The Willy Warmer 200

A headwind all the way out! But I was prepared, I had planned not to push it too hard, and to enjoy the country scenery.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun shining through the trees and onto the landscape had wonderful effects. I was seeing paintings all around me. Like I had double vision, I would switch between reality and David Hockney's. I was cycling through a gallery of paintings.

This experience was enhanced by me being in 'Mindful' mode. We had sessions at work around Wellbeing, and the Mindfulness session stood out for me. I thought I wasn't too bad for living in the moment. I grew up in a house called Carpe Diem. I had noted to the person holding the session that, what she was describing is very much like the state I'm in when on a long bike ride, and having gone over the threshold. Everything means something, you are aware of the countryside, the birds, the cars, the sun, the rain, the food you eat, the eating, the people, the conversations ... and life can't be better at that time.

It was another great day out. I was focussed, I wanted to gain some confidence again, in being able to do 200 in 12hrs. Anything less than 12hrs is a bonus, or a few missed photo opportunities.

I did take a few shots of curiosities, like this General Post Office marker post:

GPO marker post

The GPO was established in England in 1660 and abolished only in 1969.  The post office was also a telephone operator at some stage, via the telegraph, it seems.  I had never noticed GPO marker posts before, I'll probably see them everywhere now.  I quite liked reading up about the history of the post office, now I know why it is called the Royal mail.

I had good company on the last leg from Winnersh, which I reached before dark, just.  I eyed up the chip van across the road, but thought it safer to get a receipt at Sainsbury's.  There was a wonderful moment when our groupette got to Bray where the Hinds Head restaurant by Heston Blumenthal is. Like you see students walking around in Eton, there were chefs walking around in Bray.  Else we were on a set for 'The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover'.

It was good to make acquaintances with Maidenhead Phil, and I picked up on the Easter Arrow vibes at head quarters.  Looking forward to that event as much as the Southern Kiwi Hunt.

This was the my last audax before the Southern Kiwi Hunt 1200.  The entry form has now arrived, and I know that there will be two bag drops.  Start time and controls are still to be guessed at.  I'm trying to visualise what it is going to be like: headwind south, hard climbing over the alps, rain on the west coast, hard climbing over Arthur's and Porters pass, then a grand finale descent into Christchurch to arrive 10 hours out of time.  Still, plenty of sleep time on the flight back home!

Thanks to team Manotea and Iddu.  Nice to see so many familiar faces.

Photos are on the slideshow till the next ride or here: Clicky

The Willy Warmer 200

Hooraahh!! No rain! But that is because we got sleet instead.

It may not have been that bad, but for somebody who wears glasses, rain or sleet is twice as bad as for those who don't wear glasses. First you have the rain in itself, then you have the droplets settling on your lenses. So you already have double the dose there. It may have stopped raining hours ago, but the spectacles wearer doesn't realise this until you are so fed up, you go to shelter in a bus stop. As you sit down and clean your glasses, you look up ... hear nothing, see dead flat puddles without ripples .... Oh! Typical, its just stopped raining! Every time, every time, you go and take a break from the rain it just stops! In reality, you've experienced not only double the dose, but double the dose in time also!

The trouble with sleet also, is the temperature of course. Its going to be around freezing right? So my tweeting got a bit weird. It became a little cryptic, SOS like. I didn't bother with capitals anymore. With shivering hands, you do a staccato on the keypad. Hitting the capitalisation button just twice is not easy. After trying to get it right and hitting that key probably and involuntary about 7 times, I thought nobody would care about capitals anyway. Anything that needed extra key strokes got left out, that is why the mileage was dropped also. So next time you see a: "halfway hungerford", please ready: "Freezing cold, hungry, can't see, don't ask, probably in Hungerford, probably around halfway ... I think".

A huge thanks to Anton. We cycled the whole way around together. We took turns to shout hole! pothole! hole left! hole right! hole middle! manhole! There were potholes left, right and centre. Centre?

