Short - utterly brilliant ride, until you get back towards the deep south-east! Do it but either time it right or re-route the last 30km.
Long -
Been climbing the walls with lack of solid regular miles, TINAT is looming and tbh I'm a little bit worried. Friday 9pm, weather f/c for Sat looks good. Need to get 100+ done. Remembered the L-W-L 2017 route I'd downloaded. 400km plus a bit, should be OK as a wing-it ride if i'll get round TINAT? Idea stuck, bike packed by 10pm. Packed inc bivi kit - I struggle with the mental side of riding through the night, or maybe struggle with simply being tired. Thought I'd take the option but either way, the time limit for the audax event was 27hrs and consistent av speed is an aim.
Had a frame to pass onto a willing tester so left at 11am. Weather was great. The route got out of the Chilterns pretty quickly via Thame. There's only 4000m of climbing in total on this route so in that respect, poor prep for TINAT but maybe a good trial 400 as I've not ridden that far in one go (w/o kip) before.
The route into and through the Cotswolds is fantastic. Some bigger, open roads but none are busy, a few with suprisingly long open views reminding me of NE France. Lovely ... sunshine too. Happy. Got to Tewkesbury and popped into the Abbey for a quick bit of tourism. I like the architecture of churches and cathedrals, hadn't been into Tewkesbury Abbey before. Impressed ..
Then rode on towards Ross on Wye then Symond's Yat / Yat rock as the sun was going down.
Coleford around 8pm, bought dinner and a coffee. Planned to ride through into the night so thought a double expresso should help. Got to Wales itself, Conway, at 9pm. 130 to 135 miles in. Ate dinner and sent an 'I'm in Wales, by bike' message to my sister who lives nearby-ish. Just for daft bstrd points. That's the nice thing about this route, London to Wales seems a bit bonkers to some but it's not that big a ride really, mainly due to a lack of hard hills.
Onto the best bit, riding over the Severn. I love the bridge and its bike path, only ridden it a couple of times in the many years I've had a friends and family base in that area and lived within 20 miles myself for a while. The approach and descent towards if from the Coleford area is quite inspiring, more so in the dark as it was yesterday, seeing the bridge all lit up.
Rode an hour or so further before getting sleepy and bored. I guess I just like the views when I ride and riding at night on road does little for me. Carried on another hour and tbh I was getting annoyingly uncomfortable and it was either proplus and music or sleep. 160 miles in, came to a warmer area in sheltered woodland, dry leaves, that was it. Pulled off the road and decided to have a kip. 3 hours off the night riding, 3 more hours of views. Seemed fair enough, would see how it affected my average speed also.
Coffee at 8pm and sleep at 11.30, that doesn't work... dozed a bit, stretched and enjoyed being off the bike, up at 3.30 to carry on. Food and coffee in Malmesbury just as the little shop there opened early at 4.30-4.45. Carried on in misty low cloud weather into Lambourn Downs, a shame the views were minimal as that's a really nice area I've ridden before.
Then all of a sudden I was back in the 'London' end. As you get towards the main roads through Marlowe and Henley you realise 1) that the wealthy aspirational areas of the SE are overcrowded rat-holes that just look smart (sorry but that's my take on that general area, based on the traffic, driver attitudes, crowding etc. Horrible.) and 2) This is why the 27hr time limit and 6am start of the actual L-W-L audax makes much sense, hopefully most of these over-stressed, over-inflated sense of importance and overcrowding types are still having breakfast or in bed when you pass through. I got sick of being on roads I know and actively avoid, realised the brilliant route-finding didn't apply to the last 20 miles (event timing caveat applicable) and bailed to go over the hills towards home. It still gave me 263 miles total, home within 25.5hrs, and a realisation that I can't do sleep-dep riding : ) That coffee at 8pm meant my sleep was poor and this afternoon I've been like the sleeping dead. TINAT will include a good kip.
Want a great break from London? Get the train to Tring or Berkamsted from Euston and start/end in the Chilterns. If interested I'll mail you a revised L-W-L that avoids the worst of the London part. Recommended. It's a great route.
