Ride report: the Milton Keynes 600 (or how I became a Super-randonneur)

It seems that 2012 has been (and still is) a good year for me. I have managed to fit in quite a lot of long rides, including 200s, three 300s, one 400 and two tours, with getting my PhD. But my other big objective for this year was to become a Super-randonneur (or SR in Audax terms). For no long distance cycling nerds, that is riding a 200, 300, 400 and 600 events all in one season.

Back in October 2012, Lucy and I gave it a go at our very first 200 km audax event. It was tough, and we did not have lots of time in hand by the time we got back to the finish, but we had been bitten by the long distance bugs. Since then, we have a good number of similar events under our belt, and 200s no longer seem as long as the first one.

My plans had gone ok, but the PhD viva was set just two days after my planned calendar 600. It did not seem to be a great idea to go for it and then have your brain fully ready to be able to respond to questions about your last 3.5 years of research. Fine, important things first. To my disappointment, there were no other calendar events left that I could join, and a DIY 600 seemed a bad idea for a newbie like me.

However, Steve, a nice chap who got the most points on an Audax season ever (riding >40.000 km in one year!), has been running his own DIY 600 from his house late in the season, for people who could not fit a calendar event earlier in the year, or were not fit enough. His aim is to help first timers achieve their first SR series. Great plan. Did not take me long to sign up for it, although back then I was not sure about my touring plans just the week earlier.  May not be an ideal plan to be riding in Scotland for 10 consecutive days, and then, ride a 600 with 4 days in between...but there was no other choice.


I took it very easy during the 4 days preciding this ride, only commuting to work. Started filling the gas tank a couple of days earlier but massively failed to get good sleep. The bike was fully ready on Thursday and I was up in Milton Keynes for dinner with the other participants on Friday night. There were 12 of us signed up for this, and amongst those, 5 of us were undertaking this ride as our very first 600 km.

Lights, GPS, Carradice bag, 2 bottles. Good to go.

After we stuffed our faces with a Sunday roast on a Friday, we all hit our beds by 11 pm for a 4:45 am wake up call. The ride would start at 6 am sharp, with British punctuality, of course.

I did not get very good sleep as it usually happens before new events. Maybe managed to get 3-4 hours throughout the night. I was glad I was not the only one though. Coffee, bacon roll and a few chocolates and we were off after collecting our first ATM receipt, which indicated 6:04 am. We had 42 hours to complete the 630 km.

From Milton Keynes to the Red Lodge Café, we rode the 110 km at a relatively fast pace, averaging more than 25 km/h without putting in much effort. The delights of group riding! The tailwind helped a bit I guess, and we were eating our second breakfast minutes after 10 am. Although this was the longest stretch of the whole ride, it felt easy as we were all fresh, and it probably was the best decision to get all those km out of the way sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, my rear hub started playing up just 5 miles after the off, making an incredibly loud noise anytime I freewheeled, which was also accompanied by a not-to-reassuring vibration of the whole bike. I had had the same problem a few weeks earlier in the Kidderminster Killer, but I thought the problem was gone now. It definitely was not. The bike was still functioning, yet I needed to pedal at all times, which essentially made me ride on a short of fixed wheel. It was not a ride-ending mechanical though, so I carried on annoying my companions whenever I attempted to freewheel. On top of this, my butt was not feeling comfortable on the ride, starting to hurt before we even hit the first 100 km. Not being able to freewheel was not going to make things any easier...

Peloton riding on towards Red Lodge

The next stretch to Eye involved another 60 km of flatness and wind-assisted riding, so we got there in very good spirits. Got a receipt, and carried on.100 miles done, and I did not feel tired at all, except for the sore butt. Again, I believe Audax has a massive mental component, as 100 miles (160 km) out of 400 miles (630 km) does not seem so much.

Steve had planned a proper stop with a sit-down meal near Norwich. It was at roughly 200 km into the ride, which was ideal, as it also coincided with Spanish lunch time. We were still doing a respectable average of 24 km/h and everyone was well, except Jethro, one of the experienced riders, who was having some knee problems.

On towards Norwich, a few of the guys diverted off to the hotel which would serve as our overnight stop. They went to pick up the keys for the rooms so that there would not be any faffing when we got back there at night. The rest of us pressed on for some well-deserved food. Jethro finished his ride here as his knee did not seem up for another 400 km.

A lasagna and plenty of bread kept me fuelled for the next stage. By the time we left it was almost 6 pm, and so we had a bit more than 90 min of daylight, and yet another 160 km to cover before the night stop. All in good spirits we said goodbye to Norwich and went onwards to Sheringham, on the coast. I was looking forward to this section of the ride, as it goes through some nice countryside that Lucy and I have cycled in a few times, and it's not as flat as the previous stages. It also meant cycling into the night, which is one my favourite times for being out on the bike.

Sun, tailwind, warmth

Sheringham was only 40 km from the lunch stop, and we got there when daylight was fading. I started to feel very sleepy, having not had very good sleep the previous night, and being more than 15 hours since I woke up. It was not too bad for a stop, so I pressed on with the group thinking about the nice hot coffee that I will down at the next control. At Sheringham, rather than going into town and the shore, we diverted off to the first garage for our proof of passage. I would have liked to have a quick look at the shore, but the clock was ticking. We were also unsure as to whether we would get another feed opportunity at Heacham (the next control) and so I ended up stuffing my saddle bag with bread, cheese and salami. Unfortunately, the coffee machine was out of order, and they did not sell any other sort of caffeinated drink, other than coke. So the third coke of the day it was...

