a needle through the tyre to repair a puncture, but it seemed to work. We finished our decent into Chepstow for a typical Audax feast in Tesco car park.

Andrew’s tyre went flat yet again, and was subjected to some more air and a good spin which seemed to do the trick before we headed off towards the Severn

partners,

and Jonathan

New Forest punctures… Jonathan fixes the first of the time sucking blow-outs

tubes

Bridge. But how much latex remained in the tyre? As we climbed out of Chepstow, the question was resolved – none.

We pulled into a police station where my spare tyre came into its own again, rescuing someone who, before this ride, would swear blind that “tubeless is the way to go”. As Andrew fought to remove the gunk-filled tyre to replace it with a clincher tyre and a tube, Jonathan and I had the chance to discuss the relative merits and disadvantages of tubeless tyres for long distance cycling with a local policeman who fancied a chat before to clocking off for the night.

Clincher tyres do have some merit, but when installing them it’s best to check rims and the valve surround for any sharp edges and, of course, never pinch the inner tube. Andrew swears he did all this but 200 metres up the road and he had to stop to repair yet another flat. This time a real disaster befell him.

On removing the rear wheel, both cassette and freewheel fell off. With the puncture repaired, all we needed to do was reassemble the freewheel. A good time later, and covered in oil, we were forced to give up, accepting defeat on a repair that required a workshop rather than a brick wall and a few cable ties.

Retirement beckoned, with Andrew seeking an alternative means to return to Oxford. Good fortune was on his side – there’s a regular train service from Chepstow. So covered in oil but with a rolling bicycle, he exited his second attempt on the Dean to clean up and rehydrate at the pub while waiting for the train back to Oxford.

Jonathan and I, now three and half hours behind the cut off, headed off to cross the Severn with half the ride still ahead of us, resigned to failing the time window. Heading towards the Severn, I recalled the Shipping Forecast warning of Bristol Channel gale force winds – which proved to be accurate. We had a headwind for the next 80km.

This difficult section was broken with a stop at Malmesbury. The intensity of the headwind increased, as we left town to tackle a 20 per cent section where fatigue forced me to hop off the bike for a walk before reaching Marlborough. The route turned here to provide us wind assistance to the Membury Services checkpoint.

At 1.30am in Membury, the rain set in, adding to our mental and physical fatigue.

I grabbed a coffee, a pint of milk and a sausage roll before finding a space in a dry corner of the service station to curl up and shut my eyes. There was no way we’d complete the last 60km in the final 30

minutes allowed. By the time the coffee had cooled the rain was torrential and all motivation had deserted the pair of us.

A further coffee and dogged persistence got me back on the bike. Conditions were miserable, running streams flooded the road, standing water disguised the potholes, torrential rain constantly pelted our faces, forcing up our pace with no respite back to Oxford.

One last hiccup was thrown at us as the clock passed 3.30am when both our Garmins failed, forcing us to follow the dual carriageway into Oxford guess at which way we had to go to find our hotel.

Dripping wet, I wheeled the bike into the hotel room, peeled off the wet kit, showered and fell into bed and oblivion at 4.30am. A memorable day out, despite failing to finish, being almost two hours outside the time allowed. Maybe next year I’ll have a go at the ride in the summer as a DIY to gain those valuable three Audax points.

All change… time to bin the tubeless tyre and resort to clinchers and an inner tube

Andrew realises it's time to bail as his freewheel cannot be repaired

Dedicated recumbent rider, and long-distance veteran, Philip Whitehurst, left, offers some timely advice to those attempting London-EdinburghLondon this year. The Hertfordshire-based Audaxer has had to dig deep on many occasions, particularly on the UK’s most demanding longdistance ride – and he insists it’s ok to cry! Here is his guidance, based on experience, on how to plan for a punishing event…

Everybody hurts…

How to prepare for London-Edinburgh-London

I DON'T MIND ADMITTING I’ve sobbed my heart out on some long-distance rides. You have to be prepared for such moments – and let them out. It's nothing to be ashamed of. These events are tough.

So how do you prepare for LEL? Well, you need a strategy – but what do we mean by “strategy”? For me, it’s the goals you chose, and the actions you take to achieve those goals. You’ll often hear people state their goal, but not their actions, or vice versa. For it to be a strategy, you need both.

Understand your capabilities

Before you set your goals and actions for LEL you need to understand your capabilities. If you have experience of long-distance events, you’ll have an idea. But you need to be realistic about your current capabilities. Are you as fast as a decade ago? How is your endurance after a couple of years of the pandemic?

And you need to recognise your weaknesses. You may not enjoy night riding; maybe you fall apart when you fall behind, or die a little when another rider overtakes you. How is your pacing, fuelling, ability to eat on the bike? Are you a faffer?

You may have quit similar events –examine what caused you to quit. Was it stomach issues, heat exhaustion, hypothermia, mechanicals? Did you get overwhelmed by the task? Was your heart no longer in it? You may think it negative to reflect on these things, but I’ve always found it valuable to assess my event, whether I finished or not.

Mood is important. Ask yourself how you feel and act when you’re feeling low; how does it develop? Do you recognise the

early symptoms? And does it differ depending on whether you’re tired, injured or need to eat or drink?

And when you’re feeling high, do you ride too hard, or babble, or neglect to eat, skipping through controls and taking unnecessary risks? Do you have sympathy for those around you? Are you a joy to be around – or are you insufferable?

Confidence

Quite simply, I believe confidence comes from within. Don't look for it from others –look inside yourself, and pull out what you can to keep going. If someone looks confident, don't question them, it may unravel for them. Equally, be careful of the words you offer to someone who's struggling, unless you know them, and how they will react.

I have doubts on all my events from 200km to LEL scale. My confidence builds the further I’m into an event. It does you good to have doubts. It makes you work hard to ensure things go well. Understand where your confidence and doubt comes from, and that others will be different.

Are you goal or process driven? It's important to understand if you are goal or process-orientated before coming up with a strategy. If you’re process-driven then the goal of reaching Barnard Castle before sleeping might leave you cold.

Equally if you are goal-driven, the process of ensuring you drink 500ml of water every hour might seem irrelevant.

You need goals and actions that work with your mind set. Don't cut and paste somebody else's strategy.

I'm not a fast rider, and my overall goal

is to finish within the time limit. If I finish with five minutes to spare, I've hit my goal. But that's not enough for a strategy. I amend my goal into finishing with a few hours to spare, then I break that goal down into finishing each 24 hour period with a few hours to spare. One of my weaknesses is that I can't ride for much more than 24 hours without sleep. I then amend the last goal into having a few hours to spare, after I've slept every 24 hours. Once you have a high level goal you can work with, you need to know how to hit that goal.

Try not to faff at controls. I have a collapsible rucksack to carry my brevet card, shoes, water bottles and GPS and anything else I need in the control. My bike should be two-touch at the control, when I arrive, and when I leave.

I can be really bad at getting dehydrated in the heat. Another action is to wear arm coolers and buff if warm and soak them in water. I'll take salt tablets if hot or getting cramps. Eating food on my recumbent is not my forte – so I add maltodextrin to my bottles to supplement food at controls.

I also prefer not to know how far I've got to ride. I don’t have speed or distance showing on GPS during the event. I check how far I’m ahead of the time limits when I check in at controls. To avoid faff I don’t tend to ride with others. I’ll ride with others as I find them on the road, and only stop with someone if it’s a safety issue or we agree at the time.

Knowing when to rest is also important. I can't ride more than 24 hours without a doze but I don't know when the urge will strike. To deal with the dozies I’ll take enough of a rest to restore alertness and

get to next control for a better sleep. A Bluetooth speaker plays overnight to help keep the dozies at bay.

On LEL you’ll hear the phrase “race out, tour back“, and you may think: “With my average speeds, that never going to happen”. In my view it doesn't mean hammer yourself into the ground on the way north – it means minimise your stopped time going north, and then have more relaxed stops on the way south, once you've built up a decent buffer ahead of your time limit. Stopped times matters hugely when we use the term “race out“. By reducing stopped time at the controls you can get ahead of the time limit.

Effort, and therefore food consumption,

does not increase linearly with speed. Effort increases exponentially as your speed increases. You also use less fat and more carbohydrates the faster you go. By riding slower, and keeping stops short, you reduce the amount you need to eat, to cover the same distance.

Riding slower means you need to eat less, which helps if you’re going to keep your average stop at a control shorter than others. And eating less means you are less likely to suffer digestion issues.

So what's my strategy for LEL? It's a combination of my goals and my actions. Most of my actions are processorientated. That's because I know that I'm

good at actioning process to meet a high level goal. When I pay attention to my actions, my events go well. Some people work better with having lots of mini goals, and little process. Do what works for you.

There is no single strategy for success – though you have to be hungry for that success. When you’re suffering, remember that hunger, and remember your actions to get back from that suffering.

And also remember – keep it simple. Your strategy doesn't need a complicated spreadsheet and master timings. You just need to ride at a comfortable level for you, and keep your control stops efficient. The rest will take care of itself. Good luck putting your strategies together.

Gavin Clark

In an attempt to maintain fitness but avoid the winter’s worst, Arrivée editor, Ged Lennox, test rides the Tacx flux S – and discovers a nightmare virtual world of relentless performance pressure…

Room for Improvement

I HATE WINTER My normal habit is to service my bike in late October, put the clocks back and go indoors for the duration.

It’s wet, cold, dark and dangerous on the road and the lure of the comfy chair by the fire, a glass of something and a good book is irresistible. Even my old husky, who is far better equipped for the weather than I, is unenthusiastic.

