Rolling to the Stones 2009

Good ride report, Andy. I was half thinking about starting a new thread, as our ride doesn't really fit into either the Bletchley or this thread, but hey. Yes, that was great! Apart from the f*&%$£@# A338, of course, my new decidedly least favourite road. I refuse to HTFU for it, too, he, he.

In hindsight (but that thought only occurred to me this morning), I suppose we could have bought a new tyre at Halford's and carried on, but at that time of course we didn't know yet how difficult it would be to avoid pinch punctures when fitting the inner tube on that rim.

I had a total of 172.5 miles on the clock at the end, which includes going down to Victoria Park and back home from Waterloo.

A hard leg to Bletchley with some serious team time trialling and various groups forming. Lots of hills but not excessively so. We also went off-route a couple of times, but continued to move towards Bletchley even so, as I think we just took more main road routes.

Bletchley was really interesting, and we were lucky to run into this dedicated volunteer who practically gave us a tour of the whole place while standing outside the Museum of Computing. He answered all our questions very competently. I don't think there was a single question we asked that he didn't know about.

After a nice pub lunch, we had the aforementioned interlude at first another bike shop and then Halford's. (Highlight outside Tesco's across the way. Paul: 'Oh wait, we can't leave yet, I've lost my phone outside Halford's'. Andy: 'Is that your knobbly knee or your phone down your leggings?')

Andy, Paul, and I left before James and Pip and got to Aylesbury with no drama. Riding along the A4146, a relatively new dual carriageway, was a bit what the M1 must have been like when it first opened. There was hardly any traffic as the road hadn't yet led to the sort of development it is undoubtedly meant to encourage, and so there aren't many trip generators along it yet. A good alignment and even gradients made for an enjoyable ride. The A418 to Aylesbury was narrower and busier but manageable. In Aylesbury, we had a nice coffee stop where Pip and James caught up with us again.

Then it was off through more admirably flat countryside, various small attempts by myself to get us lost, which were mostly foiled by Pip, although I did at one point manage to drag us a mile or so into Thame when we should have gone around it. Then came the two climbs around the Ridgeway, first a fairly steep but fairly short climb and then, after a short stint on the A34, going from one slip road to the next, which despite high motor vehicle speeds and a narrow hard shoulder was just about manageable, the Ridgeway proper. The view across the top was beautiful.

A sharp descent later, we were in West Ilsley, where we found The Harrow, an inspired choice of pub, as it turned out. We had a very good time there before continuing into increasingly hilly terrain. That in itself would have been fine if it hadn't been for the appalling surface of the A338. Anyway, we got to Hungerford in the end, and from Collingbourne onwards Andy's local knowledge took over the navigation. Arriving at Stonehenge, we found our way into the site blocked and had to clamber over some barbed wire, only to be refused entry with bikes at a time when the site was emptying at a rate of knots and about three people wanted to get in. Policeman: 'There are too many people on the site.' Andy (pointing at vast swathes of empty or emptying space): 'There's some space over there.' 'You're not allowed in.'

We sat in the field opposite for a while, met The Seldom Killer, and then turned towards Shrewton, where a lovely warm welcome, great hospitality and food, and a totally excellent morning awaited us. Truly an end to a ride to remember! James' tyre went down for the last time a short way from the house, and luckily before the final downhill--could have been hairy if it had been slightly later.

I think this was the longest ride I've ever done, although in the old days I didn't have a computer, so I can't say for sure. Thanks to all for the great company! I totally loved it and I can hardly wait to go to Brighton overnight on Saturday now.