A Metric Century Ride
24 September 2018
After the bad winter and cold wet spring I finally abandoned my early season plan to ride the BikeOxford 80-mile sportive in May when I got a bad back about 10 days before. It was the second time this year. My GP thought two vertebrae were rubbing together causing inflammation and pain. Although the problem had nearly cleared up by the time of the sportive I was leaving for my ‘Pedalbania’ holiday five days later and didn’t want to take the risk. All of which is a long-winded way of saying I hadn’t done a longish ride this year.
With autumn approaching I decided to grab what will almost certainly be the last chance I’ll have for a 100km+ ride before the winter. The route I devised is 64 miles, or 103 km, from Oxford to Charlbury, Chipping Norton, and a succession of Cotswold villages before turning south near Somerton to get back to Oxford on familiar roads.
It turned out to be a good ride on a fine day, though I was slower than I’d expected. I blame this on 1) a headwind over the first, generally uphill, half; 2) stopping too often to check the route (it was the first time I’d ridden it), and 3) spending too long buying and eating lunch at the Londis at the petrol station in Bloxham. Oh the glamour! Road surfaces varied from excellent to downright dangerous.
I’ve shared the route on Viewranger. The distance doesn’t quite tally because I’ve cut out the first and last bits from and to my home.
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