Ok, so let’s give this ride report lark a bash.
This being my first season of audax, and not having ridden anything longer than about 125km before last November, I still have huge amounts to learn. It was this lack of knowledge that found me being told after a recent 400km that I now needed a 600km ride for an SR. A quick check of the calendar showed only a couple of free weekends between now and season’s end but no suitable 600 rides so it either had to be a perm or a DIY and that meant riding it alone. Knowing that I would need to ride overnight, I went for the sooner rather than later approach to maximise daylight, grabbed a Flatliner Brevet from Tomsk, took the Friday before the August Bank Holiday off from work and made what plans I could in the few days available.
The day dawned to a beautiful cloudless blue sky, forecast temperatures in the low 70s and a gentle breeze from the North East. Perfect! I grabbed a lift into the start at Dunmow with my wife and spent 5 mins outside her work double checking all my kit before grabbing an ATM receipt at 07:59 and setting off for Yorkshire. The first leg started on familiar roads out to Clare via Finchingfield before heading on to the first control at Red Lodge. A quick stop for water and my go to food of a cheese and onion sandwich and back in the saddle aiming for Whittlesey. Traffic was light for the day before a long weekend and the weather stayed kind and true to forecast all day. Cycling was a real pleasure and progress came easily, if not fast by some standards. I pulled into Whittlesey for a late lunch, another Nisa or Co-Op stop which was to become a feature of this ride. More water and one of the best tuna and sweetcorn baguettes I have tasted in ages.
Refuelled, I sent a quick progress report to my wife who doesn’t understand this audax lark and my daughter who is still at her Uni accommodation having found a summer job and who I planned to meet for breakfast early on Day 2 as I would pass within 500m of her digs. All done, I set off for the third leg over to Boston . This was the hottest leg with temperatures of mid 70’s and few clouds in the sky. The route was pleasant, passing Thorney Abbey with preparations for their flower festival in full swing. I spent much of the leg trying to guess at the derivation of some of the village names along the route. Clearly a lot of Viking influence with lots ending in “by” but how Gosberton or Quadring Eudike got their names eluded me. I reached Boston at going home time and with it being the start of a long weekend, the market square and the eateries were all very busy so I grabbed an ATM receipt, refilled my water bottles, consulted Google and decided on a pizza when I reached Woodhall Spa. I sat in the memorial garden to 617 Squadron aka The Dambusters in the centre of Woodhall and at my pizza just as the light began to fade on a great day’s cycling, rang home and contemplated the night ride to come. Not convinced I would make control 4 at Kirton in Lindsay (275km) before the supermarket there shut, I decided to stock up on enough supplies to last me until the 24 hour services at Goole when I reached Bardney then with an extra layer of clothing added and lights on I set off into the gathering gloom.
I was soon struck by how sparsely populated Lincolnshire can be. It was an inky black, moonless start to the night and even at 9pm there was little or no traffic on many of the lanes in this section, no street lamps in many of the villages and no soul to be seen out and about except for a lone cyclist wending his way north. At Bardney yet another Co-Op saw me stock up on a pie and the obligatory Yorkie bar and sweet goodies for the 75 km to Goole. I lost a bit of sense of time here, just enjoying cycling down quiet country lanes and catching glimpses of local wildlife including owls, bats, a young fox cub that must have been from a very late litter and a badger ambling along with that unique and distinctive gait that badger’s have. I only just remembered to grab an ATM slip at Kirton in Lindsey at half eleven and donning jacket and gloves against the falling temperatures I set off for Goole. Somewhere along here there was a gradual change in outlook. Signposts began to show not just strangely named villages but also bigger industrial centres like Immingham, Leeds, Doncaster and Scunthorpe and light clusters indicated the location of some of these centres of heavy industry in an otherwise dark landscape. The run in to Goole followed the banks of the Ouse, it’s embankments being high above at some points and the port and starboard navigation lights on the river channel clearly visible. I stopped only to snap a picture of my bike by the Welcome to the West Riding of Yorkshire sign.
By the time I reached Goole and the delights of Glews Service Station, I was ready for some hot food and a cup of coffee to ward off the dozy feeling so a 2am McDonalds visit it was and a very strange conversation explaining audax and overnight cycling to three port workers on their night shift lunch break. After 30 mins I set off again for Gainsborough, over half distance and heading south. More pleasant villages, more reminders of the RAF and WW2 airbases that were so common in this part of Lincolnshire in the place names and small memorials. A glow slowly appeared to the east and the sky lightened stage by stage as the new day showed itself. Grabbing a receipt from the 24 hour garage in Gainsborough, I didn’t linger and headed for Lincoln and my planned breakfast with my daughter. A few hills on the outskirts of Lincoln provided a decent photo opportunity over the flat lands to the west, if a little spoiled by the cooling towers of Cottam power station. Reaching Lincoln a little early, I found my daughter had cried off overnight, and my intended early breakfast location was late opening so a quick change of plan saw me grab a coffee and vegan sausage roll from a well known bakery before pushing on. Pushing is an apt word - the steep hill on the outskirts of Lincoln so soon after food saw me off the bike and walking for the only non-roadworks time on the trip. Once at the top and back in the saddle I was into new territory with this ride becoming my longest to date and very quickly I started to suffer some stomach issues, which I am putting down to the food eaten up til now not being my usual diet - another audax newbie attempting to trial things on the long ride! By the time I reached Sleaford, I was in a lot of discomfort and considered jacking it in and taking the train. An enforced longer stop and nature taking its course saw things improved enough to head for Whittlesey and reassess there. This tactic of next town and reassess became important as I never felt 100% from here on in but never felt bad enough that I couldn’t face 25km or so to the next target. I can’t say I enjoyed the run back across the southern Fens, the hot breeze didn’t help and I struggled to consume an ice cream to cool off a bit halfway. Chatteris saw a very quick top up the bottles and grab a snack in case I felt like eating. That now just left a 75km leg back to the start on familiar roads and a couple of familiar hills. Cambridge was successfully navigated without running over a single tourist. I felt I was crawling, though the GPX log says I hadn’t changed pace all ride, but I wasn’t giving in now with only a few KMs to go. A final sting in the tail with 15km to go when I took a chance at a road closed sign and ignored the diversion which I knew added a few extra KMs to the route and ended up with a short section of comedy off road to take the pedestrian only by-pass of the bridge repairs and I finished my first 600km ride in just over 36 hours. Did I enjoy it? Yes, in a masochistic kind of way. I definitely enjoyed the challenge and the route was a good one. I could have done without the stomach issues and I have learned a lot of things that next time I would do differently.
Did I just say “Next time…”?