Upon leaving Sheringham we entered into night riding mode: lights, high-vis vest, GPS backlight. All on. A few km later, I had to put leg and arm warmers on, but it was still rather pleasant out. The roads got a bit more rolling, with fast descents and very little traffic. The next control, some 300 km into the ride, was at Heacham, where supposedly Lyndsay, a very kind woman on her weekend off of audaxing, was supposed to be waiting for us with a boot full of delights. However, the last word from her was that she might not be able to make it in the end. With that in mind, we carried on hoping to find something open in case she did not turn up.

Riding into down, some 280 km after our departure. Still 350 km to go!

By 10 pm we hit Heacham, and quite amazingly, Lyndsay was there, waiting for us, in the middle of a dark country lane. Her boot and kindness made our day. All kinds of good audax food was made available to us, washed down with coffee, tea and rice puddings. I could not believe how kind some people are. It certainly made our last stage of the day a lot easier, and surely much faster. She and her daughter also acted as controllers, so no need to pop into the actual town for a proof of passage.

In very good spirits, yet a bit tired mentally, we set off at 10:30 pm for the last 65 km to our night stop. Steve had arranged proper beds and a few hours of much needed sleep.

Night riding is fantastic and I am a great advocate of it. Yet after a long day of cycling it was not as appealing as usual, knowing that our average speed would drop quite a bit, and that I would take us a bit longer to cover those km. I was also ready for bed. I tried to make conversation with my other companions, but I could see I was not the only one who was feeling a bit weary. At times, there was no conversations, just steady red and bright lights going ahead of me.

Just minutes past midnight, Steve started singing happy birthday to Denise, one of the experienced riders of the group. It was her birthday on Sunday, and I thought it was a nice gesture and felt very special. I would certainly not mind having my birthday while on the bike, quite literally!

At 1 am I started to see the blurred orange skies that you clearly see when approaching large towns. It was a sign that we were not too far from Norwich! The last 20 km felt very long and I was so ready for a quick shower and bed. At 1:45 am we hit the Travelodge and quickly got into our rooms. In 15 min I was showered, fed, and asleep. Alarm was set for 6 am.

It did not feel long when my phone started beeping. It had been less than 4 hours since I fell asleep and I was not in the best of my moods or states to continue on cycling for another 270 km. I shared the room with Tom, who has got a few Paris-Brest-Paris and London-Edinburgh-London on his legs, and he reassured me that it is tough but that soon I will be ok back on the bike. A coffee and some biscuits did the initial trick, and by 6:30 we were all ready to go. Quite amazing I thought, everyone seemed happy and ready for another long day on the saddle, having only had 4 hours sleep.

6:30 am, the start of the second day

The first stage of day 2 would take us to King's Lynn, a not particularly nice town on the Norffolk coast. But breakfast there made it look a bit more appetising, and with a slight tailwind we made our way there, hitting the town centre just after 9 am. Initial plans were to go for a full English breakfast in a pub that was meant to be on the route, but after some way finding and faffing, we could not find it. A diversion was made and we went to an OK cafe somewhere in town. I was quite surprised I had made it here without much food since the night before, and so I treated myself to plenty of English delicacies including eggs, bacon, sausages and beans on toast.

With a full stomach, we started to head back down to Milton Keynes. Now the wind was against us though, and would be for the remaineder of the day. It was so bad at times, that we would not average more than 15 km/h even when riding in a group. The next control up was only 20 km out of King's Lynn, but we needed a quick rest.

As we left Sutton Bridge, the wind got quite bad along the Lincolnshire flatlands and on to the Cambridgeshire Fens. It was also quite warm again. On a couple of occasions I stopped for a quick pee and found it very hard to get back to the group. The roads were also straight and featureless, and this was probably the toughest and most boring part of the whole ride. The strong guys sat at the front of the peloton and the rest got going behind them.

In Ely we stopped one more time for some more food, being all quite weary after the headwind. My stomach had been behaving itself quite OK during this ride, and it was craving for something sugary and filling. A couple of pancakes arrived on my table, literally swimming in gross Maple Syrup. Took me a while to realise that it's never a good idea to order adventurous stuff in a typically English café, so immediately afterwards I ordered a bacon bap, which was much nicer than the pancakes. With a full stomach, we left for the next control. Still more than 100 km to go, as the whole route was already being over the official stated km.

Lucy had been sending texts from Philly throughout the ride. Although I could not answer them, they did give me the motivation to carry on. Especially this one. My butt was extremely sore by now, and on a number of occasions I was really wondering why I was doing this. But her text saying "go go it's only a 100 km Sunday ride" lifted my spirits.

The next section crossed some familiar territory that I had cycled in one of the 300 km rides, and found it nice back then. The winds eased down quite a bit, and we had an easier ride from here on, yet had to stop a few times for a quick rest. It was on one of those rests, that an ambulance happened to come past us, saw one of the riders laying on the grass, and attempted to stop thinking there was an emergency, only to be waved by us with an "it's all OK" sign. Strange things happen while audaxing!

Having one of multiple rests

Biggleswade was the last control before Milton Keynes. For at least five of us this had already been the longest ride ever, at more than 550 km. More food supplies were needed for the last stretch of roads.

