The Poor Student Revisited ... again!

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).

What shall I do this weekend?

Hey, guess what, its going to be the Poor Student 200 again! Its easy to get to the start (1 hour in the car to Oxford), I know the route, I love the route, and its (now) do-able in less than 12 hours. So that is the plan for tomorrow. I have a final bit of fettling to do with the saddle, its not quite right yet. Oh yes, and I need to replace my wireless with a wired mileometer (the dynamo interferes with the wireless).

Other than that, I feel almost ready for LEL. Last night, I marked up the route sheet. The next thing is to work out my bag drop content. Bag drops are a luxury. You leave them at the start of the ride and the lovely organisers will drop them off at dedicated controls (we're allowed two). Then you get to, say, Thorne, tired, wet, cold (hope not!), where your bag awaits you with a mat to sleep on, with clean dry socks, dry gloves, your favourite piece of cake, spare batteries, etc. I experienced a bag drop for the first time on the Bryan Chapman Memorial ride - not appreciating its value beforehand. That bag drop saved me (apart from the angel Mel)! And of course, unless the bag drop is at the turn-around point, you visit the drop twice.

If I'm riding well tomorrow, I'll take some more pictures. You see, there has been a camera discussion in the house. Sarah is going to be my weight monitor, so as to make sure I don't overpack with unnecessary things on LEL. She's arguing that I shouldn't take the camera. Taking pictures will be valuable minutes wasted, and its extra weight. But I've been pleading! ... I'm nearly there. When I've been riding without camera and I come home without pictures - its just not right.

The Poor Student 200 Revisited on New Bike

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 - Done

Thank you, thank you to the fantastic Fabulous Faccombe Four - and Mercury! No way would I have completed this ride without them! Navigation, company, chats, light! I have only ever cycled at night in a group: Dun Run, FNRttCs and this one, and although I love it, I also find it scary at times. The thought of night riding on my own scares me a lot. Maybe the Willy Warmer will provide me with an opportunity to overcome my fears?

It was a great route, weather better than expected, hills not as bad as expected. I am very pleased with how it went, but it was tough. Its only the first in the season, and fitness and endurance will get better. But for now, I don't know how I will ever do a 400.

We started at 8 AM, cycled from Oxford to Shrivenham, to Malmesbury, to Chipping Campden and back to Oxford arriving just before 9.30 PM. The final control closed at 10.25.

I am very tired. Didn't sleep very well - how is that possible?

The Faccombe Four

LEE and Mercury

11 January - The Poor Student 200

This is the first of the training rides and the first time I will be doing 200km in January. It will not be easy, its a long way, it will be cold and it is a shoestring event. A shoestring event, means there will not be the usual Audax controls where you can get a morale boost by seeing friendly controllers and have a cup a tea with a piece of cake. Either you carry all supplies or stop at bakeries, petrol stations, Tescos, etc.

However, several of the Fabulous Faccombe Four will be riding, and that already provides for plenty of morale support. The Faccombe Four are Keeks, Urban_Biker, Chillmoister and LEE whom I met on the Faccombe Haul, last year. We have met up again on various rides since then.

Wizzbike in Brentford serviced my bike. There was a bit of work to be done, because I wanted lower gearing and they found the back brake to be faulty. I rode the bike home along the canal and it was running beautifully. Top marks to the mechanic Karim. He seemed very knowledgeable and quite a perfectionist.