London to Tewksbury, to crew at the BCM600k audax

The Brian Chapman Memorial 600k is one of Audax UK's biggest rides of the year. My partner and I were considering doing it on our tandem, but I've done it twice, she's done it once and neither of us have anything to prove. Besides, her coach has got her working on her speed prior to her big summer event and a hilly 600 would have crocked her for a fortnight.

So when the call came from the organiser, I volunteered to go and help out at the midway control, Kings YHA in Dolgellau. The original plan had been to leave work on Thursday night and ride up to the youth hostel for Friday night. It's 200 miles and I was planning on doing it on fixed as an overnighter with my bivvy bag.

As it happens, in retrospect I'm not in the slightest bit disappointed that the organiser called me and asked if I could ride straight to his place in Tewksbury for Friday night so he could have all hands to the pump on Saturday morning at the start in Chepstow. Although I didn't know it at the time, I'd have spent a very wet night out there if I'd have been riding all the way to Wales. Maybe some other time...

Anyway, I set off at midday from my office in NW London, with my saddlebag stuffed with cereal bars and a change of clothes. I'd programmed a back road route into my GPS and although the weather wasn't looking marvellous, I had waterproofs and Rainlegs. I also knew that no matter how wet my ride was, I'd have a warm bath waiting for me at Tewksbury and my experience would be as nothing in comparison to the poor souls about to ride the BCM.

The ride started well. The weather held off and I grimped my way out of London and then Hertfordshire via Chorleywood and Amersham. Here's what my bike looked like as I rode northwest:

I had my MP3 player set to eighties cheese mode and I was determined to get some food down me every hour to keep my energy levels high.

Unfortunately, my GPS-fu isn't strong. I'd hurriedly put together a route, basing it on the "pedestrian" facility in Google Maps to give me the most direct roads from place to place and stay off the big A roads. Sadly, what I didn't know at the time was that Google's database clearly includes green lanes and other unmade roads, suitable only for Landrovers, horses and those peculiar bicycles that are actually designed for going places where the tarmac doesn't.

The first time this happened, I managed to re-route myself. The second time, there was no way round without putting in an extra couple of miles. I was going so well on my 47x19 gear that I didn't want to backtrack and the lane in question looked like it was less than a kilometre long before it reached the safety of the tarmac again, so I went for it:

Sadly, despite the derision I'm bound to attract from members of the Roughstuff Fellowship (who sound like a bunch of doggers anyway) for me, it was unrideable on 28c tyres.

EPIC fail...

All I can say is hoorah for Time ATAC pedals and their magic mud-shedding design.

Once I was back on the road, it started to rain quite hard. This at least had the plus point that it washed some of the mud off my drive train, because I was sounding like a poorly-oiled wheelbarrow by that point. Although the rain followed me most of the rest of the ride, when the weather cleared I saw a great many red kites, some very close up on the wing and they were just magnificent.

After the roaring calamity that was my hashed together route, I opted to switch my GPS to autorouting and asked it to take me to Tewksbury by the fastest possible route. Sadly, this meant I had to abandon the lovely back lanes I'd been riding on and I ended up pounding along some less than lovely main roads. On the upside, I was making good time and there were bound to be a better series of options for afternoon tea. I had my heart set on a Little Chef or something and I was holding out for custard if at all possible.

It wasn't to be, though. By the time I felt I'd broken the back of the ride, I could find nothing suitable. I'd been reaching into my saddlebag every hour to self-medicate with Boost bars and the like, so I wasn't in any need of calories. It was then that it occurred to me that I was actually going rather well and that I was fairly sure I'd never cracked off a century on fixed in under eight hours. That sealed it - I pushed on.

My only other stops were of the slightly drafty, hedgy kind. Finding porcelain has never been high on my list of requirements whilst riding. I made Tewksbury well before seven o'clock which pleased me no end. Not bad for a sturdy lass on fixed with a Camper Longflap, I thought.

When I got there, I had a nice bath and some dinner then went straight to be, as we were up at 3:30am to get to Chepstow early enough to open up the community centre and put on some food for nearly 100 riders before the 6am start.

The BCM600 is a bloody hard event, regardless of the weather. This weekend was very wet indeed and a lot of riders abandoned. The route, if you're interested, looks like this:

[ame="http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/BCM-1"]The

%22%5DThe way up[/ame]
[ame="http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/BCM-2"]The
%22%5DThe way down[/ame]

Both times I've ridden this, it's been with thirty of Campag's finest gears. This year, a couple of LFGSS members rode the event on fixed. Hopefully they'll be recovered enough to tell their tales soon. I've posted some pics over at YACF if you want to see what it all looked like.

What worries me is that I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever give it a crack on t'cog.

Plz to talk me out of it...