Arrivee 128 - Spring 2015

Arrivée

Number 128 Spring 2015

the Long Distance Cyclists’ Association www.audax.uk.net

HEADING IN HERE

Riders on the Jack and Grace Cotton Memorial 100k Photo by beckirobinsonphotography.co.uk 2 ArrivĂŠe Spring 2015 No. 128

www.audax.uk.net

editorial

Spring 2015 Inspiration. We all need something to inspire us from time to time to take on a new challenge or kick-start a new project or idea. How about taking AUK's Steve Abraham to inspire you to do something different or push yourself beyond what you thought you could do? All through our dark and cold winter's days, Steve was out on the road while most of us were still in bed – day after day no matter the weather, how tired his legs were or how fatigued his body. Now with his right leg in plaster, he's continuing his challenge. As I write, Steve has acquired a recumbent trike, courtesy of ICE Trikes, and has started a daily routine of riding round a one kilometre track to keep his record challenge alive until his broken ankle has healed and he can get back on the road. Next time you're plodding

Contents First 600 – in search of dragons and legends......... 4 Another quiet day in Corsica – OCD light.................... 7 One year time trial ......................................................................... 8 Andy Terry's Santa special .................................................... 10 Turning back the years............................................................. 14 Laid back around the world in 180 days ................... 16 The last leg ........................................................................................ 20 Winter audaxing – Jack and Grace Cotton Memorial 100..................................................................................... 22 Flapjack 100....................................................................................... 24 Lutudarum Junior Audax....................................................... 26 Taste of Carolina 1200 .............................................................. 28 The low down ................................................................................... 32 On the Trafalgar Way ................................................................... 36 Charging GPS/phone by dynamo ................................. 38 Route sheets..................................................................................... 40 News and correspondence.................................................... 41 Across the USA................................................................................ 42 Gospel Pass 150..................................................................................48 If at first you don't succeed…............................................ 50 Book reviews ................................................................................... 54 Stoker's debut ................................................................................. 55 Official news ..................................................................................... 56 Off the back........................................................................................ 57 AUK Calendar................................................................................... 58 Entry form for AUK events.................................................... 66 Front cover: Steve Abraham on his attempt to break Tommy Godwin's mileage record for the year. Steve was on 16,000 miles at this stage.

Photo by Tim Wainwright Next edition of Arrivée is in August. Please send your copy to David (address on right) by July 3rd

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into a headwind or getting a good soaking from our British weather or grinding up an endless hill and feel like going home – just think to yourself 'What would Steve have done?'.

Further inspiration in this current issue comes from our members. How about riding round the world on a recumbent? Riding across America to celebrate your 65th birthday? Riding a 120k audax at eight years of age? Well done guys – true inspiration.

Not only has Steve inspired me this year but the book Faster After Fifty (reviewed on p.54) has made me sit up and think what I can do, and not dwell on what I've done in the past. Whatever your challenge for the year – just dig in and do it!

■ After 20 years of producing the spring and summer editions of Arrivée, starting with No.49, I'm handing over the editor's seat for the future summer editions to David Kenning. David is an experienced randonneur and well known to many of our members. I hope you will all support him in his new position by sending in your articles and photographs for the next issue. I know David is keen to get started, so don't delay. David's details are in the panel below.

Keep your wheels turning.

Tim

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www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

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randonnee

First 600 – in search of dragons and legends

600km is the longest of the ‘regular’ events on the audax calendar, the longer ones being a bit special, like the Mille Cymru or London Edinburgh London. It’s also the final part of the super randonneur award, which I had decided to aim for after my first 200k last year. At that stage I was uncertain that I could manage such distances. For me, part of the excitement is in finding out what I can do.

M

ae Mr Pickwick yn mynd i chwilio am ddreigiau a chwedlau (Mr Pickwick goes in search of dragons and legends – according to Google translate) was a new event for 2014, which I chose partly because I was busy during the classic Brian Chapman Memorial and because I’d enjoyed so many of the organiser’s shorter routes over the winter. With over 9,000 metres of climbing, it was unusually hilly, but I was hoping the views over Welsh mountains and lakes would make it worthwhile.

The day before the ride I had an early dinner with my wife and daughter before spending the night in a B&B close to the start – a village hall near Tewkesbury. Saturday was the summer solstice, so the sun was already up as we arrived for the 5:30am start. People were quietly drinking tea, eating bananas and

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pumping up tyres. After a few words of advice from organiser Mark, we set off with a chorus of ‘clacks’ as about 35 riders connected shoes to pedals. A large group formed and I chatted to a few people as we rolled easily along the deserted main roads in the early morning sunshine.

Some had come from as far as London or the North-East for the event. Most seemed to have done a 600 before and several were sporting London Edinburgh London or Paris Brest Paris shirts. I learned later that I was one of a number of newbies, but at the time I felt a bit inexperienced.

I had a couple of minor mechanical issues early on. My front brake rubbing slightly and my Carradice rack rattling as I rode onto the off-road path near Symmond’s Yat. Thankfully I had basic tools and fixed both with little trouble.

In preparation I had replaced my badly worn chain a week earlier. It was the first time I’d ever changed a chain and I was nervous that it would fall apart the first time I stood up on the pedals. Still, it was OK so far.

The first control was a pub in Monmouth where I had a quick drink and stamped my card, then on through pleasant lanes and parts of the stillquiet A40 to Llandovery. We’d now done 150km and it was near enough to lunchtime, so I had a milkshake, beans on toast and an apple pie with custard.

I knew this would probably make me

‘It was the first time I’d ever changed a chain and I was nervous that it would fall apart the first time I stood up on the pedals.’

a bit uncomfortable for an hour or so, especially with the hills looming, but it was preferable to flaking out due to hunger.

I left the control at the same time as another James, who I’d met briefly on my 400. He immediately suggested a detour.

I like company on audaxes, but prefer to stick to the recommended route unless I’ve had a chance to review it thoroughly with a map. Judging that he knew where he was going, I reluctantly followed and it worked out well enough.

Spectacular lake

Soon we were back on the main route and joined Ian Hennessey, jokingly referred to as ‘audax royalty’, due to being a former chairman and popular organiser.

He was good company and took James’ more puerile quips in good humour. We climbed towards Llyn Brianne noting the info control on the way. I’d not been here before and was impressed by how spectacular the lake was. It was set at the meeting of several partially wooded valleys, creating a plethora of secluded coves along its winding coastline. The road skirted the hills above the shore with gentle gradients, giving ample opportunity to appreciate the view from every angle. As I descended along the lake’s edge I spotted cyclists on the other side who seemed only a minute or two ahead. Then I’d round the next corner and see a whole new expanse of water www.audax.uk.net

randonnee I’d have to wind my way around first. I was left behind for a while as I stopped to appreciate it rather than taking it all in from the saddle and risking an impromptu swim. After some concerted effort I caught up with Ian and James. It didn’t seem long until we reached the lonely phone box which marked the Tregaron mountain road. After only a little more up we were descending at last.

The road was generally good, but often had a strip of gravel in the centre which required some care when cornering. Adding to the drama were a number of classic cars, some being driven a bit too fast for a mountain road. Thankfully we made it into town without incident.

I was now out of water, having only filled a single bottle at the last control.

The weather was fine, but not especially hot, so carrying an extra 700g of water over the hills seemed excessive. Then again, it would’ve saved me an additional five minute stop.

After filling up in Tregaron I headed for the hills again, this time alone.

The roads were wider now and better surfaced, but with surprisingly little traffic. The scenery was less rugged and the gradients kinder. In the colourful town of Pontryhdfendigaid they were having a fete and people were in fancy dress. From here I kept up a reasonable pace to Devil’s Bridge, pausing only to snap a photo of a dragon’s head door knocker.

Struggling through lack of sleep

The next control was the Woodlands café, which served only a dwindling supply of cakes and flapjacks. I had one of each, but the lack of savoury options led some to the nearby hotel instead. By this time several people, including an LEL veteran, were struggling due to lack of sleep in the past few days and the relentless hills.

They were planning either to find a bed locally or make their way to a railway station to get home. Fortunately I was feeling OK, at least no worse than on previous rides.

Leaving Devil’s Bridge I rejoined James for a while, but as we approached Machynlleth he admitted to being tempted to call it a day and relax in a hotel. He later posted photos online of his fish dinner and comfy hotel room to less than universal approval. Perhaps, having completed several 600s over the years, he had less determination than newbies like me. So I continued towards Barmouth alone and soon found myself climbing a gentle, but seemingly endless hill. In a low gear I could easily keep the pedals turning, but was breathing hard to maintain a reasonable speed.

My average speed had been dropping off since Llandovery, due to the hills, but there was no point trying to rush as my legs were too tired to provide much

saddlebag and PBP shirt, he had plenty of experience. I lost him briefly as I paused to get a final photo from Harlech of the hills beyond Porthmadog. After a bit of effort I caught up again and soon we were on rural roads and climbing.

The gradient reached 16 per cent, not normally a problem, but as I had 300km in my legs and a bag full of batteries, even in my lowest gear (34×29) it was quite a struggle. When the angle reduced to around five per cent it was a huge relief. The road was deserted and had recently been resurfaced, which made for an exciting descent of the other side.

I was cautious in the dark, but with lights on full power and contact lenses in, I could see ahead well.

torque. It looked like the top of the climb was about half a km away when I stopped for a breather in a lay-by. I knew the upcoming hills only vaguely and the next corner might’ve revealed further heights to scale. As I stopped, I looked back down the road and noticed the fantastic view. As the sun was dipping in the sky, I’d been climbing in the shade, but at the bottom of the valley, Llyn Mwyngil was still lit dramatically by the sun. The weather had truly been kind to us, it could easily have been nothing but drizzle and plain grey vistas.

After snapping a photo I had one of my two gels, which I try to save for when I’m really tired. I hadn’t seen any other cyclists for a while, but now I greeted a guy passing me. I didn’t recognise him, but he was dressed for audax and there were few other cyclists around at this stage. Refreshed, I set off and managed to catch up with him by the top of the hill.

A couple of river crossings

In the valley the other side, we were nearing Barmouth, but still south of the river. Mark had told us there were a couple of crossings, but some might not be open, depending on when we arrived.

We tried the nearest bridge and found the double gates shut with a closed sign.

As we were about to leave we noticed a couple on the bridge enjoying the view. Curious, I looked more carefully and found a pedestrian gate which swung open when pushed. We trundled onto the wobbly wooden boards. The sightseers told us there was another gate up the lane on the other side, but weren’t sure if we’d be able to get through. As we rode the kilometre or two across the floodplain, I hoped the barrier wasn’t 8ft high with spikes on top. Thankfully it was a simple farm gate and lifting the bikes over was easy enough. As we arrived in Barmouth the sun was still up, but considering setting soon. A good crowd had gathered in the control where Mark and helpers were providing soup, rolls, bananas and drinks. Much appreciated.

As I set off again the sun was low over the peninsula, where I’d sailed from Pwllheli with my wife some ten years ago. I put my lights on low power, just to be sure I was seen, as I could still see well enough to navigate the reasonable road surfaces. Even on full power I knew I had light for at least five hours. Thinking about it, there was no way I’d need the full set of spare batteries I’d packed, even if I rode right through the night, which I had no intention of doing, so they were just weighing me down. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about conserving power.

As there was a slight headwind, more noticeable on the flat section by the coast, I followed close behind another audaxer. I don’t know his name, but judging by the badges on his

Pitch black and 30k to the bunkhouse

‘I tried "tacking" across the hill, but soon wobbled into the grass at the edge and gave up to push.’

When the road flattened out I glanced back, but couldn’t see the guy I was riding with. I didn’t think I’d been going especially fast and I hoped he’d made the descent without incident. At the end of a long straight I paused momentarily and soon saw the white LED of a bike light in the darkness. He caught me a little while later at the information control. As I scribbled down the name of the pub, four others arrived. It was pitch black by now and we had some 30km to get to the bunk house, so I decided to stick with this small group as much as possible.

Everyone has different highs and lows on a long ride, but I was feeling OK and I figured that these guys must’ve done the same average speed as me to be here at the same time, so I could probably keep up.

We climbed a shallow gradient for what seemed like hours. This was somewhere in Snowdonia, so I suppose this is to be expected. We made it over the top around midnight. With all our lights illuminating the straight, wide road, we barrelled downhill, heads down and big rings engaged, with a surprising amount of enthusiasm considering the hour. This quickly changed after a sharp turn up a narrow lane. The road suddenly rose too steeply for tired and chilly legs – I had forgotten to pack trousers. I tried ‘tacking’ across the hill, but soon wobbled into the grass at the edge and gave up to push. I wasn’t the only one. However, once this last challenge was completed we were soon at the bunkhouse in Llanrwst. The simple pasta meal provided

by Mark and Neil felt like luxury. The mood around the table was cheery. It felt good to be well over halfway and about to get some proper rest. ‘We’ll have the wind behind us tomorrow’, ‘Isn’t it all downhill on the way back?’. By the time I was in bed it was 2am. I was asleep in moments.

When my alarm went off some three hours later I had mixed feelings. Part of me wanted to turn over and sleep for another five, maybe ten hours, but I was

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

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randonnee also excited about the challenge ahead.

Getting up I realised the rest had done me good. It must have been the best three hours’ sleep I’d ever had. My legs could certainly feel the previous day’s efforts, but I was no longer exhausted.

After breakfast I left my mountain of batteries and sleeping bag liner in the bag drop to be taken to the arrivée, making me about a kilo lighter. I got back on the road, very slowly at first and was glad to have left the excess baggage behind as I was soon faced with a long hill climb. It must have taken 20 minutes, but thankfully it wasn’t too steep.

Nearing the top I paused for a breather and admired another unexpected view.

Behind me the mountains of Snowdonia were breaking through the clouds and the hazy morning looked to be brightening up. Some minutes later I reached the top and startled a herd of cattle as I clunked into a higher gear. They thundered through the field alongside me, matching my speed.

The descent was gentle, which I prefer as it lasts longer. Apart from the occasional tractor, there was little traffic.

I saw a few other cyclists, but never rode with anyone for long, probably as we all climbed the many hills at different rates. Sometime after Bala I found myself riding along the shady side of a small wooded valley. The cool peaceful air was appreciated as the day was starting to warm up. The calm didn’t last for long, however, as around the corner the valley opened up to reveal the steep Hirnant pass snaking up the mountain ahead. It was an intimidating sight.

Plunging into a densely-wooded valley

I stopped to take my jersey off and took a large gulp of water before climbing steadily. Although it got quite steep near the top it wasn’t as tough as expected.

Perhaps the gentler gradients before had refreshed me. Down the other side, through the dappled shade, I plunged into a densely-wooded valley. The road was suddenly flat. Weirdly flat. Surely it was lulling me into a false sense of security and would at any moment kick up to 20 per cent? Through the trees I caught a glimpse of water. Lake Vernwy.

Soon there was a clearing and picnic area, so I stopped, had a snack and enjoyed the view. For such a beautiful place it was really quiet – perhaps it’s too far from densely-populated areas to attract many visitors.

As I continued, the hills returned and were mostly short and sharp on narrow lanes, often with a strip of gravel down the middle and grass overhanging the sides. One short stretch wasn’t even properly surfaced but was a combination of rocks and mud over which I decided it was better to push. While the narrow lanes meant very little traffic, it also left little room for manoeuvre, so it wasn’t 6

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safe to descend with much speed. I probably think too much about my average speed when I should just be relaxing and enjoying the ride, but I had noticed it dropping throughout the day. I had a vague plan that I’d like to get back for my daughter’s bath time, but this was looking less and less likely. Still, it’s all a learning experience.

I was navigating partly by GPS (Etrex 30) and partly by routesheets clipped to the handlebars. I don’t like to rely on just one method when in an unfamiliar area. I’ve learnt from previous rides that nothing slows you down like an accidental detour. However, with the great views and sometimes technical descents, I missed a turn. Zooming out I saw that my route would soon converge with the one I’d planned, so I carried on.

However, on reaching Aberhafesp the instructions didn’t quite make sense. I meandered through the town looking for the community hall. I had checked on Google streetview when planning, but had not taken the time to be exactly sure where it was. Eventually I stopped and asked for directions from some locals who helpfully pointed me in the right direction. It turned out that I’d missed the control when I went briefly off course.

Next time I’ll either mark them on the GPS, or put each section of the route in a different colour.

At the control Mark’s ever-efficient helpers were handing out beans on toast.

I ate slowly and chatted to some other riders, having had a fairly lonely morning.

Lost half an hour finding the control

Back on the road I was running a bit late.

It had been a simple blunder, but I had lost half an hour finding the control. I thought it was unlikely I could average the 25kph I needed to make my original estimate. Still, I’d keep pacing myself and see how I felt.

The scenery became less rugged and wild, but the hills weren’t over yet. In particular leaving Knighton was an unexpected epic and several of us considered it the hardest climb of the day. Looking it up on Strava afterwards showed a climb averaging six per cent for nearly 4km. When it finally flattened out I felt like I was riding along the top of the world. As I approached Leominster, things did get noticeably flatter and I was pleasantly surprised how much more energetic I felt as a result. Gradually, my average speed started to creep up. The final control was a supermarket, so no reason to hang around. I grabbed plenty of drink, carefully filed the receipt and moved on.

I had hardly caught a glimpse of another audaxer all afternoon, so was slightly excited to see someone ahead with what looked like a worn-out saddlebag. Getting closer I noticed his t-shirt was unusually baggy and the

‘Behind me the mountains of Snowdonia were breaking through the clouds and the hazy morning looked to be brightening up.’

saddlebag turned out to be a sack of cement, probably not someone out to climb hills!

The last of the significant ups was at the southern tip of the Malverns, after Ledbury. I was by no means fast, but the climb seemed fairly manageable.

It’s amazing how much it’s possible to recover when it’s flat, even while still riding fairly fast. Now I was counting down the kilometres to the arrivée, adding on my 4km detour at Aberhafesp.

I turned off the main road down the tiny lane to Bushley and had a bit of a scary wobble on the central strip of grass.

Mishap averted, I rolled into the quiet town hall car park and was congratulated

by Mark on completing my first 600km, while his wife insisted I have a slice of toffee apple cake. I gladly accepted, drank as much water as I comfortably could and got changed as quickly as my tired legs would allow. I felt good, but was a bit wobbly. After driving the hour and a bit home, I had missed bath time, but was just in time to read my daughter a story before bed.

Conclusion

All in all my first 600 had been an enjoyable experience. A challenge and an adventure, sometimes sociable, sometimes solitary. We had been enormously lucky with the weather; it could easily have been windy or rainy, which would have made everything much harder. It was also made easier by the helpers at controls, serving muchneeded food, often at times of the day and night when it would otherwise have been hard to find. I understand they had even less sleep than those of us riding.

Finally we are indebted to organiser Mark for designing such a picturesque route, which made for an adventurous and scenic tour of Wales.

N

www.audax.uk.net

Ordre des Cols Durs

Another quiet day in Corsica – OCD light Paul Harrison It’s mid-December, so Janet and I leave Lama at 10.30am to give the sun and Paracetamol (we’ve both got colds) a chance to get going.

We soon find sunlight after a chilly start and the temperatures are comparable to a fine English day in the springtime. We drop towards Urtaca on the ‘new’ road and then double back towards Pietralba thus avoiding a rough descent on the more direct old route. There’s a drain with a missing grating on the junction threatening death to nonattentive cyclists (not much fun for motorists either). It’s been like that for years as things happen very slowly in Corsica.

After an easy climb to Pietralba there’s the bridge over the sometimes busy ‘Balanina’ to L'Île-Rousse. Then it’s a descent with wonderful views of the mountains in the Massif du Monte Cinto, fresh snow on their upper slopes. At the bottom we turn right on the N197, previously the main road to L'Île-Rousse, but deserted since the completion of the Balanina.

The gradient is gentle (I’m in 40 × 16) and the way winds on for miles up the valley of the river Navaccia. The landscape is barren except for some trees by the river; it only runs in the winter as rain is rare here with the Desert des Agriates just a few miles to the north. My mind wanders – I imagine I’m a lonesome cowboy riding through Arizona. The illusion ends as a two-coach diesel train squeaks and rumbles past me on its improbable journey to Calvi.

So I concentrate on the riding instead:

cadence, gear ratio, style, etc. – this would be a good route for training, should I care to do such a thing.

Just before the Col de Colombano (692m), it gets steeper and I’m down to 40 × 32. Any fit Audax rider would be laughing up his sleeve at this ratio, but I’m blaming it on my cold. On the col, though, all such thoughts are gone as views of the hazy blue Mediterranean and distant Cap Corse open before us.

It is utterly silent in the warm sunshine and easy to imagine we’re the only two people in the world. I think of my responsibilities if that were the case (it’s that wandering mind again), but the chilly descent to the left turn onto the D963 brings me back to reality.

The D963 is a lovely old road, contouring gradually upward round valley heads and the shoulders of hills until reaching the Bocca Capanna (844m) and the left turn onto the D547 down to Piana. This descent is steep and technical.

I find it particularly technical as I am now gawping at Monte Cinto and neglect my braking. It could be Switzerland, with the snow on its lofty pinnacles gleaming in the sun. Sorry no pictures of this, but the view has gone by the time I regain my composure. Piana is a sleepy hamlet with a beautiful Pont Genoise over the Tartagine, visible just off to the right of the road. A shocking little climb leads to the D247 whence down back round to the N197 where we retrace to Pietralba.

This time we take the old way into Lama as it’s less steep than the outward route and the potholes don’t seem to matter so much when climbing slowly.

Left: Approaching Bocca Capanna Below: Pont Genoise at Piana Janet at Bocca Capanna

As usual, the traffic was negligible; 13 vehicles in 38 miles. The quietest bit was the first 18 miles, to the Col de Colombano, in which we saw two cars, plus a youth in Pietralba testing out his noisy little motorbike (so this not a uniquely British phenomenon!).

N

Col de Colombano

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world record mileage challenge

One year time trial The ongoing story

I

caught up with Steve for lunch at the Wheatsheaf pub in the small village of Drayton, just south of the city of Oxford. Steve was cruising steadily along with a reasonable tailwind, having cycled from Mark Hummerstone's (Hummers) overnight hosting in Portsmouth that morning. As I waited in my car drinking coffee and chatting with wife Pauline, and with the spot tracker showing him about 10k away, I was surprised to see him approaching rapidly in my rear-view mirror. With no time to get our cameras ready we stood at the roadside and gave him a cheer, jumped back in the car and hurried off 3k up the road to catch him as he came past again.

The publican was waiting for us so we ordered lunch, cups of tea and sat and chatted about his challenge. Steve was in good spirits, but looking rathered blistered about his face and ears from the weather over the previous months. He viewed the months ahead as a mental as well as physical challenge, and his legs were slowly recovering from a slow start in the early winter. As the year progresses, he says the miles will become easier. He had been thinking about the challenge for two years and planning it took three months – raising sponsorship, getting all the spares he knew he'd need, and putting together his incredible band of volunteer helpers.

He keeps his motivation going by viewing the daily riding routine as if he was going to work each day. With the winter early morning start, anywhere between 5am and 6am, he was taking about an hour to get all his winter kit on and getting the bike prepared for the day, checking the three GPS units and spot tracker, plus the lighting system.

With plenty of snacks in his Carradice, including cheese and bars of chocolate with slices of sausages in his back pockets, he was ready for the day.

He prefers to use batteries, chargeable for the front lights and GPS, and lithium disposables for the rear lights rather than a hub dynamo. Experience had shown him that as hub dynamos age, they start to rattle. Using Schwalbe tubeless tyres on his three Raleigh Sojourn bikes, Steve has yet to wear one out and any cuts and punctures are self-sealing – no more fixing flats roadside. Steve's sponsors have been outstanding with their assistance – AUK has provided a sizeable sum of cash, while Chain Reaction Cycles gave Steve free rein from their website to choose all his spares for the year – STI levers,

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Tim Wainwright cables, brake blocks, cassettes, bottom brackets, headsets, etc. The long list of AUK members on Steve's website making donations and Standing Orders just shows how they are getting behind Steve.

One of Steve's rivals for the challenge, Kurt Searvogel from Arkansas, USA, emailed Steve and asked to use his research in his own bid. Steve obliged, the information was on his website in the public domain. Kurt has proved to be a powerful endurance rider with great determination and a big personality.

At the end of the day, if Steve is not being hosted away from home, he will microwave a meal for himself, charge all his batteries, upload the GPS data to Strava and then collapse into bed. At weekends he has valuable and muchappreciated assistance at home from SR Lesley Sung and PBP ancién Andrew Morris who cook his meals and keep his freezer topped up with food.

He rarely visits his Facebook or Strava pages as he has no time, knowing that it's easy to spend valuable sleep time reading all the comments posted daily, although he does have an occasional quick flick through them while he sits and eats his café meals. He makes the occasional tweet on Twitter and also an occasional post on the YACF Audax forum, which has its own Teethgrinder section under the audax category (see https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index. php?board=80.0).

Looking at some of the stats on his Strava page, Steve has 16,844 followers (8,698 more than Mark Cavendish), 170,823 kudos votes and 5,268 comments from followers – he's really caused a stir in the cycling world with his record attempt, prompting three other challengers for the record. One of them, Miles Smith, a British ex-pat living in Melbourne, Australia, has recently joined the challenge. Miles, a regular audaxer in Oz, has amazed onlookers with his 80-tooth chainring.

It was great to see Steve in such an upbeat mode for our brief chat – he usually has no one to talk to throughout the day, though he might get two or three riders a day come out to cheer him on his way. I just hope I didn't put the mockers on him – I enquired how he was getting on with other road users, knowing how much traffic there is rushing around our roads, and he replied that all was well and he'd had no problems. Three days later, the moped struck.

N www.audax.uk.net

world record mileage HEADING challenge IN HERE

One Year Time Trial – AUK Rider Support As part of AUK’s continued support for Steve Abraham’s mileage record attempt there will now be a chance to optionally donate £1.00 to Steve each time you enter an audax event online. In other words, the more events you ride the more support Steve gets. So let’s get out there and ride and then ride some more. Let’s make it a record year for all AUKs in support of Steve’s attempt.

Just before going to press we were all devastated to hear that Steve had been hit by a moped and sustained a broken ankle. We were then equally amazed that he was to continue, using a recumbent trike and one leg until fully healed and able to ride his bike again. If this doesn’t work out, a restart will take place in the summer months alongside the continued January 1st attempt, therefore our support is still very much needed.

Event organisers will have been notified of how to collate and pass on the donations with their event returns so that they can be passed on to the 1YTT team.

Up to the day of the crash Steve had ridden 16,888 miles to 29th March, more than most of us ever ride in a year and already well over 2,500 miles ahead of Tommy Godwin for the same period on his successful record ride. The immediate future has yet to pan out as to how things will go but whatever happens, Steve will be giving it his all, so we wish him all the very best and a great recovery back to full health and fitness so he can be back to eating up the miles.

There is a very long way to go so let’s ride some events and support Steve at the same time. The spring is here. Let’s get out there and put some miles in.

Photos: Tim Wainwright

Lucy McTaggart

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

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randonnee

Andy Terry’s Santa Special John Thompson

'You didn’t have to enter,' I hear you saying.

Well, I have to blame someone for breaking my own rules and it’s not going to be me so I’m blaming Andy Terry.

A

s much as I enjoy audax rides, I like to think I am sensible enough to know when to switch off. For me, it has always been for the few weeks from the beginning of November to New Year’s Day. I might ride the odd 100 but my cycling at that time of year has always been predominantly short Sunday rides, not having to get up early so able to stay later at the pub Saturday nights (most important!), porridge for breakfast and going for a jaunt through local lanes with the occasional detour to ride a lane I haven’t done before and lingering in cafés.

Trust Andy to put on a 200 the last Sunday before Christmas and also the shortest day! My immediate reaction was to reject out of hand any thoughts of entering and feelings of frustrated disappointment that there was an additional event but it was just too close to Christmas. All the dates available and Andy had to chose that one! But something kept niggling at me. I kept going to the website and looking at the event on the calendar with my hand on the mouse and the arrow on the date kind of wanting to enter but not quite

finding the courage to click. After one of those ‘episodes’ I even went so far as to Google accommodation in the locality of the start at Great Bromley. The Courthouse Inn in Great Bromley doing food and bed and breakfast seemed perfect. Then it struck me that on the last Saturday night before Christmas it would likely be full of people having their ‘bashes,’ all unwinding and ‘three parts to the wind’ while I was having to think about getting up early to ride what could be a tough event in goodness knows what sort of conditions. However, the niggles continued and eventually I realised – perhaps with the help of Adnams! – that I wouldn’t settle unless I entered. I went to the website calendar again and entered via PayPal – done now and paid, no choice but to ride! I then phoned the Courthouse Inn. It did take a while to get definitely booked in as refurbishments were in progress, but to cut a long story short eventually I did.

For events more than about 50 miles away I prefer to take digs (I acknowledge I am fortunate to be able to do it that way).

It is much more relaxing than having to think about getting up at a very early time and having a long drive, particularly if you are not entirely sure where the HQ is. I usually check out the HQ the day before, but even if I can’t I can find it in a much more relaxed way on the morning.

Also, after finishing I think relaxing over

Left: It did the job – the garage shop used as my free control at Diss 10

Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

a few pints is more agreeable than a long drive, and indeed not having to think about it. Before retirement I would book leave at least on the Friday or Monday depending on whether it was a Saturday or Sunday event. Often, however, I would book both days so I could have a short ride the day before or after along new lanes and enjoying scenery in areas I don’t regularly ride in. Also, if possible – which is more often than not – I travel by rail. Apart from environmental friendliness, it is my preferred transport mode. IMHO the tiredness after driving is the wrong type to have the night before hard cycling and if using rail involves a short ‘spin the legs’ ride from the station to the digs I believe it is beneficial. It surely is better than the stiff legs feeling after a long drive. Also, travelling solo it tends to be cheaper, especially now I have qualified for a senior railcard offering 30 per cent off. On this occasion I travelled from my local station, Oulton Broad South, to Manningtree and return for £16.35. It would have been a round trip of about 140 miles by car. Indeed, I could have done the journey for just over £12.00 if I had been prepared to book specific trains. However, I wanted flexibility, plus specific trains might have meant using inter-city services which would have involved booking the bike, whereas it is not needed for Ipswich– Liverpool Street stopping services and there is no space problem off-peak.

On this occasion I travelled on the Saturday and the approx five-mile ride from Manningtree station to The Courthouse Inn was partly along pleasant lanes that I hadn’t rode before, which got the weekend off to a good start. It also involved a 10 per cent hill just a few hundred yards from Manningtree station, which with loaded panniers and so soon in the ride was a bit of a shock. More about that to come.

My first impression of my digs was good – friendly and helpful welcome and my room was nice. From my first impression and pre-read on-line information it was clear that the new proprietors had been busy, anxious to improve the image. I am no history buff but my guess was that the building is 18th century. However, Michelle – the female half of the new proprietors – said that nobody was sure but it might be 17th or even 16th century. Like many such places, the older part is alleged to www.audax.uk.net

randonnee be haunted but Michelle said they hadn’t heard anything and their grandchildren were happy sleeping there. I was intrigued to know if the head stocks in the yard had been there since it opened.

Michelle explained that a talented local chap made them and was able to make them look realistic. He certainly did!

All that said, the first thing that gave me a good vibe was that on entering the bar to check-in I noticed there was a choice of four real ales! I arrived just after 2.00. After settling in I returned to the bar for a sandwich lunch and two cups of coffee – alcohol is strictly evenings only! I then generally relaxed until dinner time.

With this article in mind I took a photo of the building and was then entertained

by Patricia Cornwell – if you get my gist – with an ‘interval’ for a cat nap. I went for dinner at 7.00 and my good impression continued. It was an excellent meal of sufficient quantity to stoke up well the evening before a long ride. I had one of those ‘classic’ amusing incidents often exclusive to cyclists. When Michelle brought my dessert – apple, pear and blackberry pie – she commented, ‘That’s a huge piece.’ I think she wanted to say that I need not feel embarrassed if I could not eat it all but I interrupted her saying, ‘I expect I’ll cope.’ When Michelle returned she looked surprised and impressed: ‘Oh, you finished it then!’ I replied, ‘Cyclists usually do.’ Michelle’s response was, ‘Yes, I suppose so. Like a camel are you? Always stoking up with food.’ I suppose that is as good a way as any of describing the matter of cyclists and food! I had a pint of Spitfire with my meal and deciding I best not start serious drinking too early I returned to my room for another catnap.

I returned to the bar just after 9.00 and relaxed over further pints of Spitfire. As I expected, there was a group having a Christmas bash but I sat in the quieter part so didn’t get psyched off what I was doing in the morning.

With regard my continuing good impression of The Courthouse, this seems the appropriate point to say how obliging Michelle and Robert – the male

half – were. Robert was prepared to get up early on SUNDAY morning to cook me breakfast for 6.45. Also, Michelle asked me what time I expected to be back as they don’t normally cook on Sunday evenings but were prepared to. When I explained it was difficult to predict, Michelle gave me her mobile number to let her know when I had finished. To clarify, they are only just re-establishing themselves as a B&B, so diners are predominantly non-residents and, like most such places, on Sundays it’s roasts until late afternoon and the evenings as rest. However, it seems they are prepared to cook for residents.

Breakfast was excellent and combined with the evening meal I felt over-full. That seems to be one of those things that is advised against but audax riders ignore!

It had obviously rained in the early hours and was spitting somewhat when I rode the short distance to Great Bromley village hall. Entering the HQ I said to Andy – looking fetching with Santa hat on! – ‘I suppose I’m being blamed for the rain.’ Andy claimed it had been dry until I arrived and I told him I knew the truth. For those who don’t know, my own calendar events have been jinxed with heavy rain so it has become a popular ribbing that if it rains in events I ride, I get the blame. I compliment Andy on the food available. Although I didn’t partake, being already over-full, many were tucking into porridge. I settled for a customary mug of tea and contemplating what was to come.

The rain had stopped in time for the start and what little wind there was being behind us made initially for an easy ride, albeit on some wet roads, firstly retracing my route of Saturday afternoon through the neighbouring village of Little Bromley, and passing Manningtree station and then to Ipswich negotiating the streets through the town centre.

Negotiating streets always has a slow feel to it but Andy’s directions were thorough, although you had to make sure you were reading the correct bit. Once clear of Ipswich the route followed the A1124

‘For those who don’t know, my own calendar events have been jinxed with heavy rain so it has become a popular ribbing that if it rains in events I ride, I get the blame.’

Left: Approaching the top of the spoof col

through Martlesham. It is the old A12 and being the old road was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning, even though it was much a continuing ‘through the houses’ route to and through the attractive Suffolk market town of Woodbridge and the neighbouring – and also attractive – village of Melton to rejoin the old road to become rural again through Ufford to Wickham Market for the first control (around 48kms) at the Carmargue café in the Valley Farm Leisure Riding Centre. The café is so-named as the farm incorporates Great Britain’s only Carmargue horse stud.

The café is a little way out of Wickham Market village on the road to Easton.

Trying to find the control I made one of my ‘classic’ misreadings of the route sheet for which I think I have acquired a reputation! I looked hard for the junction trying to figure out why I couldn’t find it. I thought the instruction was ‘turn right at green triangle on left hand bend, no signpost’ However, what seemed to fit that was indicated a private road to some establishment that wasn’t Valley Farm. Just short of Easton I concluded I must have come too far. I studied the route sheet, still baffled. Two local people came along and while they weren’t sure directed me back advising that they thought I needed to turn off right. As it was the opposite direction it would have been left in the direction of the route.

Ironically it was a junction at which I had hesitated but it was a left turn on a right-hand bend, the opposite of what I thought the instruction was. Perhaps by now you are also thoroughly confused!

On retracing, riders who had cleared the control told me to take the next right, which confirmed it was the road. All that made me lanterne-rouge to the first control. It’s difficult to judge how much time you lose in those situations but I guess it was around 20 minutes. That was frustrating because while audax rides are not races we all like to get round in the time we are capable of – don’t we? Anyway, Arabella Maude was ‘on duty’ inside the control and a sausage sandwich and mug of tea went down well.

It was just before Wickham Market that the wind got up strongly but remaining a tailwind. On leaving the control it had got even stronger but I knew it would still be behind to the info control at Halesworth. Also, as the route was over what for me are regularly used local roads, I guessed I wouldn’t need to check the route sheet much so I could make up a good bit of time with a fast ride. That said, I was contemplating what a tough ride it would be on changing direction from Halesworth and that it was likely to be headwind for a long way. I contemplated that being psychologically tough as Halesworth is only about 15 miles from home for me and it would have continued a tailwind. I didn’t need

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

11

randonnee Left: Accommodation for the weekend – The Courthouse Inn at Gt. Bromley

have the difficulty contemplating the headwind I thought I would – perhaps I’m getting tougher in mind! I certainly didn’t respond as well the previous occasion I was in the same predicament the first time I rode the Mildenhall rally 200, which used the Bridge café at Halesworth for the control at around half-distance.