I cannot remember much other than I was again in good spirits, especially after Rob had kindly lent me some sudocream which I had high hopes would help with my saddle sores. The end was also in sight, with "only" about 60 km to go. Not that this feels like much on a normal day, but trust me, it felt like a long way to me on the day. At least 3 more hours or riding, again, into the night.

The last rest stop

I am not sure if the sudocream did a good job or whether I just blacked out my sores for a while, but made some interesting conversations with my companions and the km seemed a lot more pleasant now. Bad thoughts of "maybe I will ride another 600 km again" or "perhaps I should sign up for London-Edinburgh-London next year" sprung to mind again. None of these had even crossed my mind during any of the previous hours on this ride...

Milton Keynes outline started to appeared on the GPS, and Steve took us on some faster roads rather than on the lanes as to get some speed for the final 20 km. I started to feel strong again, and the realisation that I was actually going to make it till the end seemed real. The last few km into Milton Keynes I spent talking about the Bryan Chapman Memorial ride (a 600 km even that crosses Wales twice) with Matt, who almost nearly convinced me that 600 km are the best rides. 

The group dropped me off at the train station by 9:45 pm. Almost 40 h and 630 km since we started on Saturday. We had made it round, still withing BRM time. I was feeling ok, not particularly sleepy or tired, and was very pleased with myself, having had the rear wheel problem and the sore butt all the way. Also, I was surprised I was OK on only 4 hours sleep. 

Shook hands with everyone and thanked them all for being such a great company. Steve did an excellent job of arranging the hotels, route, and stops. It was a great pleasure to ride with a bunch of very experienced (long distance) cyclists and with 4 new Super Randonneurs. Well done to all of us!

After a bit of arguing with the Virgin Trains manger at the station, he let me on the train without a bike reservation. The train had no bikes on it, but apparently it's company's policy to not let anyone on without a reservation. I begged him, explained that I had been riding for 40 h almost non-stop and eventually he opened the bloody bike storage door. 

By 11 pm I was having some pasta at home and thinking where I could get some sudocream first thing on Monday am. My feelings about doing longer than 400 km rides were very mixed up during the ride, but I was now savouring being a new super-randonneur. Even considering doing another 600 km in May. I am now having two weekends off the bike which will probably get me all anxious about long distances again. It had been the most challenging ride for me thus far, not quite physically, but mentally. 

The stats for the even were as below

600 km ride stats

Ride report: the National 400 Audax

 The National 400 was back on the calendar this year. Apparently it used to be an annual 400 km ride organised in a way to help new riders complete their first ever 400. It sounded good for us Audax newbies, yet the distance and time on the saddle is quite considerable. 400km, or 250 miles, is roughly equivalent to a ride from Madrid to Valencia (and a bit more, yet not as hilly), or from New York to Washington DC (and again, a bit more). The ride was intended to be pretty flat and looped around East Anglia as seen below:

On Friday eventing, after a pleasant train journey through Suffolk and Norfolk, we arrived in Norwich, from where we cycled down the 17 km to Seething, location of the hall that the organisers had arranged for the pre-ride dinner and overnight stay. Most people were either camping or staying in their campervans, but we, poor youngsters, chose the hall. It turned out to be a good option actually, as there were only a few of us there and the snoring was not too bad. Despite the ride being targeted at unexperienced audaxers like us, we had the impression that everyone was pretty hardcore when we were chatting over dinner.

Saturday Morning - by 6 am people started to get ready. Despite the horrendous weather forecasted for the weekend, it was warm and with relatively calm winds for the start. During breakfast I was asked if I was eating my toast the French way. As it happens, people do not dip their toast in their coffee here! After some last minute preparations, we headed over to Hempnall, the official start of the route. Getting there 20 minutes prior to the off, we met a few familiar faces, got our brevet cards and left minutes after 9 am. A good day of cycling awaited us.

The luxurious Hempnall Hall at the start, 8:45 am

Hempnall to Thordon (81 km)

75 of us rode off at 9:01am. 402 km ahead of us.

Initially we got rolling with a large group, which ended up in 15-20 riders. Similarly to my Dean audax ride in March, people tend to stick together until the first control. With them we made very good progress despite the persistent cross winds coming from the south. The route headed east towards the coast, where we found the first info control, some 32 km into the ride. This control was in Dunwich, a mini coastal town that we have visited on two occasions already, famous for being the end of the Dunwich Dynamo.

Roads leading up to Dunwich

 The riders in the front of our mini-peloton were working hard against the wind, and we, at the very back, enjoyed a very pleasant tow. At some point I decided that I should also do my turn at the front, so there I went with another fellow audaxer. We were so focused on keeping a good pace that ended up missing a turn, although luckily, the rest of the riders did not follow us. Playing catch up proved a bit hard, and at this point I started to see that Lucy was finding it hard to keep up. She's still not very confident with group riding, and the pace was just a bit outside her comfort zone. Despite all our efforts, we had to let them go and rode the last 15 km on our own. Even then, we averaged above 25 km/h and it was a very fast 81 km, quite possibly the fastest we've ever done together!

Thorndon control

The control was in a village hall (as were all the controls on this ride) and had plenty of cake and drink. Good fuel for audaxing. Everyone was (still) in very good spirits, fresh, and smiley. Got our brevets stamped, ate some cake and left half an hour later. From here on we would just set our own pace, which in a way, worried me a little because of the winds we will later encounter. Riding in a group is always much easier, especially against the wind.

