The Poor Student 200 Perm

The Poor Student 200 is a favourite ride of mine.  An audax I've done the most often.  It starts in Oxford, goes south west to Malmesbury, then north through Cirencester where the huge yew hedge is, to Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds, and back to Oxford (Map).  Beautiful and varied country side.  Look at the photo below, I almost want to take up horse riding.

You see the mist hanging around?  It was foggy pretty much the whole day.  There were just a couple of hours in the morning when the sun broke through.  Unless I cycled out of it?  I don't mind, you get different perspectives of the scenery and buildings.

Fog at 6PM

Had a comedy moment in one of the petrol stations I stopped at.  There was a grumpy women at the till, the only till, so I had no choice.  I had already spotted her, and she had given me the look as I entered the shop.  It wasn't a look you might get in art galleries.  Still, I got to pay for the few items I had gathered.  Then the dreaded happened.  In slow motion, she reached for a carrier bag.  I didn't want a bag, I didn't need a bag, I didn't ask for a bag, she didn't ask if I wanted a bag, the bag was going to end up in the bin.  My instinct told me to go with it, rather than deal with the grump-stare.  But my audax instinct kicked in also.  My cartoon clock appeared, where willy wonkas (or Oompa Loompas) have to make huge efforts to move the little hand by one second.  The more the second is wasted, the harder it is for them to move the hand.  Mrs Grump had got hold of a carrier bag, but rather than hand it to me, as I expected her to do in a grumpy way, she had a moment of customer service overkill, and wanted to open the bag for me.  Only she didn't manage it!  Poor willy wonkas, they were exhausted.  10 seconds probably, it took.  At least it was warm inside, you might say, but I still chose to eat outside.

Outside, I happily observed the petrol station dynamics.  Then a car broke down, 'can't get it into gear' the man said.  Phone calls, discussions with other drivers, 'sorry mate's, hazards lights ...

Just then I realised I hadn't asked for a receipt.  Darn!  I'll have to go back into grump vibe city.  True enough, she was in top form by then: 'That man has broken down on my forecourt and he hasn't even had the decency to come and tell me.'   I managed to suppress my giggles.

Saw quite a few cyclists on the road, racers, mountain bikers, road cyclists.  All very friendly and cheery.  It was a wonderful day.  I was very pleased with how this first 200 of the year went.  I feel I'm 'back on the road'.

Photos are here: MyPhotos

Other thoughts:

• thanks to Pat for administering this perm event
• thanks for the tweets I received
• missed opportunity to bump into Nuncio2 on a Malmesbury Mash (which I think was the David Lewis ride?)
• next week is Paul Stewart's Ditchling Devil 200 perm
• I had made Paul Hollywood's Chelsea buns for this ride.  I like making these, and they are perfect for a winter's ride, with dates, raisins, apricots and cranberries
  
  
  

The Poor Student 200 Perm

This is the new bike on its first outing: it ran very nicely. I just need to do a little more fettling (= prutsen in flemish!) to get the setup just right. The seat needs be lowered just a fraction, but was at its lowest. So, I'll need to saw of a bit off the stem, or swap with another. The handlebar needs to be tilted up a bit and I'd like some extra padding (on the handlebar).

All in all, I was very happy and really noticed the greater flexibility compared with the racing bike which is very stiff (good for sprinting though!).




So I decided to repeat The Poor Student 200 route, which takes you from Oxford to Malmesbury and through the Cotswolds. It is a lovely route. I completed the route in 11.5 hours, which is an improvement on 13.5 hours when we did it in January. But then the conditions were very different!
Here are some pictures of the scenery:

The Poor Student 200 Perm

Yabadabadooo!! 11 hours including stops! 9 hours 45 minutes of riding.

After our allotment party yesterday, I really wasn't in the mood for cycling (not that I was drinking). But the alarm went off at 04:30 this morning and up I got. It was still raining, but I knew it was going to stop around 6AM, which was my planned start time in Oxford.

Everything went well. Made good time in the morning, so had lunch in the Summer Cafe. As I've mentioned before, the Poor Student is a lovely ride from Oxford to Cirencester and back via Malmesbury.

Loved seeing the lavender on Snowshill. More pictures on the slideshow till the next ride, or here.



Again, many thanks to everybody who has donated! There is still time to donate (after LEL, I will never ever ask again).

The Dean 300 Perm and The Poor Student 200 Perm

Was it hot!!

The Dean is the most beautiful ride. The Cotswolds, Forest of Dean and Malborough Hills. I didn't appreciate the Malborough/Wiltshire region before, but it is stunning and wonderful to ride (on a couple of occasions walk!) through. A horrible climb, but coming up to Pewsey Hill with the chalk white horse is impressive. Wiltshire is known for the chalk white horses (not just Uffington): Wilthsire White Horses .

Coming out of Shipton, I saw a barn owl, which then flew alongside me for quite a while. Lovely! In the Forest of Dean, I saw a group of wild pigs. Heard them first, so I was on the lookout.

Both rides were absolutely beautiful in this weather. It was the third time I've done the Poor Student this year, and the best.

I did the Dean in under 18 hours and the Poor Student in under 12 hours. How consistent: 6 hours per 100km, which includes breaks. What I learnt this time is what challenges hot weather brings. I used wet wipes to freshen up every now and again, bought water at every opportunity, but I got sweat rashes in allsorts of areas and don't know what to do about that! It also takes some time to get ready in the morning, I should allow 30 mins. Eating takes time!

The YHA was also a good way to simulate disturbed LEL sleeping. Since it was so hot, the window of the dorm was left open so we could hear the traffic, the trains and the road works (or was I dreaming that?).

I am encouraged by this for LEL. I'm beginning to believe that I'll do better than my planned worse case scenario ... but I'll stick with that plan. Anything better will be a bonus. I'm imagining if I had to do both days all over again - but I'd probably walk the steepest hills, and that's OK.

Only three weekends to go. The thought of that makes me nervous. What kind of training is left to do? I have nothing planned except not do any night riding, no more coffee, no more alcohol ... That seems like a lot of doing nothing!

Quite a short ride report for such a two-day effort!