It had been a tailwind more or less all the way. I didn’t find it easy thinking of around 62.5 miles into a headwind when riding home still with a tailwind would have been such a cosy ride. Unfortunately the car was at Mildenhall!

More familiar roads the route sheet much, but there was one point where I was too much of a ‘clever-dick’ thinking I knew the route better than I did. It was along a lane near Peasenhall I was familiar with but hadn’t used for a while and usually in the opposite direction. At a junction with no signpost I thought Peasenhall was right.

I did glance at the route sheet to make sure but I suppose being convinced I knew the way made me misread it. After a little way something told me I was wrong.

It turned out I was right to think I was wrong! Perhaps another ten minutes lost.

East Suffolk is hardly renowned for hills but in relative terms for a generally flat area there is a quite long drag just northeast of Peasenhall in the parish of Sibton on the road to Walpole. This is a local road that I get some amusement out of by way of humorous exaggeration. It is one of the longer and steeper climbs locally and it sort of has col characteristics in miniature.

There are landmarks at the summit of a water tower and an electricity mast – both can be seen a few miles away – and

village signs. Coming from Peasenhall, the village sign is for Walpole, whereas coming from Walpole the same sign on the other side indicates Sibton, so the parish boundaries are at the summit.

Coming from Peasenhall it is shorter and slightly steeper but coming from Walpole there is a ‘false top’ on a bend. This means that coming from Peasenhall, as we were, shortly after starting the descent you have to climb again slightly for a little way. I always chuckle thinking of mountain climbs when you’ve grovelled to the summit and have just started savouring the descent and suddenly it goes up again slightly and you curse knowing how your legs are going to sting. For these reasons I jokingly refer to the hill as the ‘col de Sibton/Walpole’ depending on which way one is riding.

Joking aside however, it can be hard if it’s in the latter miles of a long ride, which it has been for me on a number of occasions so I savoured finding it easy with a tailwind. Answering the info question at Halesworth (70km) I didn’t

‘… going slightly west through pleasant country lanes and villages like Buxhall and Brettenham to Lavenham (renowned for being described as the ­prettiest village in England).’

Left: Top of the spoof col 12

Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

The route to Diss control was also over familiar roads and I can say that I made no mistakes despite hardly looking at the route sheet. The wind, however, was a brute! The route involved frequent slight changes of direction and it was difficult to work out whether it was direct headwind, sidehead or side-tail. What was easy to work out was that it was never directly behind! The Diss control (around 107 kilometres) had been changed at the last minute to a free one because Morrison’s had advised they could only cope with a few cyclists at a time due to being full of Sunday lunch customers. To save time, I settled for a sandwich pack and Lucozade Sport at a garage shop.

Then it was onwards to Sudbury control and more of the same with the wind. The route went through villages like Mellis and Haughley, avoiding Stowmarket by going slightly west through pleasant country lanes and villages like Buxhall and Brettenham to Lavenham (renowned for being described as the prettiest village in England) and then through Gt Waldingfield to the control (160.5km) by the roundabout just before the descent into Sudbury town centre. This was a ‘semi-free’ control with the choice of a receipt from MacDonalds or the garage shop. I opted for the shop and another Lucozade Sport. I had reached the stage where it was tricky to decide what to eat that would not be difficult through feeling too dry so instead of buying food I opted for an energy bar.

From there it was a retracing of the route for a short way back through Great Waldingfield to the info control at Monks Eleigh (around 171km). Riding in the opposite direction gave a roaring tailwind and it was glorious! I sensed I was making up a lot of time, which made me reluctant to stop for a ‘natural.’ However, it was uncomfortably obvious I couldn’t hold out much longer so I stopped at a good spot Sadly it was only about 11km to Monks Eleigh. Thinking through the general direction from Sudbury to the finish I had been optimistic it would be tailwind all the way. How wrong can you be! A slight change of direction at Monks Eleigh and it was back to the usual www.audax.uk.net

randonnee through Hadleigh and East Bergholt to Brantham to then retrace the outward route over the final 7km or so. That said, perhaps it wasn’t as tough as it had been – possibly tired legs had more to do with it – but there were brief occasions when it really gusted. Also, I return now to the matter of the 10 per cent climb just south of Manningtree station. Despite my ‘col de Sibton/Walpole’ joke, I think most seasoned cyclists know that parts of Suffolk and Essex are hillier than is often thought. However, this was not a particularly hilly ride – ‘undulating’ is the word – which made that 10 per cent hill being at about four miles to go an ironic ‘sting in the tail’. Even those familiar with hillier Essex might be surprised that it’s not in a lane but on a main road. It’s on the A137 just south of the roundabout that junctions with the road into Manningtree town centre. On the Saturday I had loaded panniers so I now had much less weight but with the distance in my legs and the headwind it was a slow ride up it! At least it is fairly short! I bet Andy chuckled about that when planning the route! I then made another of my silly route mistakes. As I was now retracing the outward route, and also repeating my route from Manningtree station I thought I knew the route from Little Bromley. I found myself at a junction with the busy A120. Going off-route anywhere is annoying but even more so when it is a ‘stone’s throw’ – it was less than two miles – from the finish.

I retraced to a junction and pointed my front light at the signpost. I should have turned right so I now turned left.

Probably another 10 to 15 minutes lost.

Those silly navigational mistakes were frustrating. I finished after 8pm, over 12 hours. I usually finish between 11 and 12 hours – my quickest ride so far being two minutes inside 11 hours – so I always target getting inside 12 hours. If it hadn’t been for the errors I would have achieved it and considering the strength of the wind in relative terms it would have been my best ride yet.

I ribbed Andy about the wind saying something like, ‘You know how to pick the days.’ Andy’s response was that in the east we either have my rain or his winds – not to be misinterpreted! A fair point and it could be interesting if we were coorganisers. I suspect many would think it not a good idea! I also ribbed Andy about me going past the turning for the first control as I felt sure it had said turn right but he was adamant it said left. Over my first mug of tea I phoned Michelle to advise that there was loads of food at the HQ so they would not need to cook.

I then tucked into soup and bread and a jacket potato and two more mugs of tea. I got sadistic pleasure rubbing in to those who finished after me that I would shortly be downing a few pints while they were on long drives home.

Right: Ray Cheung at Wickham market control

‘Many of you might be thinking it’s obvious I need a Garmin.

Actually I have one, which I use for measuring distances, but I haven’t got round to learning how to set up routes on it.’

On return to The Courthouse I had three pints of another good real ale: Christmas … something.

What the ride took out of me was evident on the Monday morning. I woke up briefly around 4.30am needing the loo. However, after getting back into bed the next thing I remember is knocking on my door and Michelle saying, ‘Mr Thompson, your breakfast is ready.’ I looked at my watch and it was just after 8.30!

After another good breakfast, packing the panniers, paying the bill and friendly goodbyes with Robert and Michelle, I retraced the route to Manningtree station. Riding through nice lanes on weekdays – particularly Monday mornings – often makes me think of work. That might sound sad and the opposite of what it should do.

However, it’s in the context of how nice it is compared with what I used to be doing at that time. While waiting for my train I got out my route sheet to check the instruction for the Wickham Market

control. Andy was right, it did state ‘left on right-hand bend.’ It wasn’t that I doubted Andy. I wanted to see if I could understand how I made the mistake.

I think I read it a few miles before and memorised it but when I came to use it got it the wrong way round.

Many of you might be thinking it’s obvious I need a Garmin. Actually I have one, which I use for measuring distances, but I haven’t got round to learning how to set up routes on it. That is now a priority.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am pleased I overcame my doubts about entering. I suppose rising to the challenge of the wind made it all the more rewarding, particularly as I know that if it wasn’t for the silly mistakes I was on course – no pun intended – to doing my best ride yet and thus that I am getting fitter. If Andy promotes it on the same Sunday this year I expect I will be back. Well, there is a saying that rules are made to be broken!

N

A traditional shop with well equipped workshop and experienced staff.

For ALL your cycling needs.

8 Shelfhanger Road, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4EH

01379 650419

www.madgettscycles.com

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randonnees

Turning back the years Pistyll Packing Momma and Barmouth Boulevard Chris Keeling-Roberts It’s raining. In fact, it’s raining quite hard.

Heavy, relentless, Welsh rain, with enough wind to blow it into my face and sting my eyes. I’m getting wet. Actually, I’m soaked through already. My heavyweight cycling jacket, which used to be the most waterproof item of clothing that I’ve ever owned, has undergone complete waterproofing failure.

Already my chest and back are wet, and I can feel the cold starting to get to me. Less than an hour into this 200km ride through mid-Wales, the Pistyll Packing Momma, and I’m starting to worry about my chances of finishing.

There’s not many of us started, and we’re riding in small groups now, of two or three at the most. We’re not talking much. Perhaps no one feels like it. No one can really be enjoying this, can they? It’s certainly not much fun at the moment. As you go through life, you become aware of the great unanswerable questions. What was there before the big bang? What is the universe expanding into? And, for me today, why on earth am I doing this?

I’d entered this event last year, and then wimped out without even getting to the start, because of the weather forecast. So this year, once I had entered, I told David Matthews, the organiser, that I had every intention of riding it this year. So I’d paid my money, and turned up to the start. Now, with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha on the way, I was starting to wish I had not been quite so positive.

Being this cold, and this wet, so early in the ride, was giving me a lot of negative thoughts. Suddenly, there’s a crash and a shout behind. Andy Marshall has gone down. The road here is covered in cow muck and is full of potholes. A nasty combination. Mark Higgins and I stop and go back to see what has happened. Andy has landed on his right arm, which is very painful. He doesn’t think he has broken anything, but he feels he won’t be able to complete the ride. He’s going to turn back. This is my opportunity. I can turn round with Andy, and make sure he gets back OK. I really should do that. But Andy is adamant that he can manage by himself, and urges us to carry on without him. So we do.

The first part of this ride is very flat, and without hills it’s not really possible 14

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to generate any body heat. This may be the middle of August, but I’m getting seriously cold now. The first café stop is now fairly close, at Chirk, so I decide to carry on until I get there, and then review the situation. I do have some spare clothes with me, in my new saddlebag, and I may feel differently after some hot food.

• Three weeks previously, another David Matthews’ Welsh ride, the Barmouth Boulevard, and another day that started with rain. I was on a campsite near Corwen the day before, and the weather was glorious. But the forecast for the Saturday, as my neighbour seemed delighted to tell me, was for heavy, torrential rain all day. Now, I wasn’t sure that I was going to ride. I met James Blair, also on the campsite, who was sure he was. We chatted outside my campervan, and he looked at my bike, with its small seat pack attached.

‘I see you’re travelling very light,’ he said.

‘I don’t have a saddlebag,’ I replied.

He looked incredulous. I felt inadequate. How can I be a proper Audax rider, if I don’t have a saddle bag?

So, I was looking for an excuse not to ride, and told James that I might not wake up in time the next day. He assured me that he would be awake at 6am, and was happy to make sure that I was up and ready to go. About 6.30am there was a loud crash that woke me up. James is being a bit enthusiastic, I thought, banging on the side of the van like that. I looked out, but there was no one there. Just the first clap of thunder.

And then the rain started. Heavy, persistent rain, the sort that gets you wet through very quickly. I began to get myself ready, but was still deliberating about whether I was really going to ride, when James appeared. He was all set to go. I asked if he was really going to ride.

Enthusiastically, he said that of course he was, and that he would see me at the start. I was now in a situation where again, I felt as if I had no option but to ride.

At the start, David seemed surprised that anyone had actually turned up.

David had been very enthusiastic about the Barmouth Boulevard when we talked about it last year. We were sat outside

‘Heavy, persistent rain, the sort that gets you wet through very quickly.’

the Ring O’Bells after one of the Marple Midweek Grimpeurs, and he sold it to me. It takes you through beautiful and remote parts of mid-Wales, some of which I know very well. I was keen to do the ride, but now, in the pouring rain, I wasn’t sure how much of mid-Wales I was actually going to see. Certainly, early on, there was a lot of low cloud down on the hills as we climbed over the remote mountain road from Bala towards the coast. I was hoping to see the Rhinogs, but they were well and truly hidden by the mist.

It was still raining at Harlech, where we stopped to eat. I asked the woman in the café if it was going to clear up later on. She replied that there had been warnings to stay in that evening because of the storm. That was just the encouragement I needed.

But, rather surprisingly, the rain did stop. And cycling down that stretch of coast road, between Harlech and Barmouth, my mind went back 45 years, to the summer of 1969. I lived very close to Barmouth for about five months, working in a hotel. It was a wonderfully liberating experience after the enclosed tyranny of a boys’ boarding school. The memories came flooding back.…

Walking the whole length of the Cadair Idris Range. Spending my hard-earned cash in the Cob Café at Portmadoc, building up my collection of John Coltrane and Mile Davis records.

Dozing in the sand dunes at Fairbourne, whilst listening to the Test Match on my transistor radio (a surprisingly successful series against Gary Sobers’ West Indians).

Late night parties on the beach at Harlech, now just about visible over on the right, singing Mr Tambourine Man: ‘Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands’. Finding out about life.

So, Summer of 69, the Best Days of My Life? I’m not sure they were the very best days, Bryan, but I do appreciate the sentiment.

At Barmouth; the Mawddach Estuary, the rail bridge over it and Cadair Idris behind it. An iconic view. One of the best in a land of wonderful views. George Borrow described the north facing cliffs of Cadair as being the town walls of Dolgellau, three miles high. They could have been any height today. They were invisible, enveloped in filthy black cloud.

But it didn’t matter to me; I have my own www.audax.uk.net

randonnees version of that view, etched deep in my memory, with sunshine, blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

A rather unsettling, bumpy crossing of the Mawddach on the wooden pedestrian bridge alongside the rail line, and then carry on south for a bit. Past Bird Rock, where there should have been choughs, although I couldn’t see any, and after Abergynolwyn, into the mountains again. And the sun came out. Just when I really didn’t want it, on the ascent of Bwlch y Groes. Without a saddlebag, I didn’t have anywhere to store my jacket, so I had to keep it on, and overheat. The thing about the Bwlch is that you can see the top from the bottom, and you can see that it really ramps up for the last 500 metres. I decided before that last, very steep section, that I had to unclip and walk. No disgrace really, as it has been described as ‘the hardest section of relentlessly steep tarmac in Britain’. But what was embarrassing was that first my Garmin, and then my Cat Eye computer, told me that I was no longer moving.

• And so, three weeks later, I had a brand new, Carradice Super C saddle

bag, supplied by Keep Pedalling in Manchester. A really great shop run by a very helpful, and Audax-orientated couple, Shona and Rich. So, at Chirk, I was able to take off my soaking wet clothes, stuff them in the bag, and put some dry things on. The useless, non-waterproof, jacket had to go back on top but, rather surprisingly, the rain had stopped, and as we started the climbing, I began to warm up.

The next control was Pistyll Rhyader, the highest waterfall in Wales. This was one of the reasons that I wanted to do this ride. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, my father would drive the family out from North Shropshire, in the Humber Hawk, to have picnics here. We would have Heinz tomato soup, out of a large Thermos flask, followed by hot sausages out of a larger Thermos, with white bread rolls. I would have been quite happy to have that today, but made do with carrot cake and a can of coke.

In those days, there would only be one or two other families here, or we might have the place to ourselves. Now there’s a café, and a Pay and Display car park, although to be fair there wasn’t a huge crowd of people on such a wet day. The waterfall was pretty spectacular

‘The thing about the Bwlch is that you can see the top from the bottom, and you can see that it really ramps up for the last 500 metres.’

though, just as I remembered it. As Albert Wainwright used to say, the best time to see waterfalls is after heavy rain. I sat and looked at it, and chatted with John Clemens, who had his own memories of this special place.

In the afternoon, the sun came out.

After Lake Vernwy, another destination for family trips in the 1960s, there was the climb of the Hernant Pass for the second time in three weeks, followed by the wonderfully fast descent. Care needed here to avoid hitting the sheep, which aren’t that keen to give up their road space. At Bala, there was a strong westerly wind, which worried me for a while, until I remembered that the route now turned east.

I had little experience of where I was now. I thought that this was probably still the Berwyns, looking very crisp and sharp under a clear blue sky now that the rain had stopped, but I didn’t recognise the place names. Melin-y-Wig, Llanelidan, Llanarmon-yn-lal were all new to me. I did know the last control in Llanfynydd, at the Cross Keys Inn. Unfortunately, when I got there, there was a note in the window saying that due to an electrical malfunction, the pub was shut until Tuesday. I couldn’t wait that long for a pint of shandy. One last stiff climb, over Hope Mountain, and then back onto the Cheshire Plain, for the last 35km. I’m not a great fan of the Cheshire lanes, but I enjoyed them today.

The strong following wind was a huge help, and this was the most exhilarating part of the day, down on the drops and feeling really strong. I managed to find a pub that was open, for a quick pint to set me up for the last hour or so. All those negative thoughts from 10 hours ago were now long gone, blown away by Hurricane Bertha.

I remembered why I do these rides.

The more difficult the conditions, the greater the feeling of satisfaction and the sense of achievement at the end. If you start in the rain, if you’re out long enough, there’s a good chance you’ll finish in the dry. If it’s a headwind to start with, the chances are it’ll be behind you on the way back. And the more climbing involved, the greater the views from the top, provided you’re not in the cloud.

You get to go to wonderful places and get a different perspective on them than most other people, from the saddle rather than from inside a car. You might ride in a group, and chat away to old friends, or make new ones. If you prefer, you can ride by yourself, enjoying your own company, and thinking your own thoughts.

Occasionally, you revisit old, familiar places, and try to turn back the years. You remember when you were ten years old perhaps, or 19, and there was so much life in front of you, rather than behind you. A bit like a saddlebag.

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on tour around the world

Laid back around the world in 180 days

Richard Evans rode a funny bike round the world last year, keeping a diary that he’s now trying to turn into a book. Arrivée picks up the story from Warsaw…

Saturday 12th April

I’d arrived in Warsaw, a week and 1,467km since I’d left London, and rose early feeling full of the joys of spring. The day was dawning sunny and full of promise and the mildly anxious feelings I’d had the previous evening about setting off alone now after the first week riding with Dave Bradshaw were bleached away by the low brilliant April sunshine. Dave was planning to spend a day or two in Warsaw, then get the train back to Berlin to avoid any further riding on hazardous Polish roads, from where he’d potter back to Calais and home in time to see his son ride at the Herne Hill velodrome Good Friday track races. Far from feeling daunted, I was chomping at the bit. I’d enjoyed Dave’s company and the ‘tow’ to Warsaw had been very useful – indeed quite possibly I wouldn’t have made it in time for the parkrun without his help.

Nonetheless I was ready to go solo, and would have it no other way for the bulk of the trip – it’s definitely the best way to travel if you want to meet more locals.

It was also best for Dave that he wasn’t coming any further, as his previous 16

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night out on the tiles had taken its toll.

He’d asked me to wake him in time to come and spectate at parkrun, so I did that around 08:00. He turned over in bed exposing a sorry and somewhat alarming sight: his face was covered in dried blood.

He discovered that he had bashed his forehead and nose somehow on the way home after a few too many beers – he’s still not sure how it happened, though thinks it was in Marek’s flat after they got back. He made a sterling effort to rise from his stupor, clean himself up a bit, utter some brief words of relief that his injuries were just skin deep, and help me down the four-storey stairwell with my bike and bags.

Warsaw Praga parkrun is held in the beautiful Skaryszewski city park just across the road from Marek’s flat – the chief reason I’d picked him from the wide choice of Warmshowers hosts in Warsaw.

A hundred or so runners and volunteers were milling about at the start area when I arrived, busy putting up the event flags, finish funnel and catching up with a week’s gossip – just like parkrun back home. I pushed my funny bike into this throng and was immediately welcomed by the run director who had a few pairs of running shoes ready for me to try. I selected the most comfortable pair and did a little stretching to try and bring some relief to my Achilles tendons which

More photos etc: www. laidbackaroundthe world.blogspot.co.uk/ RoadPeace donations: https://mydonate. bt.com/fundraisers/ laidbackrich The laid back book will be published … one day. All proceeds to RoadPeace, watch this space …

were just beginning to get rather sore from overuse in the first week of the trip.

After the run director had given the pre-race briefing, which I assumed was pretty much verbatim what they say at parkruns back home (a description of the 5km route, mind out for other park users and dogs, applause for today’s volunteers…) we were off and I settled into a sedate pace towards the back of the field on account of the sore Achilles and the fact that I wanted to keep some energy in reserve for the rest of the day.

It was two and a bit laps around the park and local runner Vitaliy Sorochuk came home first in a scorching 16:50. I finished at a stately gentle jogging pace in 28:44, my slowest ever parkrun, 97th out of 114 runners, but ecstatic to have made it to Warsaw in time to run at all. Plus I got to run round with the prettiest girl in the field! Post-run banter and photos were fun as usual and there was a festival of chocolate – almost all runners had brought chocolate to share so I got a good energy boost for the exertions to follow.

I said my goodbyes to my new parkrun friends and to Dave at around 10:00, and set off into the eastern suburbs of Warsaw and beyond towards the Belarusian border. The sun still blazed and I felt great – a wonderful feeling of liberty that I only had myself to consider, www.audax.uk.net

All photos by the author

on tour around the world the world really was my oyster now! The weather stayed fair and I made steady progress on the E30 out through Siedlce, stopping in a bus shelter for a picnic lunch where the phone rang – a bunch of local club cyclists were planning to meet up and ride with me into their home town of Miedzyrzec Podlaski.

Sure enough, some 20km short of the town, two of them were waiting for me by the side of the road on their bikes, ready to escort me into town where we were met by a further six club members and taken into a local bar for some beer.

They had been notified of my arrival by their Belarusian friend and fellow cyclist Michael Kuz’menchuk in Brest, who had helped me get my Belarusian visa a few weeks earlier. After a couple of beers I was escorted a further 30km down the road to Biala Podlaska where I was met by yet more cyclists and the local press – I was beginning to feel quite the Queen Bee by this stage – what a wonderful welcome! Press interviews were conducted at around 20:00 in the town square, and an hour later I was finally shown to a hotel they’d booked for me. Exhausted again, I couldn’t face going out to find dinner, so managed to get the receptionist to phone for a take away pizza.

158km today / 1,625km since London

Sunday 13th April A lie-in at the hotel, what luxury! Today I was in no hurry because I was being met at the Belarusian border by Michael Kuz’menchuk who, I’d gathered from recent emails, had organised quite a reception for me which would take all afternoon and evening, then I’d be his overnight guest. The plan was to meet at the border crossing at noon, just 40km down the road. So I rose from a good, long, deep sleep at 08:00, completely refreshed, and went downstairs to the dining room for a decent cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, paté, tomatoes, bread (basket refilled twice), butter, honey, coffee … I scoffed the lot and felt fantastic! Three local club cyclists appeared at the hotel shortly after 09:00 to help me downstairs with my bike and bags, and led me out of town and back onto the main road where we said our goodbyes.

A couple of hours later I arrived at the border, a little ahead of schedule, so sat on the crash barrier at the side of the road and ate a sandwich that the club cyclists had kindly provided.

At noon I approached the border and soon discovered that I should not have tarried – this was the border out of the EU and into the Russian Federation and was clearly going to take some time. There were long queues of cars but needless to say no other cyclists, and I was sidelined and told to wait – I wasn’t sure what for.

After five minutes or so a border guard

tried to explain what they were planning for me but the language barrier beat us both. I waited a little longer and another guard managed to convey that cyclists were not permitted to cycle (or walk) across the no-man’s-land bit between the exit from Poland and the entry into Belarus. It became apparent that the guards were asking motorists in larger vehicles if they had space to take the bike and me across the border. After ten minutes or so I was beckoned over to a large car towing an empty trailer – perfect! The amiable driver was happy to co-operate and helped load my bike and panniers into his trailer. I was motioned to get into the passenger seat beside the driver, then we joined another slow queue towards a checkpoint and barrier.

Our passports were duly inspected and stamped and we were across and into a few hundred yards of no-man’s-land, over a small bridge, only to join the tail of another queue to proceed through Belarusian entry formalities. Another 15 minutes elapsed and we finally emerged into Belarus proper at 13:00. I’d spent a whole hour getting through and it had felt like crossing the Berlin Wall at the height of the cold war!

I needn’t have worried as my patient hosts obviously knew that these things take a while. I was a little embarrassed at the ignominy of having to unload my bike from a car trailer; it was not how I’d planned to arrive! The 15 locals lined up by the side of the road waiting to meet me were clearly familiar with the procedure. Michael, a large jovial fellow wearing a loud day-glo pink and yellow jacket with megaphone voice to match, introduced himself with a great bear hug and back-slapping routine, then presented the rest of the welcome committee – a mix of local press and cyclists…and a TV crew. It was at this point that I lost all control over what happened to the rest of my day. Everything had been scripted and planned out for me and all I had to do was follow and smile and answer simple questions.

We started with a couple of interviews for the local paper and the evening TV news. Fortunately one of the cyclists was an English teacher and provided a useful interpretation service. In response to an early question I referred to my blog and gave out some of my cards which proved an instant hit – they all wanted one, so I distributed … and a minute later they were all being handed them back to be autographed! I quite enjoyed this minor celebrity status.

After 20 minutes or so we all got on our bikes and rode into the historic city of Brest for a sightseeing tour, TV crew in tow filming from their van, visiting the ruins of the fortress where the BrestLitovsk treaty was signed in March 1918, and where locals held out for six days

Welcome to Russia!

‘We started with a couple of interviews for the local paper and the evening TV news.’

Below: It was at this point that I lost all control over what happened to the rest of my day

against the invading German army in June 1941. That was followed by lunch in a typical Belarusian restaurant for borscht and pancakes, also filmed for the TV news clip. Then Michael led me back to his third floor flat where I met his wife and son, who helped me up with the bike and kit, after which I was bustled into a large car and found myself in a diminished group of just six men going shopping in a supermarket for various comestibles and beer. Following that we drove for about half an hour out to the edge of the city and parked up by a large suburban house where the shopping was unloaded and taken down to a large shed at the bottom of the garden! I was intrigued and mildly anxious by this stage, but they all seemed friendly enough so I continued to let myself be carried along with their plans, which turned out to be a sauna bath and picnic in the garden shed. The shopping bags were unloaded to reveal quite a feast including plenty of good strong local beer, and vodka. We all got our kit off and into the sauna which was cranked up to hotter than I’ve ever known, and I was introduced to the ‘special equipment’ – a hefty bunch of birch twigs and leaves with which we beat each other across the backs – all good jolly harmless fun!

Incriminating photos were taken but fortunately I stayed just sober enough to protect modesty, holding a strategically

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

17

HEADING on tour around IN H ERE the world positioned felt hat in one hand and the birch whip in the other. Explaining in a subsequent slide show back at work that I was holding the ‘special equipment’, one colleague was prompted to quip: ‘which hand?’

The TV item was featured on the evening news bulletin, lasting 2½ minutes. It must have been a slow news day in Brest that day!

47km today / 1,672km since London

Monday 14th April A very comfortable night as Michael’s guest in his flat was followed by a leisurely cooked breakfast, then we were off to meet the Mayor of Brest, my final engagement before I could get back out on the road and get on with the job. We pedalled over to the City Hall and were shown up to a rather spartan and plain office on the third floor where tea and biscuits were served and an interpreter relayed questions from the Mayor who asked much the same as others interested in my tour – my route, daily distances, where was I sleeping, etc. When he found out about my profession he wanted to know about School Travel Plans and lamented that Brest had exactly the same problems of car-dependency as London with daily traffic jams full of children who should be walking and cycling to school. He was absolutely right of course but I was looking out of the window and getting itchy feet as the clock ticked on towards 11:00, acutely aware that in the last 24 hours I had ridden less than 50kms.

I finally broke free from the almost overwhelming hospitality shortly after 11:00 and set off eastwards on the M1 then M10 under foreboding grey skies and cold rain, escorted 75kms by a Brest cyclist beyond Kobryn and then alone.

I tried to make up for lost time but the road surface was very poor in places impeding swift progress, so I was pleased to get as far as Pinsk by 22:00 where I pulled into a roadside motel to avoid the cold, wet night. No English spoken, nor German, French or Spanish, so I fired up Google Translate on the smartphone and chose soup, pancakes and goulash from the skimpy menu. My room was adequate but austere, without WC or bathroom, or pillow, and the towel on offer for use in the communal showers was little larger or thicker than the hanky in my pocket. Nonetheless it was clean and a lot warmer and more comfy than a bus shelter would have been that wild night, and the sleep, as always after a day of hard pedalling, was top quality.

176km today / 1,848km since London Tuesday 15th April My eleventh day on the road, and amazingly the first riding alone all day.

After a reasonable hotel breakfast I was back on the flat long straight M10 18

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highway which traverses the entire country west to east, about 600km from Brest to Gomel near the Russian border.

The landscape was bleak, alternating between vast fields, open spaces and forests. Traffic was thankfully light, mostly trucks, and most of them giving me a comfortably wide berth. The road surface was variable all day, so speeds were up and down – on the good bits a useful tailwind helped push me along at giddy speeds of up to 30km/h. It was cold still, raining on and off all day, but nothing too heavy and my new waterproofs kept me dry and warm. Every few hours I stopped for big hearty meals at roadside cafés, most of which involved borscht, and just before 22:00 I stopped in a 3* Audax hotel (bus shelter) for the night.

A warm welcome from the cyclists of Gomel

197km today / 2,045km since London

Wednesday 16th April After a quick bowl of muesli in my bus shelter I was back on the road at 06:30, listening to some music on the mp3 player for the first time – it would have been rude in company, and yesterday, my first day alone, was too wet and the earphones were not waterproof.

Today stayed dry but still a wind-chilled 10C. The M10 remained straight and featureless, so I lost little time stopping to take photos. Frequent roadside shrines provided more evidence of motorslaughter – similar numbers perish every year on their roads as ours, but they have only one-sixth of the UK population.

That said, my personal experience in Belarus was one of sharing the roads with patient, considerate and friendly drivers.

At 48,000 roubles, my lunch bill at a roadside café caused momentary alarm.

But at an exchange rate of 16,000:1 that was just £3, and it had been a particularly fine and nourishing meal so I tried to leave 50,000 to include a small tip. The café owner was reluctant to accept this and tried to push the change back into my hands, which I managed to deposit on a neighbouring table as I was leaving.

Before I could unlock my bike, however, she came dashing out of the café with a free loaf of bread for me – extraordinary!

Little was I to know at this stage, but this was the first of many increasingly generous gifts that I was to receive from complete strangers over coming weeks.

At 16:30 I crossed the River Dnieper,

and a couple of hours later was met by 40 Gomel cyclists at the city boundary and escorted en masse into the city centre for press interviews. This had obviously been arranged by Michael in Brest whose sphere of influence apparently ranged across the entire country. After an enjoyable hour or so with the locals I was led to a recommended hotel where I showered, washed all my kit, and enjoyed a hearty dinner.

164km today / 2,209km since London

‘The landscape was bleak, alternating between vast fields, open spaces and forests.’

Thursday 17th April A quick breakfast at the hotel and I was away by 07:00. Today was the first properly sunny day since London, but a stiff headwind pegged my average speed back to 17.5km/h. I stopped for a mid-morning coffee at a service station, offered free of charge with bonus chocolates once they’d read my magic letter – a brief introduction of myself and my ride in the various languages I’d need around the planet. At 45km I crossed the open border into Russia, where a few soldierly looking types lolled about lazily with no passport stamping duties or other formalities to perform. A friendly guard posed with me for a photo, then I was on my way, feeling pleased with myself for having cycled from London to Russia in 12 days. But rather less pleased with Russian drivers on the M13 – there was a distinct deterioration in standards

Left: Three-star bus shelter Right: Crossing the River Dnieper in Belarus www.audax.uk.net

on tour around the world with far too many close passes and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres, and so many roadside shrines it felt like riding through a graveyard. I felt very vulnerable, acutely aware that the dangers of the road far outweighed any other threats to my survival on this trip.

One good feature was some cosy sheltered roadside picnic spots in the forest, useful as towns and villages were now few and far between. I raided my pantry bag for bread, cheese, paté and fruit and made a couple of social phone calls back home to family and a work colleague. The road surface had marginally improved since the border and was gently rolling up and down, so despite the headwind I managed to reach my target 200kms by 23:00 where a convenient 3* Audax hotel near Pochep had my name on it. It was a relief to crawl into my sleeping bag still in one piece, and I shuddered a little as I relived some of the close passes of the day.

202km today / 2,411km since London

Friday 18th April Up at 06:00 and away at 06:40 after first breakfast; another cold start and the road surface much worse than the previous day. I still had sore Achilles tendons – they’d been bugging me for a week now since Germany – and the headwind had strengthened. Traffic had thickened in both directions and international juggernauts were passing far too close.

The roadside was littered with shrines to the fallen on this battlefield of a highway.

Then came the first serious canine attack, a hefty mongrel managing to sink its teeth into the left pannier and almost dragging the bike down and me with it, but somehow we kept steady and I withdrew the dog stick, waving it about and shouting like a lunatic. I think that did the trick because he didn’t get close enough for me to strike a direct hit, more’s the pity!

The road rolled over long climbs and descents, there was less wifi available at the café stops, more dreadful overtaking and further canine incidents followed – at one point I was trying to fend off juggernauts to the left and dogs to the right (‘stuck in the middle with you’!).

Whenever I got off the bike, for snack stops and the like, walking and especially going down any steps was painful and difficult on account of the sore Achilles, though surprisingly and thankfully I could still ride well enough, if a bit more slowly. Remarkably they recovered just enough each night to keep going the following day.

All in all today was the first properly hard day and by 21:00 I’d had enough.

Arriving shattered in the town of Orel I decided I’d earned myself a hotel night.

The first place I tried was very welcoming, the proprietor and his wife helped me upstairs with my bike and bags to the

room, and later brought a huge dinner of various grilled meats, chips, soup, bread and beer up for me – I must have looked too whacked to even make it back down to the dining-room, or perhaps they were fearful I’d scare off the other guests! Deep sleep followed soon thereafter.

Triumphal arrival in Kursk

188km today / 2,599km since London

Saturday 19th April 05:30 was too early for the hotel breakfast, so I stopped a little down the road in a garage for coffee and snacks, and then again after 50km for a truly splendid meal chosen by looking at the food being cooked, this being the easiest way to choose – there were no objections to my visiting their kitchens. In reality there was not usually much choice with most places offering some or all of the following: soup, potatoes, big joints of beef or lamb, cabbage, bread and dumplings; I usually ended up having a portion of each. Sometimes the quality was high … and others not. A good feed would get me up to 100km down the road before I needed a refill.

It was altogether a welcome easier day today, sunny and warm at last, I even put some sun cream on – hurrah! The dog stick was unsheathed three times but the brutes never got quite close enough to be bashed. The road surface had improved, traffic was lighter, and there was a rideable hard shoulder on the M2 highway bearing south to the city of Kursk where a Warmshowers host awaited. 35km out from the city two cyclists were waiting for me by the side of the road – Michael’s influence evidently spanned international boundaries, I was now well over 1,000km east of Brest! Yuri and Alex escorted me into Kursk, where at the city boundary a further ten local cycling club members were lined up by the city sign proudly displaying their club flag. We trundled en masse into the city centre where I was strategically positioned below a replica Arc de Triomphe for a Triumphal Entry into Kursk photo-shoot. After that we all rode out into the suburbs to a big family dinner with my Warmshowers host Dmitri and family. I think there was vodka involved, and I remember sleeping very well.

‘Then came the first serious canine attack, a hefty mongrel managing to sink its teeth into the left pannier and almost dragging the bike down and me with it.’

173km today / 2,771km since London Sunday 20th April, Easter Day Dmitri provided an early big breakfast and filled my pantry bag with sundry

AUK riders can feel right at home on Russian roads

picnic items, then rode 25km with me out of town, leading me to the A144 highway east towards Voronezh. This was very poor quality with lots of cars, though mercifully fewer lorries than recent days.

There was also a raging headwind, and I struggled at times to make even 10km/h.

At these low speeds in the blustery conditions, and trying to steer round crater-sized potholes, I was a little wobbly on the bike, so took refuge by riding close to the stony verge out of the traffic flow, but that proved slower still, and not without its own risks – the bike wasn’t brilliant on a loose surface and I nearly skidded off more than once. This was the hardest and slowest day yet, my mettle was severely tested; on a good day I could run 50 per cent faster!

The wind dropped, as it often does, at sunset, by which time I’d managed to cover just 140km. I rolled into a fantastic family welcome from Boris, Nicolai, Yulia and Marina at their transport café near Gorshechnoe where, upon sight of the magic letter, my huge dinner was offered free of charge and furthermore would I like a free bed for the night too? Such acts of kindness and generosity from complete strangers were truly moving. I accepted the dinner but faced a dilemma over the accommodation offer, as I was well short of my 200km target and the wind had dropped so conditions were ideal to ride on for another couple of hours. On the other hand it was 22:00, dark, and the thought of going straight to bed was not without appeal. I sought advice on Twitter and a couple of followers urged me to take the bed … to this day I don’t really know why I opted to go back out into the dark to ride another 45kms, finishing at a two-star bus shelter in the small village of Vyaznovatovka at 01:00.