Thorndon to Long Melford (81 km)

With sugar levels replenished, we set off into the cross winds again. The terrain was quite familiar to us, and it looped around the north of Bury St Edmunds to then head back south and finally east. That meant we would, at some point, encounter the promised head winds. We would also be passing through Hartest, a nice little town that we visited a couple years ago when Lucy's parents came over to visit her and some of their friends.

Superb lanes of Suffolk

Despite the winds, we managed to stay ahead of our initial plan, which was to get to Hartest between 5 and 6 pm. After a little detour, we were knocking on the door of Lucy's parents' friends to say hi just past 4:30 pm. It felt a little weird, being in audax mode, smelly, full lycra, and still with 240 km ahead of us, talking to other, more civilised people. The usual questions arose: are you doing it for charity? where are you staying overnight? when did you say you started this morning? where are you going now? and best of all...why? I let Lucy answer to all these questions. We filled our water bottles but didn't stay long, as we had the steepest hill in Suffolk coming up just past Hartest.

At the front of Lucy's friends' cute cottage

Contrasting colours

We left Hartest the hard way, up Hartest Hill. This would be the only hill that would test our legs on this ride, especially since our legs are still used to the hills of Spain!

Lucy machacando Hartest hill

The last 10 km into the control were tough. Lots of wind and my energy levels dropped very suddenly. I started to sweat quite a bit, feel sleepy and super tired all of the sudden. I had to stop and get some snacks in or else I was seeing myself bonking. I slowed the pace and hoped to get to the control as soon as possible. Luckily we got there and the food was plentiful. Very good job by the Sudbury CC, they had even printed out menus...all included in the entry fee.

Menu at the 2nd control

Somehow I managed to refuel by eating 5 sandwiches, beans on toast (a classic!), 4 or 5 cakes, rice pudding with strawberry jam and some other snacks that I thought would do me good. Shortly after indulging on all this, I had to visit the toilet 3 times in a row. This seems also a classic on all my long audax outings, and have yet to figure out why or what ingredient causes it.

Long Melfod to Barnham Broom (82 km)

Left the control just before 6pm hoping to do this stage in daylight. We would now be wind assisted all the way to the coast, so that would help us keep the momentum going, and probably up our average speed a little. 

Rolling terrain on the way to the north of Norfolk

The km seemed to fly by, and we managed to keep 25 km/h for almost the whole leg. It started to get dark towards the end of the stage, and that was one of the best moments of the ride. Rolling on quiet lanes, with no one else around. Sometimes one thinks that this whole 24 h riding thing is pointless, but in moments like this it is all worth it. Speeding up the lanes into the sunset was great, and we arrived in good spirits into the control. A wonderful hot soup was waiting for us, along with the usual cakes. Here we caught up with one other rider who was also doing this as his first 400 and who had also ridden the Green and Yellow fields 300. He reckoned that at our current speed we will be well within the time limit of 27 hours, despite already being at the back of the peloton. By the time we left it was past 10 pm and completely dark, so all night riding gear on and lights ready to go.

This says it all. Riding into the sunset.

Barnham Broom to Salthouse (75 km)

Left the control with another couple. They were following their routesheet and at some point we parted ways. We followed the gps track and they apparently followed the routesheet. We do check the routesheet, but at night it becomes tricky unless you wear a headtorch as well, so we stick to the GPS and its backlight. 

Despite that we told them that we were pretty certain that they were taking the wrong turn, they carried on their own way. They had a map, so we did not worry much about them, and also seemed very experienced. Our GPS however indicated that the road they took lead nowhere near the route. Oh well. Lucy and I carried on from here until Salthouse completely on our own. We both love night riding, and even better when it's only us and nothing else on the roads.

Night riding deceives you into thinking you're going much faster than you are. We still had a tailwind, but were not going any faster than 20 km/h on the flat. It took us quite a while to hit the north, where we had to work a bit to find an info control. Sleep deprivation and dark was not a good combination to find the road sign in quesiton, but we somehow managed after having double back a few meters. 

Lucy in night riding mode

After a right turn and a quick incursion in Cley-next-the-sea (which actually looked nice in the middle of the night) we progressed along the coastal road A149. Normally busy, it was completely empty at 2 am. Not a single car for almost the last 2 h into the control.

The A149 was really enjoyable, but we were also looking forward to stopping for some tea and coffee. At 2:45 am we pulled into the control to find a bunch of bikes resting outside. Some fellow riders were getting ready for the final leg into the headwind, while others, apparently, were having some sleep inside. We were warned of the snorers.

A hot drink and some cereal were most welcome. I still find it amazing that 4 or 5 people were there waiting for us, in a random town, in the middle of the night, to give us hospitality. I could not thank them enough. 

Most riders were having some sleep in one way or another. It was very funny to see their faces as they fell asleep on the table or anywhere really. Some were snoring quite loudly and seemed to be enjoying some good rest. We were not sure whether to give it a go or not to having some rest on the floor, but figured we'd rather sleep at the control than carry on and then have to nap later on out in the cold. Lucy went first. I tried to follow, but due to the adrenalin and also feeling a bit worried about oversleeping, I could only shut my eyes for a few minutes. 

