Old Roads and Drove Roads 200, 31/08/2014

[Somnolent]

Pete can say how he felt (on 25's).

Shaken, not stirred.

Sheriously, 28s might be better if you have a set already, but you'll get through OK on 25s, so I wouldn't rush out and buy anything special.

[Cycling Daddy]

Seems like the damp weather all happened last weekend, great forecast this weekend. Looking forward to this
L

[vorsprung]

Pete can say how he felt (on 25's).

Shaken, not stirred.

Sheriously, 28s might be better if you have a set already, but you'll get through OK on 25s, so I wouldn't rush out and buy anything special.

42mm at the back and 50mm at the front.  Wish me luck

[mattc]

AFAICT we have no control distances (until we get our Cards). So here's my totals:

30km GBedwyn
46.4 Pewsey
-infos- ...
85 Tilshead
107 Warminster
145 Melksham
214 (!) Arrivee

P.s. dearest Org: can we assume there will be no substantial food at the start?

[marcusjb]

Pete can say how he felt (on 25's).

Shaken, not stirred.

Sheriously, 28s might be better if you have a set already, but you'll get through OK on 25s, so I wouldn't rush out and buy anything special.

42mm at the back and 50mm at the front.  Wish me luck

You riding a fat bike?!

35mm Marathons on our steed (the usual touring tyre - the bike has been treated to a spell on 28mm rocket ship tyres recently). 

[Cycling Daddy]

I just have 28s but will bring a good collection of tubes, a spare tyre and pump rather than CO₂

[iddu]

AFAICT we have no control distances (until we get our Cards). So here's my totals:
:
214 (!) Arrivee

P.s. dearest Org: can we assume there will be no substantial food at the start?

208 nominal; you're 6 over at Warminster.

29.5   Gt Bedwyn   
16.9   Pewsey   
32.7   Tilshead   
22.2   Warminster   101.3

38.5   Melksham   
68.3   Sparsholt           106.8
-------            
208.1

>Food
Correct; no overnighting, so no full english - there may be a drum up & stale garabaldi from the rear of the cupboard....

[mattc]

Ta!

[iddu]

>Food
Correct; no overnighting, so no full english - there may be a drum up & stale garabaldi from the rear of the cupboard....

But there will be vittles at Arrivée...

[L CC]

We're entered  but alas it seems we will have no bike. I won't let Chris ride further than 100k solo, and certainly not up any hills of a non East Angular nature.
*sigh*

[marcusjb]

We've a spare tandem - not sure we can get it to Sparsholt as well (I've only hired a little van cos new tandem splits into bits). Check out the classifieds for sizes etc. - Landescape say it's good for well over 6 footers up front.

PM me if any interest/ideas (if you were driving across tomorrow etc. we could maybe work something out) - we're in Twickenham these days.

[vorsprung]

42mm at the back and 50mm at the front.  Wish me luck

You riding a fat bike?!

35mm Marathons on our steed (the usual touring tyre - the bike has been treated to a spell on 28mm rocket ship tyres recently).

It's just a normal 29er mtb with touring type of tyres on it
Might be a bit on the slow side on the road sections
Proper "fat bike" tyre sizes start at 75mm

[marcusjb]

We'll no doubt be slow on the road sections and the off-road sections!

[Cycling Daddy]

We'll no doubt be slow on the road sections and the off-road sections!

Always a good idea to go for full value expect to be carrying the 'lanterne rouge'  Packing plenty of inner tunes and a spare tyre.  Really looking forward to this

[marcusjb]

Always a good idea to go for full value

Going to be hard work, especially coming off the back of a podium in my last audax  . But, tearing the legs off my stoker on her first ever official 200 could well make it her last!

[Chris S]

Always a good idea to go for full value

Going to be hard work, especially coming off the back of a podium in my last audax  . But, tearing the legs off my stoker on her first ever official 200 could well make it her last!

Pfft! It's up to her how hard she works - you can tear it up at the front if you like, and she can just soft pedal and let you get on with it .

Thanks for the offer of a ride - I'm just not fit enough at the moment; we'd hoped I would be which was why we entered, but a DNF on the (flat!) Mildenhall 200 showed me the awful truth.

The looooong slow build up to PBP starts now, with 50km rides  .

[iddu]

We'll no doubt be slow on the road sections and the off-road sections!

Always a good idea to go for full value expect to be carrying the 'lanterne rouge'  Packing plenty of inner tunes and a spare tyre.  Really looking forward to this

Well, 31 off into the wilds- wonder how many I'll get back

Everybody wants to be  'lanterne rouge' - that could be interesting...

[marcusjb]

We were doing well at lanterne rouge duties (though we didn't know cycling daddy had made an underhanded attempt at stealing our glory by starting late).

Sadly the Salisbury turnpike was too much for this little tandem team. Arms were not up to wrestling and moving the bike around the potholes.

Just waiting for vale of pewsey lamb rump and all the trimmings.

[Cycling Daddy]

Well I was a DNF too so you will have to share that glory.  A great ride I look forward to completing next year.  Lessons learned are simple
1.  Check the start time allow time to check kit
2.  After purchasing extra inner tubes in anticipation of a puncture fest remember to pack them in the bag
3.  When you have new wheels practice changing inner tube.  This way you find out if your lever is strong enough in the comfort of your own home.  In fact there is a lot to be said for building your own bike.