The outcome is a slow decline of muscle tone and a faster loading of weight, which means it takes me time to get back to fitness in the spring. It’s surely just the normal pattern of living in northern climes.

However, this year I impetuously signed up to join a team of 22 planning to ride the end-to-end in

July (22 in 22). The upshot of this is that I need to maintain fitness if I’m not to be embarrassed by all the keen and able youngsters in the team, many of whom seem to enjoy sea swimming in January… unfortunately I can’t afford the brain surgery to remove my hypothalamus, so I am stuck with working-out inside.

I considered re-joining the gym – it’s expensive and a potential vector for the dread disease, which I would also prefer to avoid. On top of all that, gyms are full of really fit people and I wouldn’t want to discourage them or put them off their protein shakes.

So, driven by necessity, I turned to the world of smart trainers which seemed to offer all the blood,

sweat and tears of a real ride from the discomfort of your spare bedroom, garage or, in my case, studio.

When I was at school my PE teacher wrote on my annual report that: “Gerard seems reluctant to engage in exercise” and that there was “room for improvement”. So, in his deeply irritating memory, I renamed the studio my room for improvement, the place where I reluctantly engage in exercise.

It didn’t take me long to choose from the long list of torture devices on the market.

The Wahoo system seemed to be the most expensive and even incorporated an elevating platform under the front wheel to simulate angle changes when going up hills, something I’d definitely

prefer to avoid. I eventually opted for the new Tacx flux S, which saves money by dropping any unnecessary letters, and seemed to offer the best return for cash, coming in at £500 for the stand-alone device – the equivalent of an eight-month gym membership.

The trainer came with a free month trial of both Zwift and its own Tacx Training platform – so I tried both.

Removing the back wheel of my bike and hooking it on to the trainer was simple enough, but moving the thing around afterwards proved to be a work-out in itself, as there’s no way of lifting the unit. The addition of a simple handle would have made all

the difference. Designers huh?

I started with Zwift. The set-up was far from straightforward, and I spent a long time talking to an apathetic guy on a webchat trying to fathom why the app didn’t connect via Bluetooth, as advertised. Eventually, through research, and trial by disgruntlement, I discovered that there was an additional “bridge” app that you could install on your phone, which would then talk to your computer, in my case an Apple Mac and an iPhone. Sorted at last, bring on the pain…

Entering the Zwift environment was like something from the 1982 film Tron, where, as a bewildered victim, I was digitised and reconstructed

inside a nightmarish metaverse flooded with thousands of avatars, all spinning through a bizarre virtual landscape with virtual volcanoes, virtual roads, virtual buildings… and virtually nothing of real interest.

I imagine a game-adjusted competitor would feel at home in this CGI madhouse, but I just found it annoying and more alien than… actual aliens.

Joining the merry and overcrowded throng, I soon earned an orange helmet (well done) the significance of which was utterly lost on me. I also received many condescending thumbs-up gestures, at least I think they were thumbs, from other users as they sped past, which I interpreted as “what are you

Main image… the Tacx flux in an Ideal indoor workout space, but not me, and not my room!

Zwift fantasy world… blazing up an erupting volcano

Tacx real world… pumping up Mont Ventoux

doing here you silly bugger, this place is for fun, fast people?”. There was clearly an undisclosed agenda way above my grade about which I doubt I could care less. Zwift might be fast, Zwift might be fun, but Zwift is as close to synthesising cycling as Tigger is to being a Bengal tiger.

Evidently many people love Zwift, but try as I might, even with the joyful prospect of cycling with virtual friends all pumping away in the sweaty privacy of their own homes, for me it was a weird, disappointing and empty experience, devoid of all but the motion of turning the pedals. I used it for a week then bounced.

The next free trial was with Tacx Training, a downloadable desktop application better suited to the Mac environment (also available on PC). This is a very different approach and I applaud the company (Garmin) who designed it.

It hooked up via Bluetooth instantly and recognised both the trainer and my Wahoo heart rate monitor. A simple calibration test and some details about my age and weight (which I will keep to myself) and I was ready to go.

On the desktop I was presented with dozens of real-life video streams (or downloads) that some real-life person had recorded in real-time, with real people and real traffic. There’s a topographical contour trace across the bottom of the screen and as you approach a hill you are given a quick run-down of how steep and how long it is together with a continuous read-out of the power and speed you are achieving – just like on your real bike, only far more detailed and without swallowing flies.

You choose from many beautiful locations, like the Amalfi coast or stages of L’Eroica, mountain stages from the TdF and even some routes in the Lake District (a bit too gritty for me yet). I understand that you can upload your own GPS routes and ride them on a 2D map – but I’m yet to try this as I’m still enjoying watching the real world, especially some of the outrageous Italian motorists as they scream past frustrated at their inability to virtually run me down, even if it does make me flinch. New rides are added all the time so there is an element of novelty as well.

During your ride you will see perhaps another 20+ participants as markers grinding their way along the bottom of the screen, so you don’t have to suffer alone. Or if you download the video, you can do it all by yourself and feel a bit more adequate.

As yet the software doesn’t support group rides with friends, but it is planned. The other good things are that it costs less than £9 a

month, and the sun is always shining.

All your rides are recorded on your dashboard and you can take tests to establish your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) if you really have to.

If you don’t know what FTP is then good for you, but it’s a measure of your sustainable power output over a given time (usually watts/hour). 200-watts is above average, but a pro will double that at least –yawn. If you can manage to stay awake long enough you can divide your weight in kilos into the FTP watts to give your power/weight ratio. So, if you weigh 70kg and your power output is 210-watts then you are a 3… In my dreams.

The feel of the ride is quite similar, if not slightly harder than the real thing and the top-range systems even include road texture feedback, so it gets a step closer to reality, but nowhere near the degraded road surfaces in God’s county of Gloucestershire as there isn’t a “hitting a gert big pot-hole” simulator.

So far I have done about 1200 kilometres, and although it is demanding, I’m not yet discouraged, in fact I genuinely look forward to the sessions and feel I’m making some progress. The only small niggle is that freewheeling downhill requires you to keep the pedals moving gently even if you back off the power. If you stop pedalling the ride will eventually pause. This might not be the case on more expensive models.

I found that it’s a good idea to work-out near an open a window, turn off the heating, have a large water bottle to hand, put the rig on a waterproof mat, get a big fan and an even bigger towel as you will sweat to a ridiculous extent, unless

So, what’s the verdict? I’m pleased with Tacx Training and will stay with it –but, speaking for myself, I find that I’m stressed by the endless feedback data which mostly serves to spoil the ride experience

Long-distance cycling is about sustainable output over much longer times and distances and includes another kind of FTP – Feeling The Pleasure, something that is frequently overlooked and difficult to plot on a spread sheet.

My own love of cycling was born along the beautiful leafy lanes of Warwickshire when I was 14, riding my classic 531 Carlton – which I still have. A sandwich and a packet of Spangles in the saddlebag behind me and the long days of summer ahead. The only tech I had back then was a mechanical mileometer which clicked away the distance on my front wheel and occasionally removed a spoke or two.

Today, in contrast, many riders seem focused on power, performance and personal bests. Strava and the like, promote this competitive spirit and seem intent on turning everyone into magnificent, muscled machines. Nothing wrong with that I guess, but I’ve been riding bikes for more than 40 years and I love it still, and I have never come even close to magnificent… or even muscled for that matter.

I mention this because, of late, several cycling friends have confided in me that they have “fallen out of love” with cycling. I wonder if there is a connection between their preoccupation with fitness stats, together with almost obsessional quantifying and recording of activity, sustained by slick apps, smart tech and online comparisons, while they overlook the joy of simply riding, for no other reason than the transient pleasure of being alive.

Indoor trainers have a real function and are clever pieces of kit. However, I won’t be trading my road bike for the synthetic just yet.

But… take a look at my new Apple Watch. Wow. It gives me my calorie usage, records my walking, running, cycling, standing, heart rate, ECG, breathing, oxygen saturation, Vo2 and sleep patterns – as well as all my personality defects to 3 decimal places – dazzling, eh?

Yes, I really have got an Apple Watch. Good grief, what a loser…

Baking Biker The

Who doesn’t love an ice cream – especially on a long, hot ride? Commercial products are, of course, usually available, but nothing beats the taste of home-made. Arrivèe’s very own baking biker, Sarah Freeman, shows you how easy it is to make:

METHOD

Separate the egg, whisk the egg white with half the sugar and the yolk with the other half. It’s best to do the white first as the beater needs to be clean to get enough air and stiffness into the mix.

●

Boil the cream with the vanilla and whisk it into the yolk and sugar. Leave to cool. This must be whisked so the egg doesn’t cook.

Once cool, whisk into the white and sugar mix – and then freeze.

I use a small container into which I spread melted chocolate and then freeze before adding the ice cream and then re-freezing.

You can add other flavours – chocolate, by adding about 30g to the cream and melting it with the cream. You could add lemon curd too, I could go on forever.

SARAH FREEMAN Sarah Freeman combines her love of cycling with her passion for cooking. The Lincolnshire lass, who is also a keen WI member, loves to share her ideas for tasty bike-based snacks with fellow AUK members.

Rolling back

CLAUD HUNG AROUND at the back of the bike shed. Stripped of his components he waited, listening to the stories the other bikes told of their adventures, hoping his chance would come again.

As winter approached he sensed a growing fear from the others, they hated the grime. A plan was hatched with Chas and Dave (his chrome plated friends) even old Bob J agreed, their common fear of road salt uniting them.

