Sat 06/12/2014 - The South of Bucks Winter Warmer

[JamesBradbury]

A slight risk of icey patches at first, but looks like it will be a beautiful day.

Annoyingly I've come down with a chest infection, and my wife is not much better, so we'll be DNS.   

[marcusjb]

^ sorry to hear it.

Looks like a cold day - maximum of 3 degrees according to the Norwegians.  But some sunshine in the afternoon, little chance of rain and quite still.  Sounds alright.

[alfapete]

I've chickened out of the work's Christmas ice skating for fear of breaking a bone. Hope I don't get my comeuppance tomorrow!
It'll be fine after the first hour (I hope)

[mattc]

I'm  wimping out: H&S!

(plan was to ride down to the first info from home - 0715-ish start,  so nice lightening sky. But I know of at least 1 perpetual water leak en-route -  and i'll be alongside the Thames after that - so the ice risk has made my mind up.
Nothing to do with how flippin cold it felt when the sun went down this evening, oh no! )

WIll probably pop down to Pangbourne later on instead. I expect mockery.

[marcusjb]

WIll probably pop down to Pangbourne later on instead. I expect mockery.

Mockery?

I will throw stones at you for being such a wuss.

No - understandable for any early starters (like myself) to be wary of ice, we've had some rain here in south-west London this afternoon and it's now absolutely clear and temperatures are on the way down.

The first stretch of my ride should be on decent roads and will allow me to make a judgement as to which route to take.  Should be fine.

[Bianchi Boy]

PAC and I will be using a horseless carriage to the start as we are are scared of frozen water.

BB

[PAC]

Indeed....wearing full winter kit tomorrow & running the tyres 10psi lower

[Mike Conway]

I have a stretch of about 300m of a short steep hill and even steeper descent on un-gritted suburban streets to leave my house in the morning and it's already very icy out there... might be a walk to the main road. Yeah, perhaps I over-egged the 'weather looking good' bit.

[Mike Conway]

Well that ended up being a great ride - just a bit of frost about and ice on the sides of the roads, but I didn't see any danger... it certainly could have been worse. Sure it was cold, but the glorious winter sunshine made up for it.

Superb route and company - the countryside after Alton and then again the 20km stretch of lanes after the right hand turn-off the A4074 descent and the Wheatley services my favourite bits. Aston Hill was nice too - not done that before - like a little col on the continent.

My legs felt pretty good - riding the first half with blueskies and the second bit solo. Finished just before 5pm.

Thanks to Terry for organising - really glad the SBWW is back.

[marcusjb]

Echo that.  It was a great day to be out.  Sure, it was cold (it was really cold on my way over to the start this morning), but a bit of sunshine and little in the way of wind made it very enjoyable.  Or it would have been enjoyable if my legs were working.  Struggled from the moment I left the house - empty legs.

Great route using mostly quiet roads, but not little lanes that could be super tricky in winter etc. - some really nice bits that I knew and didn't.  Generally flattish.  That climb out of Pangbourne is a toughy, especially on t'cog.  That climb at the very end, well, that was too much for tired legs, even on 67 inches, so I had to swap onto the 24 inch. 

I guess cos it's a PBP season, the weird and wonderful come out to play including a velomobile.  Anyone with their Eye Spy book of slightly unusual bicycles would have scored highly at one point when there was a little trio of slightly odd machines; a bent, a tandem and a fixed in a line. 

Beaconsfield services is a bizarre place - as is Wheatley really - these services are like the new shopping malls or something.  They are so big.  But, they do work well for hungry audaxers.  I rolled in about 6 and wolfed down a curry and rice.  Nice.

275km on the clock for the day.  A new record on the fixed. 

Massive thanks to Terry, Sue and helpers - good to see you back.