N

185km today / 2,956km since London

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LEL

The last leg Andrew Lees The title refers to the last day as the last leg, in a ride as big as London-Edinburgh-London this seems an appropriate up-scaling. It is a little sketchy on geographical detail in parts – there were actually two sections of Fenland dyke riding, with I suppose Kirton somewhere in between, but I have tried to, as far as possible, piece together the recounted impressions with factual research.

I include this revival of LEL in PBP year as a sharing of the unique hardships and euphoria of the closing stages of a major randonnée, from the perspective a of a newcomer to a ride of this magnitude.

The night before

The day before the last leg had been tough – in the end. Most of it had been enjoyable: I felt good and had formed a trio with a German called Francuzco and an Italian called Francesca. We bowled along at a swift pace and I enjoyed explaining to them what I knew of the mysteries of the downright weird English Baroque of Castle Howard as we sped through the pyramid gates in the moist and misty evening air. Pocklington was reached in good spirits and with something still left in the tank, and ordinarily it would have been a good time to have some rest – it had been a good pull all the way from Brampton. Quite enough bike riding in one day for anyone of a reasonable, or rather conventional cycling mentality – but this was LEL, despite having ridden from London to Pocklington in a day on the way out, this was clearly leaving too much to do on the final leg. Yes, being sensible about it, pushing on through the night to Market Rasen was the thing to do. Francuzco assured us that this was the case, and I trusted his judgement, as he was

evidently a seasoned randonneur: taken to riding through the night listening to audiobooks of Moby Dick – which struck me as quite an appealing way of spending a night ride. I on the other hand was a slightly prepared chancer who’d never ridden more than 300km before, while Francesca was a triathlete who’d somehow happened upon this crazy idea and seemed a little in denial over the issue of time limits. So despite my body craving the solace of an air mattress in a school hall, we pressed on after dinner into the night. It’s worth recounting the essence of this night ride. We all succumbed to a kind of silent, zombified exhaustion, and at some point we had coalesced into a sizeable peloton of night zombies, plodding over the Humber Bridge and into interminable hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds – I do not doubt that they are lovely really, but in this inky and rather cold blackness it seemed like some ascending purgatory. But then we were faring better than some: for the first time in my audaxing career I came across the bus shelter sleepers. I’d heard about this phenomenon, but was quite unprepared for the surreal site of riders randomly laid out at all angles at the side of the road like zombie victims – one was even half-in-half-out of a shelter through the gap beneath the Perspex side wall. How does that happen? It provided much needed comic relief and fascination – I felt I had now truly made a transition into some alternative way of life. We were not any more like the people in the semidetached houses behind.

Eventually – I don’t know when – we reached Market Rasen and after much tired dithering – during which an implausibly glamorous looking Francesca re-emerged in a bathrobe combing her hair – I finally made it to my airbed,

‘LEL taught me the value of a good sleep, it takes you to your limits and you experience the threshold at which ones body can right itself.’

Left: Sunset somewhere along the route 20

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leaving instructions that I wanted a lie-in, well a relative lie-in.

LEL taught me the value of a good sleep, it takes you to your limits and you experience the threshold at which one's body can right itself. On the way up I’d experienced some tendonitis (or something – I am not a doctor) in one leg, which had really slowed me down and been exacerbated by the unrelenting terrain of Yad Moss and the Pennines.

A good rest in Moffat had magically healed me, and so too was the case on this morning in Market Rasen – I felt good, I had a resolve and an excitement to finish this thing. I also decided to ride alone, I said goodbye and good luck to Francesca (I don’t know what became of Francuzco) and set off into the wind.

Anyone who rode that last day in the fens, with its searing temperatures and block headwind knows what I am talking about here. But I decided I was going to enjoy it – the relationship between wind and cycling for me is a state of mind, if you just accept the resistance and don’t fight it to try and go as fast as if it wasn’t there – just accept that one is going to be slower, then it's fine.

This was a key aspect of wanting to ride alone, I didn’t want to spend the day in some through-and-off toil, staring at the lycra arse ahead, I wanted to revel in the elemental expanse of this unique part of the country. And so I did, riding up on the crest of the exposed dykes, looking down on the rippling corn fields, away to the Boston Stump in the east and enjoying the delightful spectacle of white forked-tail terns wheeling acrobatically over the water alongside – I never knew they came inland. Swinging off the dyke roads towards Crowland I rode alongside billowing pollarded willows, beneath which some riders were enjoying a siesta, others ice cream. I had by now formed the conclusion in my mind that what I really needed on a glorious day like this was a pint of ale, and on reaching the town centre I stopped at a pub opposite the intriguing medieval three-spurred bridge over nothing. Along with my ale I also acquired iced water for my bidons, so it was with an air of contentment that I settled down on a bench outside watching the occasional rider flash by the intriguing three-spurred bridge over nothing. I subsequently looked up the history of this bridge and found that it owes its form to an ingenious solution to providing a crossing of two rivers at their confluence. Since medieval times the www.audax.uk.net

lel fens have of course been re-engineered from their natural marsh to farmland, and with this the rivers have now disappeared – at least from this location, hence this vestigial bridge over nothing. It's also worth noting that that beer was the only thing I actually bought from the non-LEL ‘outside world’ for the entire duration of the ride – which is a testament to the extraordinary extent to which one’s every need is catered for.

Another rider stopped by – in need of an ice cream – and we discussed the curious bridge and set off together – I don’t remember his name, but we kept each other company over the next part of the route, which was of a markedly different character – main roads with rather menacing traffic. This was an anomaly in what is generally a remarkable stringing together of country lanes and roads-less-trodden which make up much of LEL. There was an air of menace to this section, and when an ambulance and a police car screamed by we rolled towards the scene of the incident with a feeling of dread. Two riders were injured, but apparently the accident was actually the result of an entanglement between a bike and a trike, and did not thankfully involve any of the motorised yobs on the road. The rider of the trike was taken to hospital – he was laid out on the road as we passed – but I understand he was OK. My companion had been riding with him earlier so stayed by to help as I set off again, in a rather sober mood.

Thankfully, we presently left these roads and were into cornfields, but by now I was riding with a distinct feeling of diminished enthusiasm. I was clearly amongst the tail-enders on this ride now, a rag tag collection of the blowed and beaten, the elemental thrill had been replaced by ‘I wish this sodding wind would go away’ and the sweat from my palms had made my bar tape unravel; but then I passed Drew Buck in his Breton shirt asleep in a field, and marvelled at how a man riding an antique bike with two gears (the lower of which must be pedalled continuously backwards – yes, presumably he did ride ‘backwards’ up Yad Moss, twice) could possibly have been ahead of me – I felt such a lightweight on my sensible bike and leisurely control stops. It was, however, with great relief that I finally rolled into St Ives: time to take a break and have some dinner.

Saddling up out of the control I was refocused, really focused, I decided that for this leg I was going to ride in the most systematic fashion – like a pro. I visualised a great steam engine, an A4 streamlined Pacific like the Mallard, they used to fly from Edinburgh to London non-stop – but that hungry boiler needed feeding huge tonnages of coal shovelled near constantly by the fireman, they would

also lower chutes into troughs on the tracks to skim water up into the tender – much like the terns I’d seen probably do, skimming their bills along the water’s surface. Swallows certainly do that – I’ve seen them – so it follows that a similarly agile sea bird like a tern must also. I was going to shovel alternately figs and jelly babies into my boiler at rigorous 15-minute intervals, and half way between feeding intervals I was going to take on water, just a little at a time, all to sustain a full-bore effort – I was going to ride the whole leg like this, fly like a bird with the power of a locomotive.

First though I rolled out of St Ives with Nick Wilkinson on his Brompton – another example of a what I would call an eccentric (in terms of machinery) but very well drilled rider – I’d seen earlier the great reams of paper schedules in his Brompton front bag – you have to be well organised if you’re going to make life so much harder for yourself. We chatted a while and it was all very pleasant: this time we rolled through the old town centre’s evening sun-kissed streets (on the north leg we had bypassed it) and passed over the Great Ouse via the medieval chapel bridge. But I had to say goodbye, the belligerent wind had melted away with the onset of evening, and it was as if a great weight had been lifted, I had an upwelling urge to get those 700c wheels spinning.

What followed was extraordinary.

Every seasoned cyclist knows of and has hopefully experienced the fleeting ‘sweet spot’, transcendental cycling where energy seems to flow magically from within, through the heart, lungs and into the limbs – this was happening to me now, I was flying! This was glorious, the evening light was beautiful, the countryside pastoral, the tarmac a smooth, undulating ribbon. I was highcadence whirring away like some terrific turbine, it didn’t matter whether the road was climbing or falling – I took it all on in the big ring, in the same effortless fashion, breathing deeply, playing the sprockets to maintain the optimum efficiency. I was flashing past other riders, one by one or in little groups – I was in dedicated full-on lone-rider mode again, but this time – and somewhat implausibly given the day I’d had – it was not a steady plod in the wind but a coursing of power and grace, and I could see no good reason why I couldn’t keep this up all the way to Great Easton.

I came upon a group of merino-clad Long Island Randonneurs, arcing past them into the junction of a lane and flying up the hill I became aware that one of them had detached and got onto my wheel, but I was so in my zone that I didn’t acknowledge this and just kept on driving forwards. Presently the rider asked if I minded if he tagged along, I said ‘sure’, and within a short time I

‘I rolled out of St Ives with Nick Wilkinson on his Brompton – another example of a what I would call an eccentric (in terms of machinery).’

relaxed into a chatty mode – I could still keep the wheels spinning. As Patrick Chin-Hong said in one of his stageby-stage Facebook posts, which were subsequently published in scrapbook fashion in American Randonneur along with his artful on the bike snapshots, it was best described as ‘inane banter with new best friend Andrew’ we were in great spirits, homing in on the finish, and it was good to have hooked up with someone to share this with as the sun set behind us.

The rhythm was finally broken when the route veered off down some curiously narrow lanes through corn fields, all of a sudden we were upon a great peloton – on what scarce seemed more than a farm track. I didn’t mind the bottleneck, it felt fine to chill out a bit, and we’d made up so much time that we could afford to roll steady to Great Easton. I recall the ‘final approach’ (it was in retrospective route studying quite a long way) involved some sweeping dark descents through trees, and a loop around a manor house (Audley End) where a text message came through – on my stem-mounted phone – urging me on from one of my cycling friends back home who had been avidly following the ‘last seen’ postings on the LEL website. At some point we also swept through the centre of a cutesy picturesque Olde English town (Thaxted?) with jumbled streets and ancient timber-frame buildings.

Eventually we rolled into the charming little control at Great Easton – like a typical small audax – in a village hall. Here Patrick and I were in a relaxed and jovial mood and ate cake, while simultaneously we witnessed first hand the excitement of ElliptiGO Idai Makaya’s against-the-clock drama – more eccentric machinery – being focused, reassured and coached by a fellow ElliptiGO-ist who was taking on the role of pacer for the final run-in. All in marked contrast to my own now ‘party had pretty much started’ state of mind.

Some way out of Great Easton the orange glow of the metropolis rose like a fuzzy dome in the sky before us. Passing beneath the M25, nothing could stop us now, the bike could disintegrate beneath me and I would be able to carry sufficient components over the line within time to register a finish – but that wasn’t going to happen, I hadn’t had so much as a puncture on the whole ride. We were passed by a saluting event moto rider, and the final run-in took a large loop around the houses surrounding the school HQ. In my usual fashion – I can’t help doing this – I upped the pace as if I had passed beneath some imaginary flame rouge. We turned into the final street, and there before us were two night watchmen at the school gate – these were my little audience as I crossed the line, arms aloft.

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Winter audaxing Ribble Blue Last winter you stood a good chance of being swept away in the flooding in the West Country. This year it was more a case of trying to keep warm, avoiding frostbite and hoping not to come off on the icy rides.

Jack and Grace Cotton 100k Saturday 24th January Very popular event in the West Country with a full entry usually weeks before the closing date, this year was no exception with the maximum of 250 reached by the end of December.

I’d signed on for the 8.30 start, but after having difficulty in finding my overboots and thicker gloves, changed it to 9.00, not a day to go out without all the necessary warm clothing on. It had rained overnight and with the temperature just above freezing point, ice in the lanes was going to be a problem. The organisers warned us all to be careful around Littleton, about 7.5k along the route and there may be ice along several other stretches of lanes before you get to Berkley.

They were not wrong about the ice.

Large sections of icy roads in Littleton and icy sections continued to appear for the next 20k. I found it advisable to ride at the back of a group and watch when they stopped and got off their bikes to take to walking along the road. Several riders came down, fortunately without injury, but you were always just waiting to find the next icy section and hope you were not the one that came a cropper.

Slow progress all the way to Berkley, but after that the route took you along some main roads which had been salted, so was able to pick up speed. On joining the old A38 thought I might catch some of the time back but there were several sets of road works and I seem to have collected the habit of always coming up against a red light. Turning off the main road to go through Frampton on Severn the ice had disappeared making the next few miles in the lanes less stressful and with the halfway control at Epney things were looking up, it even got a bit warmer.

Very crowded in the pub so I chose to sit outside and eat a banana and a Mars bar before setting off behind a group for Hardwicke and all its roundabouts. I think there were six to negotiate before arriving in Stonehouse and searching for the right turn to go along Regent Street and leave the town. Always find it difficult to spot this road with all the cars around you and avoiding any pedestrians crossing the road. Up to now the ride has 22

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been reasonably flat but now hills start to come into play, nothing too much until you go through Forcester and climb up to a roundabout only to find it continues going up and up.

Awkward right turn on a left hand bend to go down into Stinchcome village before encountering some more climbs and a particular steep one which catches you out as it climbs up around a bend and continues climbing which means you are probably in the wrong gear to make the top. Over the top and along a flat section to descend and climb again to the control at 88k at the Farmers Table café for a very welcome cuppa and

something to eat.

Just left now with 18k to go to the finish with a couple of ups to get to Tytherington and a relatively easy climb up to the A38. This is a slight change from last year where I think you had to climb up and go over the M5 to join the A38 to get to the finish at the Swan Inn. Thanks must go to Paul and his team for a route with just about the right amount of hills to test you out and lose those few pounds that you added over the festive season. I ended the ride last year with wet feet, this time the feet were cold so let’s see what next year has to offer.

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www.audax.uk.net

All photos by Becki Robinson http://beckirobinsonphotography.co.uk

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Flapjack 100k Sunday 8th February Ribble Blue

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t must have been just before six when I turned up at Graham’s and Kate’s house in Newton Abbot to go up to Chippenham for this year’s Flapjack audax. It’s still dark and very cold, about zero or one degree above freezing but the weather forecast is one of the best for several weeks. While temperatures are not expected to rise above 6° it promises to be a sunny day after early morning mist, no rain forecast and only a slight chance of ice on the roads.

It takes about two and a half hours to cover the 130 miles to Chippenham, its mainly M5 and M4 for most of the way.

Tour around the town before we noticed a group of bicycles in a car park: this must be the place. Unloading Graham’s van to find that Kate has left her coat and cycling shoes in the hallway. Well, she can use the fleece I’m wearing as I’ve brought my cycling coat with me but can’t do anything about the shoes, she’ll have to ride the event in her boots.

Off at nine following a group out of the town and will work out where I am on the route sheet at the first info control at 9k. Control is at the top of a steep hill, needed that to warm myself up, but now the sun is beginning to burn off the mist and anyway I always need about half an hour to get myself going. Weather’s looking good, sun’s out, no wind, this is

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the best day for several weeks and now we’re into flat lanes. It’s all worth that early morning start. Charlcutt, Spirthill and Lyneham are soon past through and by 10.30 I’m coming into Brinkworth and the first control.

Probably stayed a little too long at the control having a second cuppa and talking to other riders to find myself among the last to leave, along with Graham and Kate. Next section was quite flat, those of you who have cycled in this area will know the lanes past the lakes which form part of the Thames as you go through Minty and Somerford Keynes.

The info control at 45k seemed to have moved and I think it was two junctions on before a group of us picked it up, don’t remember the answer now. Coming into Kemble for the next control, this was about the half way point and near the source of the river Thames. I remember being here some years ago on holiday and thought the wife and I would go and walk to the river’s source, but after crossing several fields we just found a ditch with no water in it and no plaque to state the fact that this was the start of one of Englands main rivers. Even the river Lemon, which starts up on Dartmoor and flows through Newton Abbot, has some stones to show its source, and most of you have never heard of that river. Disappointed to say the least, maybe something has been put up there now, though with budget cuts I wouldn’t hold your breath.

I don’t know how the organisers do it, after been given cake and tea at the first control, at the control in Kemble there’s a plate of baked beans, more cake and tea, all this for an entry fee of just £6.50. One of the reasons I go cycling is to keep my weight in check, with all this food being put in front of me I’m going to end the day putting on a pound or two and an inch on the waistline.

The next section to Sherston I found a bit tough. All the roads either were flat or going up a slope, no downhills at all

Below: Geoff Sharpe and Kate Hattersley

and added to which a slight wind had come up to add to my problem. Tarlton, Rodmorton were passed getting to Cherington, I think I rode around here on the Gloucester 100 event last May. Chavenage House I definitely remember that bit, I got a bit lost last time here but didn’t make the same mistake twice and found the main road at Westonbirt without difficulty.

More food offered at the Sherston control but just took the tea and moved on, just 20-odd kilometres to go now.

Castle Coombe was busy with all its visitors out enjoying the sunshine, they must of wondered what are 120 cyclists doing all coming through this picturesque village this afternoon. Crossing the A420 with just 5k to go then greeted with a particularly nasty steep little hill, just when I was thinking what a nice flattish event this has been. Legs were shouting ‘enough’ as I decided to take notice and walked the last few yards to the top and rode onto the finish which at first a group of us rode by and had to turn round to go back a few hundred yards to find.

Thanks go to Eric and his team for a very picturesque ride through the south Cotswold countryside and hope to be up next year for the 2016 event.

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www.audax.uk.net

All photos by Graham Brodie

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Above: Brinkworth control: Kate Hattersley in need of the defib Drew Buck and Kate Hattersley

Chippenham Wheelers

Hugh Marshall

Steve Oxley

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Lutudarum Junior Audax Andrew Lees Rule 1 of Audax for kids The time limits are a bit more of an issue than usual! Based on rides we had completed over similar terrain, a conservative estimate of average speed in motion seemed to be 15kmh. Over this distance we therefore based our strategy on eight hours’ cycling time and one hour of stoppages.

Safety and practicality briefing This seemed on balance an ideal ride for Isaac’s first 100, for while it was nigh on 20km over distance, the character of the route – linking various child-friendly Peak District off road cycle trails we were already familiar with, via mostly quiet country lanes, ensured a relatively safe and scenic ride. That being said, the two linking sections of A6 either end of the Monsall trail were of a concern, but relatively short. When we have to ride major roads we assume a strict formation of Isaac out front with me as the prominent back marker and road captain.

The true cycling history and adventures of Isaac Lees As an eight-year-old, or indeed anyone of any age, you cannot just jump straight into an Audax – I was 32 when I did my first 100km, Oliver Wright’s Spring in The Peak, and it was a really big deal for me at the time. But then, the rise of my cycling ability and enthusiasm

On Midsummer’s Day 21st June 2014, me (Isaac Lees) and my dad (Andrew Lees) went on our longest bike ride of the summer on the longest day of the year – an astonishing 120km. We left at 9 o’clock in the morning and headed down the Manifold Trail. We saw Thor’s Cave up in the Cliff Face.

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fter a short stretch on the Tissington Trail, which we left at the village of Tissington, it was cross-country lanes to Carsington Water – over the dam and up the cycle/walking trail on the eastern shore, mixing it with the Saturday strollers.

At Carsington Village at the head of the reservoir we left the trail and were back onto ancient byways, a woodland climb through dappled light took us up to the High Peak Trail – which greeted us with a triumphant arch.

The High Peak Trail is not like your average railway path, it goes up hills, around tight bends and is also quite narrow. This is because it is a very old railway, built before people had really figured out what railways were meant to be like.

On the high road after the Trail – which was left behind at Longcliffe. Often present and close by on the ride was the mysterious double ring of trees on top of the Minninglow tumuli – prehistoric burial mounds that form a useful 26

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has happened in parallel with the development of my children.

While cycling started out as a method of escaping from them and a rekindling of my own childhood pleasures – a few hours of freedom on the open road – they have grown up in a cycling family with a taste for the two wheeled epic, and it has rubbed off. Isaac and his younger brother have been exposed to the full scope of cycling’s promise, as well as being used to the concept of the bicycle as a daily mode of transport to and from school. Starting with wooden balance bikes, to the first pedal bike – a diminutive 14” wheel single speed Islabike (never use stabilisers), it is truly astonishing what kids can actually do on a bike when riding one is second nature. The full revelation of this came on a camping trip to North Wales, where Isaac – unhitched from the tag-along draw bar – took off solo up and down the mountain lanes to Cwm Bychan and amazed us all.

With Islabike II, this time with 20” wheels and seven gears, Isaac started doing some racing, and cycled the Whitehaven to Wearmouth Coast to Coast in four days – 50km/87km/47km/56km, our amended route took us over Honister Pass, as well as the ride’s usual ascents of Hartside and Black Hill. After this we were well prepared for his Audax debut, in the 50km Mellow Fruitfulness out of Hebden Bridge in October 2013. Islabike III has 24” wheels, drop handlebars and is a proper little roadster, 120km seemed a reasonable next step up.

reference point visible from all over the Peak District.

After some winding backwater lanes in the environs of the tiny off-the-beatentrack village of Elton, we had a short fast stretch along the A6 to link up with Bakewell where the inaugural British L’Eroica retro cycling festival was in full swing on the showground. This was our one scheduled stop on the ride.

But, waiting for this stone-fired pizza took absolutely ages, losing us a shed load of time! Note the curly chain stayed Hetchins bikes – the retro riders would be using the same railway tracks as us, as a substitute for Tuscany’s Strada Bianci.

Hitting the hyper drive through a Monsall Trail tunnel

It was good to swing off onto minor roads again, but the climbing was still relentless. Note the 'ENGLAND' writ large onto the hillside – anyone remember the World Cup last summer?

After things levelled out, we took a crazy out-of-control-rock-slide off-road descent back onto High Peak Trail – not sure that bit was not just a navigational error. It was nice to be on the fast narrow verged path of the High Peak Trail again though.

Two-up time trialling on the High Peak Trail We were up against the clock now, and on the traffic free route – which was also pretty clear of walkers and family pootlers – Isaac was on my wheel and

After leaving Bakewell we were on the Monsall Trail – once the Midland Main Line from the Derby to Manchester.

This stretch proved surprisingly taxing, a constant false flat as the line climbed up and over the limestone plateaux on a fairly gravelly surface. In comparison the tunnels are wonderfully smooth tarmac and great fun.

After leaving the Monsall Trail at Blackwell Mill, it was a stiff climb out or the Wye Valley and back up onto the Limestone uplands. Isaac was tired, and the short stretch along the A6 – which when I studied the route before entering had seemed mitigated by its brevity – took us an age and was no fun at all. www.audax.uk.net

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Below: A couple of bikes from this year's London Cycle Show at Excel. Top picture shows a fixed wheel bike with a short wheelbase from Chill Cycles in London. Bottom picture: A Pinarello – unusual to see an Italian bike with mudguard clearance.

Could make a good audax or winter mount.

I was on the drops. I broke ahead to open the gates and then sprinted back on, keeping us going at full speed. We were going great until I punctured near the Parsley Hay Visitor’s Centre.

Quick tube change and we were charging away again.

It was still quite a stretch to the finish after leaving the High Peak Trail – which wasn’t helped by taking a wrong turn up a needless climb out of Milldale. The clock was ticking down, and Isaac required a little bit of a push as we passed through Wetton – not because he was tired out, there was still a little bit in the tank – but because we really needed to get to the finish fast. It was then a winding whizz back down to the Manifold and the finish at Wetton Mill. We made it in the last minute of time – honest!

With our little diversions – we notched up over 120km! Then there was still a little warm down tootle back up the trail to Hulme End.

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Photos: Tim Wainwright

PS. We were actually one minute late but they let us off. Honest!

Daddy’s a liar.

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Taste of Carolina 1200 October 2014 Andy Cox My journey with riding long distances has been on-going for a while now. It began in the autumn of 2006 when I rode my first 100 and 200km events. I liked the style of riding and by the following summer I had qualified for and ridden my first 1200km event – the fouryearly Paris-Brest-Paris randonnée. This was a real feat of survival due to my inexperience and the weather. It was very much a case of enduring rather than enjoying the ride and I was in no hurry to ride any further than 600km again. Over the next few years I refined my equipment and technique and in 2011 found myself back in Paris again for the next PBP. This time, the ride went a lot better and I finished on a real high. I would go so far as to say that I knew within five minutes of finishing that I wanted to come back in 2015 and do it all again, but more than that had a new aim to ride one ultra-long distance event of 1200km or above every year in between PBPs. By 2012, I’d seen some life changes, met Siobhan, who I would later marry, gained a few pounds but generally considered myself a seasoned audaxer. I’d targeted the Cascades 1200 in Washington state for that year and rolled out of the start town of Monroe WA feeling strong and ready for the challenge. Sadly, mind and body weren’t in sync on this one. By then end of day one, following several mechanicals, some challenging weather and a general ineptitude for big climbs, I found myself

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pushing the bike up a 20-mile climb to White Pass, near to out-of-time and when the sweeper vehicle came along. I decided to throw the towel in with just 270km on the clock. In hindsight, I was ill-equipped and hadn’t trained anywhere near hard enough, but more than that I had gained an appreciation that not all 1200s are the same.

2013 was to provide a challenge a little closer to home and I’d targeted the London-Edinburgh-London 1400km event, being lucky enough to grab a place in the few hours before the ride sold-out.

I managed some better build-up this time, opted to ride my faster, but less comfortable carbon bike and ultimately plodded around finishing with plenty of time to spare, but with niggling injuries in my neck and Achilles which I picked up in the closing km. Perhaps 1400km was too far, but I’d faced down most of my demons from 2012. The question now was: could I succeed in another adventure to somewhere a bit more exotic? … and so to 2014. I was considering two possible 1200km events, PerthAlbany-Perth in W Australia or the Taste of Carolina which starts near Charlotte, NC. My plan was to build-up to an SR series of 200, 300, 400 and 600 rides by May and then commit to a ride. It was always more likely to be the TOC due to the cost of getting to Australia and a dislike of long flights, but I wanted to get the SR first to make sure the LEL injuries wouldn’t resurface.

I rode a few 200s over the winter

‘The ride was a hot one through the Yorkshire Dales and on into the Lake District, with night came rain.’

and the Heart of England 300 proved challenging but achievable. Then came the Brevet Cymru 400. I had been struggling all season with being too fast for the slower riders but too slow for the faster riders, finding a kind of no-man’s land where I ended up riding long sections alone. This was particularly notable on the BC and when the dozies hit in the early night on the penultimate leg, I pulled over for a quick sleep, lost my core heat and found myself with borderline exposure and insufficient clothing quitting the ride with 290km on the clock. A flu bug put paid to my planned 600 a couple of weeks later and my plans for a big ride were in tatters before they had really begun.

It was around this time that I started pondering a new bike, more suitable for travelling. After due consideration I bought myself a Moulton TSR30 and was quite quickly smitten. The season was moving along as the end of July neared, so I decided to jump straight in and take it to the National 400 up on Teeside with nothing more than a few commutes under my belt. The ride was a hot one through the Yorkshire Dales and on into the Lake District, with night came rain, but I made good enough time for around a threehour sleep stop. An early morning climb over the North Pennines led back to flatter ground and a respectable mid-morning finish. I had some issues with acid reflux, but hoped this was a one-off.

After a sleep and some contemplation, I decided the TSR was fast and comfortable enough and entered the TOC 1200, together with engineering a three-week holiday around the ride and finding somewhere we could fly to directly and hire a car due to my distrust of airlines when flying with a bike. We found a direct service from Manchester to Dulles and the plan began to take shape.

As I still had August and September to go, I did something I wouldn’t normally and actually produced a detailed training plan, consisting mainly of extended commuter rides, but also the Flatlands 600 from Great Dunmow in early September. I cleared 1,000km in August without riding a single Audax. A DIY 200km in early September was followed by the Flatlands.

This went fairly well, although I rode a lot of it solo. It’s the first ride I’d planned to use an ‘Audax hotel’ on, sleeping in a bus shelter just outside Lincoln. I kept warm enough, but did have some issues with the dozies starting out again not helped by www.audax.uk.net

overseas HEADING randonnee IN HERE a lack of places to buy coffee in the early part of day two. I pushed on though and a Wetherspoons provided much needed food and drink a little farther up the road.

I found a nice group towards the end of the ride and finished with a fair bit of time in hand. With these rides and commutes, I clocked-up 1,500km for September.

It was soon time to break the bike down into a normal suitcase and take the flight west. On reassembly, I managed to strip the thread of the special bolt which secured the front brake calliper to the fork, but a local bike shop in DC were good enough to give me a replacement for free.

A couple of shakedown rides followed, and all was good. I’d also taken delivery of a new front wheel with dyno hub not long before we flew, but that seemed to work well, providing charging for my Garmin GPS via the USB-out on my Luxos light. I also fitted a B&M toplite to the rear rack, so in theory had full dyno lights with battery units just for backup and extra light on descents.

A bit of down-time followed, exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway by car, but we were soon in the start town on Huntersville and picking up the ride pack on the evening of 8th October.

Tony Goodnight was the ride organiser and he had laid on a cook-out for riders the night before which was great. I got to meet quite a few of the riders as well as hand over my drop bags for the three sleep stops. The Moulton drew quite a bit of interest as did the light and charging set-up. I just hoped it would all survive the next 1220km. It was soon time to get my head down for an early night ahead of the roll-out at 4am on 9th October.

A little before 4am, a group of 29 riders plus Tony’s team gathered outside of the Quality Inn in Huntersville NC. I chatted with a few other riders and soon met local rider Ian Hands who it turned out was also riding a Moulton, or as he put it a ‘clown bike’. Sunrise is at around 7am, so we had a three-hour night stage to start with and were soon rolling out onto quiet main roads.

There was a velomobile on the ride and he flew off over the flat terrain, providing a target to chase down over the opening kms. We managed once, but he soon got away again. The pace started to get a bit fast after 60km or so and the terrain got more rolling, so I sat up to pick a pace I could sustain, my Garmin with openstreetmaps paid dividends, however, as I soon caught up with a number of riders who were back-tracking having missed a turn.

The first control came at 88km in Polkville NC, a little after dawn, and I rolled in with Ian and some riders form California.

One of the group was riding fixed and hitting some very impressive rpm on the downhill sections. Feeling good, but a little hungry, I took my time and ate a couple of pancakes and a large coffee.

The California group bounced, so Ian and I waited for his local group and we set out with NC riders ‘Wild’ Bill, Robert, Mary and were joined by rando legend Bill Olson.

This was the group I’d ride most of the rest of the ride with.

Our pace on the next leg was comfortable as the terrain got gradually lumpier and we headed north towards the real climbing. The temperature was pleasant and we were soon on the long road towards Lake Lure. Lake Lure itself was very impressive with a mixture of forested shores, lavish houses and lots of boat docks. We wound around the lake and were soon at Chimney Rock, our next control, having covered 156km in the first seven hours. Ian found a nice café to eat in and sweet-talked them into serving food before the kitchen’s opening time.

Bill O opted to keep going on account of his liquid diet and I didn’t see him again that day.

Riding out of Chimney Rock, the road started to get a little steeper and we’d soon splintered into ones and twos. I took my time, having a good idea of what was to come in the form of lots of long gradual climbing. A half hour or so up the road we regrouped shortly after crossing the Eastern continental divide. With the rising heat and dwindling water supplies I took it fairly easy and was soon off the back again. A gas station provided a welcome chance to rehydrate and refill the bottles and we regrouped once more. There were a few kms of rolling terrain next where we more or less stayed together and then the road turned upwards once more. I set my steady pace again and soon lost contact with the others. A few km into the climb I passed Robert and Wild Bill sorting out a mechanical, but they had it well in hand. I caught up to Ian and Mary who were waiting for the others in the shade and said that they wouldn’t be long. I decided to keep going as I was quite a bit slower at this stage. Before long the others overhauled me again. There was a bit more shade as we got higher due to the density of forest. Before long I crossed the continental divide once more and with it the South Carolina state line.

Very shortly afterwards came the next control at Caeser’s Head state park and an opportunity to regroup again, raid the vending machines and take some group photos from the overlook of the endless green canopy extending into South Carolina and Georgia beyond. This marked the highest point of the whole ride at a little over 3,000ft. We’d covered a hilly 227km in 12 hours, so all-in-all pretty good progress.

We now had a long and fairly technical descent to get back to floor level. I’d been warned that some of the hairpins wind-up as you go into them so decided not to test the top-speed of the clown bike. There was also a little rain, which helped to keep it interesting. A variety of

‘As the kms passed, I started to hear the rumbles of thunder as well as seeing lightning strikes.’

descending techniques were displayed and we regrouped at the bottom of the climb. Although late afternoon it was still noticeably warm as we began our journey through the back-roads of South Carolina.

I stayed with the group for a while, but somewhere along the road I came off the back once more. This wasn’t a major issue and the next control and Anderson SC arrived soon enough. I needed a feed and to rehydrate, so visited that most noble of US institutions, McDonalds. The control was just across the parking lot at a hotel, which was one of the overnight options.

I had done the same as most others and elected to push on one control further as the closing time here would have meant a very early start on day two. So 295km done, 75km to go to the overnight stop and dusk was just arriving. I had 4.5 hours in hand, so could feel potential for a decent sleep buffer building too. The only slight issue was an observation from the controller – ‘hey, was that thunder?’.

A large group had left Anderson a little before me and some minor navigation fun meant I had no chance of catching them, so it looked like my first truly solo leg was to follow. Heading south across rural SC consisted of the occasional hamlet of houses with a church at almost each one and not a lot else. The route was quite forested and playing spot the potential pothole was good for keeping my mind occupied. Looking at the skyline, it became clear that there definitely was some thunder around but a long way to the south. All very reminiscent of PBP ‘11, or was it? As the kms passed, I started to hear the rumbles of thunder as well as seeing lightning strikes. There were a couple of strong visuals with several miles of straight road through the forests ahead being lit-up by a direct strike onto the road. A little further and the gap between flash and bang was starting to get quite close. At two seconds, I pulled over and took shelter under the canopy of an abandoned shack at an intersection.

There was some pretty heavy rain not surprisingly, so I was static for around 45 minutes before the worst of it passed and I could set off once more. Another hour or so passed and it happened again. This time I was passing through one of the few towns on this bit of the route, so took shelter under a shop canopy for a further half hour or so whilst the storm passed.

This was the last disruption on this leg and I rolled on to the control at Greenwood SC with 370km covered.

I’d lost a fair bit of time due to the storms, but managed to sleep for 3.5 hours and get up and going by around 4am with just 40 minutes in hand. Day two promised to be a bit flatter, so I was fairly confident I’d make back the time for a better sleep on night two and overall was still feeling in pretty good shape. Access to my drop bag and the hotel facilities meant that I was rolling out clean in fresh clothes too, so a

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overseas randonnee little less PBP-like in that regard…

I’d lost my group from day one and assumed that they were a long way up the road by now. On the way out of the hotel I ran into Rich from Minnesota and we agreed to ride together. We had two hours of good steady-paced riding together and were soon catching and passing other riders in the predawn gloom. Unfortunately my body decided to unleash a fit of the dozies, so after a few instances of getting dropped by Rich I waved him on. I managed to keep rolling though and things got better as the sun came up. The next control was N. Augusta SC at 455km and I got there with 90 minutes in hand despite the dozies. A gas station breakfast and a huge coffee helped me to feel a bit more human again. There were a few other riders there, but we all seemed to be doing our own thing – the universal thousand-yard stare being just as prolific in the US as at home.

A 130km leg followed. The terrain was relatively flat and initially I made good progress. Our route skirted Jackson and the mental jukebox started up with the predictable Johnny Cash and June Carter duet. I was good though and didn’t stop to deploy the headphones for the real deal as I wanted to maintain traffic awareness. A group from California caught up with me and I sat on their wheel for a while. Although only mid-morning, it was beginning to get seriously hot. I stopped at a gas station where the California gang and Rich were stocking up on water. I did likewise, necking a fair amount and topping off my bottles. The next many miles were parallel to the Savannah river and a never ending array of signage left you in no doubt that you were travelling a road across US Energy Department land around their nuclear site and should not stop anywhere, period. I tried to find my own pace in the rising heat and the others dropped me more or less straight away.