Claud knew that any parking error in the tightly packed bike shed, would have damaging consequences.

One cold windy day, as I returned a serviced bike to its hook, they made their move, Chas swayed with Dave in close harmony and Bob jolted into Claud. The resonant echo emitted by his pinged tubes, was reveille-like in its effect. A call to arms had been raised and demanded attention.

Summoned by his call, fellow journeymen he had known since he left the factory and equally aged chums he had picked up over the decades, stirred from their hibernation and presented themselves. All desperate for action one more time.

First up was Monsieur Atom. He's truly one flange short of a hub. Born in France in 1977, Atom was wounded in action during a PBP campaign. In 1999 two spokes decided they wanted him to retire in his homeland and conspired to exit stage right ripping his flange apart 15km from a control. But this stout little hub and his Mavic rim rolled on and refused to give in. At the control a technician appeared, and mechanical magic was performed – two new spoke holes were drilled into his tiny flange and once again he ran true. No spoke has deserted his side since. Age may have weakened him, but not his spirit, no longer burdened with a seized cog he has flipped himself to accommodate a single freewheel.

Atom is Claud’s road captain, between them they picked our team of twentieth century survivors. Me, I’m just the Jacques Tati of all trades, that puts these old troupers together. I know their foibles and how to direct them.

So, how did Claud and I meet? He used to live with a friend of mine, Dick McTaggart, and was gifted to me some decades ago as a stopgap after I had broken a frame. Strangely, however, I can’t remember ever seeing them together! This

perturbs me as Claud’s livery is very distinctive: Angel Delight, Windolene or Maglia Rosa pink, take your pick. Claud kept me moving through that winter.

We had a brief audax career together a Gala C.C. Burns Supper 50K organised by Bruce Lees in 2006 and some route planning duties for a 200k I organised in 2009.

Time, unfortunately, is catching up on the auld Butler. The rust gods have taken their toll on his chain stays, full thickness pin prick holes and rusty pock marks now inhabit his bold pink frame. As for me, the flexibilité of youth has passed.

Over the years Claud, Atom and myself bonded. Road worthy we are not, but this winter we will ride again. We have become turbo trainer buddies. You might or might not like the magnetised hamster wheel and love or hate night riding. I love the latter and hate the former. Decades of nocturnal commuting alongside the river Tweed on B-roads using dynamos and “Never-Reddies” developed that joy, and Audaxing embedded it. I confess I do love hearing Dyna-mo hum – and no, I don’t have any Frank Zappa records.

So, we agreed a Baldrick-like cunning plan. Sanyo-San our venerable Japanese friend has joined us. He has insinuated himself with ninja like stealth behind Claud’s bottom bracket. Sanyo-san purrs away contentedly as we roll. No Peloton instructions or power meters for us. We aged purists gather at night, outdoors noses to the wind, but safely sheltered from rain sleet and snow. Shrouded in darkness we pedal towards a blackness punctured only by the warm glow of our 3-watt halogen bulb. No light but ours. Well almost none. A Vistalite with two of its five green diodes still active blinks away at us from its perch in an old apple tree thirty yards away. We like to think there are others out there.

As we ride, I’m thinking that the author Flann O'Brien was maybe on to something – perhaps personalities are affected by the interchange of atoms between bikes and their riders. You risk being assimilated if you spend your life with bicycles. Take care. “Buen ritmo” to you all.

● PS. Messrs Roberts, Yates and Jackson remain under house arrest at time of writing.

Ian Jackson wonders if living too long with bikes creates an inexplicable quantum entanglement with our ancient comrades from the roads of the past…

the years

Wherever the wind takes you

Ipswich-based rider Arabella Maude is a veteran of many Audax events but she insists that if your favourite form of transport is a bike, almost any journey, from visiting friends and family to work meetings, or just the wind being in the right direction, can offer a testing challenge.

In this report she describes some of her non-Audax rides…

ONE BUSY WEEKEND a few years ago

I needed to complete a 400km ride, watch my son play tennis on Saturday morning, and go to a family retirement celebration on Sunday lunchtime – while fitting in a visit to my parents.

My solution was a 300km loop from my front door in Ipswich on Friday, ride through the night, return home in time to spruce myself up, watch the tennis (while stuffing my face) then ride the remaining 100km down to the Tilbury ferry, take a train the rest of the way to East Kent, spend the afternoon, evening and Sunday morning with my parents before going to the retirement do, returning home on Sunday evening. Easy…

I dusted off my "300 DIY from my front door” route which included the delights of Thetford and the A11, tweaked for suitability as an overnight ride because the Thetford "open 24 hours" McDonalds is only open 24 hours to motorists. Hungry cyclists must pedal a further nine miles down to Barton Mills. For the final 100km, I devised a route via Maldon and the wilds of Essex (Wickford and Basildon), avoiding the A13.

The centre of Maldon is on a proper hill – I live in the flatlands of Suffolk and love the fens and their wide skies. On this route there were occasional views. I had a final snack in a café on the way up through Maldon. The route from Gravesend to

ARABELLA MAUDE

Arabella is an Audax veteran with PBP and LEL, among others, under her belt. She’s also ridden the Mersey Roads 24 hours, stoking tandem trike under the Willesden CC flag. She has been riding “properly” since 1989, before joining AUK in 2005 when she completed her first Audax ride.

Ebbsfleet station is designed for high volumes of traffic, not for cyclists. It is an endless desert of carparks.

Finally arriving at my parent’s house, I didn’t tell them that I'd been out on my bike the entire previous night, as they worry about me. They weren't impressed by my lack of sparkling conversation and witty repartee. I did get an early night but overslept, just about making it to the retirement celebrations.

Take two: Another August, and I'd planned a visit to my parents for the weekend. I had a spare Friday. Where's that route down to Tilbury? This time I removed the Maldon hill and all those conurbations of Essex. I used to cycle to and from London

Near Linford

up the A2 until I saw sense and started going via Shooters Hill and Gravesend, where the Tilbury ferry lands.

So version two of my "bike ride to East Kent" was born – a nice round 195km, including stops at Bicknacre farm shop, a sandwich in the restaurant on the ferry (except there isn’t a restaurant on the ferry) and probably another stop at the top of Chatham Hill. The A2 was busier than it used to be back in the late 1980s, but unavoidable as it was the only option for crossing the Medway. Then through surreal expanses with horses on the way from Stanford-le-Hope to Tilbury. After Canterbury I cut across country, running on auto pilot. A problem with DIY-notAudaxing is that you forgot to think of food stops – it was a hungry route.

Another year, and another iteration: This time I swapped the A2 for the North Downs Way. For those of you who have never tried this route, it goes along the North Downs, which are mostly chalk. The road is unsealed, so you're riding on a slick, chalk track which isn’t designed for a road bike. The bumpy ride culminated in a major puddle across the entire path. It was here that my route sheet made a bid for freedom on the wind. I retraced a mile back but couldn’t find it, so I returned to the puddle. I wheeled the front of the bike in. There was a chain of bubbles, presumably from my dyno hub. Eventually I decided to remove my sandals, roll up my trousers and paddle.

I discovered a plum tree at the top of the rise to Horndon-on-the-Hill. Time didn’t stand still as I stuffed my face, so I missed the ferry. I'd also managed to hit the lunch slot where there aren't any ferries for an hour. I should have looked at the ferry timetable before I set off to avoid such calamities.

So now running very late, and because this wasn't an Audax, I was faced with either navigating from a map with no route sheet or catching a train. I chose the train. It was slipping out of the station as I arrived, but luckily there was another – in 65 minutes.

Version three goes along the north Kent coast. There are views across the mouth of the Medway. The route is a bit convoluted, and there's no easy way to avoid the A2 across the Medway. I could always chance the A2 if I wanted a more direct route. It still came out at a handy 195km with no sensible control options. Definitely not an Audax.

Some of my non-Audax routes have involved riding to work meetings. Ipswich to London, for instance, is no more than a leg-stretch. I can re-create the Dunwich Dynamo, or saunter up the A12, or the

I don’t need to cycle to work meetings, but I like the idea of getting mileage for doing something I enjoy – though someone has worked out that the per mile allowance wouldn’t cover the calories expended.

Then there were meetings in Birmingham. The first time, I was up for a 300, so the trip back was a ride through the middle of Leicester at midnight, and a dog leg across the Fens. Croyland was all asleep at 2am, but there was one cashpoint. Fakenham was waking up, so the newsagents helped. Finally, the Buttercross café in Bungay does proper food.

Another meeting in Birmingham was followed immediately by one in Oswestry. I took the train from Birmingham to Wellington – and no-one complained about the bike, despite the carriage being rammed full. Then I rode off to Oswestry, avoiding the A5 as far as possible. Anyone know why there's somewhere called Ruyton XI Towns in north-west Shropshire? (Editor’s note: Ruyton was an important manor in the Middle Ages, responsible for ten other settlements, most of which have since disappeared.)

I stopped at the A5 garage-with-Spar to buy some breakfast for the next day, then rolled up for some sleep. The security guards parked my bike in the mail room.

They fed me cake and other comestibles, and allowed me to bed down in the first-aid room, complete with mattress, fluffy pillows, blankets and an ensuite. Best night on a bike ride ever.

