The Rapha Festive 500

As I’ve said previously I don’t ride in kilometres, but that may not stop me aiming to do 310 miles over Christmas.

I’ve had a reasonable start with 110 miles on the 23rd and 24th. This was a trip to Oxford to visit my sister on her birthday – an annual event for me. Just to make things slightly more challenging this year I chose to use the ex Marcel Planes 1913 BSA Roadster as described in the 1911 Century Competition thread.


I’ve really got to like this machine, and with it set up to suit me the ancient bike has proved to be a surprisingly efficient mile eater. In view of the amount of luggage I was carrying (at least 20 lbs.) it was probably easier to climb over the Chilterns at Stokenchurch with the BSA’s 49” bottom gear than it would have been on my normal winter hack (66”).

The difficulty for me in doing this ride is that I don’t like riding in the dark, but for various reasons I can never manage to arrive before about 4 pm. This means that by the time I’ve come down Dashwood hill I’m always in a rush to beat the failing daylight. This year was no exception, and at Tetsworth the moderately light rain turned into a downpour which forced me to seek shelter in a pub and caused me to lose a little more precious daylight. During this brief stop the wind changed from South West to a blustery North West headwind, slowing my progress and forcing the rain through all the weak spots in my ‘waterproof’ top. I did have an old tent style yellow cape with me – appropriate for the bike but impossible to wear in that wind.

By the time I stopped at Headington to buy wine for dinner my hands were so cold I had difficulty in undoing the flap of the pannier and I was profoundly glad I’d only got another 3 miles to do, rather than another 55 as proposed elsewhere on this forum.

The return journey was relatively easy with a favourable wind but even so I wasn’t sorry to arrive home. My next longish ride should be Tuesday and I intend to stick to the BSA as it’s a Veteran-Cycle Club do. A photo should follow when I can find the camera again.