The roads were quite rolling and I began to play leapfrog with Canadian rider Alain in his Velomobile. I want one of those, but probably not when it’s that hot…

The temperature rose up to 38°C by early afternoon with no breeze to lessen the affects. Dead snakes on the roadside were a recurring feature throughout SC and GA, but they seemed most prolific on this leg, together with a never-ending trail of shredded tyres from big rigs. That road really did feel like it was going on forever. It was clear from the route sheet that we wouldn’t be seeing any sort of shop for a while, so I was pretty strict about rationing my water, but in reality just didn’t have enough. A third bottle cage would have been a killer idea about now. I also just used regular bottles, so my water was pretty warm. I twigged much later that the pretty bottles the locals had were more than just decorative and provided insulation to help keep things cool. That and copious amounts 30

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of ice seem like a good tactic in such hot conditions. Eventually, the warning signs abated and after a few more km the route crossed into Georgia. Shortly afterwards I was flagged down by Alain’s support crew proffering some very welcome bottled water. I necked one and topped off my bottles. This was a big help and certainly very welcome. A few km further on and I passed a gas station, so decided to stop for ice cream, again much needed. A few more km went by and I eventually made it to the next control at Sylvania GA with 581km covered. It was late afternoon, but the waffle house caught my eye, so two waffles with bacon were soon devoured along with a large amount of coke.

I was soon rolling again with 2.5 hours in hand. The temperature was still pretty warm, but better than it had been and my energy levels were still fairly good. The next leg was another long one of 100km to get to the overnight control. In terms of milestones this was to be a significant one, passing the halfway mark and taking me very close to the turn-around point at the southerly tip of the route. The terrain was pretty flat and I made steady progress through more sparsely populated countryside, although it was more swampy than forested by this point. The church-to-house ratio was comparable to S. Carolina, but notably there were a lot more General Lees flying. I wouldn’t like to assume, but it’s possible these weren’t just in tribute to that fine piece of 80s television the Dukes of Hazard! I received a good few friendly waves from motorists, even the odd 6x6 driver taking a brief rest from murdering the planet.

The route passed through the town of Springfield, which amusingly did have an appropriately named elementary school.

I topped up on water at a convenience store and then followed a short diversion around a street party. At one point, I saw a giant cross on the side of a lake backlit in orange. I had to look again to convince myself it wasn’t burning, but happily a trick of the light. Dusk was settling in now for the third night. With that comes a much more pleasant temperature and I made good progress on to rolling in to Pooler GA a little after 9pm with 680km covered. I now had over 5.5 hours in hand and had made pretty decent time given the heat. What’s more I’d made it there before organiser Tony.

I wouldn’t say I awoke refreshed the next day, but I managed about 4.5 hours of rest before my alarm beckoned once more. The heat had been a little unkind to my contact points the day before (the less sexy side of cycling!), but another drop bag yielded more clean kit and I added copious quantities of Assos crème. As I dropped my bag back to Tony, I ran into Ian and the gang together with Rich and Bill O. We all set off together on the next and very short 16km leg to Savannah.

My Garmin was pretty good for the most

‘Dead snakes on the roadside were a recurring feature throughout SC and GA, but they seemed most prolific on this leg.’

part, but as we closed in on River Street and our next stop there were some issues.

The collective wisdom prevailed though and we got where we needed to. There were a few revellers still on the streets, I allowed myself a brief thought about wouldn’t it be interesting to join them, but the spirit of the Byways failed me and I kept riding instead. Tony had warned about cobbles and he was right, so we ended up walking one street to avoid the worst of it. We then headed north, still very much in the dark. A bridge with a metal grid floor took us back across the Savannah river and the little wheels slid all over the place. I managed to stay upright though and not bring any of the others down too! We soon crossed into SC again.

It was good to have company again and we set up a bit of a loose pace line to help cover the distance. It was only a little over 30km to our next control and before long we were descending on mass on the Waffle House in Hardeeville SC much to the bemusement of the staff working the graveyard shift. We’d now covered 728km and had a little over an hour in hand.

I didn’t have any issues with the dozies this time and we stayed together as a group, making good progress while the temperature was still cool, all realising that another scorcher was forecast. We were travelling along a wooded road in the predawn when my train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a big bang.

I’d managed to find a real crowd pleaser of a pothole and got instant snakebite flats front and back plus a snapped spoke.

Three of the group stopped with me and we affected a quick set of tube changes and ripped out the damaged spoke.

Despite being speedy with the changes, the local insects seized the moment and locked in for a bit of European delicacy.

We were soon rolling again though and caught up to the rest of the group. This was another long leg at 140km and as the sun rose and the morning drew on, the heat once again rose into the high 30s.

An impromptu stop followed at around midday in one of the intermediate towns and we stopped in a Subway. They had excellent air con and we all made heavy use of the drinks machine. Hydrated and fed we pushed on into the afternoon heat.

The next proper control was Barnwell SC at 877km and we got there with five hours in hand. This was a sizable margin and definitely the result of teamwork. We had a quick stop at a McDonalds before pushing on into the mid-afternoon.

The following leg was a mere 110km to Saluda SC and still on relatively flat ground. The cotton fields were about ready for harvest, but as Johnny reminded me on the mental jukebox – I’d never picked any. My contact point issues were starting to get quite distracting by now.

I’d also got to the point where my cycling sandals were cutting my feet, so had added socks to provide a bit of padding www.audax.uk.net

overseas HEADING randonnee IN HERE and be even more obviously British. There were a couple of impromptu stops on this leg when Tony and one of the other volunteers stopped on the side of the road to give us water. This was great and certainly helped with managing the heat.

The downside was it allowed for a few more of the bug nation to dine European.

We made steady progress through the rest of the afternoon, arriving into Saluda at dusk with 987km now covered and a sizable 9.5 hours in hand. Most of us ate in a waffle house again, although some were more adventurous and went Mexican.

The waffle house was about right for me though and although the service was a bit slow we were entertained by some colourful personalities from the regular clientele.

We now pushed on to our final sleep stop of the ride. The flat terrain couldn’t continue for ever and things definitely began to roll again. Ian and I attempted to distract each other by recounting comedy, but I’m afraid the tiredness was beginning to hit and I had to scrape pretty low in the barrel to find material. Robert joined us and we put a slight gap on the others. I doubled up on front lights to make sure I didn’t find any further holes in the gloom.

The clown bikes do take the hills well and actually my legs were feeling better than they should have with that many cumulative km. We pressed on and were also joined by Rich. As we got into our control town of Clinton SC I had another Garmin moment which cost us a few hundred metres, but ultimately worked out where we needed to go and rolled into the control a little past midnight. We had 10 hours in hand now with 1,048km covered. I think at this point I began to realise that I was going to finish in time, whilst still trying not to count those chickens.

I shared a room with Wild Bill and when our 4:30 alarm call came, we weren’t really feeling it, so opted for a couple more hours rest. We eventually set off at around 7:00 with three hours in hand. The others had all gone on, but I think on the balance we’d both needed the extra time. The terrain was progressively more rolling and I reminded myself that we actually had 1220 to cover so 170km left on the clock to cover by 10pm. Still easier than day two of the Bryan Chapman even if the body was a little less willing by now. We rode well together and caught up to Ian, Mary and Robert relatively quickly. Ian and Mary were going for a value for money finish, so we pressed on joined by Robert. By Carolina terms, it was a cold morning, but I was still fine in my short sleeves even with a bit of drizzle. I’d saved a decent set of Assos shorts for the final drop bag, which couldn’t undo the damage of the previous days, but at least meant it didn’t get any worse.

One of the recurring themes of the ride was untethered dogs running amok

in rural areas and a little after Union SC, one managed to lock onto Bill’s foot, bringing him off the bike. It ran away once he stood up and no damage was done luckily, but still a timely reminder that it’s not over until you cross the line when randonneuring. We did a bit more leap-frogging with Alain in the velomobile around here. It is an impressive bit of kit, although I’m not sure it would tackle the uphills so well if I were driving. Our penultimate control came at Clover SC at 1,149km. We got there just as Rich was leaving, but opted for a meal in the local diner before the final roll home. We’d ridden back to six hours in hand by now, so all was good. I topped up the coffee levels and indulged in country-style steak and fries whilst stopped. I also decided to break protocol and put a coat on, largely because the others were getting cold looking at me.

So the final leg began. The rolling roads continued, but we were soon back into North Carolina with a slight improvement in road surface. Bill stopped and started a couple of times and ultimately waved Robert and I on. We had a running discussion on whether we’d made it to the last hill yet. I took a fairly pessimistic line, having expected Tony to cram in the maximum value and I think that was probably closer to the truth in the end.

Around halfway back we ran into Bill O who joined us for the final push. The roads got gradually busier as we neared Huntersville and from somewhere I got a second wind, so spent the last few km on the front breaking the wind for the others and trying to ensure that the three of us made it back together. As we got to Huntersville, there was one more hurdle in the form of a left-turn method so unintuitive that the traffic engineers back at home would have been proud of it. We made it across though and a few hundred yards later rolled into the arrivée with a little more than 84 hours on the clock. We had arrived just after Rich who must have been just out of our sight.

I think overall the Taste of Carolina did what it said on the tin. We covered a range of terrain and some beautiful scenery across NC, SC and Georgia. Despite having a relatively small field this time (22 finishers from 29 starters), it definitely did have that big ride feel. I think the heat provided the biggest challenge for me, but given how far past my comfort zone I was, my body handled it pretty well in the circumstances.

Overall I really enjoyed the ride, met and rode with some excellent people and am indebted to Tony and his team – thank you all very much. 2015 will be all about PBP for me, but when 2016 comes around and I’m looking for another 1200, it could well be TOC again. Tony varies the route every year so it’s always a different ride, but I’m sure the welcome and quality of support will be the same!

What I’d do differently next time • If you’re riding a bike with suspension on a long ride over rough roads, why not soften it up a little even if it does slow things down slightly (I’m enjoying nerve damage to toes, palms and fingers as I write).

• RUSA rides require a magic hat, and reflectives at night on both body and ankles. In addition, they require that the reflectives haven’t lost their effect through washing, etc. Mine were OK in the end, but not something I’d thought to test. If you’re not used to magic hats like me, ride with one for a while before going, which I did, and also consider anything you may hang off it. In my case I mounted my VIRB camera there for the first couple of days, but the weight was starting to feel on my neck, so I detached it for days 3-4. I think in hindsight it should have stayed on the bars instead. Also it is entirely possible to get sunburn through vent holes!

• Insulated bottles are well worth getting. 24oz is about equivalent to our 750ml. What’s more I’d recommend three or even four cages for them.

• Having three drop bags and consequently four changes of clothes is a luxury but if, like me, you don’t have four pairs of expensive shorts, think long and hard about what to take. I should have washed and doubled up on my two pairs of Assos shorts rather than using cheap and nasty stuff on days 3–4. That was definitely a major cause of my contact point issues.

• Put a spare tube in each drop bag. I meant to, but forgot.

So after my double flat it would have been patches and glue if I’d got any more. Luckily I didn’t!

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randonnee

The low down 400k audax by velomobile – June 2014 John Snook

The velomobile continues to exceed my expectations and since riding it back to blighty your local velonaut has accumulated another 3000km in the Red Bullet, mostly commuting back and forth to work. I did, however, ride a 400k Audax earlier this year starting from Alfreton ‘The Moors and Wolds 400’. I did this one last year as part of my LEL preparation and had enjoyed it immensely – I’d enjoyed it so much in fact that I did it in a little over 16 hours.

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ormally I’d put the bike on the rack and drive to the start with an hour in hand before the off but the velo weighs about 30kg and putting it on the roof is not easy, so I opted to ride to the start from my home in Birmingham – just over 50 miles. Preparation over the last 24 hours included setting up a route for the Garmin Etrex20 and ensuring the vehicle’s battery was charged as well as food, tools, spares, clothes, etc.

I breakfasted on my staple of a large cafetiere of warp factor six coffee and a bowl of porridge with honey and departed at about 6.00, allowing two and a half hours for the journey to the start.

I rode out via country lanes to Burton on Trent eventually picking up a cycle path alongside the A38 – yes there IS one ! This basically runs all the way into Derby apart from the last couple of miles, it turns out to be only just navigable considering it’s almost entirely overgrown and has never been swept – I felt a little like Bogart in a scene from ‘The African Queen’ when he and Kathy are lost in tall reeds. Emerging from the undergrowth with some small sense of achievement I pressed along the A38. It was early so there was not much traffic and my route took me through Derby past the A6 intersection turning left towards Alfreton and the forecast thunderstorm that morning which stayed with us for the next eight hours. I put the tonneau cover on and secured it to the cockpit – this allows a small orifice to remain through which one can poke one’s head to see whilst remaining totally dry beneath.

The skies turned black and spectacular bolts of lightning flashed all around as I 32

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reached the start of the ride, a small car park in Alfreton’s town centre. I popped into a local deli which was surprisingly busy considering it was so early and topped up with coffee, a hot pasty and an iced bun – proper audax food.

Gradually other riders appeared from the gloom and even the organiser turned up to get the registration process started.

The velomobile was attracting a lot of attention although I wasn’t the only one on a trike, Jim Hopper rolled up on a lovely period machine. After more coffee, biscuits, chats and reminiscences of rides gone by we set off at 10.00 prompt into the lashing rain and the Derbyshire countryside. The route basically runs NE past York to a point just this side of Scunthorpe then turns south to cross the Humber bridge to Gainsborough after which it returns SW to Derbyshire.

The starting group gradually thinned out over the early miles and I found myself out on my own having overtaken ‘Flat earth’ Bob Johnson at about 40km.

The speed of the velomobile was being augmented by the rollercoaster nature

Above: Dmitri at Helmsley after a fast ride into the town (picture by author)

‘…we set off at 10.00 prompt into the lashing rain and the Derbyshire countryside.’

of the country lanes, allowing me to build on the speed achieved from the previous down hill by maintaining as much of it up the next climb to the top and so on – great fun. I had to slow down though as visibility was being reduced by the stormy conditions and despite having all my lights on I was aware that the Quest in winding country lanes was somewhat less than highly visible to oncoming traffic. The miles sped by as I happily followed the Garmin Etrex’s little black line until I encountered my first mechanical which would plague me for the rest of the ride.

All I did was to stop at a red set of lights near Doncaster and allow the Quest to roll back a foot or so when it stopped by itself accompanied by a rather disconcerting bang from the rear end.

Trying to start off immediately derailed the chain and so, having been close to a soft verge, I put the machine on its side and attempted to put the chain back on.

Someone had told me that this wasn’t easy – they were right! Several riders I had overtaken passed me – all of whom www.audax.uk.net

randonnee asked if all was well and did I require any help, I thanked them and persevered.

After 10 minutes or so I managed to get the chain back on. Off I rode once again full of misplaced optimism that I had solved the mechanical issue when only a few miles later the gradient steepened requiring a shift into one of my larger sprockets at the back – this didn’t happen, the chain derailed again after some clattering and jumping, another 10 minutes at the side of the road. Thoughts of abandoning started to enter my mind after all I had yet to get to the hilly bit of the ride and I couldn’t select any of my climbing gears. However, I realised that the rest of the gears worked fine, the front mech worked OK allowing shifting into all three chainrings but at the back I’d lost everything above 26 teeth. Over the next couple of hours I learned the limitations of the damaged gear-train without fully understanding the root cause, but it did allow me to continue to ride and the instances of chain derailment diminished.

The puncture fairy paid me a call a while later whilst descending a narrow potholed ‘proper Audax’ lane – ‘bang’, no hiss, no gradual loss of pressure – front right blowout. Luckily there was a nice grassy field entrance on the left so the machine went on its side once more and I replaced both tyre and tube just to be sure.

After York there are some ‘lovely’ hills but I was reduced to pushing the Quest up Skackleton and later on, Staxton bank both at about 17-20 per cent, a minor dent to my pride but I was still progressing.

It was shortly after York and Pocklington I caught up with Dmitri Ilchenko who took the picture at the start. He was on his first 400k and he and I rode together(ish) until a control at Helmsley where we ate in the square in the low sunshine of a late evening – the weather had gradually improved since York.

A car driver stopped to remark that I

had overtaken him at over 50mph into Helmsley and what was the machine powered by – the look on his face when I replied that it was just me and gravity doing the work was priceless. Dmitri was finding it hard and was obviously going through a bad patch but as more riders arrived he was encouraged and in true Top Gear style I wished him luck and left him behind.

Please don’t think I’m unnecessarily harsh, dear reader, it's simply that its very difficult to ride at the pace of an upright bike when you're riding recumbently – you are either too fast down a hill requiring application of the brakes or too slow uphill requiring excessive effort, plus having to sacrifice hard earned speed on a descent before the next climb is somewhat irksome. This is only made worse by having virtually no air resistance in the Quest as the speed differential is even higher.

Assuming you are still reading and haven’t thrown the article into the nearest waste compositor I continued along the A170 through Pickering and toward sunny Scunny. The next control was at Staxton bank, a monster of a climb - half a mile of one-in-six up which I had to push 30kg of velomobile – oh and the large portion of fish ‘n chips I’d eaten at the control café, locally caught or not it was still heavy in my stomach. (Note to self: fish ‘n chips isn’t good Audax food so don’t do it again.)

It was now fully dark and with headlamps blazing into the night I continued to the next control an the A164 immediately prior to the Humber Bridge where Dmitri caught me up and though fatigued admitted to feeling a little more confident now he was over halfway.

Leaving Dmitri behind (again) there followed a rather pleasant night crossing of the Humber Bridge, reminding myself that this was the fifth time I’d ridden over it in 12 months. The others were ‘Moors and Wolds’ 2013, ‘To Holl and Back’ and ‘London-Edinburgh-London’ (two

‘Please don’t think I’m unnecessarily harsh, dear reader, it's simply that its very difficult to ride at the pace of an upright bike when you're riding recumbently.’

crossings). My self-satisfaction at having accomplished this was, however, dashed with yet another chain derailment ascending out of the valley at the far side of the Humber. Another 10 minutes and I was on my way again and the only other concern was early morning fog which was starting to appear in patches, however, I resolved to avoid this issue by having an hour or two’s kip at the side of the road. Usually I’d look for an Audax ‘hotel’ (bus shelter to the uninitiated) but in the Quest all that I required was a layby where I could stop, apply the handbrake and close my eyes, I didn’t even need to unclip, don’t you just love trikes?!

I only got an hour but it was enough to let the fog patches clear a bit and banish my fatigue for the rest of the ride and as I continued through sweet smelling predawn countryside the herald of the dawn gradually appeared and that familiar sense of achievement at having cycled from dusk till dawn resurfaced – seriously folks you’ve got to try it, it’s a truly rewarding if somewhat surreal experience.

Cycling through Gainsborough was a bit scary – only because some of the local intelligentsia were roaming the streets in a drunken haze trying to pick fights with lamp posts and worse … Audaxers. My worries were unfounded though as when one of these idiots tried to chase me on his BMX toy bike I simply laid into it and rode off. ‘It was like that in Gainsborough last year too’ I remember thinking.

The stretch to the finish saw the rolling Derbyshire countryside appear once more and a rejoining of the outbound route for the final 30kms.

After having one more chain-off with only 15kms remaining (the fifth, I think) I completed the ride at about 6am.

Usually at this time it’s ‘finished with engines’ and thoughts of a leisurely drive home but I still had 50 odd miles to do – surprisingly I felt as fresh as a daisy and rode home in glorious sunshine, even managing to get sunburn! I arrived at home before 10.00 after having done 350 miles.

If anyone is thinking of a longer Audax for the first time local(ish) to Birmingham I’d recommend this one, the easy to follow route is generally only undulating, there aren’t any AA points, and the organisation is excellent with tea, coffee, biscuits and cakes at both start and finish (I think the 2015 event is a PBP qualifier).

Post Script

At the start with ‘Flat Earth’ Bob (right) +1 and Jim Hopper's trike (picture by Dmitri Ilchenko)

The mechanical issue turned out to be a bent rear mech hanger, when I rolled backwards at that junction I must’ve been between gears and the rolling back caused the rear mech to lock up. The resulting (considerable) force bent the hanger which I knocked back into shape in about five minutes and all has been well since.

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JACK And grace cotton memorial populaire

photos by Becki Robinson http://beckirobinsonphotography.co.uk

Helpers on the event: Top row Neil Veitch, Frauke Diel, Ben Holder, Dave Johnston. Bottom row Denise Booth, Luke Joy-Smith, Paul Rainbow (organiser) and Mark Bryant

on tour

On the Trafalgar Way Bob Watts

The old Launceston turnpike

The start at Falmouth, with a plaque commemorating the Trafalgar Way 36

Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

In 1805 after the Battle of Trafalgar the news of the great victory and Nelson’s death was entrusted to the captain of HM Schooner Pickle, Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere who sailed to Falmouth arriving on 4 November. He relayed the message in the fastest way known to man – in a post chaise pulled by a team of four horses – to the Admiralty in Whitehall, taking 37 hours.

At 6:35am on 7 June 2014 Duncan Edwards and I set off to follow his route along the very same old coach roads. The ghost of Lieutenant Lapenotiere travelled with us and sent this dispatch: ‘In 1805 England expected my duty be done by travelling the 277 miles with all haste, avoiding sleeping in a bed, eating on the move and securing change of horse without delay. In 2014 hobby horses were to be used with mechanical additions and made of materials undiscovered in my day. They do not need to be fed, watered or rested!

‘In Truro at my first horse change there were some of the old cobbled streets – www.audax.uk.net

HEADINGon IN tour HERE now so rare – but plenty of potholes just as in my day. The old Launceston turnpike was still there for those on foot or horse but bypassed by horseless carriages travelling at frightful speeds. Climbing onto Bodmin Moor Duncan and Bob made their first stop at Jamaica Inn in the mid-morning broad daylight while the smugglers, rum runners, wreckers and ne’er do wells were out of sight.

‘Circumnavigating Dartmoor brought views of both the Moor and the countryside below. The arrival in Okehampton – my fifth horse change – was in good time for lunch of broth and bread in an old coaching inn. After some further undulations they sped down Five Mile Hill into Exeter across the new river bridge and through the much expanded town. Ever onwards from Devon towards the Dorset coast where, at Bridport, dinner of fish and potatoes was taken before pressing on as the dusk gathered, the clear sky showing a half moon to help them see their way. They need have

no worry for the oil lamps on the hobby horses are so much better than in my day.

On this stretch they diverted from the route I took for the only time – to visit the Hardy Monument. Ah the glorious ViceAdmiral who kissed Nelson and played such an important role of captaining the Victory in battle! I am gladdened to see he is remembered with a dumpy monument, modelled on his spy glass.

‘At Dorchester – eleventh of my 21 horse changes – Duncan and Bob were still on track to beat my coveted time of 37 hours, but I could see they had planned a stop in an hotel – an old coaching inn, perhaps where I stopped (too long ago to recall) – and I knew then that they were in grave danger of missing out. What is more they had wasted fully two hours of daylight before they stepped out from the inn into the warm Sunday sunshine leaving just 13 hours to do close on half the total distance. I was getting into the spirit of the race: horse versus hobby horse! My pride that I had

done my duty in speeding to London in a day and a half was at stake, and I knew that they too would take pride in a faster journey.

‘They tackled the undulations of Dorset and West Wiltshire stopping for coffee and cake in the Market Square of Salisbury.

Lunch was soup and a hearty roast near my 16th change at Overton but after that there was no time to dawdle as the clock was ticking.

‘Into London they passed Buckingham house where the flagpole told me that His Majesty King George III was not in, and along the Mall where the newly designed Union Flags hung from every pole. At the end of the Mall stood the Admiralty Building itself and, just beyond, the splendid monument to the hero of the day, Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson himself. His column is fully 100 feet taller that Hardy’s spy glass and erected one year earlier, 38 years after the battle.

‘An honourable mention must go to Duncan and Bob who exerted themselves zealously to arrive at 6.44 pm on 8 June, saving 51 minutes on my time. In 1805 my dispatch was published the same day in a special edition of the London Gazette although in 2014 it has taken rather longer to go to press.’

N

The end at the Admiralty on Whitehall

The old Launceston turnpike – how it once was

Crockernwell was one of Lapenotiere's horse changes

The Mall with Admiralty Arch in the background

Some of those who served on the 32-strong British fleet are still remembered in Brentford

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

37

technical

Charging GPS/phone by dynamo Chris Wilby

Busch & Müller have three products that provide charging for GPS/Mobile Phones/ MP3 players. The E-Werk, the USB Werk and the Luxos U headlamp with USB output.

Garmin devices use a smaller screen and are not as power hungry as mobile phones.

Etrex20/30 use a set of AA batteries which last about 25 hours, or can be powered from an external power source.

The power supply bypasses the batteries to illuminate the screen and keep the unit on. However, the switching between mains power and batteries will turn off the unit if the user does not respond to a prompt asking for it to switch to battery. There is a small battery in the Luxos U but this becomes empty after some hilly sections at night and does not eliminate the problem for Etrex units to require attention to stay on. The power for the headlamp takes precedence over the charging so the charge is not always available.

Edge 705/800 have a rechargeable battery which is sealed in the unit and last about 4-8 hours. They can be given extra charge from a dynamo or battery.

Mobile phone

The mobile phone is the new challenge to Garmin with many apps to choose, depending on the cycling activity. The bluetooth is now low power and works with bluetooth devices for heart rate, powermeter, and cadence.

Mobile phones typically use more power than Garmin devices and optimisation of their power consumption by attention to removing background

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Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

processes is necessary. If you don’t use bluetooth and the maps are preloaded then switching the phone to airplane mode is a good idea, but you won’t be able to receive phone calls.

Other factors to consider in using the mobile phone are: 1. Having a secure mount for the phone on the handlebars.

2. Having a waterproof phone or waterproof case.

3. Having the right screen brightness.

4. Choosing the software required.

5. Having enough battery power.

On my visit to South Korea in 2012 for Korea’s first 1200km ride, I noticed that many of the Koreans were using iPhones for navigation and only I and some of the other visitors were using Garmins. I used a Garmin Etrex 20 on this ride. Since then I have been experimenting with using the phone and/or the Garmin. Firstly I used an Hudawi in a phone case and later used a protective phone cover which was not waterproof. The case was not a good fix, and when water got trapped in the back of the phone cover the phone lost its ability to make phone calls. Now I have a Motorola Moto G waterproof phone fixed to the handlebars with a Quadlock mount.

With the hub dynamo (Shutter Precision) and e-werk I have been able to run my lights and charge my phone.

I have been looking at various Android phone apps and comparing them to the Garmin features. My Garmin has since broken so I’m reliant on the phone with routesheets as backup. I have used

Left: Phone mount Right: Luxos U headlamp

Viewranger, Mapmyride, Runtastic Road Pro, and now like using RidewithGPS. Viewranger allows complete maps to be downloaded for an area in advance and Runtastic allows for the map of an area to be downloaded in advance. Both show the route. However, RidewithGPS, which now has offline maps to be downloaded for a route, gives pop-up directions with voice prompts as well.

This means that I can keep the screen off while riding as it will switch on at a turn, and then turn off after the screen times out.

My phone switches the screen on when power is on and when power is off. For times when the power is off (up a steep hill) and then on (down the hill) I have installed an app ‘screenstayoff’ which keeps the screen off.

I have now ridden several audax rides using the phone instead of a Garmin GPS. I always take a small battery pack and plug to supplement the charging.

However, I rarely need these.

On the Eureka (200km) from Cheadle in Cheshire the E-Werk kept my phone charged for the complete ride. This included three hours of darkness and I also used Google Maps.

On the Tour of the Berwyns (110km) and the Elenydd (300km) rides the Runtastic app took me round the route with directions. However, after two days in Scotland the phone died, it wouldn’t charge even from a mains power supply in my B&B. On the wet and windy North West Passage (200km) I was able to follow Viewranger all the way round. In Scotland I made the mistake of running the radio, RWGPS app, and lights on full so that the

www.audax.uk.net

technical battery went stone dead – big mistake.

The phone battery is sealed inside the phone and is not user replaceable. When the battery gets completely depleted it has to have a rest period to recover enough for recharging. This period varies from a couple of hours to a couple of days at worst. It can’t be charged during this time. It is therefore recommended that a phone with a replaceable battery is used on long rides so that a fresh battery can be used whilst the depleted one recovers.

In all my experiments with the charging I discovered that a common occurrence was that the power lead stopped working or charged very slowly which caused the phone to gradually discharge and even when connecting to a fully charged spare battery pack, the USB lead prevented charging.

There are two reasons that I have discovered for this: 1. The lead takes a lot of vibrations and it has been loosened in the phone socket. This happened so much in Scotland that it kept falling out. I managed to use tape to hold it in the phone but the charging became very intermittent with the phone losing its charge. The iPhone is a better fit as it clips into place.

2. With rain and general exposure to the elements there can be some rust or dirt in the end of the micro USB lead.

In both cases the lead is best replaced, so a spare lead would be useful, just like having a spare inner tube. If the USB lead is to be used in such conditions then this can happen.

In the past I used the same system to power a Garmin Etrex Vista and the power socket is underneath. I did not experience this problem with the USB mini socket on the Garmin.

The variability of charging has been a problem on the hillier rides. The charging is not as consistent on the hills with loss of power. As expected flatter, faster rides give the best charge.

Dynamo-powered units and the strength of the dynamo output is also a factor. I have two different dynamos and the way to gauge the power output

is at what speed do the lights become constant as against flickering. This is less of a factor than the hills. Hillier rides give less power.

There are three apps which I have used on my rides. I have used Mapmyride which has bluetooth-enabled heart monitoring, and Viewranger which has offline maps and provides the track and beeps on turns but no heart monitoring.

The second one which I purchased for £4.99 was Runtastic Road Pro which shows the track and also heart rate, but the route is not shown in direction of travel but there are spoken alerts on turns.

These both allow maps to be preloaded and travel without a phone signal. Runtastic does not rotate the map in the direction of travel so I found it difficult trying to read upside down.

The third one, RidewithGps, actually routes along the track like a Sat Nav with pop-ups and spoken directions before turns. It is an excellent app and the screen (which takes most of the mobile phone power) can be left switched off as it will light up with a direction prompt which also gives a voice prompt. These prompts are bigger and better that the auto prompts from Garmin devices.

So, using earphones with the phone in a back pocket is possible. RidewithGPS is about £2.50 a month. The display can be in the direction of travel. RidewithGps now has preloaded maps for the track that you follow. RidewithGps has a good mapping desktop program and many Audax users create routes with it which can be easily shared.

To make sure that the mobile phone and the app work together another app called Screenstayoff was useful. It ensured that the screen was switched off if power was switched on/off as some phones switch the screen on whenever power is switched on/off. Also I set my screen display timeout to 30 seconds which was just enough to read pop-ups for directions.

Quadlock bar mount

Powersource

The USBwerk and the Luxos U deliver a power of 5v and 1A. The Plug III from Cinq5 has a rated output of 5V 0.5A. The Plug III has a convenient fitting location

on the headset which requires removal of the starbolt and cannot easily be moved between bikes.

The E-werk is the most flexible solution in that it can deliver various voltages up to a current of 1.5A. However, it does not work with iPhone unless a buffer battery pack is used. As the output depends on the speed and on hills it is best to get the best charge the battery can take while there is an ample supply such as on downhills.

An iPhone will take 5V 1A, and the Garmin Edge705/800 require 1A for quickest charging.

Both of these values can be supplied from the USBwerk or Luxos charging port.

The Luxos U (lamp and charge combination) has a red indicator light on the USB switch that appears when its small battery has enough charge to pass on through its USB connection to a phone or GPS, but gives the light priority to the power source. The USBwerk used with the Luxos B light will share the power from the dynamo so will not prioritise to the light.

The Motorola Moto G that I used for most of my testing will charge at 5V and 1.5A for quickest charging. Motorola support states that the Moto G will charge at 1.5A. To get the maximum charge of 1.5A then, the USB cable should be able to take that charge. ‘Get a 28/24 gauge cable. 24 gauge is ~60 per cent larger and can handle two amps. This is what is usually sent when you buy a tablet or large phone device.’ Using this cable will ensure charge rates above 0.5A. Also, Ixon IQ and Big Bang battery headlights can be powered through the e-Werk. They are DC devices which would

Ride

Distance

Hills?

Mobile Phone app

Notes

NW Passage

210

Y

Viewranger

Worked fine throughout

Tour of the Berwyns

110

Y

Runtastic

Completed

Elenydd

306

Y

Runtastic

Battery life

1000km Audax Wales

1000

Y

RWGPS

Stopped after a day – appears to be charging cable fault

Scottish 1300km

1300

Y

RWGPS

Battery stopped charging after two days, cable stressed

The Clwydian

210

Y

Viewranger

Phone lead dirty – only 90km recorded

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

39

technical normally be powered from a battery pack or internal batteries in the case of the IQ. With the E-werk it is possible to power these at their required voltages, ie, 8.4V 1.5A for Big Bang, 7V 1.5A for Ixon IQ speed and 6.3V ,1A for Ixon IQ. The USB werk and Luxos U have an inbuilt battery as a buffer between the charger and device.

For devices that won’t charge directly from the E-werk gives a stop-start charging, then a larger buffer battery is available to complete the set-up.

Busch and Müller have one that uses the voltage of 5.6V and 1.5A.

Problems

After a while some USB cables have failed to charge. This can be because of vibrations causing the micro USB to suffer. After you use a cable for a while it pushes slight stresses on the micro USB connector itself and compresses it. This causes poor connectivity between your device and the wire. This is why it seems like your device port feels like it’s getting loose and you think something is wrong.

It’s most likely the cable being slowly damaged over time.

Recommendations

The main consideration for using the dynamo power is to ensure that the

device being used receives the maximum charge possible. For the Garmin devices and iPhone this is 5V 1.0A. For these the USBwerk or Luxos U is sufficient, but for Garmin Etrex a buffer battery is needed as despite the USBwerk or Luxos U buffer battery it is not enough for continuous charge throughout a ride, so then any of the devices can be used with a buffer battery. The battery that is supplied by B&M allows a higher voltage of 5.6V at 1.5A so can take a higher charge which can then be used to power the device at 5V 1A. To ensure the best power, higher specification USB leads should be used and short ones of around 20cm so they don’t have as much spare lead to bounce or get in the way. Spare short lead could also be carried.

For longer trips a power pack and mains plug should be carried to supplement the power.

Switch for USB with plug on handlebars

N

Recommended set-up

Luxos B with E-werk (for Android and other devices more than 1A), or USBwerk (for iPhone and Garmin Edge).

Not recommended for Garmin Etrex without a buffer battery.

E-werk charging unit on downtube

Route sheets I’m in the process of deciding which events to enter in the coming months and have accessed some route sheets on the events pages of the calendar. There is a huge variation in the ways in which the routes are set out and, I have to say, some routes are so badly presented that I won’t enter the event. I’ve ridden an average of ten events over each of the past four years and I’m an event organiser (Garboldisham Audax rides, nominated in 2013 for the organiser’s award), so I think I can pick the good from the bad. What concerns me is the effect of a bad route sheet on riders for whom this is a first Audax event. I think they may well abandon Audax events after just one ride and direct their attention to the many sportives which are available. A good Audax experience comes from a good route sheet – or, more accurately, a bad route sheet is likely to mean a bad Audax experience.

So what makes a good route sheet? The AUK Organiser’s Handbook gives some good general advice but says ‘there is no approved way to write a route sheet’ and ‘it’s up to you how you go about it’. I don’t know how helpful this is. For me there are two essential requirements: first, legibility, with a good, clear type face in a fairly large font size and second, accuracy, both in terms of the defined distance between each instruction and in matching the instruction to what the rider actually sees on the road by way of sign posts and street names. I’ve picked up two route sheets recently, one of which had the distances on about one in six of the instructions- and one which had no distances at all!

Sorry, not for me! Both seem to make the assumption that riders have a fool-proof GPS device and/or local knowledge. Surely it’s not too much to ask that organisers present their route sheets in a way which

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removes frustration and the need for guesswork on the part of the rider?

To be fair, most organisers produce really good route sheets and there are some terrific examples of really excellent practice to set against the stinkers. I’ve been lucky to have Sue and Keith of NorfolknGood as mentors and have modelled my Garboldisham route sheets on theirs and tried to match their legibility (14 point Arial is great), accuracy and clarity. There is no better model. I know that Sue and Keith ride their routes beforehand and look at the instructions from the point of view of the cyclist on the road- that seems to me to be essential if riders are not to be confused.

So thanks to the many organisers whose routes I have been able to enjoy. Come the early summer, my three Garboldisham routes (essentially unchanged for 2014) will be test-ridden. Some Diss CTC members will ride the routes independently and will let me know of any issues. I’ll ride all three routes myself (yes, on my bike) in the company of someone who has not ridden the route before. I’ll check all the signposts and rights of way to see if changes are necessary, or if clarification is needed. For me, it means that I will enjoy three great rides in pleasant company. My aim, like that of most of my fellow organisers, is to make each of my route sheets legible, accurate, comprehensible and user-friendly. I doubt that I will achieve perfection, but it won’t be for want of trying! See you at Garby on 13th July!