Oswestry is nearer the Cotswolds than château Arabella, and the Cotswolds is also where my cousin lives, and where I’d been invited to stay – so I got up at 4am, ate my porridge, and headed off down the A5 to Shrewsbury before it got too busy. Then it was over Wenlock Edge and across to Bewdley where I had an interesting combination of toast, peanut butter, quinoa and honey (surprisingly good) before joining a sustrans route. It wasn’t suitable for road bikes – so I walked. My route followed the Severn along to Worcester, then across the Avon to Pershore, skirting Evesham, and down to Broadway and Snowshill. There were no views anywhere as it was a foggy day, but my cousin was expecting me.

This wasn’t my first trip to the Cotswolds. There were no meetings at all but an unusual easterly wind and a free Monday, starting in Peterborough. So I went back to my cousin from the opposite direction, assisted by the wind, and a pakora in Northampton.

On another spare Monday it was Peterborough to Norwich for lunch with my niece at the University of East Anglia. Meanwhile, my friend in the Lake District has asked why I’ve never cycled to her house. She’ll have to wait.

A118, and then deviate off to Noak Hill, and sneak around Chelmsford. You get a nice view back down to London.

North Downs way

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

400 17 Jun Anywhere, to York

Summer Arrow to York

06:00 Fri BR £15.00 15-30kph

Audax UK iddu.audax@gmail.com

Pat Hurt, 10 Newbury Road, Lambourn RG17 7LL

200 17 Jun Anywhere, to York

Summer Dart to York

06:00 Fri BR £5.00 15-30kph

Audax UK iddu.audax@gmail.com

Pat Hurt, 10 Newbury Road, Lambourn RG17 7LL

600 18 Jun Carlisle

Tour of the Borders and Galloway

07:00 Sat BRM 606km 5238m [5730m] £18.00 X G P T 15-27.5kph

Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Please enter online

100 18 Jun Copdock, nr Ipswich

The Copdock Circuit –Spring in South Suffolk

09:00 Sat BP 750m £7.00 LPRTM 12-30kph

Change of Date Suffolk CTC

Andy Terry, 70 Queensway, Lawford, Manningtree CO11 1EW

600 18 Jun Kings Cross-St Pancras Arts and Science, The London Midland Ride

07:00 Sat BRM 5040m [4893m] £9.00 X G R T (75) 15-30kph

Willesden CC ianaudax@gmail.com

Ian Oliver, 68 St Dunstans Avenue W3 6QJ

100 18 Jun Reading, Berkshire

Two Pints for Phil

09:00 Sat BP 108km 1000m £10.00 G NM R 15-30kph

Change of Date Cycling UK Reading

Edwin Raj, 312 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 6LS

55 18 Jun Reading, Berkshire

A Pint for Phil

09:00 Sat BP 425m [1000m] £10.00 G NM R 10-30kph

Updated Cycling UK Reading

Edwin Raj, 312 Henley Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 6LS

400 18 Jun Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Jelly Fish Legs

09:00 Sat BRM 409km 3300m [3700m] £8.00

X G P R T 15-30kph

Change of Date Herts Audax herts-audax@pm.me

Phil Whitehurst, 506 Archer Road, Stevenage SG1 5QL

200 18 Jun Tewkesbury

Drover’s Roads & Vale Tracks

07:30 Sat BR 212km 1747m [1770m] £7.50

C G L NM P T 14.3-25kph

BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com

ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE

200 19 Jun Bredbury, Stockport Summer Solstice

08:00 Sun BR 202km 700m £5.00 G P R T (100) 15-30kph

Change of Date Peak Audax CTC peakaudax@hotmail.co.uk

ROA 25000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Farm, Millcroft Lane, Delph OL3 5UX

100 19 Jun Bristol, BS1

The Randonnée, Bristol

09:30 Sun BP 109km 1300m £8.50 g p r 150 20/5 12-30kph

Audax Club Bristol

Isabel Rennie, 8 Cambridge Street, Redfield, Bristol BS5 9QH

67 19 Jun Carharrack, Cornwall

Mines and Mineral Railways (ON-road)

10:00 Sun BP [1100m] £5.00 C L P R T 8-28kph

Audax Kernow brindisijones@tiscali.co.uk

Simon Jones, The Cottage, Pulla Cross, Truro TR4 8SA

66 19 Jun Carharrack, Cornwall

Mines and Mineral Railways (OFF-road)

10:00 Sun BP 1100m AAA1 £5.00 C L P R T 8-28kph

Audax Kernow brindisijones@tiscali.co.uk

Simon Jones, The Cottage, Pulla Cross, Truro TR4 8SA

200 19 Jun Chelmer CC Club hut, Meteor Way, Chelmsford Windmill Ride

08:30 Sun BRM 201km 1600m £9.00

F G L P R T 15-30kph

Essex CTC s.eichenseher@googlemail.com

Stefan Eichenseher, 42A Whitegate Road, Southend-On-Sea SS1 2LQ

110 19 Jun Chelmer CC Club hut, Meteor Way, Chelmsford Windmill Ride

10:00 Sun BP 800m £9.00 F G L P R T 12-25kph

Essex CTC s.eichenseher@googlemail.com

Stefan Eichenseher, 42A Whitegate Road, Southend-On-Sea SS1 2LQ

200 19 Jun Cocking Village Hall, near Midhurst, Sussex Sussex Midsummer 200 BRM

07:30 Sun BRM 204km 2587m £12.00 F G L P R T M 15-30kph

Anton Brown abaudax1@btconnect.com

Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT

110 19 Jun Cocking Village Hall, near Midhurst, Sussex Sussex Midsummer Corker

09:00 Sun BP 116km 2080m AAA2 £12.00 F G

L P R T M (20) 12.5-30kph

Anton Brown abaudax1@btconnect.com

Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT

100 22 Jun Hampton Hill, W London London Midweek Sightseer

09:30 Wed BP 105km 400m £6.00

L P T 10-20kph

Hounslow & Dist. Whs 020 82873244 billcarnaby@outlook.com

Bill Carnaby, 225 High Street, Hampton Hill, Middlesex TW12 1NP

200 25 Jun Aldbrough St John, Nr Richmond Hartside 200

08:00 Sat BR 203km 2752m AAA3 [3000m] £6.50 F L P R T 14.4-30kph

VC 167 david.atkinson577@talktalk.net

David Atkinson, 4 Borrowby Avenue, Northallerton DL6 1AL

100 25 Jun Aldbrough St John, Nr Richmond

Northern Dales Summer Outing 09:00 Sat BP 1550m AAA1.5 £5.50 F L P R T 10-27kph

VC 167 david.atkinson577@talktalk.net

David Atkinson, 4 Borrowby Avenue, Northallerton DL6 1AL

57 25 Jun Aust (Severn View Services), Bristol Tintern Express 10:00 Sat BP 1082m AAA1 [830m] £8.00 G L P R T 12.5-30kph Updated Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG 600 25 Jun Churchend, Dunmow Fenland Friends (Flatlands Reversed) 06:00 Sat BRM 1073m £10.00 X T R M P C G L 15-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com

Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA

500 25 Jun Falmouth, Fish Strand Quay Ride the Trafalgar Way 06:00 Sat BR 6450m AAA6.5 £35.00 F G NM P T 15-30kph

Audax Club Bristol paul@audaxclubbristol.co.uk

Paul Rainbow, 49 Quarrington Road, Horfield, Bristol BS7 9PJ

400 25 Jun Heeley, Sheffield Banbury Cross

18:00 Sat BR 410km 4340m [4460m] £9.00 G L P R T (40) (23/06) 14.3-30kph Sheffield District CTC bigt.ridinghigh@gmail.com

Tony Gore, 8 Ladysmith Avenue, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1SF

600 25 Jun North Kessock, Nr Inverness

The North Coast Classic 600 06:00 Sat BRM 606km 6750m AAA6 [5950m] £30.00 A BD C F G NM P R T Z 15-25kp CTC Highland andrewuttley155@outlook.com

ROA 10000 Andy Uttley, Suil Na Mara, Wester Cullicudden, Balblair, Dingwall IV7 8LL

200 25 Jun Oxford, Oxfordshire Condordax

07:30 Sat BR 205km 1450m [650m] £5.00 G R T (100) 15-30kph

Updated Cowley Road Condors 07513 250851

Tim Doole

600 25 Jun Poole Brimstone 600

06:00 Sat BRM 7560m AAA7.5 £10.00 L M (50) (11/6) 15-30kph

CTC Wessex Cycling

Shawn Shaw, 22 Shaftesbury Road, Denmark Gardens, Poole BH15 2LT 110 25 Jun Severn View Services

Aust, Bristol Devilish Devauden

09:00 Sat BP 111km 1815m AAA1.75 [1550m] £9.00 G L P R T 12.5-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

600 25 Jun Sleaford

Yorkshire via Essex

06:00 Sat BRM £7.00 X G P R 15-30kph

Updated Audax Club Lincolnshire lincsaudax@gmail.com

Richard Parker, 28 High Street, Carlton Le Moorland, Lincoln LN5 9HT

200 25 Jun Tamworth, Staffordshire

Wem We Get There

08:00 Sat BR 1800m [1m] £7.00 G P R T (25/5)

15-30kph

Tamworth CC

David Baston, 62 Broadlee, Wilnecote, Tamworth B77 4PG

100 25 Jun Tamworth

Strawberries & Hay

09:00 Sat BP 800m £5.00 G P R T (25/5) 15-30kph

Tamworth CC

David Baston, 62 Broadlee, Wilnecote, Tamworth B77 4PG

300 26 Jun Bethersden, near Ashford, Kent

Fairies Centenary Imperial Double Century

01:00 Sun BR 322km 1250m £11.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC 07718 812 453

bobwatts999@gmail.com

Bob Watts, 13 The Grove, Bearsted, Maidstone ME14 4JB

200 26 Jun Bethersden, near Ashford, Kent Fairies Centenary Metric Double Century

