Author Topic: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October  (Read 3514 times)

Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« on: 10 August, 2018, 10:30:23 am »
Hello All,

Start your Audax New Year with a resurrected old favourite.

Alan Mason ran a popular audax called 'Beyond the Dyke' but this disappeared off the calendar when Alan retired. Having heard a number of people call for its resurrection, I decided to relaunch the event for this year's Beacon RCC organised autumn audax.

Terrain

The event has moderate climbing with 1.75AAA.  The steady gradients are concentrated on the traverse of Brown Clee, Bleddfa and Abberley hill.   In between there are plenty of gentler and picturesque sections through the upper and lower Teme valleys.  With the early autumnal colours it should be a ride to remember.  The countryside varies between the high rolling hills surrounding The Marches to the deep river valleys of north-west Worcestershire.  You will also pass under the impressive Knucklas viaduct on the Heart of Wales line.

Stops

Alan's choice of route was clearly sensible in terms of positioning controls at equal lengths where food can be purchased.  I will provide riders with a small map of available cafe or shop options at each free control.  Whist not an official control, Knighton has plenty of cafes if required.

GHQ

I will be providing cakes, beef and veggie chilli-con-carne which was a hit last year.  Porridge, bananas and/or toast will also be available before the start.

Controls

Start/Finish:  Belbroughton,   Near junction 4 of the M5, to the south of Birmingham and Black Country.
Free controls: Craven Arms; Presteigne and Tenbury Wells
Info controls: Cleobury North, Dolau and Hartlebury.

Full Details: http://beaconrcc.org.uk/audaxes/autumn-beyond-the-dyke/

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28170384





I look forward to seeing you all.

Regards

Philip
Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/

whosatthewheel

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #1 on: 10 August, 2018, 10:50:22 am »


I will be providing beef and veggie chilli-con-carne which was a hit last year. 



It was, I am sold...

U.N.Dulates

  • aka John Hamilton
Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #2 on: 11 August, 2018, 11:12:13 am »
 :thumbsup: I expect we'll be there.

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #3 on: 11 August, 2018, 10:00:09 pm »
Hi Philip,

Looks like a great route.

It is good to see you posting after your troubles on the the Bushley 100 last month. Hope that you are fully recovered  :)

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #4 on: 11 August, 2018, 10:34:39 pm »
Never done a 205km Audax and the furthest I've ridden in a day is 106 miles so wondered if this event would be suitable for a reasonably fit 58 year old with the climbing it entails?

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #5 on: 12 August, 2018, 12:39:51 pm »
Never done a 205km Audax and the furthest I've ridden in a day is 106 miles so wondered if this event would be suitable for a reasonably fit 58 year old with the climbing it entails?

That is always a difficult question to answer when I am not personally familiar with your strength or riding potential.

Distance wise your 106 miles is not far short of the 127 miles event distance.  As for hills, I am not going to profess that it is flat but it is a mix of gentle sections combined with some lumps but no steep gradients, just long ones.  For the most part, the roads are fairly decent with the most lanes in the first quarter.  A factor to consider is completion time versus your normal speed as you will have 13h34m to complete the ride.   In your risk calculation, you can always factor in Leominster rail station as an emergency bail out option.

It is two months until the event by which time you will have benefited from more summer riding. 

Hopefully, we'll meet in October.
Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #6 on: 12 August, 2018, 04:01:02 pm »
Hi Phil,

Thanks for the reply and recently completed Ride London 100 miler in just over seven hours even after heavy rain and strong winds riding with three fellow club mates so I am pretty confident I will get around somehow in 13hrs 34 mins and as you say there are a few bail out options if necessary. Planning on riding 115 miles this Tuesday to my caravan in North Wales and returning a day or two later.

Thanks
Alan

whosatthewheel

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #7 on: 12 August, 2018, 04:25:57 pm »
Hi Phil,

Thanks for the reply and recently completed Ride London 100 miler in just over seven hours even after heavy rain and strong winds riding with three fellow club mates so I am pretty confident I will get around somehow in 13hrs 34 mins and as you say there are a few bail out options if necessary. Planning on riding 115 miles this Tuesday to my caravan in North Wales and returning a day or two later.

Thanks
Alan

Ride London is at the completely opposite end of the spectrum... wide closed roads, large pelotons of riders and with the exception of Leith/Box hill, completely flat.
I would say riders who complete a 200 km Audax in 8 hours, would probably do RL 100 in 5 hours, so using the same metrics, you should be in the 11-12 hours bracket, give or take.

If you are open minded to a different experience and to be a bit more self sufficient (no signage, no marshals, no organised feeding stops, no mechanics en route and no broomwagon), I would say you will enjoy the event.

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #8 on: 12 August, 2018, 04:57:53 pm »
Thanks for the reply and I have already completed a few shorter Audaxes so I am aware of what it entails, finding your own way, no back up etc and my Wahoo recorded approx 4000ft of ascent on Ride London even though we did not complete Box Hill as it was closed when we arrived.

Cheers
Alan

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #9 on: 22 September, 2018, 05:17:48 pm »
Route and event details have now been e-mailed to entrants, so please check your spam filters if the message is not shown in your in-tray.

Cakes ordered :)

The event is nearly virtually full and will be closed to entrants within a matter of hours.   Sorry but entries on the day are not accepted.

Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #10 on: 05 October, 2018, 01:51:32 pm »
There's been a definite improvement in the forecast for this ride - it should start off wet but by mid morning it should start to dry up.

whosatthewheel

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #11 on: 06 October, 2018, 10:40:42 am »
will look out for the list of finishers... proper day for the audacious...

hence not my day  :thumbsup:

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #12 on: 06 October, 2018, 10:51:03 am »
Argh. I know Philip will have pushed the boat out to try and give riders a good time. It's a bugger when the weather doesn't cooperate and the boat will be needed to get round  :-\

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #13 on: 06 October, 2018, 11:25:59 am »
Argh. I know Philip will have pushed the boat out to try and give riders a good time. It's a bugger when the weather doesn't cooperate and the boat will be needed to get round  :-\

Kind words, indeed.

In all my years of events the weather has been very good so I can't complain.  Out of the maximum field of 90, 39 started and to be honest the  conditions were so awful, I would have DNS'd too. 


Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #14 on: 07 October, 2018, 12:14:40 am »
Thanks Phil for putting this on. The first 65km to Craven Arms was pretty miserable but the following 140km were actually quite pleasant.

I think that given better conditions this would be a top class Audax

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #15 on: 07 October, 2018, 02:48:25 pm »
The first couple of hours was wet but OK - it was just a shame that someone had stolen all the views.  Then my hands got really cold on the descent from Brown Clee and I decided on an early cafe stop in Craven Arms.

The rain stopped while I was enjoying a bacon butty and a coffee and the climb out of town quickly got me back up to a decent working temperature.  I loved the route from there to the turn at Dolau(ish) - the views had reappeared and the sun was trying to make an appearance.

More main roads than lanes after the turn but not much traffic.  There was loads of sunshine but the air temperature still seemed cold as I juggled clothing and tried to wear my zips out.

I really started to struggle towards the end of the ride - my legs just didn't have much 'go' and I was happy to finish just as it was getting dark.  Felt much better after chilli, cake and a monster scone.

Discovered this morning that my rear tyre was very soft with a slow puncture and am happy to believe that that was why I was struggling towards the end ;)

Thanks to Phil and his helpers for putting the event on.  I was hoping to give this route another go in better weather next year but I believe that the South Salopian won the vote.

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #16 on: 07 October, 2018, 07:49:16 pm »
A big thank you to Phil for such a well organised audax. Good pre briefing, a challenging ride and all previous reports on the chilli at the finish are correct.
 I did smile at the start with the limited numbers of starters getting the pre race briefing in the tennis club hall rather than the normal briefing in a car park, then the reluctance of riders to rush outside in the rain and people finishing cups of tea rather then braving the elements
But as others have mentioned, the rain eased up at Craven Arms, there were plenty of opportunities to take on food and the cafe at Presteigne was excellent.
Thank you for everyone’s company

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #17 on: 08 October, 2018, 10:03:15 am »
This was a great ride and definitely worth coming up from London for, thanks Phil and team.

The initial wet was a bit character building, but once that cleared up a really nice enjoyable route was revealed.

Re: Beyond the Dyke - 205km - 6th October
« Reply #18 on: 08 October, 2018, 03:58:20 pm »
Thanks for the feedback, all.

31 brave souls finshed out of the 90 entrants. 6 started but did not finish. It was horribly wet and cold, so well done to all. What should have a moderately challenging route turned into an extremely tough day as riders battled their way through atrocious conditions. Fortunately the weather improved later in the day.

ADCOCK Keith
ASHFORD Christopher
BRADSHAW Dave
BUCKBY Gary
CLEATON Nick
CLEMENTS Richard
CLITHEROW Stuart
GILLIVER Brian
GILLIVER James
GILLIVER Paul
GREGORY David
HAMPSON Len
HARNETT Robert
HIPKINS Rupert
HITCHCOCK John
JONES Elfyn
KIRK James T
MANASSEH Paul
MITCHELL Richard
NEILSON Jeffrey
PETERS Sarah - Lantern Rouge Prize Winner
RICHARDS Phil
RYALL Ian
SIMKINS Mark
TYRALA Piotr
UNDERWOOD Stuart
WADE Robert
WALE Trevor
WILLIAMS John
WILTON John
WRIGHTSON Andrew
YOUNG Angela - 27th Prize winner

6 people did not finish.  Unfortunately one rider was knocked off by a motorbike on the wrong side of the road. He sustained minor injuries and was helped by two fellow riders, who were rescued in a van.  I have offered them free places next year.  The remaining DNFs were mechanicals or early returners. 

SOUTH SALOPIAN 2019

Riders voted for South Salopian as next year's route, just beating Beyond the Dyke. 

Beyond the Dyke will certainly return at sometime in the future.  South Salopian is only in draft form and requires approval but here is the outline https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19290746.

Stage 1.  This section takes the usual route out of Belbroughton before across the Severn at Highley and avoiding Bridgnorth via some cunning lanes to reach Ironbridge.

Stage 2.  From Ironbridge the route heads towards Shrewsbury before swinging southwards to join the excellent Roman Road southwards.  It crosses the north end of the Long Mynd via Picklescott  before and down into Bishops Castle - where three excellent cafes can found.

Stage 3.  After a spiteful little climb out of Bishops Castle, it is an easy direct route to Leominster using quiet B roads and lanes.

Stage 4.  From Leominster, the route takes the Leysters route to Tenbury. From thereon the route replicates the last portion of Beyond the Dyke by following the Teme Valley, climbing over Abberley Hill and back down through Stourport.   


Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/