I'll add my vote of thanks for Mark for another excellent Blacksheep event.
This was my first attempt at completing a 200km event on the Pashley (in case anyone's not familiar with the magnificent machine that is the Roadster Sovereign it's one of these
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/roadster-sovereign.html ) in fact it was my first Audax ride on an upright bike since, I think, 2000! As the Pashley web site says the bike is a "whale amongst minnows" and it does indeed dwarf normal road bikes. To me it looked like everyone else was riding children's bikes whilst I was on a proper adult bike
My biggest fear was that I simply wouldn't be able to keep up but to my amazement not only was I keeping up but I was even overtaking other riders. This, I suspect, did not go down well. After passing an four or five individual riders a few minutes later they'd formed a pace line and went steaming past me. I like to think of it as a public service to help motivate other riders
When the hills came I started to notice that me + bike = a weighty combination so eased off the pace. But in reality I had no choice because I have yet to develop my "upright legs". Recumbents use slightly different leg muscles which is what takes new recumbent riders a while to get up to speed as they have to strengthen them. I'm going through the mirror of that process.
Nevertheless it was pleasing to not have been dropped like a stone all the same.
The weather got progressively better as the morning wore on and the route takes you through some lovely countryside - with the occasional Alp thrown in for good measure. However, I started to have problems with the Sturmey Archer five speed hub. It was getting harder to select gears cleanly and - crucially - it was getting very much harder to select 1st gear. A fact that caused me to have to walk part of Mont Ventoux on the way to Chipping Campden. It was at this point that Mrs "no, I'll be lanterne rouge" Blacksheep came sprinting past...
I'm sure the gear cable just needs adjusting. However I'd decided that tinkering with the rear end of the Pashley is such a terrifying prospect (hub gear, hub brake, full chain case) that it's best that I leave that to someone who knows what they are doing. It also meant I had no wheel nut spanner. Pashleys eschew quick release skewers in favour of weapon's grade and massive wheel nuts. But I soldiered on getting ever more proficient at moving the gear selecter millimetres between detents. The Pashley's never been ridden that far and certainly never up anything like the gradients I'd heaved it up. This lead to the next problem which was nearly a show-stopper.
I could hear *something* slightly rubbing on one of the wheels and after a few stops to readjust (i.e. pull / bend) the mudguards I realised it was the coatguard. Yes folks the bike has a rear wheel coatguard to prevent your coat catching in the rear wheel. Very useful if you're wearing a long coat or tails. Anyway, it was rubbing because Mr Massive Thighs' efforts going up the Himalayas had pulled the rear wheel out of alignment. When assembled the wheel nuts had been tightened with a sensible Sunday jaunt in mind, not as a Pyrenean haulage truck. I "eased" a few millimetres clearance (much swearing) so the rubbing noise went away and I sauntered on. But disaster struck as I left the Daventry control. Mark had thoughtfully added a Mensa-level challenge to the route sheet which completed baffled a few of us. My interpretation of the instructions took me through a pedestrian walkway under a road and then up the steep slope back to ground level. Oh no! Can't get 1st, try to climb it in... 3rd! Thighs do a momentary passable imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger's then... oh. Something's wrong.
I'd managed to really pull the wheel out of line this time. A swift kick or two got it back-ish, but now each time I tried to pedal with any sort of force the wheel shifted. Do I pack or do I call International Rescue? Of course not. International Rescue are ex-directory and I only ever pack after irreparable damage to either myself of the bike. So I gingerly rode round Daventry looking for either a bike shop or a garage. Guess what I found? I ruddy great Ford factory and technical college. Great!!!
It was closed.
Eventually I found a car dealer and politely asked if they had an adjustable wrench or a 14 or 15mm spanner. They did! A quick bit of spannering later and I was back on my way.
During the section to Chipping Norton (where Cameo were doing an impromptu gig) the weather got ever more cloudy. Being the dutiful husband I rang Mrs W to see how everything was at Wobbly Manor to be told it was "peeing it down". As the Wobbly estate is in Worcester this didn't sound like terribly good news.
Sure enough on leaving Chipping Norton you could see an immense amount of weather was on its way. I managed about 10km before the first drops fell. A quick stop to don my jacket and the deluge hit. It was a downpour. Except it was mostly horizontal. A sidepour? For half an hour it was bloody awful cold, wet, heavy. But, on a positive note, I found that the thunder and lightening helped take my mind off it.
Eventually the sky brightened, the rain slowed then stopped, the sun came out and there was the most magnificent rainbow. Behind me. What a waste of a rainbow. It was trying to ride whilst looking behind me that made me miss the turn to Wych Rissington. Imagine how I chuckled to myself as I rode the extra 5km getting back on route.
Then the final assault on the Slaughters, Guiting Power and Winchcombe where I discovered they have used Lottery funding to relocate Ben Nevis. The descent off Ben Nevis was done with the last fading light thankfully.
Then a much easier ride to the welcome sight of the Royal Hop Pole, time for a refuel and an earnest discussion about, well, everything with a well lubricated Blacksheep.
I should mention that very unusually for me during the ride I rode with and chatted with quite a few riders. Thanks for being nice about the bike chaps. Having a shocking memory for names I'll forget a few but hi to Bairdy, Bikey, Lou, Lin, Rob, alphaPete (er... alphaSomething or maybe alphaMale. AlphaMale? Crikey, maybe it was Lance Armstrong???) the chap in the green top and the chap who said he was so disappointed I don't look like my YACF photo. Oh yes, and Pete Marshall too.
Now, all I have to do is spend all day cleaning the Pashley. It looks like it's been ridden through a farmyard all day.
