Well, I'm definately getting Full Value from my Denmead 600 Perm brevet. It's clocked 800km so far.
I drove down to Sutton Scotney and spent a vaguely pleasant night in the back of my MPV in the Sutton Scotney Travelodge carpark and woke up to heavy early mist. Wandered over to the services to get changed and grab a coffee and receipt, moved the car and set off for Denmead circa 6:30. The mist was a bit of a surprise as I was expecting it to be clear overnight in which case it would have been really cold. Whilst the air felt a bit damp - there was a heavy dew - and there was a rather cool southerly wind blowing I soon warmed up and peeled off an outer layer. By the time I reached Denmead the mist had given way to a glorious spring morning. Perfect.
After Denmead the southly headwind turned into a crosswind which was to accompany me most of the ride. I knew the first section of the route was fairly flat so I kept the 75' gear (42x15) I''d used for my last couple of 200km outings. My fitness has improved dramatically since I started riding this year and I was pleased with my form, climbing well out of the saddle and spinning along hard on the drops. I made it up the hill which wound its way up past Old Sarum which was good and was only beaten by one 1:5 ish hill before Bradford which I reached shortly after 4pm, call it 9:30 for 200km. Things were looking good. I knew the next stage was going to be a lot tougher so I turned my wheel round for 71" (42x16) under the watchful eye of a Sainsburys security guard, "You're doing a good job there, are you a pro?". "er, not exactly".
Following my GPS through a side street out of town, it helpfully took me straight up a 1:4 which I of course walked until it joined the main road where I finished off the hill out of town, keenly aware that I only had a few hours of daylight left. The next stage had a couple of info's - Hawkesbury Upton and Wotten under Edge - but I didn't have the info questions so I picked up some receipts instead, which cost some time. A glass of lemonade from the pub in Hawkesbury hit the spot. The barman regretted asking the traditional question ('going far'). Fortunately the route approaches Hawkesbury from the easy side; the same cannot be said of Wotton which has an interesting climb at Alderley (walked) before the main approach to Wotton (rode). The sting in the tail of Wotton is that on the way out the road dips down before climbing up (very) high again. As I headed off down a country lane I realised that I'd made a hash of plotting the route on my GPS and spent some time grovelling around in hilly country lanes before I made my way back to the main route where I resumed the long climb to the top (so I'm 'morally' claiming that one). After that I pushed on to Cirencester arriving around 9:30. I was rather nervous about getting lost on the final approach to the control as the route sheet goes 'off road' at the last so I'd previously decided to stick to the road. This cost me a couple of km but meant that I was sure to arrive. (If you're on the calendar ride make a point of asking Pam exactly where that 'Red and White' gate is!). Leaving I kicked off straight down the A419 but tempted by a signpost for 'The Ampneys' turned to early and found myself heading away from Down Ampney. An adjustment to the GPS saw me heading more or less straight for Castle Eaten, the waypoint beyond Down Ampney, so that was all right. Then it was simply a matter of keeping on keeping on, pushing along mostly country lanes until I approached better known territory on the approach to Lambourn.
I was feeling good as I pushed up the road to Highworth but I had forgotten about the climb immediately after at Ashbury which is beyond me so I walked up only to meet the full force of that southerly wind as I crested the hill. It had been a constant companion for the day, mostly as a crosswind but now I was heading due South, straight into it, and at 1am after and 18hrs+ on the road, it wasn't warm. At this point I realised that a) I was at least 3, probably 4 hours to Sutton Scotney and b) on arrival I would be totally cold and shattered, so I packed into Membury Services. Ho Hum. I don't particularly recommed the tub seats but I managed several hours dozy sleep nonetheless In the morning I hung around long enough to let the day warm up a little and then headed off back to Sutton Scotney. A happy discovery was that the route went through Hungerford so I popped into the Tutti Pole for some Egg on Beans on Toast and a pot of Tea. Excellent. After that I pushed on back to base through yet more glorious but not terribly warm spring sunshine. I played with the idea of doing the second loop anyway but it was past 12 by the time I reached the car and I didnt fancy a midnight finish so that was that.
On the plus side I've had a good day and a half on the bike covering ~425km with good energy levels and 'good legs' all the way round, and the fact is that I've always found 400km a tough distance. On the downside, the Brian Chapman is in three weeks and then there's the little matter of LEL. Happily there is still time and scope to improve so confidence remains high. Ish.
Epilogue: Riding along the Bourne valley, a racing snake passed by, all carbon frame, dura ace and assos. "This headwind is strong, is'nt it", he shouted as he disappeared down the road.
Epilogue 2: The obvious question is why did I pack? I could have taken a sleep break at Membury and then got away before dawn to tackle the second day. I guess once my original schedule was blown I rather switched off but the real answer is that I wasn't fully committed to finishing. I was riding to train and test fitness as much as anything and it was important that I finished in good condition and morale so that I could continue to train. I find it takes me time to recover from a real hard ride, and the real test is in three weeks time.