Tom Elkins

Diss CTC; Organiser, Garboldisham Audax rides

www.audax.uk.net

news

Foundation Rides: June 21st June 21st will see the third running of the Foundation Rides from Crewe in Cheshire. These rides are the main annual fund-raising event for the Up and Under Foundation – a Cheshire-based charity that supports disadvantaged youngsters to take part in adventurous activities (www.upandunderfoundation.org) – and it is for this reason that the rides are a bit more expensive than most audax rides (£13 for AUK members). All profits from the ride go to the charity and in 2014 we raised over £6,000 from a combination of entry fees, sponsorship and a spectacular prize draw. There are three rides on offer again this year: Foundation Ride (50km/30 miles) The Foundation Ride, being the shortest, is the latest to start – at a very leisurely 9:30 – so if you like a Sunday lie-in, this might be the event for you.

The route is pretty flat and potters around the Cheshire lanes, taking in Audlem, Wrenbury and Nantwich. There are a couple of café possibilities in Audlem if you fancy a cuppa part way round and, of course, refreshments at the end.

‘Good Stuff’ (100km/60 miles) The Good Stuff is a bit longer and bit hillier and starts a bit earlier (9:00).

It heads off in the same direction as the Foundation Ride, but at Wrenbury the routes diverge as you head towards Malpas and almost into Wales. The route offers a choice of two possible cafés (Old Ma’s or the Ice Cream Farm) about three-quarters of the way round. The scenery is fabulous and none of the hills are too hard.

‘Tough Stuff’ (160km/100 miles) As might be expected from the name, this is further, hiller and has an earlier start (8:00) than the other two options – but the scenery and sense of achievement (and number of possible café stops en route) should more than make up for the pain! The route takes in the gentle Cheshire lanes before heading whole-heartedly into Wales to Llangollen (via the Panorama) and up and over the Horseshoe Pass, before turning back towards Cheshire and the finish at Up and Under HQ.

Lorna Fewtrell

Super Randonneur Ecosse A renewed medal/sew on patch is now available for those achieving a Super Randonneur series of events starting in Scotland as pictured here.

Claims for current season or retrospectively with counting event details.

Prices: Sew on patch £3.50/Medals £4.50 including p&p (£6.50 for one of each sent together). Paypal payments to pedaller1@sky.com Cheques payable to Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria Street, Galashiels TD1 1HL

Hungerford Hurrah 200k and Hooray 140k June 13th

Correspondence GPS power off

In response to Chris Wilby’s interesting article (Arrivée spring 2014, p.30) on dynamo lights and the possibility of powering GPS receivers from them, I just wanted to mention that on the Etrex Legend and Vista models there is a setting that controls behaviour when external power is lost. In Setup > System > External Power Lost you can select Stay On. When external power is lost you will get a warning box on the screen which you have to clear, but the unit will remain on. This is just like the low battery warning that stays there to make sure you have seen it until you click OK.

Peter Robinson

Entry form should be included with Arrivée

Report on Road.CC http://road.cc

An 86-year-old AUK member who rode his bike 16 miles to an accident and emergency department after he was bitten by a dog came out of hospital the following day to find his bike had been stolen. His daughter has launched an appeal for its recovery.

Bob Friend, from Minster, Kent cycled to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate after the dog bit him in Canterbury. He locked his Thorn Audax bike, on which he has racked up well over 100,000 miles, outside the hospital but when he was discharged in the morning it was gone.

His daughter, Ramsgate resident Diane Robertson, appealed on Facebook for help in finding the bike, or at least to 'make the bike too hot to handle.'

She told Kent Online: 'To steal something from outside a hospital is pretty low. He does still drive but he goes everywhere on the bike because he prefers it. He also finds it more comfortable than walking because he has back problems. He will do 100 miles a day on the bike quite happily and regularly visits my aunts in Gloucestershire and Brighton on it.'

She provided a description of the bike on the Facebook post, saying: 'It’s a Thorn Audax bike, blue, with front hub dynamo, bar bag at the front (with a BMW badge!), rack bag at the rear containing water proofs, tools, spare tube and lights. Never mind the dog bite and ensuing skin graft, it would mean a lot to him just to get his bike back,' she added.

Anyone with information is requested to get in touch with Ms Robertson via Facebook.

Paul Whitehead and Steve Underwood at the start of Hungerford Hurrah These events run for their third year on Saturday 13th June (a change from the usual Sunday) from Awbridge Village Hall, near Romsey, Hampshire. These classic summer rides head to Hungerford via the quiet roads and lanes of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire for a stop at the popular Tutti Pole café. The terrain is fairly gentle, although there are a few more hills on the 200km ride, which adds an extra loop around the downs north of Hungerford. The 200km riders do get a second stop at the Tutti Pole as a reward for their efforts. Both rides return via the panoramic viewpoint of Walbury Hill, after which the remaining 50km are largely downhill via pretty Test Valley villages. Back at Awbridge village hall there will be plenty of food and drink to refuel after your efforts.

I received my winter Arrivée and was disappointed by the absence of an event entry form within its content. I appreciate this is the first year we have operated without the handbook. May I make a plea that an entry form be included in the next copy of Arrivée and perhaps becomes a constant feature in at least future winter Arrivée editions.

Ian Jackson

An entry form is now printed in the mag, ready to be photocopied, see p.66.

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

41

overseas

Across the USA Los Angeles to New York 1981 and Los Angeles to Boston 2005 Colin Mildwater

2005 was a watershed year as it was the year I became sixty-five. This came as a bit of a shock to me as I had only just got used to being over 40. As a cyclist my first reaction was to trawl through my back issues of Cycling Weekly to see how much a pair of incontinent cycling shorts would set me back and get a quote for a stair lift. On reflection I decided to do something that would prove to my friends, family and myself that, I was not quite ready for the knacker’s yard yet.

I

n 1981 I had cycled with my friend Tony Allan from LA to New York, 3000 miles in 25½ days, averaging 120 miles per day. This meant they were very long days and there was always the stress at the end of the day looking for a motel. Most days this was not a problem but there were times when we really struggled. What you do not want to hear after a really bad day in the pouring rain is ‘Sorry, we are full but there is another motel just down the road.’ The Americans are even more car orientated than we are and ‘just down the road’ usually meant at least 10 miles.

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What we quickly had to accept was that we could not be too choosy and as a result we stayed in some dubious, bordering on sleazy, motels. One of the worst was in Gallup, New Mexico, the room was pretty rough but it was our fellow guests in the next room that caused us the most concern. They were extremely noisy with loud music and shouting. Now America is without doubt a more violent society than the UK and the propensity of gun shops we had seen only reinforced that view. We therefore felt that knocking on the door and saying ‘ Sorry to be a bit of a bore I wonder if it is possible to keep the noise down a tad as my chum and I have a bit of a long bike ride tomorrow’ was not the best course of action. At 2.30am the shouting escalated into a fight, luckily at this point two police cars arrived and after much swearing and shouting our fellow guests were arrested and taken off to spend what was left of the night in a police cell.

I had a great deal of difficulty in getting to sleep and thought that possibly they would have had more comfortable beds than we had. www.audax.uk.net

HEADING overseas IN HERE As far as the route was concerned we tended to work this out on a daily basis with some local input. ‘No problem old buddy it’s a completely flat road’ – it is when you are in a car! With a couple of spectacular exceptions this worked pretty well. On one occasion we took a minor road which was actually a dirt road through what a notice said was an Indian Reservation, we did not see any Indians. All we saw was a number of very dilapidated wooden huts on scrub land and a pack of dogs that started to take a lively interest in us. Now before leaving the UK I had read that if you are being attacked by a dog the only defence is to stick your pump down its throat. It did occur to me that although this might work in theory in practice, by the time you got your pump off the bike, the dog could be halfway through your leg! In any event this was not going to work with so many dogs. It is amazing how much adrenalin is generated when you are being chased by a pack of dogs. We therefore did a very passable impression of Chris Hoy despite the fact that with panniers our bikes weighed 56lbs. Just as they gave up, over the hedge came the biggest dog I have ever seen (clearly the leader of the pack, pure Stephen King). So it was eyeballs out again, luckily it was slightly downhill so it didn’t take long to hit 30 mph. Although he kept going longer than the pack we eventually dropped him. When our heart rates dropped below 200 bpm and were able to talk again we decided that at the risk of upsetting the indigenous population we would not be visiting any more reservations!

Sadly by 2005 Tony had given up longdistance cycling and despite inducement of free pints I was unable to generate any interest from my cycling friends in joining me. The general consensus of opinion was that to cycle across America once you had to be mad and to even consider doing it again was a clear indication that ‘Care in the Community’ had not worked. I was not very keen to do the ride by myself and therefore was very pleased when I came across ‘America by Bicycle’. One of their rides was from Los Angeles to Boston in 32 days averaging 115 miles a day with one rest day. This, I felt, I could cope with, particularly as they would be transporting your luggage and arranging accommodation and providing a route sheet. All I had to do was ride my bike and although 115 miles is a reasonable day’s bike ride especially in the mountains, without wishing to sound big-headed I felt I could cope reasonably well with that.

My training was going well up to Christmas, I was even on the turbo trainer on Christmas Day (Bradley Wiggins eat your heart out). In all sports, sports psychology is playing an increasingly important role and one of its main

functions being motivation. Now over Christmas it is very easy to get stuck to the sofa eating too many chocolates and watching old films on the TV. I was in what was possible the most motivational situation known to man to get out on my bike. The mother-in-law was staying with us over Christmas! The day after Boxing Day was a fantastic day, rather cold but not a cloud in the sky and no wind, I could not get on my bike quick enough.

Euphoric mood

My euphoric mood came to abrupt end when I was travelling at over 20 mph (very unusual for me) when my front wheel hit a patch of black ice. I was thrown over the handlebars and hit the road really hard, luckily there were no following vehicle otherwise it could have been a lot worse. An X-ray at the local A&E revealed that I had not, despite the pain, broken any bones. In retrospect I think it might have been better if I had, since despite making numerous very generous contributions to my physiotherapist’s New Year’s cash flow, I was not able to get on the road on my bike until early March although I was able to use my turbo trainer from the end of January. With the ride starting on April 23rd I knew that I would not have attained the level of fitness I would have liked. I was confident that as long as I did not get carried away and try to keep up with the ‘eyeballs out brigade’ and rode at a steady pace that I would be a lot fitter after a few days.

Now having time off the bike did allow time to concentrate on obtaining some sponsorship. Back in 1981 we did the ride to raise money for muscular dystrophy, I had worked with someone who suffered from this dreadful debilitating disease. In the interim I had lost my mother, three uncles and two cousins, who were both only in their forties, to cancer, all of them smoked. I therefore decided that this ride I would raise funds for the Marie Curie Cancer Nurses. In 1981 it was a lot easier to get sponsorship because there was not the demand there is today. This was on a corporate and personal level.

In 1981 we had obtained corporate sponsorship for our airfares, accommodation and meals which was a great help to our personal finances.

We were sponsored for our flights to Los Angles and back from New York by Jetsave. This had been arranged by a travel agent called Plan Travel. In return for the sponsorship we had their name on our jerseys, had numerous pictures taken with our bikes as well as articles in their trade magazine and their publicity agent contacted the national newspapers.

He met us at Manchester Airport along with a couple of photographers so we felt quite big time with all the flash photography. National fame however alluded us, as this was the weekend

‘It is amazing how much adrenalin is generated when you are being chased by a pack of dogs.’

that the first IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died in Belfast, this story obviously dominated the press the next day. We did, however, get a small mention in the Manchester editions of The Mail and the Daily Telegraph.

This time it was a lot more high tec than 1981 with a lot of help from an old work colleague I set up my own website. I knew the only way of attracting corporate sponsorship was if I could get on TV. I thought BBC South East news would be a good start. I did a broadcast on Radio Kent hoping to get some personal sponsorship via my web-site.

Zilch! I did manage to speak to someone regarding getting on BBC South East news, I told him that I was an OAP and would be cycling 3,445miles across America in a month averaging 115 miles per day. There was a long pause and a very refined and somewhat bored voice said ‘The trouble is Colin that there are an awful lot of people doing bike rides these days’. The lack of any corporate sponsorship meant that I had to cover the full costs of the trip myself.

Heeding the words of the man from the BBC I got to Gatwick nice and early

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overseas and was very surprised to find that I was the only one in the departure lounge with a bike box! In order to help get over jet-lag, I had arranged to stay a couple of nights in a hotel in LA prior to meeting the rest of the riders at a motel near the beach. In fact this was the idea of Steve, the only other UK rider, who came from Nottingham.

When I arrived at the hotel it was very late but there was a message from Steve asking me to meet him the next morning in the hotel lobby and we could have breakfast together. Now I had no idea what Steve looked like and when I got down to the really crowded lobby I had no trouble whatsoever in picking out Steve. He absolutely oozed fitness, he had on a white T-shirt that he must have been poured into, very powerfully built but all muscle, I have seen more fat on a butcher’s pencil, as the old joke goes. He told me that he was in his early forties and was a policeman and for the last four years had been in the armed response unit having been on numerous trips as a bodyguard to various members of the Royal Family. He had just been promoted to inspector and had returned to the ordinary police force.

The next day we shared a very large station wagon and travelled across LA to the motel where the ride was starting from. Having assembled our bikes we went out for a little ride. I spent two hours frantically trying to hang on the back of Steve’s wheel. When we returned and I got my breath back I told him that there were only two sets of circumstances I would be riding with him. One was if I started taking drugs and I don’t think there is a drug out there that would enable me to keep up with him. The second was if he was ill and this proved to be predicative. We did spend a couple days cycling together, then he fell foul of a dodgy Mexican meal. I had learnt from the experience of my first ride the last thing you need the night before a long ride is a spicy meal. He did make me feel a bit better when he told me he had completed a 100-mile time trial in 4 hours 10 minutes, which is pretty impressive by any standards.

The afternoon was taken up with a meeting with all the riders. They were mainly professional people, including a couple of doctors which I thought might prove quite handy. There was also a couple of students who were engaged but were using the ride as training for an Iron Man Triathlon. We all had to introduce ourselves and give our reasons for doing the ride, experience, etc. About 50 per cent of the riders were doing it for charity, mainly cancer charities.

Nearly everyone was very confident and articulate which I think is due to the college education system in America.

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impressive no-holds-barred 40-minute talk about the ride. This was the 18th coast to coast ride he had led, statistically 10 per cent of us were not going to make it due to illness, crashes and the physical demands just being too much for some people. One of the main points he made was there was no prize for being the first one to the motel at end of each day. In fact there was not a lot of point in getting there too early because the sag wagon that provided lunch and sometimes food in the afternoon on a long day, carried all the luggage and would not leave until the last rider had gone through. This meant that you could spend a couple of hours waiting around in sweaty cycling gear waiting for your luggage to turn up. Not a pleasant thought, needless to say it was not a situation that I ever experienced. Only one rider was not at the meeting, Nick who arrived later, put his bike together and went round the block to try it out. He came back to the motel car park, hit the kerb and came off.

He was taken to hospital where it was found that he had broken his femur and a couple of ribs. I can not imagine how he must have felt, all that preparation and he did not even ride the first day. So we were one rider down and had not even started!

Dip our wheels in the Pacific

The next morning, bright and early, we rode down to Newport Beach to dip our wheels in the Pacific Ocean. That meant we only had 3,445 miles to go before we could dip our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean on Paul Revere Beach in Boston.

With the adrenalin pumping round the system I did break my own golden rule; it was more to do with fact that the route coming out of LA was a little complex involving riding on a number of cycle paths and was very anxious not to get lost on the first day. I therefore put in a big effort to stay with the group. Once we were out of LA the route became a lot simpler and even though I was doing 25mph which is right at the top of my range, I still could not hold on to a back wheel so I just let them go. I then just poodled along at 16-17mph and enjoyed the ride to the motel in 1000 Palms, which surprisingly is not a million miles from Palm Springs.

One of the highlights of the first few days was the crossing of the Mojave Desert. In 1981 we also crossed the desert and that was more memomorable for a number of reasons. Firstly, the temperature was 120°F whilst it was only 90°F the second time. Tony and I had been cycling for about two hours and had not seen a soul. Tony who was riding in front stopped and declared that this would be a good spot for a desert photo.

Now I have to say that even with glasses he did not have the best eyesight in the world, in my view he could have got a job

‘One of the highlights of the first few days was the crossing of the Mojave Desert.’

as a stunt double for Mr Magoo (younger readers please Google). About a foot from where he had stopped was the tail of the longest rattle snake I have ever seen …

I told him I did not think it was a good place to stop. On reflection I may have used slightly stronger language than that. We were therefore quite thankful to get to the mid-desert stop.

As we stopped in the car park a really clapped-out looking truck pulled up and out got two guys. Well, to say they were rough looking would be a real understatement, too rough looking, even to act as villains in a Quentin Tarantino film! They asked what we were doing and when we said that we cycling to New York they asked ‘What do we do about money?’ which made me feel very uneasy. Tony to his credit said straight away ‘We have it telegraphed to a bank in each town we stop’ which I thought was pretty quick thinking. They did not seem very convinced and pointed out the directions to continue on the small very quiet road we had been on. Now the only reason we were on this road was that you are not allowed on the Freeway with a bike. We decided very quickly that we would risk being stopped by the police rather than a violent altercation in the middle of nowhere. We therefore rode on the Freeway or Interstates as they now call them, on the hard shoulder.

The traffic was not too bad and with the wind behind us we were able to ride at a reasonable rate far quicker than if we had been on the other road. We also avoided the attention of the two very dubious characters from the diner.

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The significance of the fact that in 2005 it was 30°F cooler in the desert than in 1981 only became apparent after a couple of days. It transpired that this was the coldest spring in America for 50 years, because the wind which was normally coming from the west and therefore a tailwind was coming from the east which meant it was a headwind. When you are going in the same direction each day into a headwind it makes it very hard going.

The group had a taste of what was to come on day four when it was absolutely pouring with rain. At one stage it was more like a cloudburst and although I took shelter in a café till it eased, it was apparent that it was going to be one of those days that you were just going to get very wet. Despite the fact that I was doing a very passable impression of the Michelin Man with thermals, jersey, arm warmers, jacket and a Gore-tex jacket it was only when I started the ascent of the 7,000 ft Mingus Mountain that I warmed up.

When I reached the summit the sag wagon was waiting with a number of riders inside who had decided to call it a day. I declined the invitation to join them, but quickly started to question the wisdom of that decision when the rain turned to sleet as I started the decent.

This meant with the wind-chill factor that not only did it feel a lot colder but the surface of the narrow, winding road became very treacherous. Several times my back wheel skidded going round the bends and I very nearly came off, I just about managed to stay on my bike until I got to the small town of Jerome.

‘I was so hungry I think that the place mat would have tasted pretty good.’

Mike, the tour leader, had strongly recommended stopping at the Haunted Hamburger. Now to be honest I am not normally a great fan of hamburgers but it did mean I would be getting out of the cold and the rain. There were already a number of riders eating, some of whom were ordering seconds. I have to say the hamburgers did taste a bit special, I was so hungry I think that the place mat would have tasted pretty good. The highlight of the meal was the arrival of Sarah, one of the triathletes, who stood in the middle of the diner dripping all over the floor and announced in a very loud voice ‘That is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life’, much to the amusement of the locals. It felt even colder when I finally left but was a fairly easy ride to the motel. I did spend nearly half an hour in the shower before I felt warm again.

Now on the 1981 trip although we had a few bad days weather-wise it was normally pretty good, in fact there were a number of days when it was a bit too hot. Not having the luxury of sag wagon for food and drink we had to rely on diners. This worked pretty well although in Arizona we did come unstuck a couple of times when what looked like small towns on the map turned out to be ghost towns, which was very eerie. On one of our longest days after over a 100 hilly miles we rode into Texas and all day had not seen anywhere to eat. It was about 4.30pm and we had OD on energy bars and I was feeling completely wiped out, then suddenly in the middle of nowhere we came across this family diner. I said ‘This is it Tony, we will be able to get a genuine Texas steak and it could be our only chance as we will be out of Texas tomorrow’.

Biggest ever steaks

When our steaks turned up they were the biggest we had ever seen and they tasted as good as they looked,with mashed potato and fantastic gravy. I took the first couple of mouthfuls and the next thing I remember was my head hitting the plate. I had fallen asleep in my dinner, I had mashed potato and gravy all over my face! Luckily our fellow diners were too involved in a very animated discussion to take any notice of two Limey cyclist, so I was able to wipe my face without anyone noticing although the waitress must have wondered about the state of my napkin!

We still had over 40 miles to go to the motel, but it was eight o’clock before we got there. When I looked at the clock it was showing nine o’clock I queried this with receptionist and she told us that we had just passed through a Time Zone, in fact, you pass through four Time Zones crossing America and you lose an hour each time. This was probably one of our worst days to lose an hour so we just had to give the disco a miss that night!

One of the main advantages of an

organised ride is that it enables you to cycle in a group. In 2005 I started to ride with three other riders, after a few days, who rode at a similar pace to me. The group consisted of Len, a dentist from New York, Marty, a physical therapist working with children with disabilities from St Louis, and Patrick, a factory manager from Yuba City, California. We all shared a similar sense of humour, in my view one the most important attributes of the long distance cyclist. As the most experienced rider I fell naturally into the role of leader. Most days we were riding into a headwind in single file and I timed everyone so we did three minutes on the front. This worked pretty well although there were some very hard days when I reduced the intervals to one minute.

Riding a Condor bike

The rider I had the closest affinity with was Marty. There were a number of reasons for this, he about the same age as my son Simon, early thirties. He was riding a Condor bike from the early 70s that his father had bought when he was in England. Sadly his father had died from cancer and Marty was doing the ride in his memory on his bike. The problem was that because the bike was so old the wheel size had now changed and it was very difficult to get tyres and to compound the problem, the tyres that were available were not a very good quality. The result was that Marty very rarely got through the day without at least one puncture. The other three of us were not immune which usually meant two or three punctures a day.

Mike, the leader of the ride, called us the Flat Rascals which was a variation on the name of one his favourite groups Rascal Flatts, a very good country-rock group. One of their best known hits appropriately enough is ‘Life is a Highway’ which is featured in the Pixar film ‘Cars’ (Check it out on You Tube) it is very good. When we were riding down a very remote road we came across a squashed squirrel and one of the backup team had spray canned underneath it ‘Flat Rascals Rule OK’. The squirrel didn’t look very happy but it cheered us up for a bit.

Now one of the other main differences of the two rides was the second time I had the luxury of a rest day. The first time we just did not have the time, we had been booked on a flight on a Saturday night. We got to New York on Friday afternoon, flew out Saturday night, back in the UK Sunday morning, back to work on Monday having used all our annual holiday for the trip. The rest day was in Topeka which is the State capital of Kansas, not Kansas city as you would think which is mainly in Missouri. A useful fact to remember for the pub quiz. Now rest day is a complete misnomer – your body has got conditioned to cycling ten to twelve hours a day for two weeks.

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overseas

Therefore although the thought of lying around on your bed indulging in mega carbo-loading all day seemed very tempting, if you did that then you tend to seize up and make it a lot harder the next day. So it was back on the bike for a little four-hour ride although I did enjoy a bit of lie in. In fact poor old Marty had to have his bike repaired and therefore could not ride and really did suffer the next day.

One of my main functions as leader of the group was to ensure that everyone concentrated on the road to avoid rubble and to be aware of other riders. Although they were all very fit, none of them had much experience in group riding. Initially this involved a lot of shouting to be fair, as the ride progressed they did improve and towards the end they were doing quite a good impression of Team Sky.

Lack of concentration

There was one day when I suffered complete lack of concentration towards the end of the ride in Illinois. It was May 21st, a date that is etched in my memory for ever, this being the day in 1989 when our six-year-old daughter Laura got knocked down and killed by a car. The weather was even exactly the same as had been on that fateful day, absolutely clear blue sky without a cloud in sight. I was thinking of my wife and family as I approached a crossroads, up until now I had no problem riding on the right hand side of the road but with my mind elsewhere I looked to the right instead of the left. I was brought back to reality by Marty screaming my name, I instinctively slammed on my brakes as an SUV going like a bat out of hell missed my front wheel by less than a foot. If I had been riding on my own I would have undoubtedly been killed. This would have meant that my wife Jane would have lost two of her family in road accidents on the same date. Even now after all these years the thought leaves me cold.

In 1981 the weather was very pleasant towards the end of the ride and as stated earlier on some days it was a bit too hot. In 2005 the weather deteriorated dramatically, the last day was horrendous, it was 114 very hilly miles into a strong headwind and pouring rain. The route 46

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into Boston was very tricky and we were therefore very relived to see the sag wagon waiting for us on the outskirts of town which we followed to the Paul Revere beach (an American patriot who famously rode through the night on a horse, not a bike, to warn the locals of the pending arrival of the British army during the American war of Independence) … where Jane and other family members of the riders were waiting. It was a very emotional reunion for everyone, the weather over the last week had been dreadful and everybody had pushed themselves to the limit. Because of the pouring rain you couldn’t really tell, but I don’t think there were too many dry eyes about. Everyone dipped their wheels into the sea and as the oldest rider to finish I had the honour of pouring the water from the Pacific Ocean, which Mike had put in a bottle into the Atlantic Ocean.

The rain was still pouring down and we just wanted to get to the hotel as quickly as possible to get in a hot shower and get ready for dinner in the evening. Mike the organiser gave us the directions to get to the hotel which was just a couple of miles away and ended with the dreaded words ‘You can’t miss it’. Well we managed to get swept into a one way system and got completely lost … it took us 40 minutes to find the hotel. The irony of riding nearly 3,500 miles and then getting lost in the last couple of miles was not apparent to us at the time since we were too busy coping with the torrential rain and the extremely heavy traffic.

The dinner that night was for all the friends and families of the riders and was an extremely moving affair. We all had to give a speech before being presented with our certificates. Once again I was very impressed with the standard of speaking. Mike said that he led 18 crossings of the USA and this without doubt was the worst conditions he had experienced. He said the adverse conditions had led to an even greater sense of camaraderie within the group than normal. Physically I got a lot fitter as the ride progressed, I also lost weight which made the climbing a lot easier.

Psychologically it got harder getting up at 6am every morning, particularly if you have been woken up by the sound of rain

‘The weather over the last week had been dreadful and everybody had pushed themselves to the limit.’

on the window and knowing that you are going to be riding for ten to twelve hours in that rain with a headwind. The last week the weather was abysmal which was a great shame, some of the scenery in New York State and Massachusetts is stunning but when its cold and pouring with rain it takes the edge off your appreciation of the views.

In both rides, because they were raising money for a charity, it helps to push yourself to the limit and the thought that although you think you are suffering, it pales into insignificance when compared to the suffering those you are trying to help have to endure.

Just prior to the start of the second ride, one of my best friends, Mike, had an operation for lung cancer. I spoke to him several times during the ride and this gave me an even greater incentive to finish the ride. Thankfully the operation proved to be a complete success.

Comparing the two rides a number of differences spring to mind. In 1981 it was undoubtedly more dangerous.

When riding into Indianapolis we got run off the road twice by lorries. Luckily we were able to ride up the grass verge; if it had been a pavement it could have

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HEADING overseas IN HERE resulted in severe injures. When we mentioned this in the local diner they told us the drivers got paid per trip from New York and to keep going they took amphetamines and other stimulants.

In 1981 apart from the large towns we saw very few cyclists, in 2005 there were a lot more and obviously, like Britain, the drivers are used to cyclists We also spoke a lot more to locals in 1981 and were shown quite extraordinary acts of kindness once they knew why we were doing the ride, we were treated to meals, drinks, given donations for Muscular Dystrophy. On one occasion in Sedona (in the Rockies) which is real tourist trap we were having a great deal of trouble trying to find a motel, when a young couple who had already paid for our meal offered to drive us and our bikes to Flagstaff which was over 40 miles away.

We thanked them but said this would rather be defeating the object of our ride.

In the end we did manage to find a motel out of town – we got there in the dark, as

we did not have any lights, a bit of a hairy end to the day.

In 2005 being in a group you became somewhat insular, far more so as the ride progressed. At the end of the day you were so exhausted that the mental effort of striking up a conversation with a stranger was just too much. After a particular hard day I was in a lift in a hotel (the Americans had no problem with having your bike in your room) the only other occupant was an extremely well dressed women who observed me for a while dripping all over the carpet and finally said ‘Where have you ridden from today then?’ my mind went a complete blank after a very embarrassed silence I said ‘I cannot remember the name of the town but I do know that it was a 127 miles away.’ On a number of occasions (and I was not the only one) at the end of the evening I had to go to reception and ask what room I was in! My total mental focus was just getting to Boston.

Without question doing a ride of

this magnitude does change your life.

It changes the way you look at life and the way you perceive yourself. Because of the very adverse conditions in 2005 physically it was a lot harder, possibly being 24 years older may have also been a factor! I also had in some ways a greater sense of achievement knowing that I had been able to help Marty, Len and Patrick complete the ride. When Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and his Olympic gold medal for the Time Trial in 2012, cycling in this country crossed the Rubicon.

The increase in cyclists over the past couple of years has been very noticeable and the more cyclists there are the safer it becomes. It can be, like a lot of sports, very dangerous … a split second can make all the difference. Thanks to Marty a split second saved my life and very sadly a split second took our daughter’s life. Like most parents, if I could have the choice I wish it could have been the other way around.

N

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randonnee

Gospel Pass 150 Words and pictures by Graham Brodie

I

t’s some years since I did an Audax in Wales, and with fond memories of the Gospel Pass I decided to return this year and ride an old favourite. The hardest part was climbing out of bed not much after 4am and throwing the bike in the back of the van to get up to Chepstow for the start. Traffic was light and I parked up near Aust and rode across the Severn bridge shivering slighty in the brisk north-easterly wind.

The car park in Chepstow was buzzing, busy with riders fettling bikes, Ian Hennessey checking people in, and Nik Peregrine overseeing affairs.

Soon we we off over the old bridge and climbed the long drag to Tidenham Chase and St Briavels. After St. Briavels I felt we’d overshot the turning to Clearwell. Checking the map, we had, so I turned left down past Clearwell caves to rejoin the route. Heading swiftly back down into the Wye Valley there was some hefty braking as three deer leapt across the road – had we been four or five seconds earlier it could have been a different outcome.

I’d teamed up with Peter Everest, who was fairly new to Audax, and enjoying the spin on his new titanium birthday present. We sped up to A466 to Monmouth where a lovely cup of hot chocolate and some angel cake set us up for the next section. I rode with Peter through Rockfield to Grosmont where I stopped off to see some old friends for a catch-up.

After tea and biscuits I thought I’d better get my skates on as time was pressing. I set off quickly along the road I knew well, but not as well as I remembered when I completely misjudged the curve onto the bridge at Kentchurch and almost did a ‘Danny MacCaskill’ on the bridge parapet.

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Crossing the main road, it was straightforward 15-mile bash to Hay on Wye, on a rumbling road surface. Ian Hennessey and Nik and Jen were at the café. There was quite a queue at the counter so I decided to press on as I only had about eight minutes to spare.

Shortly after Hay the drag up to Gospel Pass began. I’d already caught glimpses of the snow on top when I’d stopped for a toffee crisp in the Golden Valley. Not long after the climb started I felt the hunger pang, so in went a toffee crisp and ten jelly babies, which saw me to the top of the climb where the views opened out into a beautiful snowcovered landscape. The road was quite passable with the odd section covered in the middle with an inch of unmelted snow.

I wasted a bit of time taking photos before swooping down through Lllanthony and into Abergavenny where I took a spiral route eventually homing in on the pub control.

Peter and several others were there. I grabbed a quick drink from the bar and was about to set off in search of a store to buy crunchy bars, but Peter donated an oaty bar to me which was enough to get me going over the final climb after the fast spin down to Usk, although the top of the climb is one of those that keeps leaping away from you just as you think you’ve reached the summit.

Fabulous views across the Bristol channel meant we weren’t far from Chepstow, and it was mainly downhill run through Shirenewton to get us into the finish ay the Three Tuns pub with half an hour to spare. There I enjoyed a lovely bowl of hot soup, before thanking the Peregrines and heading back over the Severn Bridge to Aust.

An Audax classic and great to finish it once again.

N

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super randonneur series

If at first you don’t succeed…

Kevin Presland

After a six-year drought in Super Randonneuring I decided that time had come for a return to the challenge in 2011. I had coincidentally invested in a turbo trainer with the idea that it would remove the cold, dark and wet excuses that can invade the spirit and undermine resolve. To awaken the legs from Christmas dormancy I embarked on the first and thoroughly enjoyable 160km Glastonbury Millar Audax. Rather cold with frost and dodgy sections of ice, frozen water bottle and all that sort of stuff, but a delight until a puncture in the fading light ensured a numb conclusion, and prevented what otherwise would have been a good time, it was nevertheless an encouraging training event.

I

indulged in a rest on the Monday, then on Tuesday took to the turbo trainer. Now this was set up using the fixed wheel bike, the resulting short axle meant that there was sag on the fully extended fixing bolt, consequently the bike was a tad off vertical, and without thinking of potential consequence, I compensated in my position on the bike as if to maintain balance. Eighteen minutes in to my 20 minute session it all went so terribly wrong. It was like an electric shock, and the back gave in, and that was it, dragged off the bike, then laid up for weeks. After three months I could

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manage 15 miles without too much discomfort, and eventually only rode myself back to reasonable fitness on the annual September tour.

Lacking confidence in my back, and thinking that the long distance days were over I settled back into club runs, commuting and shorter Audax rides.

Then in April 2012 we were faced with the shock of losing our long-term cycling companion Chris Bennett. The 300km Audax he had been developing was to be ridden in his memory by Torbay CTC, so I joined in on an unseasonably cold and rather wet return ride to Polzeath in April. My back had caused some trouble, so I was tentative about progressing to a greater distance. Then came temptation in the form of The Avalon 400 and the poetic notion of seeing the sun rise behind Glastonbury Tor. ‘Got to be done.’

Brian Jago accompanied me as we made our way in to the dark on our 10.30pm departure from the Blackdown Hills. This ride is such a great expedition, first the night time excursion to Minehead, then to Chard, a round trip across the bridge to Chepstow, then returning via the Cotswolds and Chard.

All sorts of navigational and sleep deprivation issues made for a challenging journey, but a success it was, and reignited self-belief for the 2013 season.

The plan for that year was going well, I had decided to tackle it progressively, enter each event on the evidence of the previous. The Glastonbury Millar warm

‘So I set off one bleak day thinking that this, at last, might be the ride too far.’

up was completed in perfect February weather, the Mad March 200 dispatched in good time, the first Chris Bennett 300 ridden efficiently, then it was time for the National 400, based on the route of the Avalon 400, but with a morning start.

The threat of rain was unfounded, but the forecast strong westerly came up trumps and provided magnificent tailwinds as we worked our way across Somerset. In fact I was on a bit of a high, things were going so well, plenty of time in hand at 85 miles, taking little effort in sustaining 25mph through the open country B roads, and looking forwards to the promised spread of food at Castle Cary, and later the new tunnels in to Bath. It was not to be! Steering became spongy, then downright difficult; something was awry in the headset that I could not pinpoint. I abandoned, and later discovered a cracked head tube, fortunately I had been just five miles from the Castle Cary Station, which I rode gingerly so that I could land on my feet in case of catastrophic failure.

That was it for 2013, bike in for reconstruction, no time for another 400, and in my heart still tentative about the 600. Then at the Dartmoor Devil in October, Mark Rigby assisted me with controls and accompanied me in photographing passing cyclists. He told me of his plans for a new dragon bashing 600 across, up and down Wales, and I was well and truly hooked on the prospect.

Having tripped on so many occasions, www.audax.uk.net

All photos by James O'Neal

super randonneur series plans were kept tightly to my chest for 2014.

My 500 miles in every month target kicked in on 1 January, this ensured no lazy months, and served well for residual levels of fitness, so a good start. I had a plan, having identified a stepping-stone ride from February until the big one in June, and with very little travelling required, ideal.

The Audax season commenced once more with the Glastonbury Millar, and we were blessed not only with fine sunshine, but also a parting of the waters on the one road over the Levels such that we were to enjoy expansive views of mirrorlike lakes of water, and with just a 50mm deep fording of the great floods at the low point – stunning under the sunshine for those just passing through.

Clashing holidays had meant that my wife and I both had identified the 200 and 600 weekends for our respective activities, so I missed my planned Mad March, and held on to the big June weekend. An impromptu study of the Calendar revealed an alternative 200, and what a fine choice it was that I selected in Richard Evans’s ‘Making Hay’ event. It was also my first ride with a GPS, so plenty of cussing, especially when I discovered the importance of the lanyard when the shiny new device self-ejected and scuttled off down the macadam highway, not so shiny and new now!

