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Well Italy is prettier than Lambeth, who knew...well everybody.
Rode up the Gavia Pass today, up to 8700 feet. I've not cycled extensively abroad but that was the biggest hill I've climbed, and the most amazing descent I've ever done. Left early this morning to beat the heat and the hoards of motor bikes and it was amazing, mostly deserted and just jaw droppingly beautiful at every turn.
Cow bells, now it really felt alpine.
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I regret taking a 39 tooth inner so came close to walking but HTFU and made it to the top by pedal power alone, and blowing out me 'arris.
And rollocks to the metric measures, I'm a pint and miles guy.
If you look closely at the building in the last pic is says 2652 metres, which is what I'm going by, or rather 8700 feet :P
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RIP Gino Mäder.
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Didn't do anywhere near enough training for this, and now my thighs feel like they're made of rapid-set concrete
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Delayed my IOW trip to next weekend so a friend can come along. So did a few miles around West Sussex today.
Mad hot outside though. Thanks to @Chaley tip about seat post clamp so no slippy post!
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There was a lot of haymaking, some nice dogs, quite a few audaxers on a 600 spotted between Andeer and Thusis on our way back in the afternoon, and I nearly went over the sharp left turn bridge into the via mala when I concentrated too much on being surprised by the one on the Brompton.
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Did the IoW loop yesterday with added miles to and from ferry for first 100miler of the year.
Went anti clockwise to benefit from the hearty tailwind down the South West side, which was the right call I think!
Lots of cyclists, seemed a few charity events going on. All very chatty. Met a fantastic fella in a Hawaiian shirt, Australian style brimed hat, tatty old MTB who's been riding the same weekend for 40 years now.
Was also the round the island yacht race, so it was great to see so many boats every time you passed the coast! The ferry cutting through them home was nice, seeing them all so close.
Not much else to report. Lovely smooth roads. Good cafe stop at West Wight Alpacas that was recommended. Lunch was at Smokey Jack's in Wroxal which was a bit dire, would avoid.
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Bit spoiled for choice where to go yesterday. -
Over the mountain to Hotel Rosenlaui for coffee.
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Climb.
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Veteran Cycle Club Century Ride
24th May 2023.(note: I have included Mr. Thurmer’s name because he did so much work to make this event happen, and because many of you will know him through ‘Hard to Find’ bike spares. The others I have named only as bikes, which I hope is in line with the forum practice of not using real names.)
This was a brilliantly organised event, entirely the work of Francis Thurmer – more on this below.
I wasn’t at all sure I could still cope with 100 miles in a day and I started with serious concerns about how and where I would be that evening. This had started as an invitation, became a daydream and progressed to being a project with work going into preparatory mileage and bike improvements.
Arriving slightly late at the Benson start, I told Francis not to delay and that I would meet him at Wantage (elevenses). This proved to be the right decision since the main group were already a little behind a tight schedule when we did meet; this ‘tightness’ related to our desire to finish before dark, well my desire – I think Francis was rather looking forward to lighting up.
Leaving Wantage we had a group of six: Francis (pre-war H.G. Shillingford), a Jack Taylor, (‘60s) a Saracen, a Dawes and a Pinarello (these three all ‘8os tourers) and myself with my ‘40s Sunbeam bitsa. We made steady progress in a north westerly direction, mostly into the wind, to reach our lunch stop at Fairford without drama.
We were back on the road by 3.15, which was only slightly behind schedule, going north towards the Windrush valley. Now we were getting into Cotswold country and there were a couple of stiff climbs which saw me (57” bottom gear) and a couple of others walking. We ‘crossed’ the main A 40 by an underpass on a quiet lane, which Francis claimed was the main design point of that part of the route. Whether this was strictly true or not, we now had Sherbourne in front of us, with several miles of the beautiful Windrush valley. This proved to be an almost perfect cycle-touring road with enough gradients to add interest to views of the river running, at times, close to us; this was enhanced by the sight and smell of the cow parsley and may blossom at the height of their season.
Progress was steady rather than fast with one member beginning to have a (mild) bad patch before we reached Burford (made famous by Charlie Pope’s cycling diaries) and from there it was an easy run to our ‘tea’ stop at Witney. The Pinarello left us at this point to go straight home to Oxford, but since he had ridden out from home in the morning, his day’s mileage must have been similar to ours.
Time was now running short – we had thirty miles left to cover and, at the very most, three hours before complete darkness. I did not mention this at the time, but I was seriously considering abandoning the group and making a dash for it down the main road. However, looking at the map, I could see that Francis’ route was fairly direct, and I thought that if we were caught in the dark there would be some safety in numbers, so I stuck with our dear leader.
As it turned out Francis’ route was excellent, using a lot of good cycle paths which were often the bypassed former main roads, but although there was no ‘defaillance’ or big hills, the speed was tantalisingly slow as the light began to fail. We had a final stop at a shop in ‘Kingston Bagpipes’ to stock up on food, then through Abingdon and on to the final stretch, leaving the A415 for a couple of beautifully quiet miles through the now by passed town of Dorchester and onto the last three miles of A423 to Benson. This, for me, was really unpleasant: I never liked riding in the dark, even when young, and now with vision challenged both by age and by ultra bright modern headlights, it was scary.
But we made it – I was back at my car by about 9.50.
It’s worth remembering that this was a V-CC ride (even though it didn’t really feel like one) and that we completed just over a hundred miles with no mechanical problems except for a couple of easily remedied chain deraillings; the youngest rider was over sixty, so we can claim a high degree of reliability among the ancients.
Probably as a result of the modest pace and plenty of stops, no one suffered badly. I was certainly glad to finish, but I would still have felt perky enough to have contested a sprint finish for the Benson sign!
The two photos: My Sunbeam in 100 mile trim, and Francis on his HGS
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Great read, great photos too.
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Good going! An imperial century ain't a walk in the park!
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Your bike is god tier functional rat, absolutely love it
I can't really explain why it is, but I use the Sunbeam a lot - I did a 4 day YHA trip on it early this year. Of course I've got 'better' bikes, but this one often seems to be the right bike to use. For the 100 I used an AM Sturmey which gave gears of (approx) 57", 67" and 76", for the YHA ride I used an AW with 47 x 24 sprockets giving 39", 52" and 69", so my top gear was my 'normal' and the other gears were for climbing, which worked ok bearing in mind I had luggage and no need to go fast.
For the V-CC ride I knew the pace would never be fast, so there was no point in taking my 'modern' (ie '70's) road bike - the 52 ring would have been pointless and antisocial!
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that last pic!! wonderful <3