08:00 Sun BR 206km 800m £10.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC 07718 812 453

bobwatts999@gmail.com

Bob Watts, 13 The Grove, Bearsted, Maidstone ME14 4JB

160 26 Jun Bethersden, near Ashford, Kent Fairies Centenary Imperial Century

08:30 Sun BP 161km 650m £9.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC 07718 812 453

bobwatts999@gmail.com

Bob Watts, 13 The Grove, Bearsted, Maidstone ME14 4JB

100 26 Jun Bethersden, near Ashford, Kent Fairies Centenary Metric Century

09:00 Sun BP 101km 250m £8.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC bobwatts999@gmail.com Bob Watts, 13 The Grove, Bearsted, Maidstone ME14 4JB

51 26 Jun Bethersden, near Ashford, Kent Fairies Centenary Half Century

10:00 Sun BP 200m £7.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph San Fairy Ann CC 07718 812 453 bobwatts999@gmail.com

Bob Watts, 13 The Grove, Bearsted, Maidstone ME14 4JB

200 26 Jun Heeley, Sheffield Eager Belvoir

08:00 Sun BR 209km 2030m [2190m] £6.00 G L P R T (50) (23/06) 14.3-30kph

Sheffield District CTC bigt.ridinghigh@gmail.com

Tony Gore, 8 Ladysmith Avenue, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1SF

110 26 Jun Heeley, Sheffield

‘Mad, Bad, Great and Good’

09:00 Sun BP 1430m [1540m] £6.00 G L P R T (40) (23/06) 12.5-25kph

Sheffield District CTC bigt.ridinghigh@gmail.com

Tony Gore, 8 Ladysmith Avenue, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1SF

63 26 Jun Heeley, Sheffield

Stubbing Around North Derbyshire

09:30 Sun BP 1010m AAA1 £6.00 G L R T (30) (24/06) 10-20kph

Sheffield District CTC bigt.ridinghigh@gmail.com Tony Gore, 8 Ladysmith Avenue, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1SF

200 26 Jun Lower Whitley, nr Warrington N C C The Big Wizard

08:00 Sun BR 2790m AAA2.25 [2200m] £8.00 F G P R Y 15-30kph

North Cheshire Clarion neilshand67@gmail.com

Neil Shand, 12 Chapel Close, Comberbach Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6BA

150 26 Jun Lower Whitley, nr Warrington

N C C ‘The Little Big Wizard’

08:30 Sun BP 2000m AAA2 [1910m] £8.00 F G

P R Y 15-30kph

North Cheshire Clarion neilshand67@gmail.com

Neil Shand, 12 Chapel Close, Comberbach, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6BA

120 26 Jun Lower Whitley, nr Warrington

N C C ‘New Little Wizard Audax’

09:00 Sun BP 1050m £8.00 F G P R T 15-30kph

North Cheshire Clarion neilshand67@gmail.com

Neil Shand, 12 Chapel Close, Comberbach, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6BA

200 26 Jun Tockwith,York

Tocky 200km

08:30 Sun BR 950m £7.50 LPRT 15-30kph

CTC North Yorks 01423358264

Nick Folkard, 208 Prince Rupert Drive, York YO26 7PU

100 26 Jun Tockwith, York

Tockwith Audax

10:00 Sun BP 550m £7.00 L P R T 12-25kph

CTC North Yorks 01423358264

Nick Folkard, 208 Prince Rupert Drive, York YO26 7PU

60 26 Jun Tockwith, York

Tockwith Audax

10:30 Sun BP 300m £5.00 L P R T 10-30kph

CTC North Yorks 01423358264

Nick Folkard, 208 Prince Rupert Drive, York YO26 7PU

400 01 Jul Haymarket, Edinburgh

Auld Alliance 2022

21:00 Fri BRM £20.00 F G 15-22.5kph

Audax Ecosse graemewyllie05@gmail.com

Graeme Wyllie, paypal entries only

300 02 Jul Beech Hill, S of Reading

The Rural South

06:00 Sat BR 3450m £11.00 L P R T 15-30kph

Cycling UK Reading offroad@readingctc.co.uk

Ian Doyle, 21 Woodford Close, Caversham, Reading RG4 7HN

200 02 Jul Beech Hill, S of Reading Up the Downs – Alan Furley Memorial Ride

08:00 Sat BR 204km 2250m £9.50 G L P R T 15-30kph

Cycling UK Reading nickclark2020@gmail.com

Nick Clark, 19 Chilmark Road, Trowbridge BA14 9DD

100 02 Jul Beech Hill, S of Reading

Down the Ups – Alan Furley memorial ride

09:00 Sat BP 105km 1050m £8.50 G L P R T 10-30kph

Cycling UK Reading nickclark2020@gmail.com

Nick Clark, 19 Chilmark Road, Trowbridge BA14 9DD

200 02 Jul Bolsover

Rutland and Back

08:00 Sat BR 212km 1532m £8.50 G L P R T (75) (18/06) 15-30kph

Audax Club Bolsover 07936099268 audaxbolsover@castlecycles.co.uk

Malcolm Smith, 14 Highfield Road, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6TY

200 02 Jul Coryton, N Cardiff

Down (with) the British

07:00 Sat BR 201km 4190m AAA4.25 [4000m] £9.00 YH G P R T 14.3-25kph

CTC Cardiff 07973965930

mackay.hugh@iCloud.com

Hugh Mackay, 131 Stanwell Road, Penarth CF64 3LL

200 02 Jul Cutty Sark Gardens, London

The Way to the Sea 08:00 Sat BRM 209km 1900m [650m] £7.50 F P G T R (140) 15-30kph

Audax Club Hackney 07811976853

adam.alexander.young@gmail.com

Adam Young, 15A New Cut, Hadleigh IP7 5DA

600 02 Jul Exeter

The Exe-Buzzard 06:00 Sat BRM 6200m AAA1.5 [1550m] £6.00 G X 15-30kph

Exeter Whs 01404 46993 ian@ukcyclist.co.uk

ROA 25000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street, Honiton EX14 1PU

110 02 Jul Kirkby Stephen

We went on audax by mistake 09:30 Sat BP 1780m AAA1.75 £5.00 X 10-30kph

VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com

Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER

130 02 Jul Mangotsfield, Bristol

The Avon Cycleway 130

09:00 Sat BP 1300m [1100m] £8.50 T R P F 12.5-25kph

Audax Club Bristol bairdy.diyevents@gmail.com (paypal entry only please)

200 02 Jul Ponteland

The Four Tops

08:00 Sat BR 201km 2800m AAA2.75 [2790m] £5.00 X G P T 15-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online 600 02 Jul Poynton, S of Stockport A Pair of Kirtons

06:00 Sat BRM 3000m £14.00 A1 F G P R T Z 15-30kph Peak Audax CTC 01457 870 421 peakaudax@hotmail.co.uk

ROA 25000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Fm, Millcroft Lane, Delph, Saddleworth OL3 5UX 200 03 Jul Denshaw, Saddleworth Bowland

08:00 Sun BR 3850m AAA3.75 £8.00 P R T G 15-30kph

Saddleworth Clarion nephialty@gmail.com

Nephi Alty, Heath House View, Ridings Lane, Golcar, Huddersfield HD7 4PZ 100 03 Jul Denshaw, Saddleworth Widdop

09:00 Sun BP 2100m AAA2 £8.00 P R T G 10-25kph

Saddleworth Clarion nephialty@gmail.com

Nephi Alty, Heath House View, Ridings Lane, Golcar, Huddersfield HD7 4PZ 1400 03 Jul Land’s End, Cornwall LEJOG 1400

09:00 Sun BRM 1402km 12000m [6000m] £146.00 BD C F R S T Z 500 12-30kph

Change of Date Burnley CC burnleysportiv@yahoo.com

Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive, Ightenhill, Burnley BB12 8AT 300 03 Jul Penzance

Many Rivers to Cross 06:30 Sun BR 307km 4699m AAA4.75 [4940m] £3.50 X YH C G 15-30kph

Audax Kernow martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk

Martyn Aldis, Tretawne, Green Lane, Crantock, Newquay TR8 5RF 200 03 Jul Penzance

Four Hundreds 200

08:00 Sun BR 207km 3165m AAA3.25 [3760m] £3.50 X G YH C 15-30kph

Audax Kernow martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk

Martyn Aldis, Tretawne, Green Lane, Crantock, Newquay TR8 5RF

110 03 Jul Ponteland

The Three Valleys

08:00 Sun BP 117km 1312m [1500m] £5.00 X G P T 14.3-25kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Please enter online

400 08 Jul Nantwich, CW5 6PQ Aberdaron 400km 21:00 Fri BRM 416km 5140m AAA5 £12.00 G L P R T 15-30kph

Brandon Edgeley

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH 300 09 Jul Bushley

Yr Elenydd … in memory of Dave Pountney 06:00 Sat BR 315km 4570m AAA4.5 £11.00 C G L NM P R T (10/4) 15-25kph BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com

ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE 300 09 Jul Darlington

Beyond the Dales We Know 06:00 Sat BRM 3700m AAA3.75 [3450m] £10.00 C G L NM R T 15-30kph VC 167 dean.clementson@icloud.com

