Rolling to the Stones 2009

You arrived at 2.30am??

last minute kiddie duties made it impossible for me to go
buahhhhh

excellent trip indeed
left speakers corner at 7pm in the end after nearly missing one member of the team lol arrived about 30 seconds after we left but thanks to the modern wonders of mobile phones we hooked up !! out of town hammersmith brentford staines massive hounslow and then out of london
2 fixed rider and three single speeds
as we left slightly earlier than usual we saw quite a bit of the nice countryside outside london few breaks along the way a30 until basingstoke and then onto the back roads peace quiet with a lovely starry night overhead
we had planned on avoiding the a303 altogether by taking a detour to the north but as the miles had been accumulating our bravado began to wane and we decided to get there asap
we finally arrived at 2.30am after 7.5hrs cycling great trip great ride ( dazzler how long did you guys do it in in the end ? )

we managed to meet just one other person from one of the other groups guy in blue cap and blue top didn't get his name hi to you

on the way out saw quite an array of bikes in the bike parking area nice gazelle someone, quite a few other nice looking fixed bikes and a few geared

all in a great ride and would highly recommend it to anyone next year
shall i get a list going for 2010 ??

fixed group ( although i would be happy joining the geared ride next year i think we could hack it )

1. dicki
   
   

I managed to do about another 20 miles or so cycling back but evetually decided that the pain was more than the gain and jumped onto a train in winchester for a nice easy train ride back to london

heres a quick report on the first time i did it with hippy dazzler and others
http://thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=873

dicki.
a great job to go on and do another 20 miles.
i rode to work this morning and the legs were still hammered.

slowest commute ever for me today !
fluro nodders were whizzing past on wobbly buckled squeaky mountain bikes with full knobblies

First of all I would like to say an awsome ride.

We started off at 8.30am meeting up with the Blechley ride. About 15 of us headded north to Bleachley at quite a pace. Some really good group riding and drafting going on. MikeC (the only one on fixed) and Texas pushed the pace hard from the front. We got to Blechley park at about 12.30 and got a fasanting talk from one of the volenters about the history of the place and what happened during the second wold war. This was followed by a decent lunch at a pub.
This is where the group split. Some getting the train back to London and some riding. Shoots, Pip, Oliver, Paul and I then started our journy to the stones. This got off to a bad start as James and pip tried to change a tire for an hour while we were still in Blechley. We set off at 5.30 to Aylesbury down an empty duel caridge way for a nice fast ride to get coffee. We then had a lovely flat and sceenic route to the ridgeway for the first real climb of the day. By this point it was getting dark and my front light ran out of battreys (charging fail). We stopped at a really good pub for probbly too long and had some good beers. A slow cold ride to hungerford with a whole bunch of punchers ment that time was ticking on. From Hungerford we blasted towards Stonehenge on some really rough roads and arrived at the Stones at about 4.15. We bumped into the Hyde park corner ride just as we were approching to stones and crused down with them. At this point our weight saving measure of not carreing locks back fired as we couldn't get into the stones with bikes. So we sat in the feild next to it and chilled for a bit (and said hello to the Cambrdge lot and the Seldom Killer) before heading to the next village where my mum lives. We got a breafast of kings and slept where we could (Fiddy slept on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and contentedly snored away for about 2 hours) before getting the train back. It was an epic ride and we rode a 160miles all in all. I would like to thank James, Pip, Paul and Oliver for an awsome ride. Well done chaps.

nice one Andy, was wondering how you guys got on. I would have loved to have continued onto the stones with you lot. Will definitely be putting that on the calendar for next year. Maybe, I will have a rod bike by then. Though I have been saying that for 2 years now, so its doubtful

chapeau! sounds like a ride that you don't forget in a while.
hopefully fiddy didn't hit on your mum

Sounds like everyone had fun. Good on you lot!

What's with changing tyres or did you mean tube?

Changing to night time time tyres.

From the 8.30 group.

