England : London The Great Escape 2017 - 200km - LMNH! to Essex

[Orestis]

The 2017 edition of Islington Cycling Club's The Great Escape, will be on Sunday 14 May.

This year, we are running the event under British Cycling (as a non-competitive, reliability trial), and not AudaxUK, however the usual atmosphere, cake and post-ride celebrations are guaranteed!

The 200km route will take you from the heart of London (Look Mum No Hands, Old Street, EC1V 9HX) to the rolling countryside of Essex and back via quiet roads and picturesque villages. There are two great rest stops at Great Bardfield (the Knead Cafe at The Blue Egg) and at Great Dunmow.

We again partner with Look Mum No Hands! where our ride starts in Old Street, so join us there for a pre-ride breakfast and post-ride celebrations.

Like previous year's sell out editions, 2017 will have a field of 400, so tell all your friends and family that this is the cycling challenge to set yourself for next year.

Enter on the British Cycling website - here.

Some pictures and videos from the 2016 event can be found here and here.

You can also read about the event on Look Mum No Hands! blog, here.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'll probably be doing this. I've done it the past couple of years. The Blue Egg has always been too crowded when I've been there to do anything but nip to the loo. But the flapjacks from the roadside stop (is that the Great Dunmow stop?) have been really good, and just at the time in the ride when a flapjack was most welcome.

 

[ianrauk]

@Dogtrousers
What we had done in previous years is bump the Blue Egg. Get some food at the co-op down the road and have a picnic in Fitchingfield with tea/coffee from the lovely Picture Pot Tea Room on the green.

I won't be doing the ride this year as it's now not being run under the Audax banner.

 

[Dogtrousers]

@ianrauk That sounds like a good plan. I normally have plenty of food with me in my pie-bag anyway. I'm glad I didn't need to buy any food at the Blue Egg, because, being a bit of a slow coach, I can't afford to spend ages faffing around at cafes on audaxes.

I'll still probably do it - I'm not an AUK member and have no particular affiliation either way. It's still only a tenner.

Then again, these days I've got my distances long enough that I don't really need the structure of an organised ride to get me round 200k, so I may just go for a nice ride on my own.