Making Hay

The rugby impact on Cardiff seemed to have filled all the accommodation available to the west of the bridge, I was so grateful to Richard for his hospitality in rescuing me from what would have been a long early morning drive. A few pre-event drinks somehow seemed to hasten the dawning of the morning, so we were soon gathering in a cold car park to the north of the city. A main road start resulted in a rapid closing down of the first section to Newport, and then to the relief of the lanes.

Although not a fan of long travels to reach the starting line, I do love exploring other cyclists’ back yards, so I was in my element as we headed north toward Raglan and on to Usk, although I was suspicious this had been a route ridden in the distant past on Torbay CTC Easter Tours, but a pleasure it was in the rolling valley with distant backdrops of ever rising hills.

After Abergavenny I was promised a long climb; for me this was a relief, as it is the mountains that are my biggest draw to Wales. We were spoilt first, however, with a café stop and first chance to get some decent nourishment. Quite a gathering formed just after I had placed my order, so I felt fortunate to have avoided the inevitable lag on the catering.

Back out on the climb, under the inspirational tug of mountain views, the legs just sprung in to life, and I twiddled up the long and gentle gradient. Up on the right was the magnificent scarp slope of Hay Bluff and the Black Mountains. No Gospel Pass today, but the views were just sublime from these lowlands.

The open control in Hay resulted in riding around in circles for a while before electing a shop for pasty, cake and Lucozade, it seemed too early for another café stop. A tailwind assisted in a rapid ride of the Golden Valley, however, the hills that followed on the way to Monmouth took their toll. It is such a long drag up the 200m ascent from Grosmont that it felt necessary to stop and savour the panorama, and contemplate the ways we had traversed that morning and the roads that awaited our passing later.

Signs for coffee were too much of a temptation in Monmouth, so I sat at a stool in the window and sipped at a regular sized shot of caffeine with an indigestion inducing cake. The afternoon was wearing on, but this now felt like the homeward straight, albeit quite a long one. It was a bit of a bore parallel to the fast traffic on the A40 dual carriageway,

‘…the legs just sprung in to life, and I twiddled up the long and gentle gradient.’

but it was fast going despite the light headwind.

After Usk and a short overlap with the outward route, the road dipped through the golf course in to Newport; it was a privilege to ride, especially since the descending sun stretched its lengthening rays upon this little gem. I had been warned that Newport itself was an opposite extreme, and sure enough we were cast out to our fate to cross the River Usk before rediscovering the tranquillity of the lanes to the finish. We were to be spoilt once more, climbing along the coastal fringe with setting sun and extensive views along the Bristol Channel. On this occasion the thrill of the view was not enough to inspire the tired legs, so it was slow progress upward, then on the flat, the wind that was relentlessly spinning the wind turbines kept my pace in check.

The final swing north to the finish was soon over and pub fayre was in order to accompany the tales of our adventures in the valleys and foot hills, a wholly satisfying day completed in less than 10 hours, and with no mechanical or back issues to cause interruption or concern.

Chris Bennett 300

I set out confidently in a group of CTC Torbay chums for this now familiar route, but was almost immediately jettisoned by the fast pace of James, and meanwhile had dropped Steve and Arnie in my vain attempt to keep up. Heavy showers confused progress over the high ground north of Winkleigh, it was too early to get wet, but the showers did not achieve their potential, so stopping again to remove the clinging wrap of the waterproofs. We regrouped in the remarkable old café in Torrington in the company of Cathy Bennett, remarkable for its proprietor, Roy who is still baking and taking orders at the age of 92.

The cycleway toward Bideford warmed the muscles, then the increasing gradient of the river valley with its finals ramp to Powlers Piece got those muscles working hard. This is a very rural corner of Devon, the hinterland that sheds water in to the upper reaches of the Tamar River. Gentle gradients, open views, great cycling, and good opportunity to maintain pace, but I was lagging. A telltale in bottoming out on a bump and the realisation that on this occasion I had a worthwhile excuse – a puncture.

The Tamar marks the ancient boundary between Devon and Cornwall, and soon after crossing its watershed, we descended in to Bude before the expanse of the Bristol Channel. This is a special section of the ride, with fine coastline all the way to the pub control at Widemouth Bay. Organiser Rod Pash was on hand to welcome us in, and waiting time was taken up in chat, glue and patches.

For me it is the next stage that is a psychological hurdle as the route bumps

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super randonneur series on to the slow climb on to Davidstow, and on this occasion the mind let me down and legs refused to perform.

Unfortunately the brain let me down a bit too as I ground on past the intended right turn where Steve and Arnie were waiting out of sight. Eventually I rediscovered my pace and sped on along the wonderful long descent to Polzeath, the outer point of the ride.

There is a marvellous reception here with large numbers of the Bennett clan revelling in our fortitude, of concern though was the absence of Arnie and Steve. I had leap-frogged them, and they had wasted a load of time back tracking in search of the errant me. I was happy to take a longer stop here so as to regroup, and whilst doing so was entertained by motorists attempting to retrieve their cars from the rapidly approaching tide, early large waves had sucked the tyres deep in to the sand.

The formality of the return ride grew in to a monster as the temperature dropped with night fall. Co-op in Launceston provided us with necessary provisions and till receipt, but we had nowhere warm to retreat to in order to devour our rations. In consequence the low body temperature seemed to have all three of us suffering from an absence of energy as we slogged along the old A30.

Unfortunately things were destined to deteriorate.

My old nemesis – the nods – made an untimely return. It was particularly unwelcome as there was no shelter from the oppressive cold, so to sleep was unrealistic, but staying upright was an increasing challenge. Respite came in the form of The Old Thatch Inn at Cheriton Bishop, although 11.30pm, they welcomed Arnie and I in for a coke and seat for a short sleep. The landlady even rested the snoozing head of Arnie on a cushion. A pub that is more than worthy of supporting!

Time came to depart for the final 20km, and progress remained somewhat surreal until an adrenalin inducing near miss snapped me in to a wakeful state to the finish, albeit with little time in hand.

Never again, I therefore resolved that if I was to continue in my endeavour to complete this challenge I needed to plan sleep opportunities in to these ride with more care.

ECE 100 and Old Roads 300

No driving required at all for the 400, just a 1.30am start to ride to Honiton.

The sleep strategy, however, worked a treat, although did require prevailing on the generosity of Ian [Hennessey].

I therefore took in some early evening sleep, topped up with power naps at each end of the 300km calendar event.

The weather forecast was not good for the ECE section, heavy rain through the early hours. As predicted I stepped out in 52

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to a wet night, but came lucky as the rain relented by 4am. A wet cash point receipt collected at Bovey, over Haldon, then a long search for a misplaced car park in Starcross before I headed straight down the old A30 to Honiton for the first of three traverses within the day.

Ian Lee set the pace until the climb to Daisymount when he became a decreasing speck in the distance. What followed was a lone ride to Okehampton in the improving morning conditions.

The café control had recently shut down, so my search led to a locals’ café in a side street. Excellent breakfast, but service was desperately slow. In the meantime the rest of the field had settled in an alternative café, enjoyed more rapid service, and departed ahead of me. It was to be a day spent largely as lantern rouge, though I would arrive at controls in time to see the departing pelotons.

Although on home soil, the route took me out of Okehampton on a hitherto undiscovered road. I was realising what a great concept for a ride this was. Wellsurfaced open roads, little traffic, fine array of scenery, ideal for maintaining a good pace. Upon arrival in Barnstaple I virtually caught the café sign as it was taken by the wind, the westerly that was responsible was going to be a great help on the section to Cheddar.

Wiveliscombe used to strike fear in the legs of the teenage me, now I was rather excited to revisit these hills. A bus shelter in the village provided protection from the cold wind while I struggled to digest some much needed sustenance.

The wind became less appreciated as the ride approached Cheddar, for it beckoned a change of my direction and the onset of dusk. The chance was, however, taken for a good hot meal. Memory does not serve me well for the next section, however, the inevitable conclusion involved the climb of Yarcombe in order to reach the goal of Honiton.

An ECE is new venture to me, so I am unfamiliar with my ride being incomplete when everyone else is celebrating its conclusion. After my snooze and broth I was back out with the stars on a slower paced ride along the A30. The return ride over Haldon carried some heavy legs, but the ride was in the bag, and soon I was collecting my final parking receipt in my deserted town to provide the proof that I had bagged the 400.

Entry submitted, I was mentally prepared for the long ride with the long name. James O’Neill had sorted the accommodation, the plan being to ride as a team. Just 10 days before the event, on a short ride in Exeter, my back went into spasm and I was reduced once more to the walking wounded. In despair I visited the chiropractor who worked his magic with massage, needles and adhesive strapping. The latter was a revelation, and with strapping criss-crossing my back

I faced the ride, and a strategy to walk if the back hurt as this would provide strengthening exercise. I had come this far, and was not prepared to abandon the challenge at the eleventh hour.

Mae Mr Pickwick Yn Mynd I Chwilio Am Ddreigiau A Chwedlau 600

‘With just shy of 10,000m of climbing we were not expecting an easy time.’

With just shy of 10,000m of climbing we were not expecting an easy time, but looking forward to some of the best scenery that Wales has to offer. A good-sized gathering formed at the hall in Bushley with a few familiar faces, and after a few lines of advice and instruction from Mark we swept off, and proceeded in a sizeable group. 6am is a fine time to be out on a bike on a summer’s morning, the rising sun yet to parch the verdant crops, and in our freedom from the oppression by the motor vehicle, we could relax and enjoy whilst driving the pedals on.

A bit of mischief awaited on our run into Monmouth; we were on the south bank of the River Wye on a tiny lane signed as a cycle route. Fortunately conditions were dry for the tarmac came to an end and we joined a riverside track along the forest edge. Average speed was thereby abated a little before we reached the familiar hills to the west of Monmouth.

All was routine along the lanes to the south of Abergavenny, and then on to the A40 to the cycling haven that is the West End Café in Llandovery. Sufficient distance had been attained to warrant a big meal. With availability of warming sunshine we sat in the courtyard and recuperated, though the benefit was not really detected as we hit the long climb on to the Elenith. Such a delight is the road around the reservoir as it dips and dives around the various inlets, but then the real hard work comes with the final grind on to Diffwys.

What should have been the reward of the descent was a rather tense affair as a car rally was heading in the opposite direction. Perhaps it is the testosterone, or maybe it is the go-faster stripes, but rather than demonstrating heightened driving skills, these motorists did not seem to appreciate positional skills, and

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super randonneur series

on various occasions we were had to take avoiding action as they took the racing line toward us. We were glad to arrive safely in Tregarron, westerly section done, time to head north.

It is relatively rare for me to get to these western reaches of Wales, and so I was excited by the prospect of exploration, and rewarded we were in passing the wide marshes of Cors Caron. It was, however, a hard ride predominantly up to Devil’s Bridge, and we were rather late in the day arriving, consequently food opportunities had been depleted. Our next section was the highlight of the ride, a climb, then a winding road around Nant y Moch Reservoir, then over the lip to the most magnificent of views and descent along the side of the deepening valley – 12 miles of blissful cycling.

The legs were growing weary over the more familiar climbs out of Machynlleth and around the shoulder of Cader Idiris, so it was with some relief that we reached the wonderful Barmouth rail bridge crossing, and control thereafter. Mark was in charge of the control and together with his team provided us with a hearty supper. I toyed with the idea of taking 40 winks, but it really seemed too early, and I was keen to catch the remnants of the sun set on the coastal section of the ride.

Clearly we had loitered too long as upon debarkation we found that the best of the evening light had gone.

The tiredness of the day in the saddle was catching up with me, so I was keen to take a pre-emptive sleep as we headed through Harlech, but it was devoid of sensible opportunity.

Just up the road, however, was a railway station, so checked it out. Seats were split with dividers, so no good for stretching out, then we happened upon a useful discovery: the polycarbonate shelter faced due west and had been under the direct radiation of the sun; through the afternoon this had heated the concrete floor. The warmth in the concrete took its hardness away, and soon I was dozing.

I awoke with a start as train drew up to offload passengers. No sooner had it departed then the platform lights went out leaving us to our slumbers. It was not

to be, out of the dark came voices, and we soon realised that the rail tracks were the preferred route from the pub which was way too unsettling, so we departed feeling much better after the 15 minute break.

An alternative route had been recommended to Beddgelert, and beautiful it was around the head of the estuary, but then a really mean gradient kicked in and I resorted to walking – as recommended by the chiropractor of course. The thrill of the descent that followed was amazing, reactive cycling as the road snaked its way back to the valley, this was cycling on the edge – fabulous!

The climb ahead was sure to be chilling, so we took a sandwich break on the well placed bench outside of the Prince Llewelyn Inn. A couple meandered along the road towards us and stopped, puzzled by the surreal sight of cyclists taking a midnight picnic in their village.

We explained our perfectly plausible story, but I guess there was little point as they gave the impression it was too bizarre to be believed, and would no doubt disappear with the remaining memories of the day in their inevitable alcohol-assisted deep sleep.

It was a great distraction to climb alongside Snowdon, trying to work out where the dots of light emanated from.

Once at the junction from where the road rises the final mile to the Llanberis Pass, we knew it was down all the way to the sleep control, or thereabouts. We were blissfully ignorant of the fact that we had the hard section before us, but we were focused on immediate priorities of food > sleep > food.

After a three-hour break we crawled out in to the early embers of morning, wrapped up against the dawning chill, but soon peeling off the layers in consequence of the stack of contours we found ourselves crossing. The views were beautiful with the early rays of the sun awakening the landscape from its slumbers. Perhaps it was here that things started to go wrong, a lack of research, or the creation of myth from a tired mind, but leading to our naive belief that it would be all downhill to Bala, one large

‘­Stretching ahead of us were tiny ­coloured dots of those ­before us in the ­magnificent mountain arena.’

climb, then downhill to Newtown.

Our B road was fast and fun, then we were directed right, and into sharp hills in poorly surfaced lanes, so no chance to maintain momentum. After a long descent we unexpectedly found ourselves in Bala, tired and in need of a breakfast butty with coffee. We still felt good, and were ready for the magnificent climb to Lake Vyrnwy. Stretching ahead of us were tiny coloured dots of those before us in the magnificent mountain arena. On the fast descent to the lake my back began to gripe in a more pronounced manner, so I took the unprecedented precaution of walking my bike for a half mile of flat reservoir side road. It seemed to help, and soon we were admiring the architecture of the associated structures as we approached the dam.

The uncompromising section that followed was both soul destroying and exhausting. Hill after hill, steep with loose surfaces; this at least enabled the opportunity to walk at regular intervals.

By the time we reached the Newtown control it was lunchtime, and we were slipping toward closing time. Another good meal was provided, and chance to pause and reposition the mental strategy.

Both helped and we were away with a positive attitude.

The selected ridge road as we headed south-west started well, but became increasingly slow due to long hedges and poor road surfaces. Beneath us, in the valley, we caught sight of the ribbon of fast tarmac of the B road. The ‘straight on’ as instructed on the route sheet presented a warning sign – ‘unsuitable for motors’. We chose to be rebels and join the aforementioned B road in to Knighton.

For me the ride is about the big scenery, and as we approached the borders the motivation of the surroundings diminished, and incentive shifted to finishing. Head down we ploughed on along the increasingly busy roads into Leominster and the garage control. Fortunately we crept in just before the early Sunday closing. It was hot, and the empty bottles needed filling. The remainder of the distance was a battle of wills, discomfort being widespread, versus desire to finish. Mind beat matter and with joy together with aches, pains and blisters we limped over the line and celebrated with a final pile of food.

In hindsight, it seems that concern at exacerbating the back injury had actually perpetuated the trouble. The result of finishing has been increased self-belief and agility, and next, well that is another story.

N

Kevin is the organiser for the longrunning Dartmoor Devil events held every October from Bovey Tracy.

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book reviews by tim wainwright

THE DANUBE CYCLEWAY THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE

FAST AFTER 50

Author: Joe Friel Paperback with illustrations. 178mm x 29mm, 336pp £15.00 ISB 9781937715267 Published by VeloPress, Colorado Available from Cordee Ltd, Leicester www.cordee.co.uk I was a bit sceptical when I read the title as most books and articles of this nature concentrate on riders in the 40+ age group, so when I read the first lines of the prologue I was pleasantly surprised: 'I'm 70. There. I've said it'.

I knew right away that Joe Friel would have an understanding of how the more senior riders would be feeling as they get into the later stages of their bike riding career – quite a lot differently to the 45+ age-group riders I can assure you.

Here's a paragraph from the prologue: 'By the time we're in our 50s, it's just starting to become apparent that things are going the wrong way. The first thing athletes typically notice around that age is that they don't recover from a race or a hard training session as quickly as they did a few years earlier. And not only that – race times are slowing, there's a loss of power, hills seems steeper, and other performance markers are also looking worse. What can be done?'

If that sounds a bit like you, welcome to the club! This book will help guide you along the road to maintaining or even increasing your current level of fitness, power and improving your physique.

The author is a big advocate of recovery days in any training plan and goes into detail with protein recovery and high-carb diets and guidelines for high-intensity short-burst training. Throughout the book there are contributions from ten senior athletes, trainers and medical people and how they have tailored their lifestyle to match their advancing years.

All good, enlightening info – I'm off to set up my turbo and dust off my redundant dumbbells.

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Author: Mike Wells Paperback with maps and photos 117mm x 170mm. 270pp and 250pp £14.95 each Published by Cicerone, Cumbria www.cicerone.co.uk These two route guides follow the pattern of Cicerone's successful cycling guides series around Europe and Britain. They are packed full of

photos and detailed routes researched by experienced cyclo-tourist Mike Wells. Detailed sections on getting there and back, accommodation, food and drink, etc. these guides are full of really helpful details for a bike-packing holiday following the Danube through the Black Forest to Budapest and the source of the Rhine in Switzerland to the coast of the Netherlands.

An ideal size and weight for the weight-conscious traveller, they'll take up little space in your luggage.

20 CLASSIC SPORTIVE RIDES IN SOUTH EAST ENGLAND Author: Colin Dennis Paperback with maps and photos 117mm x 170mm. 128pp £12.95 each Published by Cicerone, Cumbria www.cicerone.co.uk

The routes in this book are taken from actual sportives in the area to be used as training or leisure rides (some could be classified as torture rides). There are no sportive dates or prices published so it's down to you when to ride them.

Many are short rides of 40-50k with some stretching to 100k, so nothing too much for the average fit audaxer doing regular 200k rides. Having said that, some of the routes are really demanding and anyone who thinks of the SouthEast as being flat will be in for a nasty shock.

I was rather disturbed to see one of the routes near to my home, (Reservoir Cogs) taking the rider up Succombs Hill in Warlingham. It's not a road local cyclists would tackle, not just because of its twisting 25 per cent gradient with hardly room for cars to pass, but for the fact that it's a regular rat-run for all the local motorists heading for the nearby M25 and is constantly heavily trafficked both ways. Even in a car it's a dodgy ascent. Avoid at all costs if you value your safety and climb the near-trafficfree Bug Hill 400 metres along the road!

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an ode

Stoker’s debut Jacqueline Winston-Silk At the Depart collect your brevet card.

Be sure to drink some tea and go for a wee.

Once on the road, hard to tell unless you knew, ’twas my Stoker’s debut.

Steering Generous Betsy our titanic ship over black ice.

‘Please don’t slip!’

Do as I do and keep pedalling ‘No control’ I hear.

Stop medalling.

Giving directions from the rear, ‘Please slow down!’

I adhere To mitigate fear.

Don’t panic our movement’s organic.

There’ll be no tears just the turning of gears.

Signal right please.

‘Signalling’ Come on, keep pedalling.

Relax, it’s an Audax.

The sky is blue.

Round Essex we flew at a reasonable pace, wind-burnt face.

Greeted with warmth and reward, now crowd around the heater fifty kilometre!

A pin-badge.

Another cuppa tea, curried parsnip or minestrone?

Ride verified, satisfied.

But we’re not done...

Let us do another forty K! And at the end of the Brazier’s Run with all said and done, I ask Did you have fun?

‘Plenty … sign me up for a century!’

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official news At the last Board Meeting, on 4th March 2015, the Board of Audax UK approved and adopted a new policy for the protection of children and vulnerable adults. It was felt the previous policy needed to be expanded and updated to take into account current best practice and recent developments in this area. This new policy will enable Audax UK events to continue to be a safe and welcoming environment for children and vulnerable adults alike.

This policy is relevant to everyone involved in Audax UK events and it is recommended that everyone familiarises themselves with it. It will also be readily accessible on the Audax UK website to both members and non-members.

Children and Vulnerable Adults Protection and Participation Policy Audax UK’s primary objective is to encourage, promote, develop and control the sport and pastime of non-competitive long distance cycling in all its forms amongst all sections of the community in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.

Our events are open to all cyclists and therefore there may be times when children and vulnerable adults participate.

This policy seeks to promote good practice in providing appropriate safety and protection provisions for children and vulnerable adults with participating in our events. It also provides event organisers and helpers with a framework to make informed decisions and prevent inadvisable behaviour during the event.

Child protection and safeguarding legislation and guidelines have been devolved from Westminster to national governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, although all four legislative systems still share certain principles, for example,all agree that a child is defined as anyone less than 18 years of age.

In line with good practice, Audax UK recognises that all policies and procedures described refer to vulnerable adults as well as children. The term parent is used as a generic term to include parents, carers and guardians.

Participation rules for all activities All persons under 18 years of age must have a signed parental consent form with the exception of those over 16 living as de facto adults, i.e., no longer in the parental home, who may enter without parental consent. The parental consent form is identical for all events and may be returned by post or brought to the start of the event, parents do not need to attend.

Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied on the event by a parent or an appropriate adult acting in loco parentis; there is no younger age limit for accompanied riders.

The Parental Consent form must make clear the difficulty and nature of the event to enable informed consent to be given.

Parents must be made aware that there is a possibility the child is likely to ride alone or with others at any time.

An unaccompanied young person must have a point of contact, such as a person, location or phone number, that they can use in the event that they are lost, distressed or feeling threatened. For most events this would normally be the mobile phone number of the organiser printed on the brevet card. The organiser should be confident that the unaccompanied young person understands how to and has the means to make contact should the need arise or they may not participate in the event.

Events organised under Audax UK regulations are open to all cyclists and are not aimed specifically at children or vulnerable adults. Hence there no specific measures in place for the protection of children and vulnerable adults. However, Audax UK and event organisers will abide by the principles of good practice enshrined in CTC and BC policy.

The parents must be made aware there is no specific 56

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provision for young people with the exception of sleeping arrangements. Where accommodation for sleeping is provided, consideration should be given to young people sharing rooms with others of similar ages; to ensuring same-sex sleeping arrangements; and adequate supervision arrangements (e.g. if adults have to share sleeping accommodation with young people, ensure there are at least two adults, and more than one young person) If a parent wishes to accompany a rider, spectate or meet them at a control, explain to them how they may do so.

Organisers should be fully satisfied that the child’s participation is fully supported by his/her parents and that the above guidance can be followed or else the rider should not be allowed to take part.

Disclosure and Barring The current guidance from the Disclosure and Barring Service states that a DBS check is necessary for ‘Any employment by a youth club, local authority or other body which is concerned with the promotion of leisure or recreational activities for persons under the age of 18, being employment which is of such a kind as to enable the holder to have access to such persons in the course of his normal duties.’

However, this does not include: ‘incidental contact – the activity is not being provided for children and the presence of a child or children is unforeseen,’ meaning that Audax UK events not specifically aimed at children and young people are not eligible for DBS checks.

As Audax UK does not organise or promote any events aimed specifically at children and young people nor engage in any coaching, teaching or instructing, the Audax UK Board affirms that DBS or Disclosure Scotland checks are unnecessary for any officials, organisers or volunteers engaged in Audax UK activities.

Safeguarding Safeguarding is designed to minimise the potential for risk or harm to young people or vulnerable groups. It is important that everyone involved in cycling knows how to identify and report a safeguarding concern and the guidance below seeks to give everyone some knowledge of how to act.

Examples of safeguarding concerns may include health issues, poor practice by AUK volunteers, pushy parents or suspected abuse in any environment.

Safeguarding concerns should be reported to the Welfare Officer associated with the event. Your club may have a Welfare Officer, especially if it is affiliated to British Cycling or the CTC. If your club does not have a Welfare Officer, contact the Audax UK Welfare Officer who will support you in dealing with any concerns you may have. You must always act on your concerns by speaking to the Welfare Officer, as the welfare of the child is paramount.

The Audax UK Welfare Officer is Martin Foley and can be contacted at martinfoley@btinternet.com or 07539425572.

You can discuss any concerns you have about a child or vulnerable adult; the conduct or behaviour of an organiser, volunteer, rider or AUK official; the safety or conduct of a particular event. The Welfare Officer will require as much accurate information as possible, so it’s always a good idea to write things down as soon as possible after the incident. This will help you and the Welfare Officer address your concerns.

This policy was approved by the Board of Directors of Audax UK on 4th March 2015. It will be subject to annual review by the Board of Directors.

Audax United Kingdom Long Distance Cyclists’ Association Ltd Company No. 05920055 registered in England & Wales Registered Address: 25 Bluewater Drive, Elborough, WestonSuper-Mare BS24 8PF

www.audax.uk.net

HEADING official INnews HERE

Off the back The official view – Lucy McTaggart The new season is well and truly underway and by the amount of ‘Entries closed, Event now full’ notices appearing regularly in the calendar you would think that there was something going on this year. Could it be that it’s PBP year?

Of course 2015 sees the 18th running of the Paris Brest Paris 1200k randonnée from 16-20 August starting from its new venue of the French National Velodrome in St Quentin which hosted the recent world track championships.

Enabling UK riders to qualify for PBP was the very reason AUK came about and although nowadays we do a myriad of other things, Paris Brest Paris still causes quite a stir and it looks set to be a record year for membership and event entry numbers. If you hope to qualify and ride this time don’t forget to check out the official Paris Brest Paris website for requirements and full information.

Another record which looked like being broken this year was the one that Steve Abraham was setting about with tremendous energy. At the time of writing I am updating this report due to Steve having been hit by a moped and for a while the future of the attempt looked doubtful as we all held our breath. However, in typical Steve style we now know he is to continue the attempt temporarily using a recumbent trike. More details of this as well as the optional £1.00 donation facility now up and running for whenever you enter an audax event online are to be found earlier in the magazine. We hope this will give Steve even more support from Audax UK to help him on his way.

The March board meeting saw the three new non-executive directors in attendance for the first time and taking on some tasks to carry forward current and future plans such as the new website, etc.

With the recent resignation of Danial Webb as Publicity and Publications director due to work commitments, other board members are now covering these duties until a new director and possibly additional delegates can be appointed.

Anyone interested in helping AUK in this capacity please see the advertisement on this page and contact Chris Crossland for further details.

Danial had played a major role within AUK in recent years, having taken on many responsibilities outside the immediate P&P brief. The board is grateful for his work and glad that he will be continuing as organiser of the regenerated Windsor Chester Windsor and of LEL. Also elsewhere in the official section please find a copy of the amendments to regulation 7.1, the updated AUK child protection policy and a notice regarding voter registration for the AGM. This year’s National 400k, organised by Steve Carroll from Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands, is filling up well and looks like being an excellent route and event. If you haven’t already entered, now is the time. The running of the 2016 version, with no other bids coming forward from the advert, has been awarded to Peak Audax following their submission of a detailed proposal to the board. Another great adventure to look forward to.

While on the subject of 2016, as mentioned earlier, AUK will reach the grand old age of 40 and we’d like to celebrate this in some way. If anyone has any ideas please contact either Lucy McTaggart or Mike Wigley.

This year’s AGM and reunion will be held at the Holiday Inn, Peterborough North on 14 November 2015. In 2016 the possibility of having a separate AGM from the reunion weekend is being looked at with a view to making the occasion more about cycling and less about meetings.

Till the next time. Good luck with your ambitions for this season. Happy audaxing.

WANTED AUK DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY AND PUBLICATIONS This is a Board level position which carries the duties and responsibilities of being an executive director of Audax UK. The position involves promoting Audax UK and events run under its regulations via all relevant media outlets, online and hardcopy publications.

In combination with the above to oversee and have executive responsibility for: 1. Production and content of AUK’s magazine Arrivée in association with a team of editors.

2. Provision of content for the website in association with a team of web editors.

The appointed person will need to be of gregarious personality, possess good skills in writing interesting articles/copy to promote our organisation and events run under our regulations, be familiar with the various social media, and have good IT skills. Experience of the full range of AUK events is also required.

A detailed job description is available at http://www.aukweb.net/_resources/files/official/directorships/Job_ Description_-_Publicity_and_Publications_Director.pdf If you feel you fit the bill and would be interested in applying please contact either Paul Stewart, secretary@aukweb.net or Chris Crossland, chair@aukweb.net

Chris Crossland (L), AUK chairman and Keith Benton (2nd R), LRM President, with Jean-Gualbert Faburel, in charge of International BRM's, and other LRM delegates at the presentation in Paris on January 17th of the route for the 2015 PBP The Audax UK company address has changed to: Audax United Kingdom Long Distance Cyclists’ Association Ltd 25 Bluewater Drive, Elborough, Weston-Super-Mare BS24 8PF

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auk calendar

Calendar key A(1) free/cheap accommodation 1 night

C camping at or near the start F some free food and/or drink on ride L left luggage facilities at start B very basic – no halls/beds, etc P free or cheap motor parking at start BD baggage drop T toilets at start DIY own route and controls, cards by post M mudguards required R free or cheap refreshments at start and/or finish X some very basic controls (eg service S showers stations) Z sleeping facilities on route (14/4) entries close 14th April 175 entries close at 175 riders YH youth hostel at/near start

400 02 May Chepstow Brevet Cymru 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 401km 4900m AAA2.25 [2300m] £9.00 c f l p r t nm z 100 15-30kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 110 02 May Parkend, Forest of Dean The Lumpy Scrumpy 100 10:00 Sat BP 1850m AAA1.75 £5.00 YH C P T 75 12-25kph

Royal Dean Forest C.C. p.steve21@yahoo.co.uk 54 02 May Parkend, Forest of Dean Dean Bluebell Doddle 10:30 Sat BP 1200m AAA1.25 £4.00 YH C P T 75 12-25kph

Royal Dean Forest CC p.steve21@yahoo.co.uk Steve Price, 7 Allsopp Close Newnham On Severn Glos GL14 1DP 200 02 May Whaley Thorns, N of Mansfield Lincolnshire Cross 08:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 211km £6.00 L P R T (100) 15-30kph

Bolsover & District CC 01246 825 351 matt.connley@talktalk.net ROA 5000 Matt Connley, 7 Eskdale Close Bolsover Chesterfield S44 6RL 100 03 May Grange School Pavilion, Hartford Ron Sant Memorial Ride 9::00 Sun BP 106km £5 P R T S 15-30kph Weaver Valley Derek Heine, 10 Whitehall Drive Hartford Northwich Cheshire CW8 1SJ 400 03 May Poole Porkers 400 14:00 Sun BRM [PBP] 5900m AAA6 £10.00 L P R T M (50) (20/4) 15-30kph Change of Date Wessex CTC Shawn Shaw, 22 Shaftesbury Road Longfleet Poole Dorset BH15 2LT 200 04 May Bredbury, Stockport May-as-Well Solstice 08:00 Mon BRM [PBP] 202km 700m £5.00 P R T 60 (05/03) 15-30kph

Peak Audax 01457 870 421 mike@PeakAudax.co.uk ROA 10000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Fm Millcroft Lane Delph Saddleworth OL3 5UX 110 04 May High Easter, Nr Chelmsford The Counties Festival 100 10:00 Mon BP £5.00 L P R T (70) 15-30kph

ECCA 01245 467 683 53 04 May High Easter, Nr Chelmsford The Counties Festival 50 11:00 Mon BP £5.00 L P R T (70) 12-25kph

ECCA 01245 467 683 ROA 10000 Terry Anderson, 1 Claypits Road Boreham Chelmsford Essex CM3 3BZ 100 06 May Hurst, East of Reading Dinton 100 10:00 Wed BP 103km £3.00 L P R T 60 15-30kph Reading CTC emaich7@gmail.com Mike Hardiman, 7 Somerset Close Woosehill Wokingham RG41 3AJ 400 08 May Corstorphine, Edinburgh The Auld Alliance 21:00 Fri BRM [PBP] 3324m £12.50 X F L T 15-25kph New Event Audax Ecosse graemewyllie@aol.com Graeme Wyllie, 16 Corstorphine House Avenue Edinburgh EH12 7AD 100 09 May Alveston, N Bristol South Glos 100 09:30 Sat BP 106km £6.00 P R T 150 12.5-25kph

Bristol CTC 01179 672893 Alex Rendu, Whitethorn Cock Road Kingswood Bristol BS15 9SJ 400 09 May Chalfont St Peter, Bucks Severn Across 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 407km 3500m £7.50 YH L P R T 70 15-30kph

Willesden CC 07881 841 355 Liam FitzPatrick, 13 Heron Close Rickmansworth Herts WD3 1NF 300 09 May Honiton Old Roads 300 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 3400m £8.00 LPRT 15-30kph

Exeter Whs 01404 46993 ian@ukcyclist.co.uk ROA 10000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street Honiton EX14 1PU 200 09 May Kirkley Cycles, Ponteland Chevy Chase 08:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 201km 3000m AAA3 £12.00 F L P R T 15-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds northern.audax@gmail.com Aidan Hedley, 16 The Close Lanchester Durham DH7 0PX 200 09 May Lodge Moor, Sheffield The Sheffrec Full Monty 08:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 202km 4000m AAA4 £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph Sheffrec CC henry@henryfoxhall.co.uk 100 09 May Lodge Moor, Sheffield The Sheffrec Mini Monty 09:00 Sat BP 109km 2100m AAA2 £5.00 L P R T 10-25kph Sheffrec CC henry@henryfoxhall.co.uk Henry Foxhall, West View Grindlow Great Hucklow Buxton Derbyshire SK17 8RJ

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400 09 May Manningtree, Colchester Asparagus & Strawberries 09:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 414km 2600m £4.00 XCTM 15-25kph Flitchbikes CC tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway Great Dunmow Essex CM6 2AA 400

09 May Poynton, S of Stockport Llanfairpwllgwyngyll gogerychwyrndrobwll llantysiliogogogoch 400

09:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 2600m £9.50 XP 15-30kph

Peak Audax 01457 870 421 mike@PeakAudax.co.uk ROA 10000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Fm Millcroft Lane Delph Saddleworth OL3 5UX 300 09 May 05:00 Sat Change of Date

Wigginton, York Wigginton 300 BRM [PBP] 302km 2305m £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph CTC North Yorks 01904 769 378 dk.benton@virgin.net

100 09 May Wigginton, York Wiggy 100 10:00 Sat BP £3.00 A(1) YH L P R T 12-24kph

CTC North Yorks 01904 769 378 dk.benton@virgin.net Keith Benton, 127 Greenshaw Drive Wigginton York YO32 2DB 200 09 May Willington Hall, E of Chester Seamons CC Tour of the Berwyns 08:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 205km 3100m AAA3 £6.00 L P R T 75 (05/05) 15-30kph Seamons CC dmanu@outlook.com 130 09 May Willington Hall, E of Chester Seamons CC Llangollen Panorama 08:30 Sat BP 138km 1750m AAA1.5 [1600m] £6.00 L P R T 75 (05/05) 12.5-25kph Seamons CC dmanu@outlook.com ROA 5000 David Matthews, Hill View Cottage Cross Lanes Oscroft Tarvin Cheshire CH3 8NG 110 10 May Evesham 09:00 Sun BP 112km 885m £6.00 C P R T 15-30kph Jim Lee

Every time a bell rings…

55 10 May Evesham 10:00 Sun BP 375m £5.00 C P R T 10-20kph

Jim Lee Jim Lee, 107 Shustoke Road Solihull West Midlands B91 2QR

The Clapper

100 10 May Kirkley Cycles, Ponteland 09:00 Sun BP 1600m AAA1.5 £6.00 FPRT 12-25kph Tyneside Vagabonds northern.audax@gmail.com Aidan Hedley, 16 The Close Lanchester Durham DH7 0PX

Burma Road

200 10 May 08:00 Sun

Lymington New Forest Excursion BR 204km £6.00 C L P R T 100 (8/5) 15-30kph Cycling New Forest cyclingnewforest@gmail.com

160 10 May 08:00 Sun

Lymington New Forest Century BP £6.00 C L P R T 100 (8/5) 15-30kph Cycling New Forest 01590 671 205 cyclingnewforest@gmail.com

100 10 May Lymington New Forest Day Out 10:00 Sun BP 104km [2m] £6.00 C L P R T 100 10-20kph

Cycling New Forest 01590 671 205 cyclingnewforest@gmail.com ROA 10000 John Ward, 34 Avenue Road Lymington Hants SO41 9GJ 200 10 May Meopham, nr Gravesend 08:00 Sun BRM [PBP] [1800m] £8.00 F L P R T NM 15-30kph Gravesend CTC pmcmaster@blueyonder.co.uk 160 10 May Meopham, nr Gravesend 08:30 Sun BP [1550m] £8.00 F L P R T NM 15-30kph Gravesend CTC pmcmaster@blueyonder.co.uk

