A.G.Duckett (1920's)

Congrats on the ride!! Looking forward to the write up

Awesome thread, also looking forward to the write up

Good stuff!

London – Oxford – London

There are several routes which could be used, but an old bloke with an ancient bike and limited daylight has only one choice, and that certainly does not involve Christmas Common. It’s the A40.

This may sound dangerous and unpleasant, but after High Wycombe there is a surprisingly cyclist friendly road as far as Wheatley and then a good cycle path (on the North side of the road) into Oxford. This is because the old trunk road runs close to the M40 which takes almost all the traffic.

Starting from Willesden I use the cycle path on the South side of the main road where it’s possible* as far as Hillingdon, then it’s necessary to divert into Uxbridge from where I get onto the old A40. Red Hill (after Denham) is the first ‘difficulty’ of the day, but not so difficult as to be worth changing sprockets. From here I pass through Gerrards Cross (more millionaires per square foot than any other suburb) and then Beaconsfield (one time home to children’s writers Enid Blyton and Alison Uttley – apparently they hated each other). After that comes Loudwater which is the beginning of about five miles of High Wycombe unpleasantness, but at West Wycombe things improve.

As planned, I stopped to turn the wheel onto my 57” free before the big climb to Stokenchurch. I timed this at home and made the change in just under 1 minute 30 seconds, but on the road it takes a little longer (gloves off and on, etc.) and there is also the problem that you break your rhythm and have to get going again. The climb up Dashwood Hill to Studley Green is at least a mile and a half, but it’s well engineered and not steep – I would have used a lower gear if I’d had one, but there was no real difficulty. There’s a little more climbing into Stokenchurch (coffee stop here) which is about 35 miles from home; at this point the hard work is done and you have the immediate prospect of almost two miles of freewheeling down Aston Hill.

I had intended to change back to fixed at this point, but I know the road well enough to remember both climbs and descents so, rather lazily, I kept twiddling the freewheel as far as Wheatley where I changed again for the final eight miles.

I arrived feeling no more tired than I have in the past having ridden geared bikes. However the North East wind, though cold, was partially favourable and I may have been little slower than previously. I bought a bottle of wine to take to my sister, noticing only the price (not cooking wine) and carelessly failing to notice the 14.5% alcohol content – I did have concerns about the morning, but it didn’t seem to do much harm.

The ride home was fairly unremarkable – the route was the same as the outward journey and the wind was also similar, so now unfavourable. I was cold (this was Sunday 4th December) and although I wore plenty of layers it seems they weren’t the right ones for that day. It’s lucky I didn’t leave this trip any later since it wouldn’t have been any fun on the 10th and 11th after the cold snap started.

I changed to the 57” gear at the foot of the eastward climb back to Stokenchurch and because I was cold I used this gear all the way home on the basis that twiddling would keep me warmer. I’m not sure how well this worked, but it must be by far the furthest I’ve ever ridden on such a low gear. I arrived home without exhaustion and I wonder if that enforced use of a low gear was less tiring than a more normal ratio. Even so, I didn’t do much the next day.

The bike, with luggage, spares etc. weighed a good 44lbs (approx. 20 kilos) and although I can’t explain why, it rides better than one would expect. You won’t be surprised to hear that braking requires a bit of forethought, but even with luggage I didn’t have any worrying moments.

On the basis that ‘less is more’ I am now daydreaming about an actual tour on this machine in 2023.

*That cycle path deserves a separate post, and it won’t be favourable.