It was a good ride out of London, getting clear onto the A30 and away without any incidents. It was nice rolling down the main road as it was oddly quite quiet, even around pub kicking out time. Slowed quite a bit by a rider having cramps on the hills and the frequent stopping for smoke breaks. In the end me and the gf decided to push on rather than hanging around to get cold while people stopped to smoke. Sun up on the busy A303 would have been better avoided but time was against us so no choice there really. I'm sure someone shouted at us to not ride up the closed road at the Amesbury junction but we just rolled on through and none of the peds had any problems with us. Great to meet the Bletchley lot when we got there after a brief mooch around the stones area and coffee.

I can't say I would do this ride again though. The pattern of pushing along at full pace and then stopping and getting cold at the side of the road doesn't suit my riding style. This showed when I reverted to my own style of riding and got on much better. If I did it again I would plan ahead a bit more and opt for a Little Chef type stop for coffee and a decent bite to eat, audax style.

Sounds like everyone had fun. Good on you lot!

What's with changing tyres or did you mean tube?

Tyre. There was a rip in James's back tire and he didn't want to risk it going in the middle of know where. So he got a new tyre. It was just a right bitch to fit and kept on pinching tubes.

Definitely an excellent ride, thanks to Dicki and Bobby Dazzler for getting us there.

Dicki - the guy who we met at the stones was George, Lowell and I rode down to Salisbury with him.

Great ride, hope to do it again in 2010.

big thanks to the fixed and single speed crew. It really was an excellent ride! Stoked we all kept the pace up, feeling it a bit today though.

Dicki - Can't believe you did another 20 miles! Good onya.

Apparently the celebrations at Avebury were really cool and far less crowded with muppets. Anyone fancy hitting the change of venue button for next year?

avebury ? is that woodhenge ? or more glastonbury way ?

North of Amesbury towards Swindon. You passed Woodhenge on the way into Stonehenge (left at the roadblock roundabout and then next right).

It's almost exactly the same distance but not as fast going.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=avebury&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=uk&ei=WKA_SoHGJJTMjAfV1LAH&ll=51.441169,-1.853256&spn=0.204583,0.4422&z=11&iwloc=A

Avebury was more like a village fete , was a mere 134 miles from Cambridge and there is a pub . Stonehenge was like cycling into a POW camp in comparison. there is still a stone circle but a bit more weathered and less dramatic but very atmospheric at night.

hmm sounds like a ncie change
i love the festival feel at stonehenge wierd and wonderful things going on all around
lots of drunken crusties / travellers
i am not a druisd or anything like that but a more spiritual place with less people might make it a better experience

PLUS A BIT OF BLOODY SUNLIGHT AT DAWN WOULD BE NICE.... CAN AVEBURY GURANTEE THAT !
darn the clouds on my last two visits

The gf's write up.
http://www.trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/

Avebury will guarantee you sunshine or your money back. Actually was sunny in Avebury when we rolled through on the way home.

There were still hippies doin their thing . Just 29,800 less people. They had little candles on the stones and were doing all that fire twirly shit and it looked exactly like a scene out of "the wicker man" before Edward Woodward was set fire to.

ha wicker man mark kermodes fave film
the scene with the barmaid at the beginning has me thinking it might be my fave film too !
the song as well during that scene is so brilliant
anyone know who sang it old style english folk song

Stonehenge was like cycling into a POW camp

+1

At the end of 160 miles on a bike, this was not what I was either wanting or expecting.
Couldn't get into the field, but didn't especially want to with stands selling crepes!!. Left after a quick nip of whiskey and a smoke.
Still the cheer at 4.38 when the "sunrise" began, which aligned beautifully as we rolled in was kinda nice. I have a feeling it was meant for the rise and not us, but that's not how my mind played it.

Yes, to the alternative one next year.

we snuck in over the hedge in full darkness had a bike pile about 20meteres away from the stones avoided any crepe stands entirely
can imagine woodhenge or amesbury being more chilled / spiritual

@ shootthebreeze did you expect to be the only one there or something ?

@ shootthebreeze did you expect to be the only one there or something ?

Of course not, but even people that had been there many times before were surprised at the turn-out.
I guess arriving 3 hrs later than expected, when it wasn't dark, probably played a large part in how the scenes were received. That and having a slow flat...lol!