Hop Garden 200km

Hop Garden Century Ride

100 10 May Meopham, nr Gravesend Hop Garden 100km 09:00 Sun BP 975m £8.00 F L P R T NM 10-30kph Gravesend CTC pmcmaster@blueyonder.co.uk Patrick McMaster, 207 Colyer Road Northfleet Kent DA11 8AT 300 10 May Pendleton, Lancashire Blanchland Blinder 06:00 Sun BRM [PBP] 302km 4600m AAA4.5 £6.50 P R T X 15-30kph Burnley Sportiv burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive Ightenhill Burnley Lancashire BB12 8AT 200 10 May 08:00 Sun

Shenstone, Staffs BRM [PBP] 213km 2963m AAA3 £7.50 F L P R T 15-30kph CTC North Birmingham audax@nbctc.co.uk

Castleton Classic

160 10 May 08:30 Sun

Shenstone, Staffs BP 1680m £7.00 F L P R T 15-30kph CTC North Birmingham audax@nbctc.co.uk

Derbyshire Dales

100 10 May 09:00 Sun

Shenstone, Staffs BP 102km 680m £5.50 L P R T 12.5-25kph CTC North Birmingham audax@nbctc.co.uk

Staffordshire Lanes

54 10 May Shenstone, Staffs 10:00 Sun BP £4.00 F,P,R,T 10-25kph

CTC North Birmingham audax@nbctc.co.uk Terry Dwyer, 5 Damson Grove Solihull B92 9EN

Rosliston Roller

400 16 May Alfreton 10:30 Sat BRM [PBP] 404km 2425m £8.00 P R T X 15-30kph Alfreton CTC nigel.randell8664@gmail.com

Moors and Wolds 400

www.audax.uk.net

auk calendar 50 16 May Alfreton Victorian Post Boxes 50 10:30 Sat BP 669m £3.00 FLPT 10-25kph Alfreton CTC nigel.randell8664@gmail.com Nigel Randell, 15 Hammer Leys South Normanton Derbyshire DE55 3AX 160 16 May Meriden, Warwickshire Cotswold Challenge 08:00 Sat BP 1300m £8.00 C L P R T NM 100 15-30kph

CTC Heart of England audax2015@ctc-heartofengland.org.uk 100 16 May Meriden, Warwickshire Warwickshire Wanderer 09:00 Sat BP 105km 602m [1000m] £8.00 C L P R T NM 100 12-25kph

CTC Heart of England audax2015@ctc-heartofengland.org.uk Jon Porteous, Tumnus Corner Springhill Gdns Webheath Redditch Worcs B97 5SY 400 16 May Musselburgh The Southern Uplands 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 5000m AAA5 £2.00 X P T 15-30kph Audax Ecosse martinfoley@btinternet.com Martin Foley, 78 Denholm Road Musselburgh East Lothian EH21 6TU 300 16 May Troutbeck Bridge, Cumbria The Westmorland Spartans 07:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 4000m AAA4 £6.00 A(2) P YH L R T S (60) 15-30kph Lakes School Windermere paul@revells.com 200 16 May Troutbeck Bridge, Cumbria The Cumbrian 200 08:00 Sat BR 203km 3900m AAA4 £6.00 YH L P R T S A(2) (60) 15-30kph Lakes School Windermere paul@revells.com 100 16 May Troutbeck Bridge, Cumbria La'al Lakeland 100 10:00 Sat BP 107km 2350m AAA2.25 £5.00 YH L P R T S (60) 12.5-30kph Lakes School Windermere paul@revells.com Paul Revell, Kirklands, Brow Edge, Backbarrow Ulverston Cumbria LA12 8QL 160 16 May Uffculme School, Uffculme Coast to Coast 08:00 Sat BP 1900m [1500m] £6.00 P R T 14-25kph CTC Devon 100 16 May Uffculme School, Uffculme Coast and Back 09:00 Sat BP 1300m [1500m] £6.00 P R T 12-20kph

CTC Devon Roy Russell, 52 Whitchurch Avenue Exeter EX2 5NT 200 16 May Winsford, Cheshire Scouting Mam Tor 08:00 Sat BR 207km 2570m AAA2.25 [2150m] £7.75 P R T 15-30kph

Peak Audax CTC pjbscott@sky.com 160 16 May Winsford, Cheshire Edale Run 08:30 Sat BP 167km 2370m AAA2.25 [2150m] £7.75 P R T 15-30kph

Peak Audax CTC pjbscott@sky.com Phil Scott, 59 Hawkshead Way Winsford Cheshire CW7 2SY 200 17 May Claughton, N of Preston Fleet Moss 212 07:30 Sun BR 212km 3290m AAA3.25 £5.50 P R T 15-30kph

Ribble Valley C & RC harveygws@btinternet.com 150 17 May Claughton, N of Preston Lunesdale Populaire 08:30 Sun BP 158km 2280m AAA2.25 £5.50 P R T 100 13-30kph

Ribble Valley C & RC harveygws@btinternet.com 110 17 May Claughton, N of Preston Pilgrim's Way 09:00 Sun BP 112km 1540m £5.50 P R T 10-25kph

Ribble Valley C & RC harveygws@btinternet.com Susan Harvey, 15 Kingsley Drive Chorley PR7 2NE 160 17 May Devoran, S of Truro The Granite and Serpentine Way 08:30 Sun BP 167km 1880m [1671m] £6.00 C F L P R T 15-30kph Audax Kernow martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.ukR 100 17 May Devoran, S of Truro A Lizard Loop 09:00 Sun BP 106km 1419m [1637m] £5.00 C F L P R T 12.5-28kph Audax Kernow martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk 54 17 May Devoran, S of Truro Carns and Killas 09:30 Sun BP 730m [760m] £5.00 C F L P R T 10-28kph Audax Kernow martyn.aldis@syntagma.co.uk Martyn Aldis, Sundown 25a Kersey Road Flushing Falmouth Cornwall TR11 5TR 110 17 May Falmer Sports Centre, Brighton Brighton Rock 9::00 Sun BP 117km £7.50 F L P R T S NM 15-30kph

Brighton & Hove CTC brightonandhovectc@gmail.com Brighton and Hove CTC Events Secretary, 85 Hangleton Road Hove East Sussex BN3 7GH 200 17 May Look Mum No Hands! 49 Old St, London EC1V 9HX The Great Escape 08:00 Sun BR 2000m £7.00 YH F T NM R 15-30kph

Islington CC 07918 147548 secretary@islington.cc Islington Cycling Club, 20 Castle Road Finchley LONDON N12 9ED 100 17 May Uffington, near Wantage Blowingstone-White Horse 09:30 Sun BP 107km 1162m [1346m] £5.00 P T R 15-30kph

Oxfordshire CTC Nick Dunton, 44a High Street Sutton Courtenay Abingdon Oxon OX14 4AP 600 23 May Chepstow Bryan Chapman Memorial (Classic) 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 619km 8300m AAA8.25 £30.00 BD C F L P R S T Z (4/5) 15-30kph Newport Velo ritchie.t.tout@uk.pwc.com Ritchie Tout, Sunnyside Cottage Mynyddbach NP16 6RT

600 23 May Churchend, Dunmow The Flatlands 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 606km £6.00 X A(1) C L P R TM (16/05) 15-30kph Flitchbikes CC tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway Great Dunmow Essex CM6 2AA 200 23 May 08:30 Sat

Dore, Nr Sheffield Peaks, Troughs and Plain BR 2900m AAA3 £5.00 L P R T 14.3-30kph Sheffield District CTC 0114 258 8932 cripps@uwclub.net

100 23 May 9::00 Sat

Dore, Sheffield Peaks and Troughs BP 103km 2100m AAA2 £5.00 F L P T 12-30kph Sheffield District CTC 0114 258 8932 cripps@uwclub.net

60 23 May Dore, Sheffield Feeling a Bit Peaky 09:30 Sat BP 1150m AAA1.25 £5.00 F L P T 10-22kph

Sheffield District CTC 0114 258 8932 cripps@uwclub.net John Cripps, 8 Brincliffe Crescent Sheffield S11 9AW 300 23 May Kirkley Cycles, Ponteland The Mosstrooper 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 4100m AAA4 £12.00 F P T A(1) 15-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds northern.audax@gmail.com Aidan Hedley, 16 The Close Lanchester Durham DH7 0PX 400 23 May 05:30 Sat

Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire The Old 240 BRM [PBP] 407km 6400m AAA6.5 £8.00 A L P R T S YH 15-30kph West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk

400 23 May Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire Not Quite The Spurn Head 400 05:30 Sat BRM [PBP] 403km 2450m £8.00 A L P R T S YH 15-30kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley St. West Sowerby Bridge W. Yorks HX6 1EF 600 23 May Poole Brimstone 600 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 7600m AAA7.5 £10.00 L P M (50) (24/5) 15-30kph

Wessex CTC Shawn Shaw, 22 Shaftesbury Road Longfleet Poole Dorset BH15 2LT 600 23 May Waltham Abbey Beast from the East 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 6500m £20.00 F P T Z 15-30kph Updated Willesden CC Mark Brooking, 48 Howard Close Waltham Abbey Essex EN9 1XA 200 24 May Broken Cross, nr Macclesfield 08:00 Sun BR 210km 2450m AAA2 [1930m] £8.00 F L P R T 14.3-25kph Peak Audax perrin_john@sky.com John Perrin, 20 Princes Way Macclesfield Cheshire SK11 8UB

World's End

100 24 May Canterbury The Blackhouse Hill Revival 10:00 Sun BP 107km 1675m AAA1.75 £5.00 FLPRT 14-26kph Patrick Cherry licencetoclimb@gmail.com Patrick Cherry, 28 Barton Road Canterbury Kent CT1 1YQ 400 29 May Wem, Shropshire Snowdon and Coast 22:00 Fri BRM [PBP] 410km £14.00 A(1) F L P R T 15-25kph CTC Shropshire sandehargraves@gmail.com Edwin Hargraves, 22 Trentham Road Wem North Shropshire SY4 5HN 600 30 May Exeter Kernow and Southwest 600 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 8200m AAA8.25 £17.00 YH L F R Z 60 15-25kph

Exeter Whs 01404 46993 ian@ukcyclist.co.uk ROA 10000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street Honiton EX14 1PU 600 30 May Kirkley Cycles, Ponteland 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 5500m £10.00 A(2) F L P T 15-30kph Tyneside Vagabonds northern.audax@gmail.com Aidan Hedley, 16 The Close Lanchester Durham DH7 0PX

The Border Raid

200 30 May Wem, Shropshire 07:30 Sat BR 215km 3150m AAA3.25 £7.00 F L P R T 40 15-30kph CTC Shropshire sandehargraves@gmail.com

Four Rivers Ride

170 30 May Wem, Shropshire Three Rivers Ride 08:30 Sat BP 2200m AAA1.75 [1800m] £7.00 F L P R T 50 15-30kph CTC Shropshire sandehargraves@gmail.com 130 30 May Wem, Shropshire Two Rivers Ride 09:00 Sat BP £7.00 L F P R T 50 12-24kph CTC Shropshire sandehargraves@gmail.com Edwin Hargraves, 22 Trentham Road Wem North Shropshire SY4 5HN 600 30 May Windsor Windsor Chester Windsor 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 5537m £30.00 A(1) F L P R T S Z (200) 15-30kph

LEL 2013 ROA 5000 Danial Webb, 11 Heather Avenue Hellesdon Norwich NR6 6LU 100 30 May Windsor The Windsor Flyer 09:00 Sat BP £7.50 F G L NM T 12-30kph Updated LEL 2013 leshere@ntlworld.com Les Hereward, 20 Webster Close Oxshott Surrey KT22 0SF 200 31 May 08:00 Sun

Elstead, Surrey The Stonehenge 200 BR 209km 2210m £5.00 F L P R T 15-30kph CTC West Surrey 01428 642013 nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk

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auk calendar 150 31 May 08:30 Sun Change of Date

Elstead, Surrey The Danebury 150 BP 152km £5.00 F L P R T 13-30kph CTC West Surrey 01428 642013 nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk

110 31 May Elstead, Surrey The Elstead 100 09:00 Sun BP 113km £5.00 F L P R T 12-30kph

CTC West Surrey 01428 642013 nickandmarion.davison@hotmail.co.uk Nicholas Davison, The Bield Mill Copse Road Haslemere Surrey GU27 3DN 400 05 Jun Clayhidon, near Taunton Avalon Sunrise 400 22:30 Fri BRM [PBP] 407km 3300m £15.00 flprtc 15-30kph Exeter Whs Jamie Andrews, Cemetery Lodge Ashill Road Uffculme Devon EX15 3DP 600 06 Jun Alfreton 9 Counties 600k 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] £10.00 X,F,L,T,P 15-30kph

Alfreton CTC 01773 833 593 tomandsuefox@yahoo.co.uk ROA 10000 Tom Fox, 180 Nottingham Road Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 7FP 600 06 Jun Ballachulish Mull of Kintyre 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 7677m AAA6.5 [6705m] £25.00 YH C F L P R T S 15-24kph Audax Ecosse graemewyllie@aol.com Graeme Wyllie, 16 Corstorphine House Avenue Edinburgh EH12 7AD 600 06 Jun Poynton, S of Stockport A Pair of Kirtons 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 3000m £10.00 x 15-30kph

Peak Audax 01457 870 421 mike@PeakAudax.co.uk ROA 10000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Fm Millcroft Lane Delph Saddleworth OL3 5UX 100 06 Jun Tewkesbury Over the hills & far away 09:15 Sat BP 102km 800m £5.00 C G NM P R T 150 10-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 200 06 Jun 08:30 Sat Updated

Village Hall, Long Melford Edmunds Folk Sally Forth & Paddle BR 205km 1524m £5.00 C L P R T S 15-30kph CC Sudbury 07528498036 andrew.hoppit@gmail.com

100 06 Jun Village Hall, Long Melford Edmund 's Folk Sally Forth 09:30 Sat BP 106km 774m £5.00 C L P R T S 10-30kph Updated CC Sudbury 07528498036 andrew.hoppit@gmail.com Andrew Hoppit, 15 Middleton Rd Sudbury Suffolk CO10 2DB 100 07 Jun Abergavenny Monmouthshire Meander 09:00 Sun BP 1500m AAA1.5 £5.00 YH F P L T 15-25kph Abergavenny RC waville@yahoo.com Jonathan Saville, 9 Trehonddu Llanvihangel Crucorney Abergavenny Monmouthshire NP7 8DG 100 07 Jun Hewas Water, The Merlin Centre Merlin's Coast to Coast 09:00 Sun BP 101km 1429m £10.00 F P R T NM 12-30kph

Probus Pedallers 01726 338354 Kathryn Mcfarlane, 3 Bos Noweth Probus Truro Cornwall TR2 4HE 100 07 Jun Hook, Goole Beverley 100 09:00 Sun BP 108km 327m [270m] £3.50 P R T 30 15-30kph

Goole Vermuyden CC 01405 761 790 harvey.tripp@btinternet.com Harvey Tripp, 40 Carter Street Goole DN14 6SN 100 07 Jun 10:00 Sun

LLangefni, Anglesey BP 104km 1200m £3 L P R T 12-30kph Holyhead CC 07748 584927 j.h.sharp@bangor.ac.uk

Anglesey Lanes

52 07 Jun LLangefni, Anglesey Anglesey Wandering 10:15 Sun BP £2 L P R T 10-24kph Holyhead CC j.h.sharp@bangor.ac.uk Jasmine Sharp, 409a Crafnant Ffriddoedd Road Bangor Gwynedd LL57 2GX 50 07 Jun Merlin Centre Hewas Water, Nr St Austell The Clay Country Tour :9:00 Sun BP £10.00 FPRT 15-30kph

Kathryn Mcfarlane 01726 338354 Kathryn Mcfarlane, 3 Bos Noweth Probus Truro Cornwall TR2 4HE 200 07 Jun 08:00 Sun

Ware Herts High Five BR 209km 1634m [1509m] £5.00 L P R S T 15-30kph Hertfordshire Wheelers 07985 019214 graham.knight5@gmail.com

160 07 Jun 09:00 Sun

Ware Four Counties 150 BP £5.00 L P R S T 15-30kph Hertfordshire Wheelers 07985 019214 graham.knight5@gmail.com

100 07 Jun 10:30 Sun

Ware Two Counties 100 BP 108km £5.00 L P R S T 12-25kph Hertfordshire Wheelers 07985 019214 graham.knight5@gmail.com

51 07 Jun Ware One County 50 12:00 Sun BP £3.00 L P R S T 10-20kph

Hertfordshire Wheelers 07985 019214 graham.knight5@gmail.com Graham Knight, 25 Lordship Road Cheshunt Waltham Cross Herts EN7 5DR 200 07 Jun Wimbledon Common The London Ditchling Devil 08:00 Sun BR 205km 2400m [2700m] £15.00 F P R T 15-30kph Willesden CC paudax@gmail.com Paul Stewart, 25 Devonshire Gardens Chiswick London W4 3TN

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Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

200 13 Jun Apperley, Nr Cheltenham Gospel Pass 200 08:00 Sat BR 3075m AAA3 £11.00 A(1)CPRTL 14.3-30kph Cheltenham CTC stephen.poulton@btinternet.com 150 13 Jun Apperley, Nr Cheltenham YatMon 150 09:00 Sat BP 2230m AAA2.25 £8.50 A(1)CPRTL 12.5-30kph Cheltenham CTC stephen.poulton@btinternet.com 100 13 Jun Apperley, Nr Cheltenham Hoarwithy 100 (2Severn2Wye) 09:30 Sat BP £5 A(1)CPRTL 12.5-30kph Cheltenham CTC stephen.poulton@btinternet.com ROA 5000 Stephen Poulton, Leckhampton Lodge 23 Moorend Park Road Leckhampton Cheltenham GL53 0LA 200 13 Jun Awbridge, Nr. Romsey, Hampshire Hungerford Hurrah 08:00 Sat BR 2200m £6.50 L P R T 50 15-30kph Winchester CTC alanandemma@talktalk.net 140 13 Jun Awbridge, Nr. Romsey, Hampshire Hungerford Hooray 09:00 Sat BP 1450m £6.50 L P R T 50 15-30kph Winchester CTC alanandemma@talktalk.net Alan Davies, 7 Queens Close Romsey Hampshire SO51 5EG 200 13 Jun Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire nr Glasgow A Fyne Cowal 08:00 Sat BR £10.50 L P R T 15-30kph Glasgow DA graham.hanley@btinternet.com Graham Hanley, kelton 59 kilgraston road bridge of weir pa11 3dp 600 13 Jun Bushley, Tewkesbury Mae Mr Pickwick yn mynd i chwilio am ddreigiau a chwedlau (clasurol) 05:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 601km 9500m AAA9.5 £17.50 C F L P R T S Z NM 100 15-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com 600 13 Jun Bushley, Tewkesbury Mae Mr Pickwick yn mynd i chwilio am ddreigiau a chwedlau 05:30 Sat BRM [PBP] 601km 9500m AAA9.5 £17.50 C F L P R T S Z NM 100 15-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 300 13 Jun Coryton, NW Cardiff Peacocks and Kites 05:00 Sat BR 301km 3900m AAA3 [3000m] £8.00 YH L P R T 15-30kph

Cardiff Byways CC glharper1973@gmail.com Georgina Harper, 68 Hazelhurst Road Llandaf North Cardiff Wales CF14 2FX 600 13 Jun Pendleton, Lancashire Pendle 600 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 613km 10150m AAA10 [9000m] £10.00 BD F L P R S T Z 15-30kph Burnley Sportiv burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive Ightenhill Burnley Lancashire BB12 8AT 100 14 Jun Caton, NE of Lancaster Bowland Forest Populaire 09:00 Sun BP 1800m AAA1.75 £3.00 P R T 75 12.5-20kph

CTC Lancaster 01524 36061 mikehutchinson@fastmail.fm ROA 5000 Mike Hutchinson, Heatherdene 9 Whinfell Drive Lancaster LA1 4NY 110 14 Jun Congleton, Cheshire Just the Plains of Cheshire 09:00 Sun BP 118km 724m £5.00 P R T 15-30kph

Congleton CC 01260 271258 110 14 Jun Congleton, Cheshire Just the Hills of Cheshire 08:30 Sun BP 1700m AAA1.75 £5.00 P R T 12.5-25kph

Congleton CC 01260 271258 200 14 Jun Congleton, Cheshire The Hills & Plains of Cheshire 08:00 Sun BR 210km 2285m AAA1.5 [1500m] £6.00 P R T 15-30kph

Congleton CC 01260 271258 Rob Waghorn, The Querns Congleton Edge Cheshire CW12 3NB 150 14 Jun Dorchester Dorset Downs 150 08:30 Sun BP 2295m AAA2.25 £9.00 F P R T 150 15-25kph

Justin Oakley 01305 266798 justinoakley@hotmail.co.uk 100 14 Jun Dorchester Dorset Downs 100 10:00 Sun BP 102km 1533m AAA1.5 £6.00 F P R T 150 12-24kph

Justin Oakley 01305 266798 justinoakley@hotmail.co.uk Justin Oakley, 6 Linden Gardens Wollaston Road Dorchester Dorset DT1 1WB 100 14 Jun Evegate, Ashford Mick Andrews Memorial 100K 10:30 Sun BP £5.00 L P R T X 100 (1/6) 15-30kph

Sugar Loaf Animal Snctry Roger Burchett, 'Haytor' Stone Street Lympne Hythe Kent CT21 4JY 100 14 Jun Wharncliffeside Community Cote De Midup Et Bradfield 09:00 Sun BP 108km 2150m AAA2.25 £5.00 LPRT(120) 12-30kph Birdwell Whs woodyauk@btinternet.com John Woodhouse, 9 Brightholmlee Lane Wharncliffeside Sheffield Yorkshire S35 0DD 200 14 Jun Woodrush RFC, Wythall, S Birmingham Cotswold Expedition 08:00 Sun BR 212km £9.00 C L P R S T 100 15-30kph Updated Beacon RCC pete@petemarshall.me Pete Marshall, 45 Butler Road Solihull West Midlands B92 7QL 160 14 Jun Woodrush RFC, Wythall, S Birmingham Cotswold Journey 08:30 Sun BP £9.00 C L P R S T 100 15-30kph New Event Beacon RCC pete@petemarshall.me

www.audax.uk.net

auk calendar 100 14 Jun Woodrush RFC, Wythall, S Birmingham Anticlockwise Cotswold Outing 09:30 Sun BP 108km £9.00 C L P R S T 80 12-25kph New Event Beacon RCC pete@petemarshall.me Pete Marshall, 45 Butler Road Solihull West Midlands B92 7QL 100 14 Jun Woodrush RFC, Wythall, S Birmingham Clockwise Cotswold Outing 09:00 Sun BP 108km £9.00 C L P R S T 80 12-25kph New Event Beacon RCC pete@petemarshall.me Pete Marshall, 45 Butler Road Solihull West Midlands B92 7QL 400 19 Jun Anywhere, to York Summer Arrow to York 06:00 Fri BR £12.00 DIY Also on 20/06 15-30kph Audax UK pedaller1@sky.

350 19 Jun Anywhere, to York Summer Dart to York ::::: Fri BR 360km £5.00 DIY Also on 20/06 14.3-30kph Audax UK pedaller1@sky.com ROA 10000 Lucy Mctaggart, 30 Victoria Street Galashiels Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 100 20 Jun Crich, Derbyshire Tramway 100 09:00 Sat BP 104km £6.00 P R T 150 11-25kph

Alfreton CTC Sandra Wilson, 12 Gray Fallow South Normanton Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 3BQ 100 20 Jun Knavesmire, York Rally 100km 09:00 Sat BP £7.50 A(1)C F L P R T S 15-25kph

York Rally committee 01904 795 695 gerry.boswell@hotmail.co.uk Gerry Boswell, 5 Invicta Court Acomb York YO24 3NL 600 20 Jun Leighton Buzzard The Buzzard 07:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 5600m £5.00 X 15-30kph

Exeter Whs 01404 46993 ian@ukcyclist.co.uk ROA 10000 Ian Hennessey, 10 High Street Honiton EX14 1PU 600 20 Jun Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifax The 3 Coasts 600 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 607km 5611m AAA1.75 [1631m] £10.00 A(3) L P R T Z YH 15-30kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk 600 20 Jun Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifax The East & West Coasts 600 06:00 Sat BRM [PBP] 605km 4380m [5380m] £10.00 A(3) L P R T Z YH 15-30kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley St. West Sowerby Bridge W. Yorks HX6 1EF 300 21 Jun Bethersden, nr Ashford, Kent Fairies Flattest Possible 300 02:00 Sun BR 304km £7.00 C F L P R T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC manofkentaudax@gmail.com 200 21 Jun Bethersden, nr Ashford, Kent Fairies Half-Flat 200 08:00 Sun BR 201km 1000m £6.00 C,F,L,P,R,T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC manofkentaudax@gmail.com 150 21 Jun Bethersden, nr Ashford, Kent Fairies Fairly Flat 150k 08:30 Sun BP £6.00 C,F,L,P,R,T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC manofkentaudax@gmail.com 100 21 Jun Bethersden, nr Ashford, Kent Fairies Flat 100k 09:00 Sun BP £6.00 C,F,L,P,R,T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC manofkentaudax@gmail.com David Winslade, 3 Albany Close Tonbridge Kent TN9 2EY 50 21 Jun Bethersden, nr Ashford, Kent Fairies Easy Peasy 50k 10:00 Sun BP £5.00 C,F,L,P,R,T 15-30kph

San Fairy Ann CC manofkentaudax@gmail.com David Winslade, 3 Albany Close Tonbridge Kent TN9 2EY 160 21 Jun Coppice House, Crewe Tough Stuff 08:00 Sun BP 162km [502m] £13.00 L P R T NM (150) 15-30kph

Up and Under Cycling Club admin@upandundergroup.com 100 21 Jun Coppice House, Crewe Good Stuff 09:00 Sun BP 102km 502m £13.00 L P R T NM (150) 12-30kph

Up and Under Cycling Club admin@upandundergroup.com 51 21 Jun Coppice House, Crewe Foundation Ride 09:30 Sun BP 189m £13.00 L P R T NM (100) 10-25kph

Up and Under Cycling Club admin@upandundergroup.com Andy Fewtrell, Up and Under Foundation Coppice House Quakers Coppice Crewe CW1 6FA 100 21 Jun Musselburgh Honest Toun Daunder 10:00 Sun BP £10.00 F,P,R 10-30kph

Sonya Crawford 0131 339 3709 50 21 Jun Musselburgh Honest Toun Dawdle 11:00 Sun BP £10.00 F,P,R 10-30kph

Sonya Crawford 0131 339 3709 Sonya Crawford, 24 Craigmount Terrace Edinburgh EH12 8BW 200 21 Jun Mytholmroyd, W. of Halifax The Good Companions 08:30 Sun BR 2697m AAA1.75 [1631m] £5.00 A(2) L P R T YH 15-30kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley St. West Sowerby Bridge W. Yorks HX6 1EF 300 27 Jun Beech Hill, S of Reading Rural South 06:00 Sat BR £6.50 L P R T 15-30kph Reading CTC offroad@readingctc.co.uk Ian Doyle, 22 Clements Mead Tilehurst Reading RG31 5UJ

200 27 Jun Beech Hill, S of Reading Alan Furley's Up the Downs 08:00 Sat BR 202km 2100m £7.00 F L P R T 100 15-30kph Change of Date Reading CTC 01491 651284 philipmdyson@btinternet.com 100 27 Jun Beech Hill, S of Reading Alan Furley's Down the Ups 09:00 Sat BP 105km 1000m £6.50 F L P R T 12.5-30kph Change of Date Reading CTC 01491 651284 philipmdyson@btinternet.com Phil Dyson, 25 Papist Way Cholsey Wallingford Oxon OX10 9LL 200 27 Jun Hulme End, nr Hartington Knockerdown 08:00 Sat BR 209km 3750m AAA3.75 £6.00 F L P R T 14.3-25kph Peak Audax perrin_john@sky.com John Perrin, 20 Princes Way Macclesfield Cheshire SK11 8UB 120 27 Jun Hulme End, nr Hartington Lutudarum 09:30 Sat BP 1800m AAA1.75 £6.00 C F P T 12.5-25kph Peak Audax perrin_john@sky.com John Perrin, 20 Princes Way Macclesfield Cheshire SK11 8UB 300 27 Jun Stornoway, Isle of Lewis Golden Road and Standing Stones 06:00 Sat BR 3102m [3200m] £12.00 50 L R T F C A(2) 15-30kph Hebridean CC ian_d_gilbert@yahoo.co.

110 27 Jun Stornoway, Isle of Lewis Hebridean Hundred 10:00 Sat BP 113km 1068m £6.00 50 L P R T F C 12.5-30kph Hebridean CC ian_d_gilbert@yahoo.co.uk Ian Gilbert, 19 Churchill Drive Stornoway Isle of Lewis HS1 2NP 100 27 Jun Tockwith, York Tockwith Audax 10:00 Sat BP 470m £5.00 L P R T 12-25kph North Yorkshire 60 27 Jun Tockwith, York Tockwith Audax 10:30 Sat BP [470m] £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph

North Yorkshire CTC Nick Folkard, 208 Prince Rupert Drive Tockwith North Yorkshire YO26 7PU 150 28 Jun Old Sils Rugby Club, Junction 5 M42 Solihull CC mini Randonnée 08:30 Sun BP 156km £5.00 RFPT 15-30kph Updated Solihull CC chat2rog@gmail.com 100 28 Jun Old Sils Rugby Club , Junction 5 M42 A Warwickshire Wander !

09:00 Sun BP £4.00 F P R T 15-30kph Updated Solihull CC chat2rog@gmail.com Roger Cliffe, 11 Warren Drive Dorridge Solihull B93 8JY 67 28 Jun Carharrack, Cornwall Mines and Mineral Railways (ON-road) 10:00 Sun BP 820m £5.00 C L P R T 8-28kph Audax Kernow brindisijones@tiscali.co.uk 66 28 Jun Carharrack, Cornwall Mines and Mineral Railways (OFF-road) 10:00 Sun BP 1257m [773m] £5.00 C L P R T 8-28kph Audax Kernow brindisijones@tiscali.co.uk Simon Jones, The Cottage Pulla Cross Truro Cornwall TR4 8SA 200 28 Jun Galleywood, Essex Windmill Ride (210) 08:30 Sun BR 210km £7.00 F L P R T 15-30kph Essex CTC 120 28 Jun Galleywood, Essex Windmill Ride (120) 10:00 Sun BP £7.00 F L P R T 12-25kph

Essex CTC Stefan Eichenseher, 42A Whitegate Road Southend-on-Sea Essex SS1 2LQ 200 28 Jun Old Sils Rugby Club, Junction 5 M42 A Cotswold Adventure 08:00 Sun BR 207km £6.50 U FPRTS NM 15-30kph Solihull CC chat2rog@gmail.com Roger Cliffe, 11 Warren Drive Dorridge Solihull B93 8JY 84 28 Jun Stevenage (Marriotts), SG2 8UT Bike Week - Stevenage Circular Cycle 10:00 Sun BP 747m £6.00 L P R T 12-28kph Updated Stevenage & N Herts CTC luke.peters@live.com Luke Peters, 86 Skipton Close Stevenage Hertfordshire SG2 8TW 100 01 Jul Hampton Hill, W London London Midweek Sightseer 09:30 Wed BP £5.00 C L P T 10-20kph Change of Date Hounslow & Dist. Whs 020 82873244 billcarnaby@outlook.com Bill Carnaby, 225 High Street Hampton Hill Middlesex TW12 1NP 100 04 Jul Barcombe near Lewes AAA Milne 10:00 Sat BP 1700m AAA1.75 £3.00 F P 12.5-25kph

Grimpeurs du Sud malinseastg@tiscali.co.uk Martin Malins, 4 North Common Weybridge Surrey KT13 9DN 140 04 Jul Bovey Tracey, Devon Dartmoor Ghost 23:00 Sat BP 145km 2300m AAA2.25 £12.00 FLRT 12.5-22.5kph

CTC Devon 07599 648769 kevin.hindstreet@btinternet.com ROA 4000 Kevin Presland, c/o Rob Simmonds Hillcrest East Town Lane Kenton EX6 8NH 200 04 Jul Oundle, Northants Triple Reservoir Challenge 08:00 Sat BR 204km £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph Kettering CTC 150 04 Jul Oundle, Northants Double Reservoir Challenge 08:30 Sat BP 154km £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph Kettering CTC

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

61

auk calendar 100 04 Jul Oundle, Northants Single Reservoir Challenge 09:00 Sat BP 101km £5.00 L P R T 12.5-30kph

Kettering CTC Richard Daniells, 6 Matson Close Rothwell Northants NN14 6AY 200 04 Jul Pateley Bridge Dales Grimpeur 200 08:00 Sat BR 215km 4596m AAA4.5 £6.00 L P R S T 15-30kph Hambleton RC paul.roberts901@tiscali.co.uk Paul Roberts, 37 The Close Romanby Northallerton DL7 8BL 400 04 Jul Stonehaven Old Military Roads 07:00 Sat BRM 6000m AAA6 £6.00 X P L R T (25) 15-30kph

Stephen Reed Stephen Reed, CAIRNBANNO 34 Dunnottar Avenue STONEHAVEN AB39 2JJ 100 05 Jul Combe Down, Bath Mendip Transmitter 08:30 Sun BP 1650m AAA1.75 £7.00 N.P.R.T 15-30kph

Bath CC Robert Mcmillan, 228 Bloomfield Road Bath BA2 2AX 200 05 Jul Denshaw, Saddleworth Bowland 08:00 Sun BR 3500m AAA3.5 [4400m] £5.00 P R T 14.3-30kph

Saddleworth Clarion 07850 208 977 nephialty@gmail.com 170 05 Jul Denshaw, Saddleworth Slaidburn 08:30 Sun BP 3000m AAA3 £5.00 P R T 12.5-25kph Saddleworth Clarion nephialty@gmail.com 100 05 Jul Denshaw, Saddleworth Widdop 09:00 Sun BP 2100m AAA2 £5.00 P R T 10-25kph

Saddleworth Clarion 07850 208 977 nephialty@gmail.com Nephi Alty, Heath House View Ridings Lane Golcar Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD7 4PZ 100 05 Jul Easingwold, N of York Mother Shipton 100k 10:00 Sun BP 103km 769m £2.00 L P R T 12-25kph Change of Date CTC North Yorks 01904 795 695 gerry.boswell@hotmail.co.uk 51 05 Jul Easingwold, N of York Linton Locks 50k 10:30 Sun BP 204m £2.00 L P R T 12-25kph Change of Date CTC North Yorks 01904 795 695 gerry.boswell@hotmail.co.uk Gerry Boswell, 5 Invicta Court Acomb York YO24 3NL 200 05 Jul Smallworth, Garboldisham, Diss Garboldisham Groveller 08:00 Sun BR £6.00 L P R T 15-30kph Diss CTC tomandeileenelkins@hotmail.co.uk 100 05 Jul Smallworth, Garboldisham, nr Diss Garboldisham Grafter 09:00 Sun BP £6.00 P R T F L 15-30kph Diss CTC tomandeileenelkins@hotmail.co.uk 55 05 Jul Smallworth, Garboldisham, nr Diss Garboldisham Grinder 10:00 Sun BP £6.00 L P R F T 12-30kph Diss CTC tomandeileenelkins@hotmail.co.uk Tom Elkins, 6 Marston Lane Norwich NR4 6LZ 300 10 Jul Great Dunmow, Essex Hereward the Wake 21:00 Fri BRM 301km £9.00 X C R L P T M (03/07) 15-30kph Flitchbikes CC tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway Great Dunmow Essex CM6 2AA 200 11 Jul Aldbrough St John, Nr Richmond Hartside 200 08:00 Sat BR 203km 2752m AAA3 [3000m] £6.00 FLPRT 14.3-30kph

VC167 07887628513 david.atkinson577@virgin.net 100 11 Jul Aldbrough St John, Nr Richmond Northern Dales Summer Outing 09:30 Sat BP 1475m [3000m] £4.50 FLPRT 10-30kph

VC167 07887618913 david.atkinson577@virgin.net David Atkinson, 4 Borrowby Avenue Northallerton North Yorkshire DL6 1AL 100 11 Jul Bushley, Nr.Tewkesbuty Teddy Bears' Picnic.

