A challenge for 2022: first thoughts.

The summer of 2021 is behind us in the UK and thoughts are turning to cycling 2022. The first thoughts of a challenging ride for the OMIL's (we are sometimes OMWIL's) are forming. We have all done riding on and off road but we don't have a long track record of challenging rides as a group, in fact we've only done two. They were both such good experiences we all want to do more.

Clapham Common, July 2019

Our first challenge ride was in 2019. Six of us road 300 miles on tarmac, concrete and the Avenue Vert from London to Paris, and back. We did it for a charity and raised a goodly sum. It was the first time any of us had done anything like it. All but one of us (the MAWIL) had retired. After very active careers no one wanted to sit around, grow old and get fat. That said, no kit carrying and wild camping for us, we did it with support from some of our partners who carried our gear and met us at lovely hotels for the evenings. Even so, we felt a great sense of achievement and had such a fantastic experience.

We had every intention to do another challenging ride in 2020. Need I say more than Covid 19 and a global lockdown? By the spring of 2021 it began to feel that the UK was getting to grips with Covid 19 and everyone was interested in planning another challenge.

After a lot of thumbing through a fantastic book (Epic Bike Rides of the World) and considerable banter in a post Covid, travel restricted world, we came up with the idea of riding the South Downs Way National Trail (SDW), to give it its full title. It runs from Winchester to Eastbourne in the UK. It is also one of the 19 epic rides listed in Europe. The precise route we chose was 85% off-road so mountain bikes were the order of the day. Two of us had to buy a new bike. Two used their old bikes (in fact one used his son's) and two came with their e-bikes.

Winchester, June 2021

The SDW is 100 miles (160 km) and is reputed to be the longest continuous long distance open to mountain bikers in the UK. The route involves 12,600ft (3,800m) of ascent while opening (and closing) 100 gates.

So, the question now is what to do in 2022? At the BBQ after the SDW in 2021 and under the influence of great food and lots of drink the conversations roamed all over the map. One or two voices thought that 2022 might be a little soon to venture out too far. Covid still stalked the thoughts of many of the group. Sadly, that took out Africa, Asia, Oceania and the America's, although some of us hankered to take a look at a few rides in the USA. Certainly cycling the full length of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway has always been a big attraction for me. Together these two back to back routes total in the region of 600 miles and a rough estimate suggests they involve about 60,000 feet of ascent. However, as these roads run between Front Royal, Virginia and Cherokee, North Carolina, taking in the Shenandoah, the Great Smoky Mountains and parts of the Appalachian Mountains, all of us felt it wiser to give these areas a miss until they had resolved themselves to sort out Covid 19. If you think about doing it, check this book. "Bicycling the Blue Ridge".

That left Europe. Sadly Covid rates along with the variability and vagaries of international travel regulations caused us to focus, not unhappily, on the UK. Although some of the iconic rides in Europe still do enchant. Thinking about the UK, a couple of the group suggested a ride across the country, coast to coast. And, when the 'Epic Bikes Rides of the World' had this listed as epic, that sealed it, coast to coast it was (C2C). In their listing the Epic Rides authors use the strap line, "A rite of passage for active Brits (and inquisitive foreign riders) through the dramatic landscape and history of the north of England" (p256). They suggest the 140 miles (230km) route from Whitehaven to Sunderland and refer you to the website: www.c2c-guide.co.uk.

Job done then, decision made. Let's think of a date and gear up. Well not quite. As soon as you start to think about riding C2C the most amazing number of questions come to mind. Not least of which, and notwithstanding the recommendation of the Epic Rides book is where's the best place to start, the best place to finish and are we doing it on roads or off-road?

And, that's where first thoughts end and initial thoughts about the C2C begin.

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References

OMIL: An old man in lycra who is thinking how good it would feel to be called a MAMIL.

OMWIL: Old men & women in lycra, thinking the same thing as OMIL's

MAWIL: Middle aged women in lycra

"Epic Bike Rides of the World", Lonely Planet, August 2016.

"Bicycling the Blue Ridge", 5th Edition, Skinner E. and Skinner C., Menasha Ridge Press, 2014

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