“It’s all just a bit Oxfordy . . .” |

“Oxford Challenge” day was last Sunday 8th July where we set out to ride from Bournville to Oxford.

It was a day of firsts. Today was Clive “The Drive”‘s first run at driver support, and he did a marvelous job from start to finish. This was also the first route that none of us knew so it meant the first time were were relying solely on GPS navigation. The Garmin had arrived through the post on Friday just in time for the off.

We convened at Laburnum House at 9:00am and immediately filled “The Drive”‘s car full of tools, tyres, pumps and energy drinks. A couple of photos were taken to mark the occasion and we were off . . .

Weather forecasts had got small dry spells along the route so we came prepared for a mid-ride clothing change and waterproofs all-round. None of it was needed as we had the luckiest day that we could have wished for . . .

Unknown to us, our friend and fellow Endurist Paul “Fingers” Heraper had made a last minute decision to come out with us, but sadly we didn’t get the text in time before we hit the road #sorryfella

On to the ride . . . the first twenty or so miles was due south out through Cotteridge . . .

. . . and down into Stratford-Upon-Avon. The town was extremely busy so “The Drive” had to detour out a bit in order to get back to us on the other side. Riding both in and out, we’d all commented that riding as a unit was getting more comfortable and thoughts were clearly turning towards the end of August.

Halfway came at Ettington which meant a five minute pause for refills #coconutmushrooms

Almost immediately after the pause came Oxhill and a fairly serious climb by all accounts, the first real test of the day #toein

On the other side, the route thrown up by the Garmin took us over a private road for about three miles. it was fields as far as the eye could see and all traffic noise was gone. It could have been Tuscany and everyone was grinning.

Another curve-ball from the Garmin next. The road turned into a dirt track which was flooded about two hundred yards in. We figured that if we go ninety degrees right for a mile or so, we could bend it back round to the route further down south. How hard could it be ?

We found out.

About two uphill miles later we hit a dead-end with a gate stating (very clearly) “No Entry”. There was also a plane parked just over the other side of the fence. With a smile and a nod each way we scaled the fence with the bikes and went looking for another exit. The runway turned into a dis-used race track and all around the perimeter was a thick hedge that we weren’t going to get through. Long story short, we trudged back to the gate, back down the lane and went off to find the main road with an extra five and a half miles on the journey to show for our efforts.

As we approached Woodstock, we spotted some flags over some posh country headquarters and had to stop for a quick picture at the home of the original “rapid peddlers” . . .

We finally rolled in to Oxford after a long day in the saddle just after 3:00pm and refueled at the Royal Oak #crackingburger
So, on to the day’s conclusions . . .

1) No mechanicals or punctures #result
2) When the weather says rain, don’t forget to pack your suncream . . . Rule #7 :-