[marcusjb]

I hope some more people made it back, or are they still out there?

Just to expand on the above, we had a fabulous day,the weather was superb and the first section of the ride (65km or so) was so good we had to ride it twice! 

We were being a little ambitious trying this on the tandem - though stuff like the forest track was just fine.  But the turnpike was just too much for us - the bigger stones and the potholes made for what was looking like a step too far, so my first ever event DNF (I have managed the DIY DNF for the first time this year as well we a knackered freehub) as we decided 10km of that was just going to take the fun away.

We headed back down the road and ended up at Upavon for a fine Sunday roast, before retracing the route back from pewsey. We still got around 140km on the clock, enjoyed ourselves, ate ice creams; so a success in many ways!

A little dissapointed not to get to imber as we were both looking forward to that - another time for sure.

But massive thanks for iddu for putting on something definitely different and enjoyable.  And chapeau to all those who got around what must have been a tough day in the saddle.

Solos next time.

[vorsprung]

I got back at 6:30-ish, just over 11 hours.  I was riding a rather odd bike, a Karate Monkey 29er with a 2" semi slick front wheel.  On the gravel sections it could do the downhill bits at pretty much full speed.  It drifted a bit coming off the ridgeway but other than that it was totally great for those sort of roads.  It was a bit slow and heavy on anything else.

this is the start of the gravel track in the restricted area.  This bit is pretty good
I was overtaking people on the gravel sections but a few people seemed able to keep up with me or ride ahead even just using normal road bikes.  Dunno how they managed that.  The gravel sections were good in parts, fairly smooth and bad in other parts.  The surface was made from large lumps in some places and in other places there were many water filled potholes.  I was frequently jumping the bike over potholes or down ledges.  I wouldn't have done that on a normal bike.  Saw one person fixing a flat and told him to get back on the military road like the signs said


The view from the top of Salisbury plain was great on the bright day.  The village of Imber was eerie even though it was sunny and there were plenty of people there. 
The route was good, nice roads, no heavy traffic.

I think I was the only one at the start that didn't say "I'll be the last in"
I had to ride as fast as possible and then rush from the finish control to Newbury to get the last fast train to Devon.  Would have been good to take it easy and take more photos

[andyoxon]

That was a great ride (& my second 200), in near perfect weather (IMO); thanks to Pat and the team. 

I'd been looking forward to the SPTA in particular , and wasn't disappointed.  The first thing that struck me was the wide open space, the quiet.   Went for the full value experience, taking photos, soaking up the scenery, pub lunch (Old Bell in Warminster), and while not quite lantern rouge (I think) arrived back at about 9pm!  The bonus of this was seeing the sunset around Hackpen/Barbury castle.  The hardest track IMO was the ridgeway, very stoney.  I had to walk up some of Clyffe Pypard and Hackpen, as didn't seem to have the legs at that point; at any rate probably walked faster than I would have ground up on the bike.  No p*nctures (having taken 3 inner tubes) - so the 32mm Pasela TG's held up well.  IMO the best descent was at the top out of Warminster down to Imber - smooth road, quite gradual and fast, great views.  Good to meet people during the day, including cycling daddy.

Here are some pics...  (More here  https://www.flickr.com/photos/25983110@N05/sets/72157647112549525/)

Sky at the start...

P1010701 by ao, on Flickr

In Savernake Forest...

P1010716 by ao, on Flickr

Top of Redhorn Hill - beginning of the SPTA section...
P1010726 by ao, on Flickr

Heading down into Larkhill area on the old Chippenham to Salisbury turnpike road...

P1010740 by ao, on Flickr

Short video clip of the view around here...
https://flic.kr/p/p1Kmgo

Mini lake, and cows on Larkhill...  (Looking North)
P1010768 by ao, on Flickr

Track turned to tar...
P1010775 by ao, on Flickr

Imber.

P1010798 by ao, on Flickr

Over the top to Warminster...
P1010801-001 by ao, on Flickr

Side track along the way (closed all year!)...

P1010805-001 by ao, on Flickr

Roast at the Old Bell in Warminster...  2 for the price of one, and best 'cycling lunch' I've had.  Only had to wait ~10min for it to arrive.

P1010810-001 by ao, on Flickr

Looking down to Imber on the return...
P1010816-001-P1010822-001 by ao, on Flickr

OOF flavour of the sunset from Hackpen...
P1010836-001 by ao, on Flickr

[iddu]

^^^

Coo, must sign up for that next time, looks gorgeous - I do like to give interesting ride

Thanks to everyone that came. Definite "we took it on the chin" feeling for your glorious day

Interesting that most thought the Ridgeway section worse than the Turnpike.

No guarantees, but I'll keep an eye on the SPTA newsletter.

[iddu]

>Roast at the Old Bell in Warminster...  2 for the price of one, and best 'cycling lunch' I've had.  Only had to wait ~10min for it to arrive.

Noted, & turnaround duly moved if and when. Apol's for the brunch issue, but we obviously lost something between us on the way...

[marcusjb]

Track turned to tar...
P1010775 by ao, on Flickr

No doubt just over the hill from where we thought &*^( this for a game of soldiers)!

It really struck us just how unpopulated the whole area is (not just the bit where the army play with their guns obviously) - for someone who's cycling territory starts to run out about Lambourn, it is just amazing riding through all those fields and rolling hills.  Especially with the crops being harvested and everything - all very cool.  Felt very french in parts.