Lucy sneaking in a nap

After 30 minutes, we had some more coffee and chatted with the helpers as we got ready for our final leg. One interesting fact is that the first rider in to this control left it at 21:15! So that is more than 6 h earlier than us. Very fit people out there. 

Salthouse to Hempnal (82 km)


Past 4 am we made our departure after thanking the controller and the helpers. They too seemed very tired. One thing I love about audaxes is the normality of everything. Despite the length of the ride, and silly hours, the cold, and sometimes the rain, it all seems normal and you don't get any "well dones" or anything like that. There's no reward other than your own achievement. There's no record of the rider's time after the event. They don't publish the order you've finished the ride in, just your name if you have completed it.

A few meters after the control the road went uphill. It was not a "massive hill" as other riders had described it , but it had us on our lowest gear pretty quickly. We were tired, a bit cold and about to face some headwinds for the last 80 km. Luckily, the sun was rising quickly and we no longer needed our front lights. When I looked back I could see the sea, the green fields and the sunrise. We were lucky to be at the right place at the right time I guess!

Climbing up away from the sea. 4:30 am

The terrain in northern Norfolk qualifies as rolling, so more ups and downs came while we made our way back down to Hempnall. Not surprisingly, given the time and it being a Sunday, we did not see a single car until 40 km into the stage. However, we had to stop more than usual as Lucy was feeling quite tired. We ate our snacks and kept pedalling. Eventually we made it to our last info control and turned East towards Hempnall.

On one of these roads we saw three guys on triathlon bikes flying, quite literally, in front of us. Pretty impressive speed, but surely they had not been cycling for 24 hours. At 9:43 am we got to the hall in Hempnal, where Keith (the main organiser) kindly validated our cards and gave us the commemorative key ring. That meant 24h and 43 min to complete the 403 km of the event. Another 7 riders were still behind us, but most seemed gone by the time we arrived. Our train back to London was not due until the afternoon, so we took it easy, ate and chatted to Tim, a guy we know from the Fnrttc who had also been riding all night in his own 400 km DIY event from the Easternmost town in Wales to the Easternmost town in England. 

This was my longest day on the bike and overall I really enjoyed it. It was tough at times, especially since we were on our own on the windiest bits, but we do not this because it is easy or comfortable, do we? It certainly felt a lot easier than the 300 we did in April, the Green and Yellow Fields. Maybe the reasonable weather helped a bit. Surely the great organisation and plenty of food/beverages did. I am now looking forward to riding the 600 km event I have planned in September. Lucy has decided not to do any more 400s until at least 2015 (that is Paris-Brest-Paris year!).  

400!

Our souvenir 

All in all the stats said:

- 406 km (plus another 40 km on the day)

- Moving average: 20.9 km/h

- Overall average: 16.7 km/h

- Max speed: 56.7 km/h

- Total moving time: 19h 27min

- Total stopped time: 4h 50min

Ride report: Green & Yellow Fields 300 km audax

For the first time that I can recall, I did not wake up to an early morning alarm to catch a train to the start of a ride. Instead, I had handed in my PhD thesis that same morning, and worked pretty much all day. It seemed like I was going to be productive. We had also signed up for an unusual ride starting at midnight, from a random town called Manningtree in the Essex county. It was going to be Lucy's first attempt at riding a 300 km, and only my second one following the Dean 300 in March.

Left work on time to have a siesta, having not had enough sleep during the week. Riding all night meant I had to catch up on sleep or else it will turn into a unpleasant experience. From our previous rides with the Fnrttc folk, we already knew how tired we feel after a long night of riding. Similar to when you go out all night, you can easily fall asleep anywhere and anytime, and the same applies here. Somehow managed to fit in a two hours siesta and were soon on our way to Manningtree. A few riders were going on a pre-ride curry, something very English it seems, and we decided to join them.

Once at the station, we asked a local about the location of the High Street and he dared to ask what we were doing in full lycra at 9:30 pm. After Lucy explained our intention to ride from there to the top of Norfolk, and back down, he just wished us luck. This, together with a facial expression of "you're mental/what?/get a life/why?" seems normal when we get asked about where we're going or came from. After a short ride we arrived at the restaurant and had the promised curry with another 12 riders, some of who had ridden a good number of miles from places such as London, Greenwich or Cambridge, to the start.

Bike park at the curry house

The ride itself was not meant to be particularly challenging or over difficult terrain. The overall climb was just about 1000 m, which is rather flat, given the distance. The only problem would be riding through the whole night, and into a great deal of the second day. And of course, the great English weather. All those problems will make a presence at various points during the ride.



Left the curry house and headed for the station to meet up with the rest of the riders, about 40 in total. The atmosphere was nice, and once again,  good reassurance that we are not the only crazy people in this part of the world getting ready for a ride, with forecasts of down to 3C and potentially heavy showers. While chatting to one chap about his custom made Roberts frame, we saw people leaving. It was 00:01.

23:55 at Manningtree station, ready for the off

The first leg of the ride involved 75 km to the first garage control. The weather seemed rather good, and I was still feeling optimistic to those comments over dinner "I've checked the forecast and it said dry overnight, with the occasional shower the following day". We managed to stick to one group, but were left behind shortly afterwards and ended up riding with a Scot and Paul (with whom we've completed Up the Uts earlier in March). I did not attempt to talk to the Scottish guy, as literally could not understand a word of what he was saying. After all these years in the UK it was very discouraging. Paul kept him entertained until we somehow dropped him, never to see him again on the ride.

