DIY by GPX Mandatory Route 200K (Solo)

With a relatively free weekend and with a lovely weather forecast, I’d decided to head out on my first Audax ride of 2021 – a solo ride hitting some British Cycle Quest checkpoints and a special visit to the FT Bidlake memorial garden.

I’d cleared the way for the Saturday ride, and the rest of the family had kindly accommodated me with this, they had a plan which involved haircuts, visiting nice outside spaces and then dinner in a friends garden.

So, on the Friday after work I hastily put a route together with the first target destination being the Grafham Water BCQ checkpoint. From there I could head down towards the FT Bidlake memorial garden and then pick up a few more BCQs heading north west through Bedford, before joining my southerly route again and then splitting for home.

With a route of 222Km planned I got on with submitting it to Audax UK, using up another Virtual Brevet card. Now to get my kit together, I’d use my smaller rear saddlebag from Swift Industries, and a small front bar bag. Of course I took too much and this is something I have to work on, really it is…

Up at 5am, a big bowl of porridge and a coffee, some faffing and then I was kitted up and ready to roll an hour or so later. The morning chill was severe, it was -1degC outside and my fingers and toes were really pinching. As I rode more I warmed up and the cold at the extremities subsided and became manageable.

I was passing through very familiar ground whilst heading south and it wasn’t until I got to Kimbolton that I felt as though I was on new roads. Kimbolton seemed nice and the dominant factor here was the vast and likely very expensive to attend school. It’s right in the centre of the town!

Heading east after Kimbolton up towards Grafham Water. It was beautifully still up on the water and I was speaking to a bloke who runs a pet store there and we discussed the peaceful appearance. He said on some days when the wind is up the water can look like the North Sea, so it was pleasant to have some calm waters to look upon. I was able to answer the BCQ question easily and made a note on my phone before leaving.

I continued further east after Grafham Water and crossed the A1 at Buckden (a roundabout I’d passed through so many times by car, which is a little more intense when on a bike), and west of the A1 there was a lot of stretches of water – all carved out of the River Great Ouse. Buckden Marina seemed nice and there were a few villages with Offord as the prefix. Heading south again I was 90Km in and on course for St Neots, and was feeling as though I needed food. No obvious and quick opportunities in town, so I continued in in the hope of an out of town supermarket – to which my wish was granted with a large Tesco.

I parked up and locked the bike, then went in search of my quick foods – Cream of Tomato soup, Muller Rice and a can of coffee. Easy. All 3 were very nice and went down well in the sunshine.

Next destination was the FT Bidlake memorial garden. With my recent interest in Time Trialling my mate Jim, himself an experienced Tester and true hard man of cycling had told me about the memorial garden and the significance of FT Bidlake as a record setting rider in the 1880’s and then his subsequent administration activities as a timekeeper, and as a significant component of establishing Time Trialling as we know it today.

The garden is maintained by the FT Bidlake Memorial Trust, and is literally just off the A1, 48 miles north of London and 148 miles south of York, it is small and discrete and could be missed easily. Taking 5 minutes of reflection and a couple of photos was very interesting.

My second BCQ checkpoint of the day was up next, I was heading for a village called Old Warden – known for the Shuttleworth aerodrome, and as I travelled from the memorial garden I passed a sign for a village called “Moggerhanger” strange name! Old Warden was a very pretty little village and the War Memorial was easy to find just through the village and on the right. I was able to answer the BCQ question easily.

Moving on towards Bedford for another BCQ, I passed two massive hangers which I’d seen before from the main A421 road leading to Milton Keynes. Its hard to describe how big these hangers actually are, but they are huge! They have a history of air ships and balloons and they are placed at Cardington Airfield, formerly RAF Cardington. I would have liked to get closer for a proper look but I still had a long way to go and didn’t want to waste too much time.

Approaching Bedford from the south west I headed for the embankment, the BCQ question was on the south side of the town suspension bridge and there were some lovely scenes along the embankment – pretty flowers, rowing boats, families taking a walk and most enjoyably, people dining in restaurants with outside eating areas. That was the nice bit of Bedford, the rest was busy traffic and several bridges other than the only one that I needed for the BCQ checkpoint. I’d messed up with my routing obviously. The Bedford BCQ would have to wait for another day.

Leaving the traffic heavy Bedford was a relief, but I was onto main trunk roads leading out towards Northampton. Uphill roads with rough surfacing made for slow progress indeed. It was a relief to get off the main road and on towards the final BCQ checkpoint at Stevington windmill. The village was quite pleasant, but I’d found myself at the end of the village without seeing an obvious road up to the windmill, so I had to follow a field track up to the windmill. I spoke with a young couple who were there for a walk and wondered what I was up to whilst working out the answer to the BCQ question. I had a chat with them and explained the challenge to them. The question was easy to work out once you were close to the windmill, so I was glad to be able to find a route up to it such to avoid the disappointment of a second missed BCQ for the day!

I was heading towards main roads again after the windmill and it was getting to the point where food and water would be needed again, sink was on look out for something. I was able to find a Tesco Express in Brickhill, just north of Bedford where I filled bottles up with water, got myself another Tomato soup and treated myself to some sweets. I had a catch up with my wife on the phone and it sounded like they were having a nice day too.

Leaving Brickhill, my legs were heavy and becoming fatigued. I’d been trying hard on the ride to keep low, and ride with speed in some sort of attempt to try and understand what a long time trial may feel like. I was nowhere near the speed required of a long time trial, and I wasn’t concentrating as one would have to do in a TT, but just spending a long time being low and riding hard would help in any case.

I was heading back up towards Kimbolton now and although the wind speed was low I was now riding against a cross head wind, another element to reduce the speed. My power was still up though trying to fight to gain speed. My shoulders, neck and lower back were beginning to protest at the low position too.

I continued on, passing through Kimbolton again and then joining up with the route that I had used coming south earlier on in the day. Near Glatton, at the top of a hill I had a 5 minute break, I was becoming tired and needed a moment off the bike. A touring cyclist turned down the road I was on and we had a nice chat for 10 minutes or so. He was on a titanium custom bike with a belt drive and a pinion gearbox and a load of Ortlieb luggage kit. He was just out for a pootle and he was interesting to chat to. Clearly does a lot of touring with the kitchen sink in his kit bags!

Elton was my next target, a lovely village where one of my good friends lives, and it came soon enough and on familiar roads. Past Elton, I had another mini break at Wansford, necking a gel and finishing my sweets from earlier and then I was largely on my back from work commute that I used to do when working in offices was a thing…

I finished up at home tired and very pleased with the days ride. I’d had a great day, bagging some solid distance at good speed. I’d do the Audax and BCQ admin the following day after I’d enjoyed a decent meal and a couple of Leffes for the evening.