Dean Clementson, 10 Redmire Close, Darlington DL1 2ER 300 09 Jul Galashiels

The Snow Hare Takes the Scenic Route 06:00 Sat BRM 2500m £12.00 P T X G 15-30kph Scottish Borders Randonneur 01896 758 181 pedaller1@sky.com

ROA 25000 Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria St, Galashiels, Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 600 09 Jul Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifa The 3 Coasts 600 06:00 Sat BRM 607km 5200m £12.50 A-3 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 600 09 Jul Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifax The East & West Coasts 600 06:00 Sat BRM 605km 4380m [5380m] £12.50 A-3 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 09 Jul Nantwich, CW5 6PQ

CCW Ruthin 200 08:00 Sat BR 2580m AAA2.25 [2310m] £8.00 G L P R T 15-30kph

Crewe Clarion

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH 100 09 Jul Nantwich

Baschurch 120km 09:00 Sat BP £8.00 G L P R T (30) 14.3-30kph

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH 50 09 Jul Nantwich

Alderford Lake 60km 09:30 Sat BP £6.50 G L P R T (30) 12.5-30kph

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH

200 09 Jul Warmley, Bristol

Plains, Trains & no more Automobiles

07:00 Sat BR 2190m [1900m] £8.00 YH G P R T 15-30kph

Change of Date Audax Club Bristol Bristol

100 10 Jul Beech, Nr Alton

The Jim Woods Memorial Ride

09:00 Sun BP 956m £10.00 G L NM P R T 100 2/7 13-30kph

Alton CC

John Heath 11 Princess Drive, Alton Hants GU34 1QS

200 10 Jul Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifax

The Good Companions

08:30 Sun BRM 2697m AAA1.75 [1631m] £6.00 L P R T S YH (30) 15-30kph

Calderdale CTC chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk

ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley Street West, Sowerby Bridge HX6 1EF

200 10 Jul Perranwell, S of Truro

Lizard and the Camel

08:00 Sun BR 208km 2662m [2550m] £8.00 G R F L P T C 14.4-30kph

Audax Kernow

martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk

Martyn Aldis, Tretawne, Green Lane, Crantock, Newquay TR8 5RF

54 10 Jul Perranwell, S of Truro

Peter\’s Point

10:00 Sun BP 830m [800m] £7.00 G R F L P T C 12-28kph

Audax Kernow

martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk

Martyn Aldis, Tretawne, Green Lane, Crantock, Newquay TR8 5RF

100 10 Jul Perranwell, S of Truro Red River Blue Sea

09:00 Sun BP 107km 1305m [1300m] £7.00 G R F L P T C 12-28kph

Audax Kernow

martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk

Martyn Aldis, Tretawne, Green Lane, Crantock, Newquay TR8 5RF

1000 13 Jul Raynes Park

London – Anglesey – London

22:00 Wed BRM 1021km 10670m [11500m] £15.00 X G L R T (150) (30/6) 13.3-30kph

Updated Kingston Wheelers

laidbackaroundtheworld@gmail.com

Richard Evans, 29 Somerset Avenue, Raynes Park, London SW20 0BJ

300 15 Jul Churchend, Dunmow, Essex Hereward the Wake

21:00 Fri BRM 301km 1107m £10.00

X M G T P C R L 15-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com

Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA

200 16 Jul Corwen

Barmouth Boulevard

08:00 Sat BR 204km 3650m AAA3.75 £7.50 R G L P T (30) 14.3-30kph

Updated Chester & North Wales CTC grahamhines1@icloud.com

Graham Hines, 33 Dee View Road, Connah’s Quay CH5 4AY

60 16 Jul Corwen

Bala Parade

09:00 Sat BP 700m £7.50 T P R L G (40) 10-20kph

Updated Chester & North Wales CTC grahamhines1@icloud.com

Graham Hines, 33 Dee View Road, Connah’s Quay CH5 4AY

600 16 Jul Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth Nothing to Môn about

06:00 Sat BRM 612km £10.00 G P X 15-30kph Audax Cymru 07771812900 andy.andsl@gmail.com

Andy Cox, Aberdauddwr, Aberffrwd, Aberystwyth SY23 3ND

400 16 Jul Newark Northgate Sta, Notts Lincolnshire Poacher

06:00 Sat BR 1800m £7.00 X A1 L P R 15-30kph

Audax Club Lincolnshire lincsaudax@gmail.com

Richard Parker, 28 High Street, Carlton Le Moorland, Lincoln LN5 9HT

400 16 Jul Ponteland

Annan Other Borders

07:00 Sat BRM 408km 3769m [3090m] £5.00 X G P T 15-30kph

Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online

200 17 Jul Elstead Village Hall, Surrey

The Nearly Stonehenge 200

08:00 Sun BR 207km 2295m [2200m] £7.00

F L P R T 15-30kph

West Surrey CC 01428 642013

nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk

Nicholas Davison, The Bield, Mill Copse Road, Haslemere GU27 3DN

150 17 Jul Elstead Village Hall, Surrey

The Danebury 150 09:00 Sun BP 156km 1550m £7.00 F L P R T 13-30kph

West Surrey CC 01428 642013

nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk

Nicholas Davison, The Bield, Mill Copse Road, Haslemere GU27 3DN 110 17 Jul Elstead Village Hall, Surrey

The Overton 100 09:30 Sun BP 112km 1250m £7.00 F L P R T 12-25kph

West Surrey CC 01428 642013

nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk

Nicholas Davison, The Bield, Mill Copse Road, Haslemere GU27 3DN

200 17 Jul The Steyning Centre, Steyning, W Sussex

The Devils Punchbowl 200 BRM 08:00 Sun BRM 206km 2248m £10.00 F G P T R 15-30kph

Anton Brown abaudax1@btconnect.com

Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT

110 17 Jul The Steyning Centre, Steyning, W Sussex

The Devils Punchbowl 100 09:00 Sun BP 112km 1106m [1200m] £10.00 F G P T R 15-30kph

Anton Brown abaudax1@btconnect.com

Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue, Haywards Heath RH16 3RT

100 20 Jul St Johns Chapel

St Johns Chapel

09:00 Wed BP 109km 1888m AAA2 [1850m] £6.00 G P R T (40) 15-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Please enter online

300 22 Jul Baldock, Hertfordshire

Rutland Midnight Express 23:59 Fri BRM 2300m £7.00 X G P 15-25kph

Herts Audax herts-audax@pm.me

Phil Whitehurst, 506 Archer Road, Stevenage SG1 5QL

200 23 Jul Belbroughton, N Worcestershire

The Kidderminster Killer 08:00 Sat BR 213km 3700m AAA3.75 £10.00

F L P R S T (150) (8/8) 14.6-30kph Beacon RCC 01562731606

p.whiteman@bham.ac.uk

Philip Whiteman, 2 Drayton Terrace, Drayton, Belbroughton, Stourbridge DY9 0BW

160 23 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk

100 miles of Suffolk Lanes

08:45 Sat BP 168km 1062m £6.00 L G P T 15-30kph

CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com

Robin Weaver, 14 Chapel Street, Bildeston, Ipswich IP7 7EP

100 23 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk Bildeston Lanes

09:30 Sat BP 104km 672m £6.00 L P T G 15-30kph

CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com

Robin Weaver, 14 Chapel Street, Bildeston, Ipswich IP7 7EP

50 23 Jul Bildeston

Jane’s Lanes

10:00 Sat BP 460m [450m] £5.00 G P T L 12-24kph

CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com

Robin Weaver, 14 Chapel Street, Bildeston, Ipswich IP7 7EP

200 23 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk

Suffolk Lanes Extravaganza

08:00 Sat BR 209km 1304m £6.00 L P T G 1530kph

CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com

Robin Weaver, 14 Chapel Street, Bildeston, Ipswich IP7 7EP

300 23 Jul Chepstow

Devils Hell

06:00 Sat BR 6410m AAA6.5 £12.00 X G L P R T 15-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573

oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

200 23 Jul Chepstow

10 Peaks Audacious Challenge

07:30 Sat BR 218km 4413m AAA4.5 £10.00 F G

L R T P 15-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

150 23 Jul Chepstow

Canal Boats & Mountain Roads

08:00 Sat BP 159km 3182m AAA3.25 £8.00

F G L R T P 15-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

300 23 Jul Cresswell

Solway Coast C2C2C

07:00 Sat BR 304km 2741m [2912m] £18.00

F G P R T 15-30kph

Tyneside Vagabonds audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Andy Berne, 5 Oakham Avenue, Whickham, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE16 5YU

200 24 Jul Morrisons Supermarket, Hawick TD9 9NQ

Seahouses and Back

08:00 Sun BR 209km 2520m £8.50 X G NM P R (30) 15-30kph

Hawick CC david.killean@btinternet.com

David Killean, 4 Wester Braid Road, Hawick TD9 9NA

200 24 Jul Newton Abbot, Devon

Shore to Moor 200

08:00 Sun BR 2950m AAA3 £10.00 F G L P R T 15-30kph

Devon CTC brodie@bikerider.com

ROA 5000 Graham Brodie, Homelands, 10 Courtenay Road, Newton Abbot TQ12 1HP

100 24 Jul Newton Abbot, Devon

Devon Delight

09:00 Sun BP 108km 1150m £12.00 F G L P R T 10-25kph

Devon CTC brodie@bikerider.com

ROA 5000 Graham Brodie, Homelands, 10 Courtenay Road, Newton Abbot TQ12 1HP

100 27 Jul Marple

Dark Peak Grimpeur

10:00 Wed BP 106km 2100m AAA2 £7.50 P R T (60) (25/7) 12.5-25kph

Peak Audax CTC

James Rees, 5 Lyme Grove, Marple SK6 7NW

160 30 Jul Alveston

Rumble on the Tumble

09:00 Sat BP 2500m £7.50 G P T 15-30kph

Updated Audax Club Bristol bairdy.diyevents@gmail.com (paypal entry only please)

