England : Warwickshire Ride to Warwicks 2014?

[Dogtrousers]

That route looks great, and not too lumpy. What was the general road condition?

Inner London, Par for the course, lots of potholes. Outer London, a bit better. Watford paths, pretty good - all asphalt or hard packed earth. M25-Berhhamsted lots of flood residue on roads. N of Berkhamsted, variable. Special mentions go to the road just N of Tring that had a series of grooves every one and a half bike lengths, ouch. There's a double roundabout at Cheddington - last time I went over this I approached head-up looking for traffic and hit a pothole hard. This time, I failed to learn my lesson, did the exactly same thing and hit the same pothole hard enough to break the bracket holding my GPS on my handlebars. Fortunately the lanyard was looped over the bars so no damage to my treasured 60CSx. Kudos to Vaidas in Honor Hoak who built my front wheel which seems to have shrugged off this and other abuse.

Neither of us punctured. I was riding steamroller-esque 28mm Durano Plus and Tim skinny skinny 23mm Giant own brand.

 

[Banjo]

Sadly I have to drop out of this one. Hope ride goes well and look forward to reading about it later.

 

[Dogtrousers]

[QUOTE 2968516, member: 1314"]FD's the person to have on board. He was a great leader on the London to Brum ride in July 2013, all the way up to the Brum area.[/quote]
Mr Dodo is indeed aware. See upthread

 

[Dogtrousers]

Recce No 3 completed. This time I rode the Northernmost leg, to Marton, starting at Milton Keynes and then carrying on to Rugby.

Having left MK I joined the route and crossed the A422 roundabout by means of an impressive cycle/pedestrian bridge. This was slightly spoiled by the fact that the roundabout is quite small and un-fearsome and there were no cars on it when I crossed. But it would have been ungrateful not to use it. There's a school nearby so it may be for the benefit of the pupils.

The rest of the route was a joy. No big uphills, just lovely rolling countryside and later on some nice views as you descend on to a plain. Greenfinches (I think they were) flitting out of the hedges and nice weather. Long hills where you could pedal and go fast, or have a rest and not pedal and still go pretty fast. Gentle rises that were not too taxing.

I say no hills, there was one, but that was my fault. I went down the Wrong Hill at Priors Marston, so I rode back up, then went down the Right Hill. And then I decided that the Wrong Hill was better than the Right one anyway, so Wrong became Right and Right Wrong.

After a hearty, if early, lunch at Marton I said hello to the little newborn baa lambs and then carried on to Rugby. Which was a less nice ride. Not bad, but nowhere near as nice.

My ride today is here. http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2404531 I'll put together the full route soon.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The full route is almost exactly 150km
The Berkhamsted-Marton route is almost exactly 100km.
All recce'd and lovely. Apart from the A5, which is just recce'd.
Route is here http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4366376
I'll make GPS friendly tracks and routes and stuff available later.

Plan is Sat 31 May
Depart HPC 0700 For those who can get to London that early
Meet at Berkhamsted station with the second wave of those who can't make it to London, or who don't find the prospect of the A5 all that alluring.
Depart Berkhamsted station 1030 ...
Second breakfast at Mentmore
Lunch somewhere in the gap between Milton Keynes and Buckingham. Perhaps Deanshanger. About 1330-1430. To be arranged.
Arrive Marton about half past 5. Refreshments will be supplied.
From there it's about 10 miles to Coventry, Rugby or Leamington Spa stations. All being well I will have my car there with 2 bike racks on the roof so may be able to offer a limted taxi service.

There have been expressions of varying degrees of interest from ...
@Kies @Flying Dodo @velovoice @CharlieB @gbs @User13710 @Snail Bait @lilolee @Lincov @martint235 @Mr Haematocrit @Thomk @Davywalnuts @Tim Hall @redredrobin @Born2die @ianrauk @McWobble @mark st1 @redfalo @Aperitif
... and anyone else who may be available? If 50% of you can't make that's still a fair few.
PS @McWobble - sorry I forgot about your "East of Banbury" comment earlier, and the route has meandered West of Banbury. But not far.

 

[martint235]

I'm still planning to be along for this. Not sure if I'm riding back yet or not but the whole ride will be a good excuse to detox after my birthday

 

[StuAff]

Still interested!

 

[Tim Hall]

Trainspotter note: Rugby or Coventry to London Euston is £27.50 with no advance fares shown. Leamington Spa to London Marylebone is £6.00 on an Advance.

<goes to see where Marton is>

 

[velovoice]

It's in the diary! Plan is to join the ride in Mentmore for that second breakfast.

ETA: That's me and @Flying Dodo both.

 

[gbs]

I will pencil this in and if you guarantee that that I can tuck behind tall Martin I will be much obliged to you both.

 

[Kies]

Yes i am still up for this ride - planning to do the whole thing starting bright and early from HPC

edit: Just hit the button on Garmin 800 (hrm,cadence & maps) from Wiggle at £299

 

[srw]

Mark me, or us, down as possible or possibles, from Berkhampsted. I think Northamptonshire is quite nice really, but @rvw spent too long driving up there to visit clients. By that stage at least one of us will be looking to get miles in the legs.

 

[jayonabike]

Hmm I could be up for this starting from Berko as long as I can finish work early Saturday morning (I normally finish around 6.30a.m but can sometimes get out at 4 meaning 5 hours sleep and I'll be good to go!) Could cycle back to Hemel as well if you fancy it @toptom also @ianrauk & @martint235 if you didn't want to cycle all the way back to London.

 

[Kies]

"Second breakfast at Mentmore" ... can i enquire about 1st breakfast :hungry already !! :-)

 

[Dogtrousers]

"Second breakfast at Mentmore" ... can i enquire about 1st breakfast :hungry already !! :-)

I was thinking a cup of coffee at Berko