Tell us about your weekend ride

Someone on Twitter told me about this thing, so it's on my todo list. In fact I've literally just now been planning a ride out to it. Unfortunately it's ~70k of mostly road to get to the start and probably even more to get back which seems like a lot of road riding for a 140k trail.

What sleep kit did you take?

What gear were you running on that bike? EDIT: 66"

I sat on the empty train

This was something else I was wondering about. I'd prefer to do this in a big loop to avoid public transport.

I think the missus might be keen (aka talked into it). She's going to unpack the Macpac tent I went touring with in 2005 to see if it'll fit us both (it won't but it might be better than two bivvy setups.

Do you know how long the actual Ridegway part of the ride took you?

I'd prefer to do this in a big loop to avoid public transport.

That was the original plan as well: sleep at the end of the ridgeway, then ride to Old Winchester Hill the following day, and sleep there, and ride back to London finally. But things got shuffled around a bit.

Do you know how long the actual Ridegway part of the ride took you?

My route
for the Ridgeway is 137km. I started 20km in and it took me from 07h30 to 16h to get to the Chiseldon service station a hundred km later. From there I would have had about 16km left until the very end (but I branched off and went South to meet a friend near Ogbourne St George). So I guess if you don't mess around you can do the whole thing in a day.

Beware though that on this route the first 40km or so are on footpaths and so you'll have to repeatedly lift your bike across gates. It was okay for me as I was on my own and did it in two 20km installments with a night in between but your mileage may vary. I was also lucky with regard to actual walkers on the path, they were few and far between and generally understanding of me being there.

I think you'd want to perhaps rehash the first bit of the route before using it, or be aware of the above.

Unfortunately it's ~70k of mostly road to get to the start and probably even more to get back which seems like a lot of road riding for a 140k trail.

Yes it's annoying but I didn't let that put me off too much. The state of the trail is such that big slicks are perfectly fine for it and will roll great on road too. I used WTB Horizons, to give you an idea. If you search a bit you may also find off-road sections here and there (NCN routes, etc) to use on the way to the start and back to London. The various OSM/OSM Cycle/OSM Outdoors overlays on the RWGPS route builder are great for that.

What sleep kit did you take?

Bivvy Bag, inflatable mattress, down sleeping bag. It got a bit cold during Saturday night but nothing too bad (just had to tighten the various loops on the sleeping bag and bivvy bag).

The various OSM/OSM Cycle/OSM Outdoors overlays on the RWGPS route builder are great for that.

Yeah, I've been trying to do that a bit more with UK routing. Normally I just steal routes and then stick the biggest A road to and from the start I can find but I'm sick of british drivers so looking to stick to quieter roads and if I'm running gravel tyres, preferably dirt.

Cheers. I'll see if I can convince the other half that doing this will be fun. :)

Actually, I've got big slicks on the Inbred at the moment and I just dropped its gearing to 32x17. I could take that.

Been mostly riding gravel routes in Essex and Hertfordshire lately. While some people might be out gunning road KOMs taking advantage of reduced traffic, I am finding riding as far as possible from infrastructure (barely possible around London) to help me stay sane in this period. Also made a quick video

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Do you have a RWGPS/gpx of the Herts ride? Looks cool.

I've done several, some similar bits among them, best to have a look on my RWGPS and search the routes, same username as here.

These are the ones in Herts I've done lately:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32589569

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32584882

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32538761

Cheers, I'll take a look!

Essex one looks good. Possible on 28mm?

I did the Stayer Distance one a couple of weeks back on 28mm and it was brilliant. One point at which it got a bit hairy but only as I was being reckless. Couldn't reccomend enough

https://www.stayercycles.com/thedistance/route1

Both are this time of the year, you just go slower and pick your lines better.
Use this for the Essex one above (good both ways around): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32727525

The route above is very similar to Stayer #1. Their #3 looks really promising and into Herts @hippy

Great, thanks

Yeah, I've already taken that and extended it to start/end at my place :)

Legs said no on the climb to Pym's Chair from Jenkins Chapel, so I got the rare chance to take pictures on a weekend ride.

First time I've ridden this as a loop, the combo of Blaze Hill, Pike Low, Jenkins Chapel is punishing, very little recovery time and all steep enough (for me at least) to deny gently spinning up them.

Redemption of sorts by surviving the climbs of Whalley Lane and the hill I know as unnecessary hill in Disley both used to avoid the A6 tourist traffic.

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^Looks amazing!

This weekend I packed the bivvy kit on the fixed gear again and went off to do the Stayer Cycles "The Distance" route #5, Dirty Kanzelled. Left on Friday evening and camped around km 55, before finishing the day after. Amazing route, and hard work too even split in two like I did. Only problem was that I pitched camp in the dark right next to a swamp. So many mosquitoes.

If I were to do it again I'd probably start earlier and go all the way to Baldock (just before the halfway point) for supplies before trying my luck in Bush Wood nearby. It would also for two more balanced halves. I was pretty mashed up towards the end on Saturday.

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Kudos for doing that route on fixed gear!

We did the Dirty Kanzelled as well on Saturday, with a more DIY route (still took in 40/50% of the Stayer #2 route). Super nice route, some seriously posh bridleways. Was hot and dusty though, probably went through 6L of liquids, would totally ride again.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32780574

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Oh, I did it yesterday too. Would love to do it with my wife, doing it in two days might just make that manageable - I hadn't even thought of that so thank you. What was camping like - did you pitch up a tent or just a bivi and sleeping bag? Must have been beautiful, such a good route.

Just bivvy+sleeping bag. Camping would have been very good if I'd picked my spot better, as it were I got badly hassled by mosquitoes the whole time, and discovered in the morning that I had set camp next to a bog. Ah well, it can't be perfect every time can't it :-)

Yeah I reckon cutting it in two chunks was a good thing especially as I was on a fixed gear. Not sure in what state I'd have been at the end had I done it in one go.

Thanks, your ride looks ace too!

+1 for Stayer's rides. Did the Essex groad blender on Saturday, which is one of the better routes I've ever done. But I am new to this non tar road riding. The dryness helps. And wide bars. Definitely the wide bars.

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@Ruserius My 38cm drops w/ aereobars should be perfect then :)

The church and gravel road pics are just after Stapleford Tawney. A farmer stopped me to say I shouldn't be there. Private land, footpath, etc. It's very pretty though.

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Hopefully your "sorry, it's the satnav!" talk got you out of trouble ;)

I saw the route master for the #1 Distance route posted on strava saying he amended it following complains from a farmer, depending on when you downloaded the route you may have had the original?

Yeah, I did say I'm just following orders but that didn't wash this time. He said a group of cyclists laughed him off the other day which didn't help his attitude. I downloaded it 5min before heading off without really looking at the route, so not sure which version. Good to hear it's in hand.