Upper Thames 5th November 2022

[Martin]

Not sure that statement is entirely correct LWaB.
Very few Permanents, definitely no diy,s so options minimal.
Guess we just caught up with what our club was doing or long rides with no brevet cards.
Southern reunion etc

I rode my first RRTY in 2006 thanks to El Supremo running a series, there was nothing local prior to that.

wet and windy 200s are fine in the South as long as you have decent clothing don't stop riding or get fairy visits and have plenty of warm places to stop, completely get not riding them if you don't have a points total or RTY to chase

[Martin]

Thanks to everyone that entered, and my admiration to all who started. I'll try and get better weather next time (7/11/2020, by the way).

The 31st will be Halloween next year so unlikely there will be any big firework displays?

[Neil C]

2021 edition is on Saturday 6th November, and I entered a month ago.

However I have just read the last couple of pages and can confirm that Randonnesia does exist. I had forgotten just how wet and windy the ride was in 2019. And that I was last back, with a broken bike.

The good news is that I now have a disc braked bike which should be better able to cope with the conditions .

Hope Phil has put his order in for a still, sunny day.

[Lightning Phil]

The good news is that I now have a disc braked bike which should be better able to cope with the conditions.

But will the fella riding be better able to cope with conditions?

[Neil C]

Probably not. I'm two years older and for the last 18 months I've only been going out on dry days!

[tomj]

Two years older, surely two years wiser?

[halhorner]

I shall look forward to seeing you Neil, will be my first ride of any real distance since the Before Times.

[oggy]

I have entered this ride but have not received a route sheet or gpx am i the only one

[JohnThomas]

Hi all. I am looking to ride this Audax on 6th Nov but I am struggling to download the Gpx file into my Garmin 830. I usually just drag and drop thet downloaded file from my PC into the new files section of my Garmin and although the file is in the Garmin, it doesn't appear in the saved courses list. Any ideas?

[Neil C]

oggy. When I entered I received an email from Phil Dyson, the organiser, saying to download the gpx, info, and routesheet from his website here - https://www.thamesvalleyaudax.co.uk/upper-thames.

JohnThomas. I have just downloaded the gpx from the above site. On my PC it was showing as "Upper Thames 2021". I drag and dropped it into the "New Files" section of my Garmin 530. After disconnecting the Garmin from the PC it does appear in the saved courses but with the title "trk1".

I've never had a name change like that before but maybe "trk1" will be in your saved courses too.

[JohnThomas]

Neil C thanks for reply. Yes it's logged in my Garmin 830 saved courses as trk1 so I guess this is correct and should work as expected once I hit 'ride'?

[Lightning Phil]

GPX can contain multiple tracks and routes and waypoints etc. These can have their own names independent of the GPX file name.   If the creator is paying attention they will rename tracks to something recognisable.

[phil d]

Everyone who entered should have received a confirmatory email within a few hours (usually pretty much instant, but if I've closed my mail server for some reason not until it's turned back on; never more than a few hours). This directs entrants to my website as posted by NeilC above (thanks Neil). I have sent a further email over the last 2 days to all entrants with a bit of extra detail. If you have not had these, get in touch asap - phil at thamesvalleyaudax dot co dot uk. (edited to add - I've just added a link to the content of the recent email at the top of the Upper Thames page, in the red notes, at www.thamesvalleyaudax.co.uk)

I'm sorry about the track name in the gpx file causing confusion. Lightning Phil is absolutely correct and I should have renamed it. A few people have reported problems downloading the gpx file; it is more difficult under the new version of Google Sites that I have been forced to switch to. When you click the link for the gpx file, you will be presented (in a fresh window) the raw gpx data. At the top right of the page is a download icon (a down arrow pointing to a tray). Clicking on that will download the file into your downloads directory, from where you can do what you like with it.

Be aware that the gpx file contains a single very crude track ("trk1" as mentioned above) which, as it has less than 500 trackpoints does not follow the road exactly. It is, however, close enough (especially around junctions) that no confusion should be caused. The file also contains waypoints for the controls, info or otherwise. My experience, with an old eTrex, is that the waypoints only show on the screen at certain zoom levels. More recent devices may well be more flexible. I have no idea how a gpx track might be converted to tcx, but rather assume that as gpx is ubiquitous users with devices that use tcx format (or any other) know how to do it. It's a while since I did an audax, but it was always my practice to get the track on my device and examine it to check that it was complete, and went where expected. It's something of a disaster to start a ride and find the GPS isn't working. Especially if you've not got a copy of the routesheet in a good plastic bag.

Please note that I will NOT be in a position to provide any downloads at the start. You need to get it sorted before you come.

[mattc]

108 starters! A record, TBC.
But likely to be Phil's last year 

Plans in the pot for succession ...

[toontra]

Great ride as always. A bit windy but dry. 3 deflations in the first 25k made for a slow ride but not bothered about that. I needed some roadside repair practice anyway

Will be strange without Phil at the controls (literally as well as figuratively), but I'm sure whoever takes over will do a great job

[postie]

Yet another great upper thames,  first audax event since last march and really enjoyed it
Big thanks to phil and the team.

[Jeff E]

Yet Another great Upper Thames from Phil.   A superb route, which the weather allowed us to fully appreciate.  Phil has set a very high standard.  Thanks Phil for keeping this going for so long. Your successor not be able to improve on it.   

[PAC]

Yet Another great Upper Thames from Phil.   A superb route, which the weather allowed us to fully appreciate.  Phil has set a very high standard.  Thanks Phil for keeping this going for so long. Your successor not be able to improve on it.

Hi Jeff, I think that must’ve been you that said hello when I went past in the Chilterns….hope all is well with you

[Von Broad]

Was feeling very wary about turning out due to not having done virtually anything last couple of years [other than give the dustman back ache lifting my recycling bottle bin into the lorry every other week], and other health issues, but I'm glad I did......but boy, I found it really tough going.

