My Sunday

[lnr]

Got up late, had a shower and went to the pub for elevenses. Then bumped into Henry and had a nice chat about life and the weather and things, sadly he had to get off and couldn't arrange to meet us again later. Had a nice picnic lunch under a big oak tree, and then sunbathed for a while, before heading to the pub again for a pint each. And then finished the afternoon in the park with an icecream listening to a jazz band. It was a lovely day.

We set the alarm for 6am and allowed ourselves the luxury of hitting the snooze button once, before getting up, filling water bottles and heading to Broad Street for the start of the Oxford to Cambridge bike ride, in aid of the British Heart Foundation. We were just too late to join the first batch leaving the start line, but did see them off, and then join the second batch ourselves, setting off about 7:10am.

About 7:30 we stopped to put on waterproofs for what turned out to be rather more than a shower, and we spent about an hour in a pretty heavy downpour, which had me wondering for a while if we were really up for it. By the first rest stop 18 miles in it was just about giving up though, and soggily we continued.

On a downhill stretch a bit further on we had something of a little adventure. Mike's chain came off as we went down the hill, so he shouted to me (in front) that we'd need to stop so he could fix it. So I slowed down, apparently just as he looked back to check it was clear behind him, and he ploughed into the back of me and went flying. Thankfully he seemed to have come off with nothing worse than a sore arse, a grazed thigh through his shorts, and a couple of holes in his elbow. So we broke out the first aid kit, cleaned it and applied some antiseptic cream and carried on as if nothing had happened. By roughly 11am we'd reached about 39 miles, and had our first meal break at the Three Locks Pub.

It turns out this rest is just before the biggest bit of climbing of the whole ride, and it was on the long slog up to Great Brickhill that Henry spotted me by the oxnet tshirt and slowed to have a rather breathless chat (on my side at least). We parted further up the hill as our pace was rather slower than his, and we didn't think we'd reach the end in time to have a drink with him before he had to catch a train to London to visit his parents.

Every time we thought we'd reached the top of the hill and could relax at a slow pace for a while to recover we discovered there was another bit of hill just round the corner. And so it continued until we reached Woburn and cycled up through the abbey park where we saw a gorgeous stag, and the hit the steepest hill of all. Only the last 200 yards or so, but it was steep enough that we saw the first person getting off to walk, and I actually had to break out the lowest gear of the lot, and reached the top completely shattered at about 3 mph. But we did it. After that while there were more climbs there was nothing so punishing.

We pushed on, with a pace which was steady without being too tiring, and our third stop wasn't until about 60 miles, where we spotted a dry spot under an oak tree and had the rest of our food as a rather pleasant picnic, and spent about half an hour there in total, which was very pleasant in the sun. We'd nearly completely dried out by this point, apart from our shoes, and it was nice to just relax for a while and wave at the people coming past. Everyone was very cheerful and friendly all day. Then we pushed on, knowing the last 25 miles were well without within our ability.

The last official rest stop in Gamlingay was at about 70 miles, leaving 15 miles (by my computer) to the end, and we reached it at around 3:15, keeping up our roughly 10mph average including breaks. So we stopped there and had a pint of lime and soda (me) or lemonade (him) in the pub garden. The regulars at the bar had warned me of the last hill on the way out of the village, though we'd been kind of expecting it have seen the shape of the horizon in front of us as we arrived there. After that it was gentle and rolling all the way home.

We slowed down at lot at this point to be honest, partly because we were tired and partly just because we knew we were going to reach the finish in plenty of time, long before the ride closed at 6, and while it was still warm and sunny. And so it was about 4:40 when we finally rolled over the finish line at Downing College playing fields and were handed our medals and goody bags, and congratulated by lots of the nearby bystanders. Mike gave me a big hug and bought me an icecream and we sat for a while in the sun and listened to the sound of the jazz band playing before we made our weary way home.

My computer read 87.07 miles at the finish, and from comparison with Henry's at about 40 miles I suspect I was overreading by a fraction and it really was almost exactly 85 miles. Add on the two and a bit from Chris's house to the start in the morning and the three and a bit back to mine and we did over 90 miles in total. It really does go to show how much fitter we were than earlier this year, when we first started taking the bikes out any distance. A big thanks to all who sponsored us. And well, I'm just still really impressed that we made it and chuffed to bits.

Addendum: Very rough route map: GMAP

Comments

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Sorry I was drunk in another gutter, and all - naath and I did take the tandem out for a spin Sunday evening, but only about 20 miles.

[emperor]

You mean "well within our ability", I suspect.

Many congratulations!

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Cripes. Well done. Have tried several times in much better condition than now, and can't do it in one day.

[lnr]

I think it makes a hell of a difference having the support and backup there even if you don't use most of it. And having lots of other people doing the same thing. It was still a 9.5 hour day, so quite a long one!

[naath.livejournal.com]

Sorry - drunk in a different gutter.

I'm confused though... given that you're supposed to finish by 6 and they start at 7 why on *earth* can't the start it at a civilised time and have it end later? I mean if it was 'supposed' to start at 7 and end at 10 then getting up that early makes sense but if I were going to do 11 hours on a bike I'd start at, oh, 10ish and end at 9.

[innocencest.livejournal.com]

You don't want it to be too dark by the end.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Because cycling arround Cambridgeshire in the dark is a problem for people now?
David and I took the tandem out at half 9 and didn't get back 'till 11 and had no trouble at all. Of course David bought lights for it... but any person serious enough about cycling to be doing that sort of distance ought to have lights ffs.

