Well I did 109.3 kms in the end (that’s nearly 70 miles for the oldies!); well over the average that I will have to do en route to Puglia. I continued from Newbury along the Kennet & Avon Canal but on arrival in Hungerford, chatting to a fellow cyclist outside the shop where we had both invested in refreshments I realised that Bath was perhaps a bit too ambitious (the proof was his map). So I headed vaguely north(ish) and ended up in Wantage from where I completed the third side of my triangle and arrived, tired but delighted that I had broken the 100 km barrier, back in Reading. I was going to pause and post to the blog from the exact point where I breached the milestone but it was one of the most uninspiring views of the ride, somewhere in Purley. Update: I’ve just added the route map.
Reggie performed well and now has a cool dusting of dry debris from the road and tow path. I eliminated the two rattles that had developed; the rear mudguard was the first one (and what I was doing in the picture below – the wheel needed removing to access the screw), the second disappeared after I stopped and inspected, touched, pushed etc… everything that I possibly could. Bizarre….
Need to do quite a few of this kind of ride before I set off (six weeks tomorrow). One every weekend? I’m a bit saddle sore. 🙁
Categories: Cycling
No I wasn’t and am I aware of the fact that covering the distance I did without panniers etc… would have been a very different experience if I had been. That said, I am used to carrying loads on my daily commute to work (exercise books are not light!) which includes a couple of heavy duty climbs. However, you make a good point 🙂
Were you fully loaded? I did a fully loaded ride last week (only 40miles!) and it was much harder than a usual 40 miles.
Until last September I lived in Bath, and we did Reading to Bath last Summer. We got the train to Reading and started at 10am. We arrived in Bath at 2am on Sunday morning!!!
(One of the team had an injury that slowed us all down)