At some point rain started and we decided to put some waterproofs on. It turned out to be a good decision, as it was very cold by then, and the last thing you want is a soaked, cold body in the middle of the countryside. Paul had stopped a bit earlier and we thought we had lost him, so ended up going round in a roundabout waiting for him in order to keep the warmth up. A police car was resting nearby, and surely wondered what the hell we were doing past 2 am in that heavy rain. Luckily they did not bother to ask. At around 4 am we made it to the garage control, which we were all looking forward to. Warmth and hot coffee were waiting for us. We later learnt that the nice man in the garage had actually opened the shop for us, as it usually only serves through the hatch. What a huge difference that hot drink made!

A typical audax photo. Garage control, 4 am.

Lucy's GPS predicted sunrise in 2.5 hours from now. We set off again for yet another 75 km to the top of Norfolk, where a hot breakfast would be waiting for us. It was on this section were I hit my first down of the ride. I cannot remember much of it now, just feeling very tired and trying to avoid looking at the GPS or anywhere other than the horizon. Luckily for us, rain had stopped and we were dry, but still very cold.

We then joined the A1065 for almost 40 km. Although a busy road during the day, it was very quiet at night and we enjoyed it very much. It is on one of these roads where I think to myself how nice it is to be doing this. The scenery was fabulous, with trees lining the road on both sides. The sun was also trying to break through the clouds. I had to stop and take a picture, while seeing Lucy and Paul get lost in the horizon. 

Light beam and the A1065 at sunrise, 5 am (ish)

The kms went past very quickly. We were in good spirits and very much looking forward for a sit down meal in the halfway control. Not much happened here, just kept the pedals moving, fought a little bit with my sleep deprivation, and tried to enjoy the ride as much as possible. The scenery was quite nice and I kept myself entertained (and hot) sprinting up to take pictures of the scenery, Lucy and Paul.

Well worth the effort!

Paul in night riding mode

We made it to the café control, near Burnham Market at 8:30 am, and seemed to be at the back of the peloton. 153 km down. Another 150 km to go. Not too bad, and weather was holding up at this point. We were well within the time limits, with more than 1.5 h to spare. The next section, however, was not very enjoyable due to traffic along the B1355. Surely this road should have been fine for the faster riders, but for us it was not. Being an area with plenty of quiet lanes it was a shame that the organiser had picked the faster route instead of the more scenic. We tried to keep a decent average to the suggested control, a Waitrose in Wymondham. It was on this part of the route where my tummy problems started, with quite a lot of pain and the visits to the toilet. Once at the Waitrose, we got another receipt as proof of passage and enjoyed 5 minutes of sun.

My Canyon in audax mode, having a break

Left the Waitrose past noon, while seeing some threatening clouds head over us. Rain started hitting on us shortly afterwards, and did not really stop for the next 2 h. Next control will be in another 60 km, or 3 h of riding. The roads seemed a lot better now, more scenic and with plenty of green and yellow fields (thus the name of the audax, duh!!!). Rain stopped and I had a chance to take a few more pictures.

Lucy 's still going strong

No idea what the green is. The yellow is rapeseed.

Although we rode pretty much on our own for the entire day legs, we met a few others on this section. In fact we were pleased to see that we were not the youngest ones on the ride, as two other audaxers appeared to be in their early twenties, which again, is good for reassurance. Once again, I started to feel pretty crap here, in need of sleep and/or caffeine. I would have gone for a short nap here, but then I thought...20 more km and you can have tea and cake to keep you going. Easier said than done though. 20 km is not that short when you're tired, hungry and with stomach aches. I stopped thinking too much about it, stuck to Paul's wheel and carried on.

Shortly before the stop, we saw a very nice sign of what audaxing is. One of the riders had a snapped chain, and was covered in grease. That, together with the rain, had made it impossible for him to re-join his chain with his power link. However, another rider had stopped, took his gloves out and fixed the chain in seconds. Made a note on the tools to carry while out audaxing: nitrile gloves. Carried on for a little while to reach the last control: a Farm Shop.

First ever visit to a (posh) farm shop

It was a shame to be in this very nice farm shop in lycra and somewhat in a hurry. I was not feeling great and wanted to get going. But it was the right call. Lucy too was feeling tired and we stopped for some cake and tea. The menu looked great, but at this point, and with only 30 km left, I just wanted to get back to the station and have a beer.

Left the control to find ourselves on a dual carriage way. Weird, we thought. It did not appear as such on the maps, but somehow it was. Our thoughts were the same again, why would the organiser put us on these unpleasant roads? Lesson learnt for the next ride though: pick your own route if it does not look great.

The last 15 km went by very quickly, again on quiet lanes. Hit a few short hills, which were good to keep us awake. Pulled into Manningree station minutes past 6 pm, and a gigantic storm rolled in literally minutes behind us.

A pub in a train station. What a great idea! It actually got featured on the guardian as one of the best 10 railway cafes in Britain! Got our last receipt upon ordering a beer and an icecream. To our surprise, we happened not to be the last ones, as two more riders turned up after being hit by rain and hail from that storm we had just missed! Got on the train and fell asleep pretty much immediately.

Job done. 300 km. What's next Lucy?