We had some excellent views of kites. There were some low flying ones, but the one hunched on an antenna, calling to another, was unusual.

I did stop to take a picture of pheasants and partridges on the back of a truck. Anton, as a vegetarian, was appalled. There were many shoots going on, it is a little unnerving to hear those gun shots around you.

We said a quick hello to Iddu at the Hungerford Tutti Pole (nobody calls it that), and had a quick snack outside the bakery. That must be where I did the in-voluntary staccato in C minor.

It is really nice to now know so many people, compared with 3 years ago. And the world of audax is blurring with FNRttC, with Tim, Andrij and Pavel present.

This map gives an idea of the route: Chalfont St Peter, Henley, Pangbourne, Lambourne, Hungerford, Kingsclere, Risely, Winnersh, Chalfont St Peter

Double click to enlarge

A few pictures are on the slideshow till the next ride or here:Clicky

The Willy Warmer 200

Less than 2 months since the last big ride and you feel like a novice again. But after about 130km into the ride, it begins to comes back to you what it is about.

I found the first half quite hard. Maybe because I was cycling on my own? Maybe because the first half is quite hilly for a flat ride? Maybe because my bike and I had a couple of niggles playing on our minds? My right knee was a bit sore. And the mudguard of the rear wheel was rubbing. After spending a good part of Friday evening putting on 'winter tyres' and adjusting the mudguards to perfection, I was quite annoyed to hear the 'not enough' clearance noises. At the Pangbourne control, MattC came to the rescue and lent me his pliers so I could adjust them again. Hummers helpfully pointed out, that I probably knocked the mudguards whilst putting my bike in the car. True, and if I had taken up kcass' offer of cycling to the start ...

I took a good break at the Tutti Pole in Hungerford. The young waiter had hints of a cute young Prince Harry look-a-like. Batteries were re-charged and I was settling into the rhythm. Noises were gone, knee wasn't so bad after all. I had stints of riding with people which was great. At the last Winnersh control - which I remember vividly from last year because it was sooo cold - I took another break. Hummers and Phil suggested that a threesome would be the way to spend the last dark section. "I would be in safe hands!" And off we went. Bez joined us too. We hadn't discussed reasons for doing PBP for too long (!), before a mechanical stopped us in our tracks. "You better carry on with Bez" said Hummers - so much for being in safe hands!

Some time after that my GPS stopped. I was so disappointed, because it was the first ride where everything was working as I wanted, it was brilliant. If I had stopped and played around with switching off and on, it probably would have been OK. But being with Bez and his GPS, we finished off the ride together. I tried to take a short cut through 'the car park', only I got the wrong car park way before Chalfont village. Ooops, "after you Bez"!

There were quite a few punctures, blow outs, wheel problems, other mechanicals, GPS failures, muddled routesheets and off-route instances on this ride. Not surprising in the conditions, but it seems the hiccups weren't well distributed and a couple of people got more than a fair share (Bigsybabie and damerell)

Other photos are on the slideshow till the next ride or here: Clicky

The Willy Warmer 200

The Willy Warmer was a popular Audax, with over 60 entrants. It was a great crowd with many familiar faces. The event was extremely well organised - thank you to Manotea.

My sister commented that this could be called The Willy Colder. Which is very true. The last section after the Sainsbury's stop was very cold. I get bouts of 'white finger'. On a ride, it usually starts when I take a break and while it hurts, it hurts even more when the circulation kicks in again. This is what was happening in the next hour after Sainsbury's.

The second half was tough because of the headwind. I still made good time - which is what counts really. You soon forget how you felt, as long as 'the job is done'.

On the train home I received a phone call from my mum, saying that a Belgian friend had made a very generous 100 euro donation on the LEL JustGiving site. What timing to receive that news! It brought tears to my eyes.

I tried to reduce non-cycling time, so my stops were brief. I only took a couple of picture at the end. Here they are: