This ride was
originally planned for March, but the weather let us down in a major way. This is the new date.
Based on a ride a few of us
did last September, it's a reasonably pleasant ride out of Birmingham, following the Rea Valley cycle route as far as King[']s Norton, before climbing Primrose Hill and taking to the lanes. There's a 24 hour Tesco at Stratford-Upon-Avon about 48km into the ride we can use as a halfway stop. The plan is to reach the stones in the early morning, then head to Banbury (a little over 20km away, mostly downhill) for breakfast and an abundance of trains back to Birmingham, That London, or elsewhere.
Meet on
Friday the 24th of May opposite the ticket office in the part-refurbished Birmingham New Street Station at 23:30 for a midnightish start. It's walkable from Birmingham Moor Street station (follow the signs), or best accessed by road via the taxi drop-off on Hill Street. A map of the new station layout is available here:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/birmingham-new-street-station-map(from28April2013).pdf (the maps on the National Rail accessibility page still show the old layout).
If you want to meet us at Stratford, I expect we'll be at
Tesco between 03:00 and 04:00.
This is an inclusive ride - we go at the pace of the slowest rider (which may be quite slow), nobody's left behind. Sunrise is at 04:59, so we're extremely unlikely to make it to the stones for then. People who haven't done much night-riding before are especially welcome.
The route (updated to avoid Birmingham Pride road closures) is here:
BikehikeGPX downloadRoutesheet:
PDF (for printing)It's
106km / 66miles in total to Banbury station.
The terrain is what I'd describe as 'incessantly rolling', with an unavoidable bastard hill (in two parts) on the way out of Birmingham, and another on the final approach to the stones. Some flat stuff in the Stratford area, though.
Lighting wise, you're going to want something decent up front you can see by. This is largely on unlit lanes with pothole and gravel hazards. Head torches are useful. Obnoxious rear lights shouldn't be necessary, though; other than a couple of taxis in Stratford, I don't think we encountered a car between Primrose Hill and the stones. Make sure you've got enough batteries to last the night (a good 5+ hours).
Weather can be unpredictable
at this time of year, so extra clothing, mudguards, racks,
CAKE, etc. are encouraged. A flask of hot drink or lightweight brew kit wouldn't be a terrible idea, either: The tearoom closest to the stones doesn't open until 9, by which point I expect we'll be in Banbury (which has an adequate weatherspoons with room to lock bikes up at the back). If you bring a poorly-maintained bike, paper-thin tyres or wheels with about 4 spokes in them, then we reserve the right to point and laugh if they go wrong.
Attending:Kim
Basil
Wowbagger
?cycleman (from Stratford)
Polar Bear +1gerwiniumMalRees
Littlewheel
Sergeant Pluck?andrewc
?saturnMcWobble [CycleChat]
turista
nikki
TimOdasmothjanecarl miller [Birmingham Cyclist]
?Jez Higgins [Birmingham Cyclist]
?Simon [Birmingham cyclist]
?Canardly
?interzen
?Cudzoziemiec
Crumbling Nick (if the weather's not too good)
chrisbainbridge
julian hunter [Birmingham Cyclist]
Robert Humphreys [Birmingham Cyclist]
?Andy H [Birmingham Cyclist]
?Midge D [Birmingham Cyclist]
?Cath [Birmingham Cyclist]
Blade +1
14 (23) total
