2014-03-09 - Steam Ride (London-Oxford-London) LOL Audax 200k, 100k, 50km

h2o is absolutely, 100% NOT lynchman.

And that's a pretty impressive achievement to have done that ride after having a knee smashed up.

Thank you everybody, was a great ride.

h2o is absolutely, 100% NOT lynchman.

There's a little Lynchman in all of us.

#awaitsnergs

Nice chattin' fussball. How'd you go in the end? Find all the controls?

There's a little Lynchman in all of us.

#awaitsnergs

I just got one of those. Still a world champ though.

Nice chattin' fussball. How'd you go in the end? Find all the controls?

Yes, found all the controls but the pub at the end, obviously. Timed myself very well and had a great run in. 10:30h.

Ewelme and some other places I do not remember must have been terribly badly affected by the floods.

Boy that was a long one. Felt the last 50K with the Head wind. Really really Enjoyable. But some of those roads around high Wycombe were appalling. Bad council.

Boy that was a long one. Felt the last 50K with the Head wind. Really really Enjoyable. But some of those roads around high Wycombe were appalling. Bad council.

Yeah at various points in the Chilterns I was trying to point out potholes, etc in the best club style but just found myself pointing at pretty much the whole road

Incidentally cheers to the organisers and ACH for a great day. And to all the stronger riders whose wheels I diligently followed on the way out. ..

Ludwig apprehensive about the journey ahead

Also doubling as teletubby

Hello. I was on the px kaffenback wearing the eskadel hat/gillet. I never made it to southall. Once I got to Uxbridge I started heading to ruislip on auto pilot. That was a good days ride Oxfordshire is a lovely county.. My biggest mileage by about 25 miles. Stevenage start of summertime special for me next.

Nice meeting you. Less beer more titanium ;-)

Great ride, thanks to all involved.

Here are some pics of the 'uber scenic' detour, which was, as promised, heavily flooded, but well worth it in the sunshine.

Bike wash ^^

I ended up retiring at Oxford. Made a slow start, went into Aylesbury by taking a wrong turn, causing me to miss the info control and added a 8 mile detour. Made it into Quainton ok though quite a bit late. I did think about switching to the Quainton Loop ride, but then thought I should plough on to Oxford then make the decision.

My front shifter started playing up at this point. I could hear the chain rubbing the derailer on some occasions, so stopped often to address this. I messed with the shifter to try and make things better, however ended up making it that I could not change up to the large chainring. Then on the climbs I started skipping over gears on the rear too, which is really disconcerting when trying to climb. Ended up walking a couple of hills. At this point I figured I would just get to Oxford as quickly as I could.

Aside from my troubles I enjoyed the ride, some great roads. Loved the downhill sections too. Might give the perm a try at some point in the future.

I'm driving from Hackney (Broadway Market yah) at 6am to the lido, to arrive at 7am. I have space for 3 other bikes and their riders. I offered this to the ACH, but no takers, anyone want a painless lift? I have to be honest, I'm a slow cyclist, so the lift back is likely to be late. But first 3 to PM me are welcome, but 6am sharp departure. Cheers, KL

Thanks again fella, the lift was much appreciated. Well done for your first 200 audax as well!

They could have picked a nicer pub for the finish.sitting outside wasn't particularly nice. A few miles further up ducks hill we could have finished at the gate.

Hello there. That pint of London pride I had in Oxford went down a treat.

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Thanks Tim and the guys for this lovely ride. Was glad to spot some lads from the Audax Hackney club to follow on the way to Oxford when my Garmin cocked up..

Great ride, thanks to all involved.

Here are some pics of the 'uber scenic' detour, which was, as promised, heavily flooded, but well worth it in the sunshine.

Wow, serious flooding. Pretty though. Did you plough through or go around?

Wow, serious flooding. Pretty though. Did you plough through or go around?

That's nothing compared to what we dealt with on The Poor Student in January!!

Good ride even if the route sheet was a bit random at times! I finished the 200km at 6.40pm still feeling strong. Ride out to Quainton was awesome with a great control. Riding through Oxford, Abingdon and Didcot to Chilton I was on auto-pilot as I know all of those roads. I got taken out by a motorist on The Plain in Oxford who decided not to give way to the right, no damage to me or bike thankfully.

I had lunch at home near Abingdon which was a nice way to break the ride up into two halves and therefore missed the reported huge delays at the Head of the River.

High Wycombe was navigationally challenging. As was the section after Burnham Beeches where the route sheet didn't seem to bear any relationship to reality at all!

The Uxbridge Road was unpleasant in the dusk. Not sure what we were meant to see in Southall, the last info control was in a housing estate. Managed to group up with a local who led me back to Ruislip otherwise I might have been tearing my hair out trying to find my way back in the dark.

The pub at the end was pretty much deserted, I've seen a few comments about it but I didn't linger, got my card stamped and went home.

Easily my fastest 200km so far but it is the first one I've done when it hasn't been a) blowing a gale and/or b) pouring with rain and/or c) starting and finishing in the dark and/or d) cycling through 12" of floodwater.

Look forward to doing it again, hopefully with a slightly less complicated and proofread routesheet ;)

Cheers

John

Whacked a few more photos up on the Steam Ride fb page