[(Anonymous)]

These organised rides work by separating out the physical effort of day trips by bike from the road sense, navigation, and contingency planning. They posted marshals at every major junction so you barely needed to know how to cross the road.

The target market includes people really not serious about cycling at all. I wouldn't want to be sweeping them up in the dark.

[lnr]

The start is any time between 7 and 9. They want to end by 6 so it's still light then too I presume. We spent 9.5 hours getting there (about 7:45 actually cycling), but it was good to finish before it started getting any colder. Finishing at 9 would have been horrible.

Of course fitter cyclists mostly did start later: Henry for example had been intending to set out at 7:30 but waiting until the rain had stopped, and caught us up by halfway despite starting nearly and hour and a half later. For them ending early means they can actually do something with the rest of their day.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Well, of course some people are speedy... but my point is that they are allowing 11 hours for slow people or people with punctures or whatever... they could allow a more civilised 11 hours.

I'm not sure why finishing at 9 would be any horrider than finishing at 6 provided the travel times were the same. But then I'm the prat who thought cycling arround at 11 at night was fun, so clearly I'm mad.

[lnr]

In general I think even with lights it's probably safer to have that many bikes on the road when it's light. I've got lights that are good enough for the dark cycling I do around town but which wouldn't be much help on country roads. And unlike you I find it much more pleasant cycling in the sunshine when it's warm and I can enjoy the view than wrapping up at night and having to concentrate harder on the road surface. Would it still be fun if you were aching and tired?

But in general I reckon it's mostly just picking an time that suits most people best, including those running it, and while 7 is insanely early for me it's not much earlier than a normal day for a lot of people. And starting at 7 means that lunchtime is at about the halfway point. Even for me the luxury of being able to wind down for a few hours and still get an early night was very much appreciated.

Hmm, it might be rather more practical shutting bits of Oxford City Centre at that time than later too now I think about it.

[naath.livejournal.com]

eeeeew, sunlight! nasty nasty photons.

[lnr]

Oh and the jazz band/icecream/families welcoming people wouldn't have worked so well late in the evening as they did in late afternoon.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Thought I talked about this; if they finish in the dark, the marshals have to sweep people up for no/inadequate/failed lights. These people become stroppy. That is no fun.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Don't people fail to make it and end up cycling in the dark anyway? That seems an even worse idea because if the expect to finish by 6 they might not even take lights.

[lnr]

They probably send the support vehicles along the route checking for stragglers at the end. I expect most people taking *that* long will be struggling so much they ask for help before that point though. Unlike the London to Cambridge they do make it clear you have to be pretty fit to manage this one, and I doubt many complete novices would attempt to go so far.

[(Anonymous)]

I was tackling Ox-Cam for the first time, on a recumbent (lower wind resistance; rubbish on hills) and I started really quite late. I can confirm that they do indeed send support vehicles out for the stragglers, but I did complete the course after dark (nothing to do with the fact that my 7.5ft-long bike doesn't fit inside a Transit and everything to do with my being pointlessly stubborn). I did have lights, albeit not terribly good ones, but this year there were many people finishing at the same time as me (about 7.50pm) as many of us started late (the bus from Cambridge to the start line left late and got very lost on the way, so lots of people didn't start until almost 11am). However, next time I'd choose to start earlier and finish in daylight. The finish line was still open, fortunately.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

But "the ride's finished" is unequivocal - there's a specified finish time - and while of course the marshals can't stop people riding on the public highway they can definitely wash their hands of them.

[truecatachresis.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It remains astonishing that you weren't really that much slower than the bloody Oxford-Cambridge bus, all things considered...

[lnr]

*giggle*

[(Anonymous)]

My computer said 85.8-ish when I got in at 3pm. Sorry to dash off but the London leg of the trip worked out nicely. For a ride well inside my usual range I found it all a real struggle---at Sandy a local youth on a mountain bike told me "You look well knackered", evidently with a fine eye for detail.

Having the route so thoroughly signposted was strange. I got no sense of the countryside as I was riding it, especially in Bedfordshire where I was out of my knowledge. We might as well have been stuck in the gym. Perhaps slogging along in a growlingly bad temper is also to blame for my not keeping an eye on the view.

HTFB

NB Secret fuel for all long days out of doors: bitter shandy. Available at all retailers, though on this occasion I was glad to take a pint of the fluid out of Old Warden.

Hi Henry

[lnr]

Well, halfway up brick hill you were a lot less cream crackered than I was!

I see a little what you mean about the route, though Mike and I amused ourselves by spotting every church on the route, and being disappointed to miss going to Ireland by a mere 3/4 of a mile.

I was interested to talk to someone who'd done the London to Brighton and said this was much nicer through a) being flatter at the start at least and b) being less overcrowded.

Now I just have to work out what wheel diameter I need if 218cm makes 85.8 miles come out as 87.7 :-)

Re: Hi Henry

[(Anonymous)]

You'd need an inside leg of about 49" to ride a 218cm diameter wheel, though I admit it would look impressive even among other penny-farthings. Try a 213 circumference.

Re: Hi Henry

[lnr]

Ooops. And yeah, that's what my maths says too.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

*retroactively sponsors*

Damn impressive if you ask me. The most I ever cycled in a day was about twenty miles. Once.

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

the Three Locks pub by the canal, Soulbury?

best approached by water... ;-)