We’ve Finally Seen a Castle on the Off-Road 100 Miler!
We’ve finally seen a castle on the Off-Road 100 Miler – Richard Heald reports:
Sunday saw the fifth time we ran our summer solstice(ish) 100 mile off road ride. Around the time of the longest day each year, a group of likeminded lunatics gather to make the most of the daylight hours and have their longest ride of the year. This was the fifth time we’ve run the ride, each year having a different theme or destination. In the past we’ve headed south to Daventry, west to Thrapston & Rushden lakes, north to Belvoir Castle (Ed – behind some trees) and the Viking way and west to Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth taking in various castles (Ed – behind a town wall and cordoned off for the finish of a running race). This year Adrian’s route built on one of our 100k gravel rides, following or visiting the waterways and reservoirs north and west of Leicester.
For a summer ride the weather was very un-summery and a barely believable 20 degrees cooler than last year’s ride, at least our bikes wouldn’t be slowed by the sticky tree sap on the roads. Six of us set off from Great Bowden, the route headed out on the familiar territory of the Grand Union canal to Foxton and beyond, zig zagging on a couple of bridleways before we hit the outskirts of Leicester. From there we picked up the cycle trails through the parks of Leicester, roughly following the river Soar, and had our first pork based food stop of the day.
Through Watermead Park and onwards, round Swithland reservoir heading to the most northerly point of the route at Beacon Hill. These were unfamiliar but great tracks and lanes with some superb views; it’s always a highlight on these rides finding new but great routes and exploring different parts. A quick photo opportunity at the top of Beacon Hill then we pressed onwards round Cropston and Thorton reservoirs, more great views and tracks, then more pork based sustenance at our second food stop of the day. This was definitely a pork powered ride!!
From here on in we pretty much had the wind with us as we skirted round the bottom of Leicester, another quick photo opportunity at Kirby Muxlow castle, then following some of the route we will be doing for ride for Rosemary later in the year. We needed the wind helping us out, a couple of the bridleways were a bit tougher than ideal for a ride of this length and no amount of bacon or sausage can counter the best part of 100 miles in the legs.
The 100 miler is always a daunting prospect – 100 miles is a long way on a bike, especially so when a chunk of it is off road, but a fantastic route and great, (if sometimes brutal), camaraderie, made the miles fly by. I’d encourage anyone to have a go – pacing yourself properly and making sure you eat and drink are key, if you can do that then you’re half way there. Thanks to Adrian for planning this years route and the guys that made it such a memorable and enjoyable ride. Now where shall we head next year, maybe the home of pork pies would be appropriate!!
All our off-road 100 miler routes are below if anyone would to give them a try. They’ve all been in the region of 8.5 -9 hours of riding time.
Categories
