King Alfred Way

Definitely doable in two long days.

Doable in two days but not sure that'd be much fun, not for me anyway. If it's a 'smash and get it done' vibe, then yeah. Otherwise give yourself three days if possible.

I was out on some bits of it on Sunday (Reading). Nice and dry.

Thanks all. I think I'm going to give it a bash on Thurs / Fri.
weather looks glorious!

@frank9755 - did you start this?

Put back a day.
Am at the station now waiting for the 5:15 train to Reading.
Plan is to stay in Winchester tonight, so 160km, leaving 190 for tomorrow, when I can start earlier, and ride a bit later if need be.
Having planned it, it would be better to take 3 days over it, but I've only got two days!

Good luck :) It's already getting warm outside

Godspeed! Tomorrow should see a higher average speed, the trickiest stuff is between Farnham and Winchester iirc

Made it to Winchester. Funny day. The first 40km was mostly on road, then there was about 40km of sand. Lots of heathland that I didn't know there was in SE England.
Then the SDW section which was a bit harder.
I rode a bit with a guy who was finishing just before Winchester and he said the same about that being the hardest bit. He said the ridgeway bit is a bit rutted and not that pleasant. I'll see tomorrow...

Funnily enough I didn't find it that warm.
it was clear than I expected first thing. My garmin said it started about 18 in reading and went down to 12 degrees. There was mist hanging in some places.

Then the route was quite shaded by trees for much of the day, then it got quite hazy in the afternoon when I was on the SDW where its more exposed, so I was never really in the sun for long.

Yeah was pot hole I mean crater central back in July or whenever I ride it on OCW

Lots of heathland that I didn't know there was in SE England.

Right! Crazy place. I think it used to be the seabed?!

Ridgeway is running very fast at the mo. A few sections just after Avebury where you need to pay attention to line choice, but nothing difficult.

Make sure you stop at waylands smithy. Such a chill spot.

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Another cool start today, temp down to 11 by my garmin. If I'd been bivvying I would have seriously mis judged my kit based on the forecast nighttime temperatures.

It was fun leaving Winchester in the dark and doing the first off road bit with lights, novelty for me.

Most of the first three hours over to Salisbury was off road. Some of it was fun, some steep bits, but some really annoying bits too, eg descending while keeping to a 2-inch wide rut sided by grass verges which may or may not have been higher and had me of if I went on them. At one point the route went through a field of sweetcorn.

Lovely views from the ridgeway. But the section after Avebury is rough. More 2-inch strip descending. Then it became an easy gravel road. I met a guy who said it was like that all the way to reading. I thought I'd cut it short as it was a bit samey.

So, with 50km to go, I turned right and rode to Newbury. Am in the train now, theoretically it should get me home for family dinner, but trains messed up so may be late.

Doable in two days but not sure that'd be much fun, not for me anyway.

On reflection I think you're right, three days would have been much more pleasant.

I am used to riding all day on road, and enjoy that, but I hadn't factored in the greater strain on the body from riding off road. Hands, knees, and everything else were getting really tired. Also the mental effort is tiring, need to concentrate all the time on every descent, no free miles like you get on road.

It made me appreciate how hard it would be to do an off road ultra event. If I do other things off road I'll aim to keep it not much above 100km per day.

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there. You're obviously far more experienced than me on the road but I completely agree. Rough stuff is sapping from every perspective and it just takes a different toll if you're not used to it. Very tricky to say 'I can do X kms on the road per day so I should be able to do Y off-road'.

descending while keeping to a 2-inch wide rut

Least fun part of the KAW. Great effort! Here's a Ridgeway> canal > Thames loop from Reading if you want to fill in the gap

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44290219

Thanks, was thinking of doing something like this one weekend to wrap it up.

I used to calculate times to places based on 30kph... now I seem to need to use 3kph.
#lesperitdegirona

I'm still keen on doing this route at some point so it's good to have these ride reports. I've done some of it before and I've crashed before on those kind of ruts you describe - they lock your wheel in and if you overbalance in one direction you're off, eating dirt.

I did the first 220 km in April. The route was really enjoyable, but the weather was really challenging so I bailed.

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Then, last weekend, I went back to where I bailed from and finished it. Great route, although some sections were abit too chossy to ride, and other sections overgrown.

Stunning views on the last 50 km on the SDW

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it's on my list but afraid to solo yet :D
well done !

Nice looking ride, that the stables on sdw by South Harting?

Is the route easy to follow btw?

Yes great spot!

Bivvy shelter from the rain was very welcome. Thank you shed.

Yes very easy. Just followed the trail on my wahoo and had no issues, just needed to zoom in/out when off-roading to find the right track. It is a good route, but some sections are abit narrow if there are walkers too and some hike a bike.

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Looks like a lot of fun. Great bike for it as well, a rigid Inbred