200 30 Jul The Ship, Alveston Rollin’ and Tumblin’

08:30 Sat BR 3100m AAA3 £8.50 T, P, G 14.4-30kph

Updated Audax Club Bristol bairdy.diyevents@gmail.com (paypal entry only please)

200 30 Jul Witham, Essex Essex R&R

08:00 Sat BR 215km 1400m £10.00 G L P R T X 14.3-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex grant@huggys.co.uk

Grant Huggins, 76 Bryony Close, Witham CM8 2XF

100 30 Jul Witham, Essex A little Essex R&R

09:00 Sat BP 107km 750m £10.00 G L P R T X 12-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex grant@huggys.co.uk

Grant Huggins, 76 Bryony Close, Witham CM8 2XF

100 03 Aug Marple, Memorial Park, SK6 Mid Peak Grimpeur

10:00 Wed BP 109km 2300m AAA2.25 £7.50 L P R T 40 (31/7) 12.5-25kph Peak Audax CTC chris.keelingroberts@ntlworld.com

Chris Keeling-roberts

17 Lower Strines Road, Marple SK6 7DL 300 06 Aug Bushley, Nr Tewkesbury

A Rough Diamond

06:00 Sat BRM 301km 2500m [3450m] £10.50 C F G L NM P R T Z 250 15-30kph

Updated BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com

ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE

1500 07 Aug Loughton, Essex London Edinburgh London

05:00 Sun BRM 1516km 14080m AAA11 [10980m] £360.00 C F L P R T S NM Z (750) 12-30kph LEL 2013

ROA 10000 London Edinburgh London team, 11 Heather Avenue, Hellesdon, Norwich NR6 6LU

110 07 Aug Shere Village Hall, Guildford GU5 9HE Tour of the Hills 09:30 Sun BP 115km 2150m AAA2.25 £10.00

F L P R T 225 15-30kph West Surrey Cycling Club 07711873924

Derek Ridyard, 1 Woodhill Court, Woking GU23 7JR

200 13 Aug AbbeyWood Retail Park Filton, Bristol Looks like a Welsh Dragon 07:30 Sat BR 215km 3420m AAA3.5 £10.00

X G T 15-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573

oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

160 13 Aug Abbeywood, Filton, Bristol All that Glitters isn’t Gold –Century Ride

08:00 Sat BP 2209m AAA2.25 [2130m] £9.00

X G R T 15-30kph

Audax Cymru 07503541573

oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

150 13 Aug Bovey Tracey, Devon Dartmoor Ghost 22:30 Sat BP 154km 2550m AAA2.5 £17.00

F G L R T 12.5-25kph

South Devon CTC 01626 833 749 kevin.hindstreet@btinternet.com

ROA 5000 Kevin Presland, Hind Street House, Hind Street, Bovey Tracey, Devon TQ13 9HT

200 13 Aug Motorlegs Cycle Workshop, Cardiff double epynt

06:30 Sat BR £8.50 x 15-30kph

Change of Date Motorlegs Cycle Workshop 07530956181

David Hann, 20 Tudor Lane, Riverside CF116AZ

150 13 Aug Stamford Bridge, Near York 150km Over the Wolds to Flamborough Head

08:30 Sat BP 152km 756m [928m] £6.00 P R T 14-25kph

York Wednesday Wheelers andrich@hotmail.co.uk

Andrew Richardson, 2 Cherry Paddock, Stamford Bridge, York YO41 1AZ

100 13 Aug Stamford Bridge, Near York Wolds 100

10:00 Sat BP 108km 749m £6.00 P R T 14-25kph

York Wednesday Wheelers andrich@hotmail.co.uk

Andrew Richardson, 2 Cherry Paddock, Stamford Bridge, York YO41 1AZ 110 17 Aug Maidenhead

Riverside to Riverside

10:00 Wed BP 118km 900m £5.00 P R T 15-30kph

Willesden CC anemograby@hotmail.com

Anne Mograby, 5 Castle Farm, Leigh Square, Windsor SL4 4PT

100 17 Aug Marple Memorial Park

White Peak Grimpeur

10:00 Wed BP 103km 2150m AAA2.25 £7.50 G P R T 60 12.5-25kph

Peak Audax CTC

mooney_je@yahoo.co.uk

John Mooney, 9 Kingfisher Mews, Stockport Road, Marple, Stockport SK6 6DA 200 19 Aug Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh

Friday Night Ride to the Bay 23:59 Fri BRM £15.00 YH P G 14.3-30kph Change of Date Audax Ecosse

graemewyllie05@gmail.com

Graeme Wyllie, paypal entries only 200 20 Aug Heeley, Sheffield Edible Audax 08:00 Sat BR 205km 4080m AAA4 £8.00 GLPRT 14.4-30kph

Sheffield District CTC

Andy Smith, 1 Durvale Court, Dore, Sheffield S17 3PT

110 20 Aug Heeley, Sheffield Edible 100

09:00 Sat BP 115km 2200m AAA2 £8.00 GLPRT 8.3-30kph

Sheffield District CTC Andy Smith, 1 Durvale Court, Dore, Sheffield S17 3PT

200 20 Aug Horsham

Airbourne 200 08:00 Sat BR 2000m £3.00 X 15-30kph West Sussex CTC malinseastg@tiscali.co.uk Martin Malins, 4 Longacre Crescent, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath RH17 5HG

200 20 Aug Peckham Rye Oh! To be in Kent

08:00 Sat BR 202km 2300m [650m] £7.50 R G F 15-30kph

Updated Dulwich Paragon sahcrossley@yahoo.co.uk Samuel Crossley, 88 Perry Vale, London SE23 2LQ

400 20 Aug Tewkesbury

Hafren, land of the summer fallow 06:15 Sat BR 403km 5080m AAA5 [5050m] £3.50 100, X,C,G,NM,P,R,T 14.3-25kph

BlackSheep CC blacksheepaudax@gmail.com

ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, The Dwellings, Woodhall Farm Barns, Wichenford, Worcester WR6 6YE

200 20 Aug The Compasses, Littley Green Hopstock 200

08:00 Sat BRM 1201m £5.00 C G L M P R T 15-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA

50 20 Aug The Compasses, Littley Green

Hopstock 50km

10:00 Sat BP 255m £5.00 C G L P R T 8.3-25kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com

Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA

100 21 Aug Ponteland

Summer’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

500 26 Aug Bristol

The Giant’s Tooth

21:00 Fri BR 8250m AAA8.25 £12.00 YH X F G L 14.3-25kph

Audax Club Bristol, Bristol

200 27 Aug Newtonmore, Chef’s Grill

Forres Foray

08:00 Sat BR 209km £2.00 X L P R T 15-30kph

Cycling UK Highland biker_carroll@hotmail.com

ROA 10000 Please enter on line

100 27 Aug Newtonmore

Grantown Gallop

10:00 Sat BP 104km 750m £1.00 X C L P R T (20) 10-25kph

CTC Highland biker_carroll@hotmail.com

ROA 10000 Steve Carroll, 6 Castle Gardens, Dingwall IV15 9HY

200 28 Aug Selkirk

Devils Porridge

08:00 Sun BR £4.00 X,G,P 15-30kph

Scottish Borders Randonneur 01750 20838 russellacarson@gmail.com

Russell Carson, 21 Ladylands Terrace, Selkirk TD7 4BB

110 31 Aug Marple Library Car Park, SK66BA

Staffs Peak Super-Grimpeur

10:00 Wed BP 2650m AAA2.75 [2800m] £7.50

G P R T 60 (8/8) 12.5-25kph

Peak Audax CTC peakaudax@hotmail.co.uk

ROA 25000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Farm, Millcroft Lane, Delph OL3 5UX

1000 01 Sep Witham, Essex

The Flatish ACME Grand

11:00 Thu BRM 3055m [3m] £5.00 X C G M P T

13.3-30kph

Audax Club Mid-Essex tom.deakins@btinternet.com

Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway, Dunmow CM6 2AA

400 03 Sep Brampton Border Nights

15:00 Sat BRM 404km 3353m [3362m] £12.00

X G P T 15-25kph

Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Please enter online

200 03 Sep Carbrooke, near Watton, Norfolk

Suffolk coast and back

07:30 Sat BR £6.00 GLNMPRT (30) 15-30kph

CC Breckland johntommo6@btinternet.com

John Thompson, 136 Dell Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft NR33 9NT

160 03 Sep Carbrooke, nr Watton, Norfolk

The Breckland Ton

08:30 Sat BP £6.00 F G L NM P R T (30) 15-30kph

CC Breckland johntommo6@btinternet.com

John Thompson, 136 Dell Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft NR33 9NT

100 03 Sep Carbrooke, near Watton, Norfolk

South Norfolk Loop

09:00 Sat BP £6.00 G,L,NM, P,R, T (30) 10-30kph

CC Breckland johntommo6@btinternet.com

John Thompson, 136 Dell Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft NR33 9NT

50 03 Sep Carbrooke, nr Watton, Norfolk

South Norfolk Mini-Loop

10:00 Sat BP £6.00 F G L NM P R T (30) 10-30kph

CC Breckland johntommo6@btinternet.com

John Thompson, 136 Dell Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft NR33 9NT