[jochta]

Really enjoyed today. Excellently thought out route and great weather, a little frosting on some of the smaller roads but saw nothing hazardous. I was well layered and apart from cold toes early on it was fine temperature wise. Really liked the motorway services as controls, easy to keep the bike in sight (especially at Oxford) and loads of options for eating and drinking. Better than faffing about in little cafés in some respects. The controls were nicely spaced too. I hit the A-road between Marlow and Bourne End at rush hour so that was a bit hectic and less enjoyable but 99% of motorists were patient and left plenty of room. The climb up Kiln Lane at the end was a bit of a sting in the tail! Had company with a guy called Simon (not sure if he posts on here) for the first 100km which was great, we had a natter and shared the lead which meant we made awesome time. The 2nd half was mostly on very familiar roads for me (especially between Pangbourne and Wheatley) and I was on my own. I like Aston Hill, nice n steady, better than Whitchurch which has that long interminable run to Woodcote afterwards.

And that's my first RRtY completed too 

Thanks to Terry & Co. for a great day

John

[bhoot]

Great day - thanks Terry and Co.  We decided that riding out from East London was not the best idea for a cold December morning, so we got that bit over and done with on Friday evening and stayed at the Ibis where the super helpful reception guy found a snug and secure space for the tandem.

From the start the sunshine was beautiful and most of the roads were great. Best moments were probably the red kites overhead on the run up from Pangbourne (looking very red in the low afternoon sun), the sunset just before Wheatley and the moon rise as we left - huge and orange.  Worst moment was a sense of humour failure and near tumble at the foot of Kiln Lane when we just couldn't get into the small chainring - eventually solved by getting off the bike and pushing the derailleur across manually! Bicycle maintenance tomorrow whilst it pours with rain.....

Nice to meet up with others and chat at the various cafes and service areas. We kept passing and being passed by the Dulwich Paragon posse in hare and tortoise style (about 6 times I think and we were definitely the tortoise) Well done to Clair (or Clare, sorry didn't get the spelling) from that group on completing her first 200. Also I hope Jim B, another 200km first timer, managed to finish OK.

We too enjoyed the motorway service areas in a funny sort of way. Not being motorists we don't normally get to visit them. Definitely agree they offered a decent choice of food and drink, maybe slight expensive (cheapest tea and coffee we found at Beaconsfield was in the Wetherspoons ). Too wimpish to ride all the way back so went to Gerrards Cross to pick up the train to Marylebone.

[hellymedic]

Nice to read I'm not the only one who thinks motorway services can be wonderful for a long-distance cyclist!
They're almost wasted on the drivers who won't usually be as hungry/thirsty/bursting...

[i cycle]

Really enjoyed the day riding with my usual partner Mr G and guy named Michael that he managed to persuaded to join him. Excellent route , struggled a bit on the hills due to still recovering from the cold and not been out much latley.
Also it was a shame to come across a rider knock off his bike by vehicle near the end, I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is not badly hurt.

[Huff n Puff]

Despite me standing at the till wearing helmet and cycling gear at Wheatley Services, the cashier asked, 'any fuel?'
I pointed at the nice warm Cornish Pasty I'd just stuck on the counter....lead free and, shock horror, a great tax dodge as there's no Petroleum Revenue Tax to pay those greedy thieves at the Treasury.

[marcusjb]

Also it was a shame to come across a rider knock off his bike by vehicle near the end, I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is not badly hurt.

Sorry to hear that and I hope if they read this, they are not badly hurt as well.

[gustibus]

Cold day but I enjoyed it greatly. My last ride over 100 miles was in July so I was expecting a bit of pain and that came to pass during the last 40KM where my average speed dropped noticeably, no crying though as my tear ducts had frozen solid....

Highlights included the sunset / moonrise as noted above, which looked incredible, and lowlights were freezing on the way into Marlow on the never ending descent and having to walk part of Kiln Lane. I was grinding my way up slowly but then 4 cars arrived from both directions at the same time and I had to get off, found it impossible to get going again and the walk of shame ensued 

Good roads, with a very thougtful route that took into account the time of year. Bit busier than ideal but clear of any ice which worked out well given the temps.

