Tim Hall said:I was audaxing on Saturday, the Brass Monkey. 100km, over
Farthing Down, Bletchingly, Outwood, Smallfield, Copthorne,
Turners Hill, Sharpthorne, Hartfield. Coffee and cake,then
return via various places including Penshurst (info control,
name of cafe) then towards Edenbridge, Godstoneish, Tilburstow
Hill, Bletchingly, _up_ the now vertical face of the North
Downs, over Farthing Down again and back yo DDs cafe for beans
on toast.
As promised I did the Down Ampney 200 on Saturday. I'd ridden through
the night from Twickers to get there. I had intended to arrive in time
to get 3 or 4 hours sleep but was delayed by a number of factors -
the 25 mph headwind, which thankfully slackened in the small hours, a
rear wheel puncture near Didcot, and taking a wrong turning at Wantage
and having to map read my way back onto the route.
By the time I arrived at the village hall it was 6 a.m. so I settled
down to wait for people to arrive. At about 7 o'clock the hall was
opened up and I dumped my camping stuff, got a cuppa and changed my
clothes.
I toddled out into the car park at about 2 minutes to 8 to see that
most of the field had already started a little prematurely. I hadn't
intended to try for a fast time, but as I was feeling quite sleepy by
this time and had a nice big bunch in front of me I decided to chase
hard just to wake myself up.
As I caught up with the group I saw that it had split already so I
decided to jump across. As I did so I saw that the group in front had
already split. In fact the field had already split into 5 sub groups
and it took me about 5k to catch the leading one. I didn't think I'd be
able to stay with them once the route went steeply uphill as I had
already done 140k to get to the start, and I was not exactly on the
lightest of bikes. However, I thought that a fast run for the first 50k
would give me time to have a leisurely breakfast at the control in
Calne, get a little rest, and still give me plenty of time to trundle
round the rest of the route.
Sure enough as we hit the first notable hill the group split with me
adrift between the 2 knots of riders. Gradually the gap between the
leaders and me, and between me and the group behind lengthened and I
settled in for a bit of a slog. As we approached the first of the white
horses, however, the road became incredibly steep and I was reduced to
winding it up on the granny ring. I was caught and dropped by about 4
riders until the route levelled out again and we regrouped. We were now
bowling along at about 40 kph and everything was just fine until 5k
short of the control I again felt the rear tyre go soft.
Instead of changing it there I decided to ride the last 5k with it
flat, get some breakfast and change the tube when I felt a bit fresher.
So I arrived at the Calne control with plenty of time in hand, tucked
into scrambled egg, mushrooms and beans and got my breath back a bit.
By the time I had eaten and got the tube changed I had been at the
control for 50 minutes so it was time to get a move on again. However,
I had only gone about 20k when I got my 3rd puncture in that wheel. I
decided to see how far I could get just by pumping the tyre up and
found that it would stay rideable for about 10k, which I thought would
do me until the Amesbury control. After pumping it up a few times,
however, it suddenly refused to hold air at all. I suspect actually
that I had picked up a second puncture in the same tube. I therefore
made my 3rd tube change and toddled off again. You can be sure that I
took plenty of time checking the tyre for foreign bodies. I turned the
whole tyre inside out and probed every inch of it. Nothing.
10k later the same thing happened and I was again reduced to pumping
the tyre up every few kilometres. I had a 4th tube with me but I was
very reluctant to put it in.
I finally arrived at the Amesbury control with a flat tyre and about
half an hour to spare. I was told that there were 2 riders behind me
but I later learned that they had packed. In fact one of them had had
his bike stolen at the Calne control and was understandably a most
unhappy person. I had a quick bite and a coffee at this stop then set
off to look for a bike shop. I found one not too far away and went in
to buy a tire. This is definitely mountain bike city and the choice of
700c tyres was somewhat limited. I settled for a 25mm Stelvio Rain,
which I worried would not be rugged enough, and bought 3 new tubes. I
changed the tyre and gave the old Conti UGS to the shopkeeper with
instructions to ritually slaughter it.
Getting back to the route I arrived back at the Amesbury control which
had now been closed for 20 minutes, so I set off for the next one,
which was an info only. My planned trundle was not on and I was going
to have to race if I wanted to be in time.
Coming out of Amesbury we passed within sight of Stonehenge, allegedly,
so this was actually Windymiller's projected ride - London to
Stonehenge although possibly not by the most direct route. In fact I
could see a car park in the distance, but I couldn't make out the
monument itself. No matter because I had to press on and I had made
half an hour back on the schedule by the time I got to the info
control.
The control was the name of the school on the left of the village.
There was the school. It didn't have a name. Nada. No villagers around.
Maybe there's another school? I rode up and down the village a few
times until I was certain this was the only school. There was a
planning permission notice on the gate which referred to the
"Bumblebee Day Nursery", so I wrote that down, noted on the brevet
card that the building next door was called "Old School House" and
hoped for the best. I learned afterwards that the sign had been taken
down for repainting, and my entry was not challenged. However, I had
again wasted a lot of time and I was now 10 minutes behind the
elimination time again.
It was now just a 40k time trial back to Down Ampney, and it was
getting dark. As the light failed so did the batteries in my head
torch. As it got dimmer I could just about read the computer but I
couldn't see the route instructions. I had to keep stopping to read
them by holding them in front of the lamp on my bars. It was now a
series of flat out efforts interspersed with excruciatingly slow stops
to navigate. Finally I picked up a road sign for Down Ampney.
Navigation was no longer a problem but I only had 15 minutes to get
there. At last I reached the village. A moment's panic as I couldn't
remember where the village hall was, but I took the correct turn and
found it. I sprinted across the gravel car park and flung open the
doors of the hall waving my brevet card, and with 4 minutes to spare.
I had now been riding more or less for 25 hours, so I decided to camp
out rather than go straight back to Twickenham. I found a nice secluded
spot and spent the night not far from the control, having no trouble at
all getting off to sleep.
Next day was a gentle ride back, hilly, but with the wind at last
behind me for most of the way. When I finally got home I decided to
weigh the bike to find out just how heavy it was fully loaded. I
brought the bathroom scales down to the garage and stepped on. 11 stone
12.5 lbs. Then I picked the bike up, with an effort, and stepped back
on - 16 stone 10.5 lbs. 2 pounds short of 5 stone - that's 68 lbs.
No wonder it was tough over the hills. Of course it was lighter than
that without the camping gear on the audax itself - probably around
50 lbs.
My left knee has become quite sore on the ride home and has been fairly
stiff since. I was planning to do High Wycombe next weekend but I'll
have to see how the knee holds up between now and then. If I do do it
it will just be a trundle.
--
Dave...