I'm a bit unfit. Not massively but there are some days where I just don't leave the house! I need an activity that's fun in of itself and isn't running because fuck that. What I did like about running is that doing couch to 5K gave me something of a challenge or a game to play. I'm on Strava and that's great for nerding out on maps, stats and so on but it's not really a game. I'm having to overlay my own shit onto it and that's what you have here.
I did a bunch of after-work sprints for 30 minutes - go as fast as I can with Alpine street at the end but they got boring really fast.
So I decided to start doing longer cycles like I used to with Felix. Riding semi-randomly into the countryside. I'm going to chart them here. I've been enjoying it so much that I want to do some bike packing camping one night things at some point. Or at least low fi home counties easy bike packing shit.
1. 20th July - Too Far Off Road
26.43km, 2hr 12m, 186m climbed
I attempted a standard route to Pangbourne via Caversham and Maple Durham and then back via Purley and along the Thames. I've done this a lot with Felix on the back but I went a bit wrong and up Whitchurch Fucking Hill.
This is me before Whitchurch Fucking Hill at the church in Pangbourne.
This is me at the top. My hand is shaking. My heart was beating so fucking hard that I ended up buying a heart rate monitor to make sure I don't kill myself in the future.
Here's me and The Old Warrior (named after my Dad's old motorcycle, which was much more impressive). Before getting into Bike Packing, I'm going to need to move the lock. I can't do without a lock because I nearly always end up going into a shop.
28th July - Jelly Legs
30.77km, 2hr 01m, 131m climbed
This is the ride that the Whitchurch Bastard One should have been but with an extra loop down through Theale. My legs felt terrible after this but I really enjoyed it knowing that I would be setting a distance record.
Here's me at the Thames crossing in Pangbourne. It was a scorcher of a day!
3rd August - Henley Without The Stupid Hill
33.85km, 1hr 50m, 155m climbed
My end goal is to ride to Henley up the Stupid Hill but for this one I was content with riding round the long way. I discovered there were still a fair number of ups and downs, so I am not sure I gained much. One day I'll take on the Stupid Hill but not confident about it yet.
The road riding was OK but a little bit tedious - I think I prefer being surprised by woods and the odd bit of tiny bridleway.
I prefer loops to straight there and back - so next time I'll build this into a loop. Here's me at the Henley town hall. Everyone around my was super posh and I look like bedraggled hobo.
10 Aug - Into The Chilterns
31.14km, 1hr 59m, 292m climbed
The Chiltern hills are beautiful and I've been studying an old OS map that showed that once you get out of Caversham to the North, most of the up and down is gentle. That was largely true...
Except the Google cycling mode took me down "shortcuts" that went pointlessly up and down hills. Look at the notches in the altitude graph at the top! Each one of those dips were completely avoidable. I'll be more careful in the future.
Here's me pausing by the well in Kidmore End, about halfway to Stoke Row, my goal.
I was well chuffed with getting there and feeling pretty good too. I loved the village shop, perfect place to stop.
If you take the map at the top and the Henley map, you can almost make out a loop that I want to build up to.
Then Migraines
I was doing pretty well going out most weekends but then migraines hit (combination of fatigue and moving my head in a certain way that gives me vertigo). I've had to pause and think I'm mostly recovered now so plotting my next trip. I want to go West and South but those directions are mostly big dangerous fast bloody roads. I might have to consult some cycling apps.
That's it for now! I've got this week off work and once the DIY is done, I'll be up for another ride!
Comments
I was noodling around in Strava and noticed you can do challenges. I'm going to try and do the September 200km challenge.
It's a bit more than I normally do, so it'll be interesting to see if I can hit it.
For working out where is good, Strava Global Heatmap can be useful (it's also available as an overlay on the maps in the app)
https://www.strava.com/maps/global-heatmap
...though it's work double-checking roads, as Strava has a lot of road riders, and they will quite happily bash down bigger A-roads, which is not where you want to be. South of you is fiddly due to limited crossing of the motorway and river, but opens out once you get to Mortimer (my old stomping ground). West is better north of the motorway, so you're heading in the right direction going to Pangbourne, though you'll need to head up Pangbourne Hill and out of the valley for the quietest lanes. If you can get out towards Bucklebury there are some specially designated quiet lanes which are good riding.
Finally, I have terrible news...you missed Whitchurch Hill...thats straight up the B471 to Crays Pond, and frankly I didn't go that way unless I absolutely had to. Not only is it a miserable climb, there is a ropey width restriction at the bottom with limited visibility.
Thanks for the top tips. I stand corrected on Whitchurch Hill. I have SEEN that road from toward the bottom. I will try it one day and I am not too proud to push the old warrior up if I have to.
Weirdly, Mortimer feels like a really long way but ... I've just looked it up and it's 13km away. Even a modest loop will hit my standard 30km and there aren't too many stupid hills. Tempted to attack Silchester as a cool target. I once gave someone a lift down there in the van, it feels far.
Ignore the route finding, I think it's a bit sus.
I think I do need to go further than Pangbourne at some point, I might try Tilehurst Hill now that I've been up the Chilterns.
While in Strava looking at heat maps, I spotted this mate.
Inspirational if not a little mind boggling!
To be fair it was a pretty flat route (probably as flat as you can get round here...running the flat section between the Dales and the Moors), and for about 3/4s of it I was in a group (first 80km in a fairly easy-paced group of 8, then I tagged onto the fast group for 40km before getting comprehensively spat, then a final 40km back to the start solo...unfortunately with a fairly grippy headwind. The final 20km home was miserable, as it also started to rain, and I was sin gas.
The best roads for riding around the Thames Valley are definitely away from the A4 and towns. At a certain point you'll hit a comfortable distance where you can get out of the traffic and into the quieter lanes...that's when it gets really good!
That route looks pretty similar to what I'd do
https://www.strava.com/routes/3263459446673503942
Silchester is on top of a hill (not super-steep, but a bit of a nag)...but then that means it's downhill on the way back!
A couple of good cycling cafes in Mortimer as well (I'm assuming this place is still open ). If you're stopping up at a small cafe, you don't need a D-Lock (you probably don't need anything, I've never locked my bike at a cafe stop), but a simple cafe lock will be more than enough...it stops a casual walk-by theft. If you're going to a dedicated bike stop, such as Velolife in Warren Row you won't need a lock...if nothing else you'll be able to rack up next to a £10k Pinarello that is also unlocked (Henley-vibes on the bike front round there).