200 03 Sep Dunblane

Lyon, Lawers and Moors

08:00 Sat BR 209km 2538m AAA2.5 [2562m] £8.00 G L P R T (70) (22/8) 15-30kph

Stirling Bike Club lyonlawersmoors@gmail.com

110 03 Sep Reepham, nr Lincoln

Lincoln Imp

09:30 Sat BP 112km 800m £5.00 G L P R T 15-30kph

Cycling UK Lincolnshire andy.town@ntlworld.com

Andrew Townhill, 21 Rudgard Avenue, Cherry Willingham, Lincoln LN3 4JQ

200 03 Sep Tenby

Velos’ Indian summer secret

07:00 Sat BRM 2770m AAA2.25 [2150m] £10.00 C F G NM P T R (30) 15-30kph

Pembrokeshire Velo

Richard Coomer, Cotts Equine Hospital, Robeston Wathen, Narberth Pembrokeshire SA67 8EY

200 03 Sep Tewkesbury

Mr. Pickwick goes to Hay in a day

08:00 Sat BR 209km 2000m £7.00

C 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

200 04 Sep Surbiton, Greater London Rowlands Ramble

07:30 Sun BR 213km 2700m [2550m] £15.00

F G L P R T (150) (1/9) 14.3-30kph

Kingston Wheelers

Dominic Trevett, Flat 22, Sixth Floor, Northwood Hall, Hornsey Lane, London N6 5PN

100 07 Sep St Johns Chapel

St Johns Chapel

09:00 Wed BP 104km 1667m AAA1.75 [1850m] £6.00 G P R T 14.3-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com

Please enter online

200 10 Sep Abbeywood Retail Park, Bristol Welsh Ruins

07:45 Sat BR 214km 3720m AAA3.75 [3405m] £10.00 F G T 15-30kph Audax Cymru 07503541573 oliveriles@gmx.com

Oliver Iles, 49 Upper Belmont Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 9DG

200 10 Sep Frenchay, Bristol

Slaughtered in the Cotswolds

07:00 Sat BR 2728m AAA2.75 [2810m] £8.00 G L P R T 15-30kph

Change of Date Audax Club Bristol

Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG

160 10 Sep Frenchay, Bristol

Granny’s Cotswolds Telegram

07:30 Sat BP 2191m AAA2 [2200m] £7.50

G L P R T 12.5-25kph

Change of Date Audax Club Bristol

Will Pomeroy, 19 Berwick Road, Bristol BS5 6NG

200 10 Sep Heeley, Sheffield

The Amber Weaver

08:00 Sat BR 212km 3250m AAA3 [3850m]

£6.00 L P R T G 14.3-30kph

Sheffield District CTC 07767354606

Andy Smith, 1 Durvale Court, Dore, Sheffield S17 3PT

100 10 Sep Heeley, Sheffield

An Amber Gambol

09:00 Sat BP 104km 1470m AAA1.5 [1750m] £6.00 L P R T G 12-25kph

Sheffield District CTC

Andy Smith, 1 Durvale Court, Dore, Sheffield S17 3PT

200 10 Sep Kelmscott, nr Oxford

The Morris Major

08:00 Sat BR 210km 2000m [650m] £10.00

F P T (40) 15-30kph Other

Peter Davis, 47 Main Street, Sedgeberrow, Evesham WR11 7UE

100 10 Sep Kelmscott, nr Lechlade

The Morris Minor

09:00 Sat BP 1000m [950m] £7.50 F P T (40) 12.5-30kph Other

Peter Davis, 47 Main Street, Sedgeberrow, Evesham WR11 7UE

200 10 Sep Portobello, Nr Edinburgh Lumpy Bannocks tae Spott 08:00 Sat BR 203km 2422m [2350m] £5.00

F G L P T 15-30kph

Musselburgh RCC 07852105204

Alistair Mackintosh, 5 Durham Road South, Edinburgh EH15 3PD 200 10 Sep Richmond Park, Pembroke Lodge

The White Hart 08:00 Sat BR 1594m £10.00 F T NM G P 14.3-30kph

Audax Club Hackney tsaudax@gmail.com

Tim Sollesse, 59 Lynwood Road, Ealing W5 1JG 200 10 Sep Wormingford

Wormingford Dragon 08:00 Sat BR 1639m [1m] £10.00 X G P R T (19/8) 15-30kph

CC Sudbury 01206 323521

ian.lovelock@btinternet.com

Ian Lovelock, Old School House, Crown Street, Dedham, Colchester CO7 6AS 100 10 Sep Wormingford Wormingford Wyrm 09:00 Sat BP £10.00 15-30kph

CC Sudbury 01206 323521 ian.lovelock@btinternet.com

Ian Lovelock, Old School House, Crown Street, Dedham, Colchester CO7 6AS 100 11 Sep Honeyborne, nr Evesham Barnt Green Bash 08:45 Sun BP 103km 950m £5.50 F P R T 1230kph

Evesham & Dist Whs 07977 516574 neilrob3@gmail.com

Neil Robinson, Flat 7, Swans Reach, 45 Swan Lane, Evesham WR11 4PD 200 11 Sep Honeybourne, nr Evesham Tramping The Two Loop 08:00 Sun BR 207km 2050m £9.00 F P R T 15-30kph

Evesham & Dist Whs 07977 516574 neilrob3@gmail.com

Neil Robinson, Flat 7, Swans Reach, 45 Swan Lane, Evesham WR11 4PD 100 11 Sep Honeybourne, nr Evesham Ride A Bike To Banbury Cross 09:15 Sun BP 1100m [1m] £5.50 F P R T 12-30kph

Evesham & Dist Whs 07977 516574 neilrob3@gmail.com

Neil Robinson, Flat 7, Swans Reach, 45 Swan Lane, Evesham WR11 4PD 55 11 Sep Honeybourne, E of Evesham The Honeybourne 50 09:30 Sun BP 300m £3.50 F P R T 10-25kph

Evesham & Dist Whs 07977 516574 neilrob3@gmail.com

Neil Robinson, Flat 7, Swans Reach, 45 Swan Lane, Evesham WR11 4PD 200 11 Sep Tattenhall, Cheshire

Pistyll Packing Momma 08:00 Sun BR 210km 3500m AAA3.5 [3400m] £8.00 G L P R T 15-30kph

Chester & North Wales CTC

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH

120 11 Sep Tattenhall, Cheshire

Momma’s Mountain Views

08:30 Sun BP 129km 1750m AAA1.75 [2000m] £8.00 G L NM P R T 12.5-25kph

Chester & North Wales CTC

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH

55 11 Sep Tattenhall, Cheshire

Momma’s Leafy Lanes

09:00 Sun BP 500m £6.50 G L NM P R T 10-25kph

Chester & North Wales CTC

Brandon Edgeley, Mile House Barn, Main Road, Worleston CW5 6DH

200 17 Sep Alfreton

Straight on at Rosie’s

08:00 Sat BR 204km 1120m £8.00 L P R T 15-30kph

Alfreton CTC tomandsuefox@yahoo.co.uk ROA 10000 Tom Fox, 180 Nottingham Road, Alfreton DE55 7FP

200 17 Sep Brampton Annan and Alston

08:00 Sat BR 203km 1522m [1690m] £7.50 X G P 14.3-30kph

Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online

160 17 Sep Brampton Bowness and Alston

08:30 Sat BP 161km 1454m [1920m] £7.50 X G P 14.3-30kph

Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online

120 17 Sep Brampton Ullswater (The Short Route)

09:00 Sat BP 126km 1700m AAA1.5 [1550m] £7.50 X G P T 13.5-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online

72 17 Sep Brampton Melmerby and Alston

09:30 Sat BP 998m £7.50 X G P T 10-20kph Tyneside Vagabonds 07875224229 audax@dixonberne.plus.com Please enter online

300 17 Sep Tewkesbury Elan Sprint 300

05:30 Sat BR 3227m [3500m] £3.50 100, X,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

100 18 Sep Brixham cricket club, Brixham The Four Castles of South Devon

09:00 Sun BP 109km 2150m AAA2.25 £8.50 G P R T (100) (14/9) 15-30kph

Mid Devon CC Chris Noakes, 12 The Hayes, Churston Ferrers, Brixham TQ50JB

200 18 Sep Lymington, Wightlink

Ferry Terminal

New Forest On and Offshore

06:55 Sun BR 206km £10.00 C G P R T 15-30kph

Updated Cycling New Forest smethbike@gmail.com

David Smethurst, Woodlea, Balmer Lawn Road, Brockenhurst SO42 7TT

100 18 Sep Lymington

New Forest Onshore

10:00 Sun BP 107km [2m] £9.00 C P T 10-30kph

Updated Cycling New Forest smethbike@gmail.com

David Smethurst, Woodlea, Balmer Lawn Road, Brockenhurst SO42 7TT

They’re known for noisy drilling in March? 9

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

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

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

subject to availability – please contact Caroline Fenton

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.

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 Position vacant

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

ISSUE 157 – AUTUMN 2022 EDITION

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

COPY DEADLINE FOR ADVERTISERS: 31 July 2022

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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 West England: Julian Dyson Yorkshire & East England: Andy Clarkson Midlands, North and Mid Wales: Mike Kelly

South West England and South Wales: Rob Baird South East England (inside M25): Paul Stewart

South East England Home counties: 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 awards@audax.uk

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

Entry forms: If you want a blank postal entry form this is downloadable from our website, but you can also request a paper copy from the Membership Secretary (contact details on this page)