Hell of the North Cotswolds
Discussion
and boy, was it muddy!
6 hours in and we'd only reached the half way refreshment point, so somewhat ashamedly we decided to call it a day and head back the quick way. It was not a lot of fun - hence the "Hell" title I suppose.
All in all, we completed about 70km out of the 100km. It was ok in sections, but the wet bits were what did us in. The spongy, grassy fields and muddy trails just sucked the energy out of you. There were plenty of times you were heading downhill - where you woudl expect to be making progress and having a rest, but you still had to pedal hard to keep you and the bike moving.
At least my knees were behaving, although I have got a nice purple twisted ankle where I took a big tumble into a ditch after slipping off a muddy track.
I'm just hoping it dries up a bit by June as there's no chance of completing the 100 mile South Downs Way if its wet like this.
6 hours in and we'd only reached the half way refreshment point, so somewhat ashamedly we decided to call it a day and head back the quick way. It was not a lot of fun - hence the "Hell" title I suppose.
All in all, we completed about 70km out of the 100km. It was ok in sections, but the wet bits were what did us in. The spongy, grassy fields and muddy trails just sucked the energy out of you. There were plenty of times you were heading downhill - where you woudl expect to be making progress and having a rest, but you still had to pedal hard to keep you and the bike moving.
At least my knees were behaving, although I have got a nice purple twisted ankle where I took a big tumble into a ditch after slipping off a muddy track.
I'm just hoping it dries up a bit by June as there's no chance of completing the 100 mile South Downs Way if its wet like this.
Yes muddy in the first half and soft ground in the second - we tried to go round in a team of 4 but half the team wanted to call it a day at the rest stop - we all carried on but lost a lot of time with one of the bikes disc brakes pads completely wearing out. We eventually gave up near Brockhampton and used the road to get back to Winchcombe so only completed about 55 miles instead of the 100k.
Still next year.............
Rob
Still next year.............
Rob
Does anyone know how many finished the 100KM and what the fatest time was?
Like the previous posters have said. Very muddy, and energy sapping. Was my first ride this year. Had to bail out after about 80K, my legs just said no more!. We got to the halfway point in about 4.0 hours. We decided to try and complete the 100KM but in the end the uphill, muddy, rocky fields finished us off. We were walking more than riding - it was faster :-0
Went back to Winchecombe via the road. All in all 7 long hours on the bike and 80Km covered. Not exactly olympic speeds.
That said, there were loads of cars still in the car park at 4.30pm.
Like the previous posters have said. Very muddy, and energy sapping. Was my first ride this year. Had to bail out after about 80K, my legs just said no more!. We got to the halfway point in about 4.0 hours. We decided to try and complete the 100KM but in the end the uphill, muddy, rocky fields finished us off. We were walking more than riding - it was faster :-0
Went back to Winchecombe via the road. All in all 7 long hours on the bike and 80Km covered. Not exactly olympic speeds.
That said, there were loads of cars still in the car park at 4.30pm.
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