Although the legs were feeling absolutely ok, I think it was the toughest ride I've ever done. It was not the distance nor the terrain, but the night riding and the lack of sleep from previous days. Also, have to sort out food habits while out on long rides. They say food is one the most difficult thing to master in long-distance events. I am certainly not surprised!

That's it for now, until my 400 km event in June.

The stats for the day as shown on the GPS screen:

- 47.2 km/h max speed

- 14 h 55 min riding time

- 3 h stopped time

- 302 km (plus another 20 km to & from the station)

- Rolling average: 20.3 km/h

- Overall average (including stops): 16.9 km/h

I have entered my first 400 km Audax (The National 400)!

One of my main new years resolutions is to complete a Super Randonneur series. This award is given to riders that complete 200, 300, 400 and 600 km events within the same calendar year.

I have just entered the National 400. Apparently, the 400 km distance is one of the toughest as time limitations do not allow you to get proper sleep. I think the time limit for this ride is about 27h, which means cycling through the whole night. Being a complete newbie in Audaxing, I got attracted by this particular ride when I read this on the web:

400km cycling event starting from Hempnall, Norfolk. A revival of an Audax favourite. This ride is fully supported with lots of TLC at controls. Entry fee includes food at start and finish and all intermediate controls.


So, it sees that food, drinks, and beds are taken care of. All I need to do is pedal almost non-stop for 27 hours or until I complete the 400 km loop. We went to Norfolk and Suffolk last year and loved it there. Flat and light trafficked.

I'm still trying to convince Lucy to come along on this...

Why am I doing this to myself? There's a ride happening in 2013 that goes from London to Edinburgh and back. It clocks up 1400 km. I need to get a feeling for it. And I cannot think of many other better ways of spending a summer weekend other than pedalling...

The puncture from hell

Any cyclist has had many a puncture at least once in their live. But what happened in our last 2-day mini-tour almost made me run out of patience. Lucy's bike wears Continental Ultra Sport tyres, which although are not awful when they're brand new (as they usually come with low-end bikes off-the-peg), they tend to wear off quickly and get punctures every 20 km after 1000 km or so. This is a short summary of events that happened when we were only 10 km away from our final destination, King's Lynn:

1. Front flat tyre
2. We removed the tyre, inspected it for foreign objects, we found nothing
3. Put a new inner tube and put tyre back on
4. Realised that the valve is too short for Lucy's rims (they're kinda fancy aero tall rims)
5. Take inner tube back out to only realise that the rim tape had moved from its natural place and the hole along the rim is not longer visible
6. Unsuccessfully tried to move the rim tape so that the holes on both the tape and the rim matched
7. Given the heat (even in the shade) and the fact that we needed to get back home at a reasonable time, I decided to cut a new whole on the rim tape using the swiss knife
8. Put a new inner tube with longer valve in. Put tyre back on.

9. Sh*t, tyre lever breaks! First time this has happened to me! Strange...maybe blame it to the hot English weather?
10. Inflate the wheel with mini-pump, doing well, up to 70 psi, boooom! Valve has blown up. This is the very first time it has happened to me at only 70 psi!
11. Only have one other inner tube that would fit those rims, the original one that actually had the flat.
12. Get glue and patches out, fix it, leave it to dry for 5 min
13. Put inner tube back in, tyre back on with only two remaining tyre levers, and inflate to 60 psi fearing that the valve would blow up again and we will run out of options!

We thought this was bad enough, but no...

14. Monday morning we realised that also the back tyre was completely flat! Luckily, it held up on the previous day and we did not even notice! Phew...

Continental Gatorskins ordered!

So, make sure your inner tubes fit your rims, and always carry patches as well as inner tubes! And get reliable tyres to make life easier!

Suffolk and Norfolk Coast Mini-Tour: Part 3: Day 2 Mundesley to King's Lynn

We got as early a start as we could on Day 2 because we knew it would be a hot one. The forecast was for at least 30 C (86 F) if not hotter. We had a proper English breakfast at the B&B and headed out onto the roads. We had been very excited to leave behind the terrible yellow-loving flying beetles of the day before, but we soon learned that there were other bugs waiting for us! These little things stuck to our skin, but died quickly (due to sweat or sunscreen) and then just remained there all day. We would wipe them off periodically, but pick up more the next time we would ride at speed.

Yep, all those little black things are bugs!

We took quiet lanes as much as possible, but after Runton we briefly had to go on the A149. It is always scary to go on main roads, but fortunately it was downhill, and we both managed to hit about 46kph (28mph), so we kept up with traffic somewhat. We turned onto quiet roads after that which gave me an opportunity to practice taking pictures of Alberto in motion. Something tells me he will remain primary photographer of our rides...

The day was starting to heat up, and we got a taste for what would lie ahead when we turned into Sheringham to check out the beach...hundreds of Brits arriving at the seaside on a hot summers day. After Sheringham we turned inland for a while, which was probably a good thing given the traffic near the coast. We cycled to Baconsthorpe Castle, a National Trust site that Alberto had read about, and had a snack as we briefly explored the ruins of this manor house from the 1400s.

Baconsthorpe Castle

We continued inland for a while longer, riding through quiet country lanes, many of which had pretty good shade so we did not necessarily notice how hot it was starting to get! The kilometers passed pretty quickly, although I started to get hungry when we were about 10km out of Wells-next-the-Sea, where we planned to stop for some food. When we finally arrived at Wells-next-the-Sea, our final coastal town, it was PACKED. We didn't even make it to actually see the ocean, which was a few kilometers away from the town. Alberto had some fresh cockles and we bought sandwhiches at a cafe, but we didn't stick around long due to all the crowds and the fact that the heat was intensifying.