Big thanks for Phil and Mary and all the helpers over the years. Top job. Soup wasn't bad either!
Think I must have done 10 of Phil's 18 yrs on the throne.
I always think it's a nice 200 to ride before the end of the year.
Thanks again.

[De Sisti]

I've already thanked Phil and Mary (and I think it was Brian? helping out). My ride was ruined by my
garmin (which I intended to navigate by) locking up at the start (and despite googling, I have not yet
successfully rebooted it) and by my seat post clamp failing to properly secure my seat post (resulting
in the seat post and saddle swivelling around about a 45 degree arc.


I was returning back to Waterperry to inform Phil of my decision to pack, when I stopped* to offer my
Zefal hpx pump to two roadies in layby. They'd just sorted out their puncture and I told them about my
problem. One of them advised me to use a piece from a coke or beer can and insert it inside the clamp
so that it would help to secure the seat post.


The local litter louts had discarded a beer can nearby, so a piece of it was torn off and used inside
the seat post clamp which helped with the bodge. It stayed firm, but by then, my morale was lower than
a snake's belly, so I continued back to Cholsey to collect my car.




*Earlier when I was faffing about with my seat post, a roadie approached me, slowed down and asked
if everything was ok. I said no, and he just continued riding by.

To me, if you're not prepared to offer any assistance, don't bother asking if everything is ok.

[Von Broad]

Bad luck on the problems.

My ride was ruined by my
garmin (which I intended to navigate by) locking up at the start

I always carry a route sheet as back up.......but....having said that, it's only ever shoved into my rack pack in random fashion with the assumption that 'I should be ok and it's only a back-up'. Strikes me I'm seldom prepared to mount it properly on the bars anyway should my Vista hcx got belly up, which makes a farce of carrying the thing in the first place really. I've always been slightly conscious of audaxing-on-the-edge with only navigating by Garmin alone. I still do it though.

To me, if you're not prepared to offer any assistance, don't bother asking if everything is ok.

quite

[LittleWheelsandBig]

There is always a couple of Post Office rubber bands hooked over my bars or battery headlight so that I can wrap the routesheet over my forearm or on top of my battery headlight if the gps dies. It is the most minimal backup strategy that I can cope with on the road.

People by the side of the road don’t have much wind in their ears and sometimes don’t raise their voice appropriately for riders to hear. I have circled back to check a mumbled ‘ok’ too many times. Now I pragmatically take the approach that a too-quiet response that I can’t actually hear over wind noise means ‘no problem’. An emphatic reply means ‘I have a real problem here and would appreciate some help’. YMMV

Sleeping through my alarm meant that HK and I were almost the last to leave Cholsey and we plodded our way round without too many issues. HK is just starting to build back after some health issues and is still dodging the toughest hills, so we spent more time than most on the main road near the start before accurately following the route. We repeatedly saw a fair few of the later-starting and slower riders on the road and at the controls. My only issue was skipping breakfast beforehand and not having any food at the first control. Apparently breakfast finishes at 11:00 and lunch starts at 12:00. In between, only cake slices, which didn’t appeal one little bit. The last half hour through the headwinds into Chipping Norton, I was running on fumes until I inhaled an omelette and chips to set me up for the final leg.

I haven’t got my Moulton fully dialled in after loaning it for a few weeks. The seat position needed some tweaking and the front suspension damping kept loosening off throughout the ride. Relying on Loctite is dubious when the damping is meant to be adjustable. No major issues but there was somewhat more bobbing on climbs than I would prefer. Time to clean out and Loctite the front damping bolts into submission.

[De Sisti]

As it happens, I did have a routesheet and map as a back-up, but I set out with the determination of
using the Garmin to wholly navigate an audax with for the first time.

[phil d]

There were 112 starters on the day, and 101 finishers (plus two more who got round, but hadn't recorded anything at any control). Also Edwin Raj, who kindly rode the route a few days before to check everything OK - thanks Edwin. Not sure when the results will appear on the AUK website - they are submitted, but the old year has to be closed off first.

I think most people enjoyed it (some more in retrospect, I'm sure). The weather was relatively benign, and I'm told the firework displays were particularly good.

As ever I am indebted to all those who helped me run the event - Matt Chambers and John Wakeham at the start, Brian Mann (a complete star) at start and finish, and Mick Simmons and Carole at the finish. And of course Mary, without whose support it just couldn't have happened. I am very grateful for the particularly large number of entries (over 160 entered), and the generous donations. It looks as though about £600 will be going to the Air Ambulance.

As Matt says above, I have decided it's time to hang up my organiser's hat. I've been running Upper Thames for 18 years, plus a few other events in the Reading area occasionally, but now have little involvement with cycling other than this. I've had a great deal of enjoyment from audax, both as a rider and an organiser. It is clear from fields like yesterday that our sport is in a healthy condition. I understand there may be someone interested in continuing this event. If that proves correct (or if someone else comes forward) I will be very happy to give my support in the planning and "on the day". So hopefully I'll see you all next year.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Like a few others, this was my first calendar event since March last year and highly enjoyable, not least of which was catching up with people I hadn't met in a long while.  I'm slower up the hills than I used to be, but still seem to have the power to battle headwinds.  That meant I could act as a windbreak a few times around the route.  It was great to ride to the finish with Jeff E, we worked out that the first time we had met was on the Rural South in 2004.

Thanks Phil and Mary for all your efforts over the year, not least as controllers as Eskdalemuir (2009), Barnard Castle (2013) and St Ives (2017) on LEL.  The food yesterday was excellent and saw me through the 40km ride home afterwards.