9::00 Sat BP 101km 975m [900m] £5.00 C,G,L,NM,P,R,T (100) 10-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 400 11 Jul Carlton le Moorland, Lincolnshire Lincolnshire Poacher 06:00 Sat BRM £8.00 X A1, C, L, P, R, T 15-30kph Lincoln Whs richard.parker05@gmail.com Richard Parker, 28 High Street Carlton Le Moorland Lincoln Lincolnshire LN5 9HT 150 11 Jul Forfar Amulree 150 09:15 Sat BP 1552m £5.00 C P T S 15-30kph

Angus CC 01307 466123 d.c.husband@btinternet.com 50 11 Jul Forfar Lintrathen Loop 10:00 Sat BP 587m £2.50 C L T R P 10-25kph

Angus CC 01307 466123 d.c.husband@btinternet.com ROA 4000 David Husband , 78 Old Halkerton Road Forfar DD8 1JP 200 11 Jul Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Brix 'n Water 08:00 Sat BR 216km 2300m £7.00 P R T 50 14.4-30kph Change of Date Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com 160 11 Jul Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Brix 'n Bouquet 09:00 Sat BP 1400m [2300m] £7.00 P R T 50 14.4-30kph Change of Date Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com

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Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

110 11 Jul Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Double Bouquet 09:30 Sat BP 912m [2300m] £7.00 P R T 50 14.4-30kph Change of Date Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com ROA 10000 Geoff Cleaver, 43 Goodere Drive Polesworth Tamworth B78 1BY 300 11 Jul Tewkesbury A Rough Diamond 06:00 Sat BRM 301km 2500m [3450m] £6.50 c f l p r t nm 100 15-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 100 12 Jul East Finchley, N2 9ED Suburban Breakout 09:30 Sun BP 103km 1085m [755m] £5.00 PRT 15-30kph

Central London CTC nick@centrallondonctc.org.uk Nick Bloom, 32 Fortis Green Avenue Fortis Green London N2 9NA 200 12 Jul Forfar Deeside Loop 08:00 Sun BR 2450m AAA2 [2025m] £10.00 L C P R T 15-30kph Angus CC d.c.husband@btinternet.com ROA 4000 David Husband, 78 Old Halkerton Road Forfar Angus DD8 1JP 110 18 Jul Alfreton In Memory of Tommy 09:00 Sat BP 115km 1050m £5.00 L P R T 12-30kph Updated Alfreton CTC Amanda Reeve, 82 Rutland Rd Westwood Nottingham NG16 5NQ 200 18 Jul Bath Raglan castle 08:00 Sat BR 203km 2500m £6.00 Xtrpc 15-30kph

Bath CC Robert Mcmillan, 228 Bloomfield Road Bath BA2 2AX 160 18 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk 100 miles of Suffolk Lanes 08:45 Sat BP 168km £5.00 L P R T S 15-30kph CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com 100 18 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk Bildeston Lanes 09:30 Sat BP 104km £5.00 L P R T S 15-30kph CC Sudbury pamandrobinw@gmail.com 200 18 Jul Bildeston, Suffolk Suffolk Lanes Extravaganza 08:30 Sat BR 209km £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph

CC Sudbury 01449 741048 pamandrobinw@gmail.com Robin Weaver, 14 Chapel Street Bildeston Ipswich Suffolk IP7 7EP 200 18 Jul Corwen Barmouth Boulevard 08:00 Sat BR 204km 3650m AAA3.75 £5.50 P R T 50 15-30kph

Chester & North Wales CT dmanu@outlook.com 100 18 Jul Corwen The Brenig Bach 08:30 Sat BP 107km 1920m AAA2 £5.50 P R T 50 12.5-25kph

Chester & North Wales CT dmanu@outlook.com 60 18 Jul Corwen The Bala Parade 09:00 Sat BP 700m [1000m] £5.50 P R T 50 10-25kph

Chester & North Wales CT dmanu@outlook.com ROA 5000 David Matthews, Hill View Cottage Cross Lanes Oscroft Tarvin Cheshire CH3 8NG 200 19 Jul Newton Abbot, Devon Torplex Two Hundred 08:00 Sun BR 210km 2900m AAA3 £7.50 F L P R S T 15-30kph CTC Devon brodie@bikerider.com 100 19 Jul Newton Abbot, Devon Devon Delight 09:00 Sun BP 107km £7.50 F L P R S T 10-25kph CTC Devon brodie@bikerider.com ROA 5000 Graham Brodie, Homelands 10 Courtenay Road Newton Abbot Devon TQ12 1HP 200 19 Jul Steyning, W Sussex The Devils Punchbowl 200 08:00 Sun BR 205km 2248m £6.00 F P T 15-30kph David Hudson 100 19 Jul Steyning, W Sussex The Devils Punchbowl 100 09:00 Sun BP 108km 1200m £6.00 F P T 15-30kph

David Hudson ROA 25000 Dave Hudson, 151 Middle Road Shoreham-by-Sea BN43 6LG 200 25 Jul Belbroughton, N Worcestershire Kidderminster Killer 08:00 Sat BR 214km 3750m AAA3.75 £7.75 F L P R S T (70) (8/8) 14.3-30kph

Beacon RCC 01562731606 montgomery@beaconrcc.org.uk 120 25 Jul Belbroughton, N Worcestershire From Clee to Heaven 09:00 Sat BP 1950m AAA2 £7.25 F L P R S T (65) 13-25kph

Beacon RCC 01562 731606 montgomery@beaconrcc.org.uk Dr Philip Whiteman, 2 Drayton Terr Drayton Belbroughton Stourbridge DY9 0BW 400 25 Jul Dingwall National 400 10:00 Sat BRM 408km 2500m £35.00 L P R F T S Z 15-30kph

CTC Highland 01862 871 136 biker_carroll@hotmail.com ROA 10000 Steve Carroll, Creag Charrach Rockfield Village Portmahomack IV20 1RF 200 26 Jul Halifax The Other Fleet Moss Randonnee 08:00 Sun BR 202km 2800m AAA2.75 £5.00 F L P R T 15-30kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley St. West Sowerby Bridge W. Yorks HX6 1EF 200 26 Jul Rhos-On-Sea, Conwy Cestyll Cymru 08:15 Sun BR 203km 2265m AAA1.5 [1500m] £8.00 A L P R T 15-30kph

Rhos-on-Sea CC 07542 428 462 cbwilby@gmail.com

www.audax.uk.net

auk calendar 130 26 Jul Rhos-On-Sea, Conwy The Legend of Gelert 09:15 Sun BP 1400m £8.00 A L P R T 12.5-25kph Rhos-on-Sea CC cbwilby@gmail.com 50 26 Jul Rhos-On-Sea, Conwy Glan-y-Mor 10:00 Sun BP 750m £5.00 A L P R T 10-20kph Rhos-on-Sea CC cbwilby@gmail.com Chris Wilby, Gwenallt Henryd Road Gyffin Conwy LL32 8HN 100 29 Jul Marple Dark Peak Grimpeur 10:00 Wed BP 106km 2290m AAA2.25 £5.00 P R T 60 (257) 12.5-25kph

Peak Audax Derek Heine, 10 Whitehall Drive Hartford Northwich Cheshire CW8 1SJ 200 01 Aug Bolsover Clumber to Humber (John Kerr Memorial Ride) 08:00 Sat BR 211km £5.00 L P R T 100 15-30kph

Bolsover & District CC 01246 825 351 matt.connley@talktalk.net ROA 5000 Matt Connley, 7 Eskdale Close Bolsover Chesterfield S44 6RL 200 01 Aug Cardiff Gate, Cardiff Dr. Foster's Summer Saunter 08:00 Sat BR 201km £6.00 C P R T 50 15-25kph

Cardiff Byways CC tonypember@gmail.com Tony Pember, 9 Donald Street Nelson Treharris CF46 6EB 300 01 Aug Galashiels Alston and Back – All set for PBP 06:30 Sat BR 2700m £5.00 PRT 15-30kph

Audax Ecosse 01896 758 181 pedaller1@sky.com ROA 10000 Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria St. Galashiels Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 200 01 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Elan & Ystwyth 08:00 Sat BR 208km 3750m AAA3.75 £5.00 YH C BD P R T 150 5/8 14.3-25kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com 100 01 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Radnor Roundabout 09:00 Sat BP 104km 1826m AAA1.75 £5.00 YH C BD P R T 150 5/8 12.5-25kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com 53 01 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Gladestry Trot 10:00 Sat BP £5.00 YH C BD P R T 150 5/8 10-20kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com Ross Jeal, Monymusk Meadow Vale Gladestry Kington Powys HR5 3PR 200 01 Aug Harringay, London Straight Outta Hackney 08:00 Sat BR £11.00 CFLPRT 15-30kph

Audax Club Hackney 07932672561 justinjones1969@gmail.com Justin Jones, ACH HQ incorporating The Stag's Head 39 Harringay Road London N15 3JB 200 02 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Tregaron Dragon 08:00 Sun BR 209km 4800m AAA4.75 £5.00 YH C BD P R T 150 5/8 14.3-25kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com 160 02 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Llandovery Discovery 08:30 Sun BP 3250m AAA3.25 £5.00 YH C L P R T 150 8/16 12.5-25kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com 100 02 Aug Gladestry, W of Kington Gladestry Gallop 09:00 Sun BP 107km 1625m AAA1.75 £5.00 YH C BD P R T 150 5/8 12.5-25kph CTC Cymru rossjeal@gladestry.com Ross Jeal, Monymusk Meadow Vale Gladestry Kington Powys HR5 3PR 200 02 Aug Wickhamford, SE of Evesham Neville Chanin Memorial – Over The Severn 08:00 Sun BR 213km 3134m AAA3.25 £7.00 F P R T 15-30kph

Evesham & Dist Whs petehutch1959@btinternet.com 200 02 Aug Wickhamford, SE of Evesham Three Counties– Four Leaf Clover 08:00 Sun BR 202km £6.00 F P R T 15-30kph

Evesham & Dist Whs petehutch1959@btinternet.com 110 02 Aug Wickhamford, SE of Evesham Three Counties – Two Leaf Clover 09:00 Sun BP 111km £4.00 F P R T 15-30kph

Evesham & Dist Whs petehutch1959@btinternet.com 50 02 Aug Wickhamford, SE of Evesham Three Counties – Clover Leaf 09:30 Sun BP £2.00 F P R T 10-25kph

Evesham & Dist Whs petehutch1959@btinternet.com Pete Hutchinson, Hazelwood Shinehill Lane South Littleton Evesham Worcestershire WR11 8TP 100 05 Aug Marple Memorial Park White Peak Grimpeur 10:00 Wed BP 103km 2310m AAA2.25 £5.00 P R T 60 (8/8) 12.5-25kph Change of Date Peak Audax 01457 870421 mike@PeakAudax.co.uk ROA 10000 Mike Wigley, Higher Grange Farm Millcroft Lane Delph Oldham Saddleworth OL3 5UX 100 08 Aug Churchend, Dunmow, Essex Flitchbikes 100 09:30 Sat BP 103km £7.00 C L P R T M (01/08) 12.5-25kph Flitchbikes CC tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway Great Dunmow Essex CM6 2AA 200 08 Aug Churchend, Gt Dunmow, Essex Flitchbikes 200 08:30 Sat BR 201km £7.00 C L P R T M (01/08) 15-30kph Flitchbikes CC tom.deakins@btinternet.com Thomas Deakins, 31 The Causeway Great Dunmow Essex CM6 2AA

200 08 Aug Tewkesbury Benjamin Allen's Spring Tonic.

08:00 Sat BR 206km 2050m £4.00 P T C NM (100) 15-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury Sunny Gloucestershire GL20 5TZ 200 09 Aug Padiham, Lancashire Tan Hill 200 08:00 Sun BRM 206km 4500m AAA4.5 £5 P X 15-30kph Burnley Sportiv burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive Ightenhill Burnley Lancashire BB12 8AT 100 12 Aug Marple, Memorial Park, SK6 Mid Peak Grimpeur 10:00 Wed BP 109km 2400m AAA2.5 £5.00 L P R T 40 (31/7) 12.5-25kph Peak Audax chris.keelingroberts@ntlworld.com Chris Keeling-Roberts, 17 Lower Strines Road Marple Cheshire SK6 7DL 300 15 Aug Redhill, Surrey Around Weald Odyssey 06:00 Sat BR £5.00 X P T 15-30kph Updated Redhill CC waweirauk@btinternet.com William Weir, Flat 8 Burlington Court 158 Station Road Redhill Surrey RH1 1JE 160 15 Aug Scaladale, Isle of Harris Harris Hills 160 09:00 Sat BP 2800m AAA2.75 £8.00 YH L P R T S F (40) 14.3-30kph Hebridean CC ian_d_gilbert@yahoo.co.uk 100 15 Aug Scaladale, Isle of Harris Harris Hills 100 10:00 Sat BP 1600m AAA1.5 £6.00 YH L P R T S (40) 12.5-30kph Hebridean CC ian_d_gilbert@yahoo.co.uk Ian Gilbert, 19 Churchill Drive Stornoway Isle of Lewis HS1 2NP 110 16 Aug Shere Village Hall, Guildford Tour of the Hills 09:40 Sun BP 115km 2300m AAA2.25 £8.00 F L P R T 225 15-30kph

CTC West Surrey 01483 810028 dggray7@hotmail.com Don Gray, Greenleas Beech Lane Normandy Surrey GU3 2JH 100 18 Aug Alfreton Prison for Dinner : Tue BP 103km £5.00 G L P R T 12-25kph Alfreton CTC bandj.smith@sky.com Brian Smith, 10 The Crescent Clay Cross Chesterfield S45 9EH 110 19 Aug Maidenhead Riverside to Riverside 10:00 Wed BP 118km £4.00 P R T 15-30kph Willesden CC anemograby@hotmail.com Anne Mograby, 5 Castle Farm Leigh Square Windsor Berks SL4 4PT 100 19 Aug Marple West Peak Grimpeur 10:00 Wed BP 103km 2400m AAA2.5 £5.00 P R T 60 (16/8) 12.5-25kph Peak Audax davidcatlow1947@gmail.com David Catlow, 31 Cavendish Way Mickleover Derby DE3 9BL 100 23 Aug Droitwich Saracen Century Audax 09:00 Sun BP 106km 1600m AAA1.5 [1500m] £8 L P R T 12.5-25kph Saracen RC saracenroadclub@gmail.com Sean Barker, 16 Leahouse Road Stirchley Birmingham B30 2DD 100 23 Aug Merthyr Tydfil Dic Penderyn 09:00 Sun BP 1900m AAA2 £5.00 P R T 12-30kph

Merthyr CC 01685 373 758 adrianmcd2010@talktalk.net ROA 2000 Adrian McDonald, 2 Brunswick St Merthyr Tydfil Mid Glam CF47 8SB 200 23 Aug Sparsholt, Nr Wantage Old Roads and Drove Roads 07:30 Sun BR £5.00 P R T NM 15-30kph Change of Date Pat Hurt iddu.audax@gmail.com Pat Hurt, 10 Newbury Road Lambourn RG17 7LL 110 26 Aug Marple, Memorial Park, SK6 Staffs Peak Super-Grimpeur 10:00 Wed BP 2650m AAA2.75 [2800m] £5.00 P R T (22/8) 60 12.5-25kph

Peak Audax CTC audax@idnet.com Peter Coates, 182 Moor Lane Woodford Stockport Cheshire SK7 1PJ 160 29 Aug Dore, Sheffield Amber and Green 08:15 Sat BP 2850m AAA2.75 £5 L P R T 14.3-30kph

Sheffield District CTC 0114 255 0907 bigT.ridinghigh@gmail.com 100 29 Aug Dore, Sheffield An Amber Gambol 09:00 Sat BP 1550m AAA1.5 £5 L P R T 12-25kph

Sheffield District CTC 0114 255 0907 bigT.ridinghigh@gmail.com Tony Gore, 8 Ladysmith Avenue Sheffield S7 1SF 200 29 Aug Mildenhall Cycling Rally Mildenhall Rally Randonnee 08:00 Sat BR 206km 1114m [1096m] £6.50 CPTS (16/8) 15-30kph Suffolk CTC 160 29 Aug Mildenhall Cycling Rally Mildenhall Rally Century 08:15 Sat BP 162km 980m £6.50 CPTS (16/8) 15-30kph Suffolk CTC 100 29 Aug Mildenhall Cycling Rally Mildenhall Rally Brevet 09:00 Sat BP 102km 683m £6.50 CPTS (16/8) 12.5-30kph Suffolk CTCN 50 29 Aug Mildenhall Cycling Rally Mildenhall Rally Brief Brevet 10:00 Sat BP 251m £6.50 CPTS 16/8 10-25kph

Suffolk CTC Andy Terry, The Nook Colchester Road Great Bromley Essex CO7 7TN

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

63

auk calendar 200 29 Aug Newtonmore Rothes Reccie 08:00 Sat BR 202km £3.00 C YH L P R T 15-30kph CTC Highland biker_carroll@hotmail.com ROA 10000 Steve Carroll, Creag Charrach Rockfield Tain Ross-shire IV20 1RF 100 29 Aug Newtonmore Grantown Gallop 10:00 Sat BP 104km £3.00 C YH L P R T 12-25kph CTC Highland biker_carroll@hotmail.com ROA 10000 Steve Carroll, Creag Charrach Rockfield Tain Ross-shire IV20 1RF 200 05 Sep Old Ma's Tattenhall, Cheshire Pistyll Packing Momma 08:00 Sat BR 209km 3400m AAA3.5 £5.50 P R 50 T L 15-30kph Change of Date Chester & N Wales CTC dmanu@outlook.com 130 05 Sep Old Ma's Tattenhall, Cheshire Momma's Mountain Views 08:30 Sat BP 137km 2000m AAA2 £5.50 P R 50 T L 12.5-25kph Change of Date Chester & N Wales CTC dmanu@outlook.com 50 05 Sep Old Ma's Tattenhall, Cheshire Momma's Leafy Lanes 09:00 Sat BP £5.50 P R 50 T L 10-20kph Change of Date Chester & N Wales CTC dmanu@outlook.com ROA 5000 David Matthews, Hill View Cottage Cross Lanes Oscroft Tarvin Cheshire CH3 8NG 200 05 Sep Tewkesbury Mr. Pickwick goes to Hay in a Day 08:00 Sat BR 205km 1900m £4.00 c f l p r t nm 100 15-25kph

BlackSheep CC 01684 292 390 blacksheepaudax@gmail.com ROA 25000 Mark Rigby, 16 Battle Road Tewkesbury Park Tewkesbury GL20 5TZ 55 06 Sep Budleigh Salterton, Devon Honiton 55 10:00 Sun BP 300m £5.00 G L NM P R T (23/8) 15-30kph

CS Dynamo 07779020426 Steven Medlock, 11 Marpool Hill Exmouth Devon EX8 2LJ 100 06 Sep Hampton Hill, SW London London Sightseer 08:30 Sun BP £5.00 C L P T NM 10-20kph

Hounslow & Dist. Whs 020 8287 3244 billcarnaby@outlook.com Bill Carnaby, 225 High Street Hampton Hill Middlesex TW12 1NP 200 06 Sep Lymington New Forest On and Off Shore 07:15 Sun BR 202km 2150m £19.00 L P R T 100 (4/9) Ferry 15-30kph

Cycling New Forest 01590 671 205 cyclingnewforest@gmail.com 150 06 Sep Lymington New Forest and Isle of Wight Century 07:15 Sun BP £19.00 L P R T 100 (4/9) Ferry 15-30kph

Cycling New Forest 01590 671 205 cyclingnewforest@gmail.com 100 06 Sep Lymington New Forest and Coast 10:00 Sun BP 102km £6.00 C L P R T 100 10-20kph

Cycling New Forest 01590 671 205 cyclingnewforest@gmail.com ROA 10000 John Ward, 34 Avenue Road Lymington Hants SO41 9GJ 200 12 Sep Coryton, NW Cardiff Ferryside Fish Foray 07:00 Sat BR 225km £8.00 YH L R P T 50 15-30kph

Cardiff Byways CC evansrichardd@googlemail.com ROA 5000 Richard Evans, 73 Conway Road Cardiff CF11 9NW 300 12 Sep Greenwich, London Greenwich Mean Climb 06:00 Sat BR 302km 4500m AAA4.5 £14.00 F G R T (5/9) 14.6-30kph Updated Audax Club Hackney justinjones1969@gmail.com Justin Jones, ACH HQ incorporating The Stag's Head 39 Harringay Road London N15 3JB 200 12 Sep Richmond, N Yorks Dales Dales Tour Plus 08:00 Sat BR 3150m AAA3.25 £6.00 C F L P R T 14.4-30kph

VC167 07887628513 david.atkinson577@virgin.net 150 12 Sep Richmond, N Yorks Dave's Dales Tour 160km 08:30 Sat BP 2500m AAA2.5 £5.50 C F L P R T 12-30kph

VC167 07887628513 david.atkinson577@virgin.netL 100 12 Sep Richmond, N Yorks Lucia's Vale of York Meander 100km 10:00 Sat BP £5.50 C F L P R T 10-20kph

VC167 078887628513 david.atkinson577@virgin.net 100 12 Sep Richmond, N Yorks Dave's Mini Dales Tour 100km 09:30 Sat BP 1900m AAA2 £5.50 C F L P R T 10-20kph

VC167 07887628513 david.atkinson577@virgin.net David Atkinson, 4 Borrowby Avenue Northallerton North Yorkshire DL6 1AL 200 12 Sep Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Wem, we get there 08:30 Sat BR 208km 1400m £7.00 X P R 50 (31/8) 15-30kph Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com 110 12 Sep Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Charnwood Challenge 09:00 Sat BP 111km 1094m £7.00 P R T 50 (31/8) 12.5-30kph Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com 51 12 Sep Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH National Forest 50 09:30 Sat BP 400m £6.00 P R T 50 (31/8) 10-20kph Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com ROA 10000 Geoffrey Cleaver, 43 Goodere Drive Polesworth Tamworth Staffordshire B78 1BY 110 13 Sep Oundle, Northants Max Scott Memorial 09:30 Sun BP 114km £5.00 L P R T 12.5-30kph

Kettering CTC Richard Daniells, 6 Matson Close Rothwell Northants NN14 6AY

64

Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

160 19 Sep 08:00 Sat

Husbands Bosworth BP 1675m £5.00 LPRT 15-30kph Welland Valley CC 01858545376

Welland Wonder 160

110 19 Sep 08:30 Sat

Husbands Bosworth BP 116km 1350m £5.00 LPRT 12-24kph Welland Valley CC 01858545376

Welland Wonder 100

53 19 Sep Husbands Bosworth Welland Wonder 50 09:00 Sat BP 525m £5.00 LPRT 12-24kph

Welland Valley CC 01858545376 ROA 3000 Mike Vybiral, Logan Cottage Grange Lane East Langton Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7TF 100 19 Sep 10:15 Sat

Rodborough, Stroud BP 106km 2150m AAA2.25 £5.00 L P R S T (60) 12.5-25kph Dursley RC 01453 762235 james.reynolds@lein-ad.com

Pedersen 100

100 19 Sep 10:00 Sat

Rodborough, Stroud Budding 100 BP 106km 1770m AAA1.75 [1650m] £5.00 L P R S T (60) 12.5-25kph Dursley RC 01453 762235 james.reynolds@lein-ad.com

61 19 Sep Rodborough, Stroud Awdry 60 11:00 Sat BP 1000m AAA1 £5.00 LPRST(60) 12.5-25kph

Dursley RC 01453 762235 james.reynolds@lein-ad.com James Reynolds, Ambleside The Butts Rodborough Stroud GL5 3UG 110 20 Sep Ludford, NE of Lincoln Lincolnshire Wolds 09:30 Sun BP £5.00 F P R T 15-30kph CTC Lincolnshire timnewbery@hotmail.com ROA 2000 Tim Newbery, 7a Linden Walk Louth LN11 9HT 200 20 Sep Musselburgh The Erit Lass 08:00 Sun BR 3000m AAA3 £8.00 F L P R T 15-30kph Audax Ecosse martinfoley@btinternet.com Martin Foley, 78 Denholm Road Musselburgh East Lothian EH21 6TU 200 26 Sep Broken Cross, nr Macclesfield Venetian Nights 08:00 Sat BR 210km 2750m AAA2.25 [2333m] £8.00 F L P R T 14.3-25kph Peak Audax perrin_john@sky.com John Perrin, 20 Princes Way Macclesfield Cheshire SK11 8UB 100 26 Sep Coryton, NW Cardiff Trefil Travail 9::00 Sat BP 105km 2270m AAA2.25 £8.00 YH L P R T 50 12-24kph

Cardiff Byways CC 02920633970 A.H.Mackay@open.ac.uk Hugh Mackay, 131 Stanwell Road Penarth CF64 3LL 100 26 Sep Sonning Common, near Reading Henley Hilly Hundred 09:00 Sat BP 102km 1660m AAA1.75 £6.00 FLPRT 12-30kph Reading CTC brianperry_3@hotmail.co.uk Brian Perry, 16 Rowland Close Wallingford Oxon OX10 8LA 200 27 Sep Denmead, Nr Portsmouth Wylye and Ebble Valley 07:30 Sun BR £6.00 L P R T M 15-30kph Hampshire RC mrpaulwhitehead@yahoo.co.uk Paul Whitehead, 73 Spencer Road Emsworth Hampshire PO10 7XR 100

27 Sep

Kirkintilloch

Ivy's Mid Scotland Meander EVENT CANCELLED

200 27 Sep Pendleton, Lancashire Last Chance Dales Dance 200 07:30 Sun BRM 3300m AAA3.25 [3000m] £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph Burnley Sportiv burnleysportiv@yahoo.com Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive Ightenhill Burnley Lancashire BB12 8AT 200 03 Oct Coryton, NW Cardiff Gower Getter 07:30 Sat BR 202km 2200m £8 YH L P R T 15-30kph

Cardiff Ajax CC glharper1973@gmail.com Georgina Harper, 68 Hazelhurst Road Llandaf North Cardiff Wales CF14 2FX 200 03 Oct Galashiels Etal-u-Can 08:00 Sat BR 204km 2379m £10.00 PLRTS 15-30kph Change of Date Audax Ecosse 01896 758 181 pedaller1@sky.com ROA 10000 Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria St. Galashiels Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 100 04 Oct Bredgar, Nr Sittingbourne Hengist's Hills 10:00 Sun BP 103km 1750m AAA1.75 £5.00 RLPT 15-30kph

Tim Ford 01622 884 622 timfarmerford@btinternet.com ROA 4000 Tim Ford, Glinwood Bexon Lane Bredgar Sittingbourne ME9 8HB 100 04 Oct Galashiels Ride of the Valkyries 10:00 Sun BP 106km 1200m [1517m] £8.00 PLRTS 12-30kph Change of Date Audax Ecosse 01896 758 181 pedaller1@sky.com ROA 10000 Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria St. Galashiels Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 100 04 Oct Wigginton, N of York Gerry's Autumn Brevet 10:00 Sun BP 101km 942m £3.00 L P R T 12-25kph

CTC North Yorks 01904 795 695 gerry.boswell@hotmail.co.uk Gerry Boswell, 5 Invicta Court Acomb York YO24 3NL 100 11 Oct Abergavenny Marches Grimpeur 09:00 Sun BP 1950m AAA2 £9.00 YH F P L T 12.5-25kph Abergavenny RC waville@yahoo.com Jonathan Saville, 9 Trehonddu Llanvihangel Crucorney Abergavenny Monmouthshire NP7 8DG

www.audax.uk.net

auk calendar 100 11 Oct Alfreton, NW of Nottingham Beware of the plague 09:00 Sun BP 107km 1900m AAA2 £6.00 P R T F 12.5-25kph Alfreton CTC martynleighton@uwclub.net Martyn Leighton, 46 Ashford Rise Belper Derbyshire DE56 1TJ 120 11 Oct Birdwell Community Centre, S70 5TQ Rarnd Tarn 09:00 Sun BP 125km 1929m £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph Updated Birdwell Whs bob@bobwaterhouse.wanadoo.co.uk Robert Waterhouse, 46 Racecourse Road Swinton Mexborough S64 8DP 200 11 Oct Congleton Rugby Club 08:00 Sun BR 210km £5.00 P R (60) 15-30kph Congleton CC dhurst085@aol.com

Horseshoe Pass

170 11 Oct Congleton Rugby Club Chirk Aqueduct 08:30 Sun BP 175km £5.00 P R (60) 15-30kph Congleton CC dhurst085@aol.com Denise Hurst, 10 Firwood Road Biddulph Staffordshire ST8 7ED 100 11 Oct Hailsham, E Sussex The Autumn Tints 100 09:00 Sun BP 103km 1200m [1100m] £6.00 F P 15-30kph

David Hudson ROA 25000 David Hudson, 151 Middle Road Shoreham by Sea West Sussex BN43 6LG 100 11 Oct 09:00 Sun

Mytholmroyd Season of Mists BP 105km 2555m AAA2.5 £4.50 P L R T YH 12-24kph West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk

55 11 Oct Mytholmroyd Mellow Fruitfulness 10:00 Sun BP 1200m AAA1.25 £4.00 P L R T YH 8-20kph

West Yorkshire CTC 01422 832 853 chris.crossland@halifaxctc.org.uk ROA 25000 Chris Crossland, 14 Stanley St. West Sowerby Bridge W. Yorks HX6 1EF 200 17 Oct 08:00 Sat

Corwen, N. Wales BR 212km 3200m AAA3.25 [3488m] £5.00 P R T 50 15-30kph Chester & N Wales CTC vickypayne8@hotmail.com

130 17 Oct 08:30 Sat

Corwen, N. Wales BP 138km 2250m AAA2.25 £5.00 P R T 50 12.5-25kph Chester & N Wales CTC vickypayne8@hotmail.com

The Clwydian

The Clwyd Gate

60 17 Oct Corwen, N. Wales 'The Bala Mini- Bash' 09:00 Sat BP £5.00 P R T 50 12.5-25kph

Chester & N Wales CTC 01745 560892 vickypayne8@hotmail.com Vicky Payne, Bryn Celyn Penyffordd Holywell Flintshire CH8 9HH

08:30 Sun BP 103km 1350m £8.00 F P T 15-30kph Updated Anton Brown anton.brown@btconnect.com Anton Brown, 19 Northlands Avenue Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 3RT 110 14 Nov Alfreton Prison Run 09:00 Sat BP 113km 1000m £5.00 P L R 12-30kph Alfreton CTC bandj.smith@sky.com Brian Smith, 10 The Crescent Clay Cross Chesterfield S45 9EH 200 05 Dec Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, HP9 2SE The South of Bucks Winter Warmer 08:00 Sat BR 207km 1100m [1290m] £5.00 YH A1 G L P T S X (100) 15-30kph Terry Lister lister4cycling@btinternet.com

Terry Lister, 4 Abbey Walk Great Missenden Bucks HP16 0AY 200 05 Dec Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Tinsel and Lanes 08:00 Sat BR 211km 2060m £7.00 P R T 60 15-30kph Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com 100 05 Dec Tamworth, Pretty Pigs PH Flowers to Furnace 09:00 Sat BP 104km 940m £7 P R T 50 12-30kph Geoff Cleaver audaxgeoff@gmail.com ROA 10000 Geoff Cleaver, 43 Goodere Drive Polesworth Tamworth B78 1BY 100 03 Jan Thorne, Nr Doncaster Goodbye Christmas Yorkshire Pudding 09:00 Sun BP 103km 102m [71m] £4.00 P R T (100) 15-30kph VC 167 les.bauchop@gmail.com

Les Bauchop, 2a Westbourne Grove Pickering North Yorkshire YO18 8AW 200 24 Jan Cheadle, Stockport A Mere Two Hundred 08:00 Sun BR 201km 800m £7.00 P R T 80 15-30kph Peak Audax 150 24 Jan Cheadle, Stockport A Mere Centur 08:30 Sun BP 155km 600m £6.00 P R T 60 15-25kph Peak Audax

David Colley, 5 Huncoat Avenue Heaton Chapel Stockport SK4 5HN 200 03 Apr Pendleton, Lancashire Delightful Dales 200 07:30 Sun BRM 205km 3300m AAA3.25 [3600m] £5.00 L P R T 15-30kph

Burnley Cycling Club burnleysportiv@yahoo.com

Andy Corless, 31 Castlerigg Drive Ightenhill Burnley Lancashire BB12 8AT

150 17 Oct Trowell, West of Nottingham An Autumn Day Out 08:15 Sat BP 153km 1135m £7.00 L P R T(80) 15-30kph Updated Nottinghamshire CTC terrydpscott@hotmail.com Terry Scott, 21 Winterbourne Drive Stapleford Nottingham Notts NG9 8NH 200 18 Oct Carlton Colville, Lowestoft, Suffolk 08:00 Sun BR £5.00 FRTP 15-30kph VC Baracchi johntommo6@btinternet.com

The Silly Suffolk

160 18 Oct Carlton Colville, Lowestoft, Suffolk The Silly Suffolk 09:00 Sun BP £5.00 FRTP 15-30kph VC Baracchi johntommo6@btinternet.com John Thompson, 136 Dell Road Oulton Broad Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 9NT 100 25 Oct 09:00 Sun

Bovey Tracey The Dartmoor Devil @ 9 BP 106km 2500m AAA2.5 £8.00 F P R T 125 (20/10) 12.5-25kph CTC Devon 01626 833 749 kevin.hindstreet@btinternet.com

100 25 Oct Bovey Tracey The Dartmoor Devil @ 8 08:00 Sun BP 106km 2500m AAA2.5 £8.00 F P R T 125 (20/10) 12.5-25kph

CTC Devon 01626 833 749 kevin.hindstreet@btinternet.com ROA 4000 Kevin Presland, Hind Street House Hind Street Bovey Tracey Devon TQ13 9HT 200 31 Oct Galashiels The Long Dark Teatime of The Soul 08:00 Sat BR 2000m £5.00 P,R,T 15-30kph

Audax Ecosse 01896 758 181 pedaller1@sky.com ROA 10000 Lucy McTaggart, 30 Victoria St. Galashiels Scottish Borders TD1 1HL 200 07 Nov Cholsey, E of Didcot Upper Thames 07:30 Sat BR 212km 1900m [1943m] £6.00 L P R T M 15-30kph

Thames Valley Audax 01491 651 284 philipmdyson@btinternet.com Phil Dyson, 25 Papist Way Cholsey Wallingford Oxon OX10 9LL 100 08 Nov Carlton Colville, nr Lowestoft, Suffolk The Waveney Wander 09:00 Sun BP £5.00 LPRT 15-30kph VC Baracchi johntommo6@btinternet.com John Thompson, 136 Dell Road Oulton Broad Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 9NT 200 08 Nov Cheadle, Stockport 08:00 Sun BR 210km 800m £6.00 P R T M 60 15-30kph Peak Audax hamhort84@talktalk.net

Eureka!

160 08 Nov Cheadle, Stockport Cheshire Safari 08:30 Sun BP 570m £6.00 P R T M 60 15-25kph Peak Audax hamhort84@talktalk.net Peter Hammond, 3 Dorac Ave Heald Green Cheadle Stockport Cheshire SK8 3NZ

Mad March Coasts and Quantocks 200 Grimpeur

100

Photo by Graham Brodie

08 Nov Pound Street, Petworth, W Sussex Spordax 100)

The Petworth 100 (formerly The

www.audax.uk.net Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

65

entry form

2015 Entry Form for Events held under Audax UK Regulations Name of Event: From:

Dist:

Date:

Fee for Audax UK or CTC members £ Audax UK Membership Number: Fee for other entrants – includes £2 temporary Audax UK membership fee £ Date of birth if under 18 years:

(see PARENTAL CONSENT below)

Forename:

Surname:

Address: email:

Tel: Mobile:

Club/CTC member group:

INSURANCE: Audax UK provides its members (inc. temporary) “normally resident in the UK” with 3rd party insurance cover throughout the event for claims in excess of £500.

Overseas residents must arrange their own 3rd party insurance.

By signing this entry form you declare that you are insured as required.

The event is run under Audax UK regulations. You should familiarise yourself with Audax UK regulations, guidance, and advice (available in AUK publications, at www.aukweb.net or on request from the organiser).

The event is not a race or trial of speed. You are expected to follow the rules of the road and show consideration to other road users.

• The route is on open public roads.

• The route is not waymarked /marshalled.

• Some routes/conditions may be arduous.

• You should prepare by studying the route.

• You are responsible for your safety/conduct • The organiser provides no rescue service.

PARENTAL CONSENT (required for entrants under 18 years of age) Parents should note the information on this form and be aware that this is an individual ride without leaders.

I am the Parent/Guardian of the Entrant and give my consent to this Entry: Signed (Parent/Guardian):

Date:

Name (Parent/Guardian, please print):

I understand that during the event I am on a private excursion on the public highway and that I am responsible for my own conduct. I agree to abide by Audax UK Regulations for this ride. Entry fees are not refundable. I have relevant insurance cover as above.

Signed (Entrant):

Date:

Emergency contact person (Name & Tel.): Send to the organiser: 1. Completed form 2. Cheque payable to organiser (not AUK) 3. Two C5 stamped addressed envelopes 66

Arrivée Spring 2015 No. 128

www.audax.uk.net

Gospel Pass 150 Photo by Graham Brodie

Marcia Roberts at Budleigh Salterton on the Mad March Coasts and Quantocks 200 Grimpeur Photo by Graham Brodie