Eating cockles

We turned inland for the final time, and it was brutally hot. There was very little shade and I just couldn't seem to drink enough water to stay hydrated. At the first small bit of shade we found, I stopped to take off my leg warmers which I had been wearing all day to avoid having to worry about sunscreen on my legs. This only helped with the heat marginally. We had to keep moving because it was too hot to stay in one place!

We eventually turned on to roads lined by well kept fields with trees in the distance. What a nice change of scenery! A few minutes later we realised we had just entered the Sandringham estate, owned by the Queen! We knew we were very close to King's Lynn so we decided to stop and rest in the shade by the entrance to Sandringham House, near the gift shop. We rested in the shade, had a snack and plenty of water, and left with enough time to make the next train out of King's Lynn.... or so we thought!

About 10 minutes after of Sandringham I got the puncture from hell. This was such an awful puncture that we are devoting another whole post to it very soon! Luckily, we were in the shade, but suffice to stay we spent the better part of 45 minutes trying to sort it out. When we finally got it fixed, we hurried on to King's Lynn to try to catch the *next* train (half an hour from the one we had been aiming for). We made it with about 8 minutes to spare, only to miss the train due to some confusing signs on the platforms!! Another 30 minutes later, we finally got on the train. If there was any reluctance to head back to London after a weekend of mini-touring, the last few hours certainly helped us see that we were ready to get back to normal life for a while!

Shortly before the puncture from hell!

Suffolk and Norfolk Coast Mini-tour: Part 2 - Day 1 Ipswich to Mundesley

Stats: total time 10h42m; moving time 8h10m; moving average 19.3 km/h; max speed 47.6 km/h; total odometer 157+8 km(from home)

We set off on very wet roads in Ipswich. Ricardo's bike was making some funny noises which we found out came from the rear tyire scratching on his brand new mudguards! These plastic devices are good for wet days, but they seem to give lots of headaches.

Ricardo, and the girls heading to Orford

Lucy & Erin pedalling through Suffolk

Leaving Ipswich via residential roads we were soon in Woodbridge where we were able to take in some nice river sights, boats, and of course, plenty of traffic. We continued on the B1084, a beautiful road through some nice woods that leads to Orford. This little cute town had a riverfront with a nice cafe and some fishermen wandering about. The country lanes around the area were beautiful, merging the English grey skies with the yellow wheat.

Fields & grey skies

We then pushed on through a few more forests, some of which were badly infested with small beetles that were particularly attracted to Erin. Shortly afterwards he headed back east and into the Dunwich area, home to the Dunwich Dynamo which we are aiming to complete in a couple of weeks from now. The place itself is amazing, it really feels remote for being in the UK and within 2h reach from London. The beach is rocky but really long, all surrounded by wetlands. It even has a cafe (not quite a chiringuito espanyol) that serves traditional fry-ups. Only downside was that, as newbies we were, all those funny beetles were waiting for us to land on our brightly colored gear. It got so bad that Erin had to get rid of her yellow jacket to only found it covered by them 2 min later! The regulars laughed at us as apparently is very common: you just have to wear dark clothes, which in hot weather can be quite painful...tough decision!

Erin's yellow jacket in Dunwich

Uninvited passengers

We rushed out of Dunwich to escape the bugs and keep heading north, more inland. As we were leaving Norwich a few km on our left, we entered into Beccles. This riverside town would not have been special if it was not because Ricardo had heard of a good pub along the river. Off we went to find that 1) no lunch was served after 2:30 (ehhhm, right, are you not meant to actually start lunch at 2:30?) and 2) wedding celebrations were in place. Our lycras did not quite match the etiquette! At this point, Erin and Ricardo decided to not overwork themselves and take a train up to Cromor, but unfortunately the connections were so bad that they would only get there by 9:30 in the dark, with no lights or maps, definitely not a smart thing to do...so they had to leave us and returned to London.

Lucy and I pedalled then non-stop for about 3 hours through truly beautiful country lanes. Well, it was meant to be non-stop until we almost literally cycled into water! We were not expecting any ferry crossings as I plotted the route avoiding all of them. But it seemed that I had forgotten the Reedham ferry, the shortest ferry crossing in the whole of the UK! A nice gentleman in a car rang the ferry, which came to the other side of the river in a few minutes. For 1 quid we got the quickest ferry ever!

About to cycle into water!

Shortest ferry crossing in the UK

The ride into Mundesley was one of the finest we've done in the UK, with nice vistas and mostly flat. Once in Mundesley, we had a quick look at the beach, which definetely lived up to our expectations! First sandy beach in the UK! And it was hot, yet not very sunny. We headed to the B&B just on the outskirts of the little town, checked in and left for some food. Fish & Chips plus celebratory local ale were in order. A quick visit to the beach to wet our feet followed, as did some laughs from stupid local kids when we walked back: it seems that whenever we get out of London the locals laughed about our not-so-cool cycling outfits.

Mundesley, our destination beach after 160 km

Water was kinda cool

Day 2 awaited for us with sunny skies and forecasted temperatures to hit more than 30 celsius!