Many thanks to Terry and all of the assistants for a well organised and excellent day out.

[Cycling Daddy]

'the walk of shame ensued'  I  find this at odds with my personal philosophy and strange idea.  I use whatever means are at y personal disposal to complete a ride, includes pushing my bike/carrying my bike and stopping for breathers and snacks.  The alternative is not to cycle or to avoid all routes with significant ups .  Definitely a well chosen  route good to see a well attended event. 

[Huff n Puff]

Sorry to hear that and I hope if they read this, they are not badly hurt as well.
[/quote]

That suggests that you only hope they are not badly hurt if they read your post!
 

[marcusjb]

Sorry to hear that and I hope if they read this, they are not badly hurt as well.

That suggests that you only hope they are not badly hurt if they read your post!
 
[/quote]

Ha!  True enough!  Bad English on my part.

If they don't read it, they won't care whether I wish them well or not!  But, of course, I do hope they weren't hurt either way. 

[LMT]

Good ride, last 6km came as a bit of a shock following a fairly speedy burn from Wheatley.

Highlights for me were the sun set, and before that on the way to Pangbourne, were a herd of six deer majestically crossing the road by leaping the respective hedges.

It was cold but nice Winter weather with no rain and very little (if any) wind.

Thanks to Terry and Co for organising.

[bhoot]

on the way to Pangbourne, were a herd of six deer majestically crossing the road by leaping the respective hedges.

We saw those too, so either a) you were just ahead of us then or b) there were lots of deer crossing the road at various times or c) there were only 6 deer but they kept going backwards and forwards!

[Chris F.cc]

It was an excellent event, beautiful frosted fields to start, peaceful lanes later. The best of autumn/winter in England
I also did the walk of shame up Kiln Lane. I couldn't restart on the gradient after stopping when an ambulance came down. It's unsettling to realise today that the ambulance was attending one of us.

Also it was a shame to come across a rider knock off his bike by vehicle near the end, I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is not badly hurt.

Does anyone collate the statistics on Audax accidents? I guess early Saturday evenings in December are one of the times car drivers are more likely to feel an intolerant surge of  "WTF are these idiots doing out on bikes?"
Get well soon sir.

[matthew]

Does anyone collate the statistics on Audax accidents?

The organiser is required to provide details of accidents back to AUK, I recall seeing an annual summary in Arrive on at least a couple of occasions detailing type of incident, severity and an indication of cause. e.g. ice, pothole or driver inattention.

[Cycling Daddy]

Also it was a shame to come across a rider knock off his bike by vehicle near the end, I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is not badly hurt.

Does anyone collate the statistics on Audax accidents? I guess early Saturday evenings in December are one of the times car drivers are more likely to feel an intolerant surge of  "WTF are these idiots doing out on bikes?"
Get well soon sir.

Yes there is  detailed breakdown of crash statistics I have seen it in Arrive though I am not sure who does this.  As regards the crash what I saw was a case of failing to see the cyclist.  The car passed me without me being particularly aware in the way that I would have been if they were too close: there were no elements of a punishment pass or intolerance.  The cyclist hit had lights and was riding in an appropriate position in a steady fashion.  Whilst being visible he was not I suspect noticed by the driver (who then drove off and later returned I gather).  Whether not being seen is more common at night or in the day is  hard to glean form statistics since the number of riders varies, the time of day it is dark etc.  roads may be more or less urban. 

Being hit from behind is one of those things about which we can do little apart from being ultra visible, educating drivers and maybe active zero tolerance policing.  I think there are other things we can do to be better prepared for this and other incidents which I will post  about separately.
Do hope you get a good recovery Nigel, if you are reading this.  It was a big relief when you started to crack jokes with us but I expect you will not remember.  Hope to see you on the road again soon

Les