100 km ride from Leighton Buzzard, Sat 17th Mar 2018

[Sbudge]

Your place is maybe a bit early for a cake stop - we'd only be about 20-25km in to the ride. Unless you're suggesting a route where we could pop in on the way there AND the way back...

Personally I think climbing Aston makes for a more iconic route (plus it offers the option of the Wendover Woods road for those who don't fancy such a steep climb), but as I have learned, you are the master of the Chilterns, so I may bow to your hilly knowledge!

Well a double-cake stop is fine for sure but I think you're right and a purer 'loop' route makes sense. You could easily do the Krong rather than Aston Hill. It lacks the easier Wendover Woods option for sure but it'd be much quieter (avoiding that main road towards Halton) and the top of the Krong is more fun (for certain values of the word 'fun'). :-) As you know personally I'd rather we climbed the Hale rather than Aston or Krong but I'm very aware it is rather evil towards the top, I'd rate it about number 4 in the Chilterns. Shorter than Kop Hill and not as bad as Smalldean or Grey's but better/worse than Whiteleaf. Whichever route we take it'll be fun.

 

[jayonabike]

I went up Peters Lane/whiteleaf for the first time this year this afternoon, won’t be doing that again for a while!

 

[ColinJ]

So, it looks like three of us are definites with a vague possibility of one or two more ...

Can we finalise the route so I can simplify it for my Etrex GPS before I come down? (I have a limited number of trackpoints to play with so I take an original route and reduce it to a number of straight-line segments which will work with the Etrex memory limits.) I won't be able to reprogram the device on my visit because I won't be bringing my laptop and programming cable with me.

I'd be happy to tackle the most evil climb you can throw at me, secure in the knowledge that it would (almost certainly) not be as bad as several within a km or two of home!

For example, the pig that I grovelled up a couple of weeks ago - Dog House Lane, Todmorden:

14.2% average for 900 metres but with ramps of over 20%!

I'm more interested in avoiding traffic than avoiding hills ...

 

[toffee]

Won't be able to make this ride but will try to get to one later in the year.

 

[steverob]

So, it looks like three of us are definites with a vague possibility of one or two more ...

Can we finalise the route so I can simplify it for my Etrex GPS before I come down? (I have a limited number of trackpoints to play with so I take an original route and reduce it to a number of straight-line segments which will work with the Etrex memory limits.) I won't be able to reprogram the device on my visit because I won't be bringing my laptop and programming cable with me.

I'd be happy to tackle the most evil climb you can throw at me, secure in the knowledge that it would (almost certainly) not be as bad as several within a km or two of home!

For example, the pig that I grovelled up a couple of weeks ago - Dog House Lane, Todmorden:

14.2% average for 900 metres but with ramps of over 20%!

I'm more interested in avoiding traffic than avoiding hills ...

The route as it currently stands, can still be found at the original URL of https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26653905 - there's been a few minor amendments, but no really big changes since the first version. I'm happy to call this the final version if you want to work on simplifying it for your Etrex.

While we're still going up the hill I'd initially mentioned, we aren't going up the steepest side any more - though that's mainly to ensure we hit 100km and also have a bit of a buffer to spare in case RWGPS's distances are incorrect. However, if you decide you want a challenge on the day, both Simon and myself know the route of the steeper way and would be happy for you to follow us - it's a mere 7.2% average for 2.1km (steepest bit is about 18%, but that's not for very long), which should be a piece of cake for you! We just might need to add on a lap of the station car park at the end to be sure of the distance though if we end up going that way.

The only busy roads I can think of en route, I have us crossing over rather than travelling along, so I think we should be fine on that front. Also checked whether there are any planned roadworks in the area that weekend and can only see one potential issue, but even if it crops up, it's easily avoidable without a big detour.

 

[ColinJ]

Won't be able to make this ride but will try to get to one later in the year.

I don't think that I will be down again this year, but you can always do another ride without me!

The route as it currently stands, can still be found at the original URL of https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26653905 - there's been a few minor amendments, but no really big changes since the first version. I'm happy to call this the final version if you want to work on simplifying it for your Etrex.

While we're still going up the hill I'd initially mentioned, we aren't going up the steepest side any more - though that's mainly to ensure we hit 100km and also have a bit of a buffer to spare in case RWGPS's distances are incorrect. However, if you decide you want a challenge on the day, both Simon and myself know the route of the steeper way and would be happy for you to follow us - it's a mere 7.2% average for 2.1km (steepest bit is about 18%, but that's not for very long), which should be a piece of cake for you! We just might need to add on a lap of the station car park at the end to be sure of the distance though if we end up going that way.

The only busy roads I can think of en route, I have us crossing over rather than travelling along, so I think we should be fine on that front. Also checked whether there are any planned roadworks in the area that weekend and can only see one potential issue, but even if it crops up, it's easily avoidable without a big detour.

Cheers. I'll do that tomorrow then.

I'm not brilliant going uphill but knowing that, I have low gears on all of my bikes except for my singlespeed! (The bike I am bringing down has a 34/36 bottom gear.)

 

[ColinJ]

I just checked the forecast for Saturday - barely above freezing with a strong ENE wind making it feel like -4 to -6... Have your thermals on standby!

 

[ColinJ]

I'm not sure that I am looking at the right hill because I can't see one which is as severe as 2.1 km at 7.2%. That would imply 151 m of ascent and where I am looking starts at about 130 m and goes up to 245 ...

Ah, hang on ... The Crong has a couple of dips and then goes back up, so that would increase the total ascent. I suppose it depends exactly where you measure from but it looks more like a total of 2.1 km at about 6.5% on my mapping software. Still, whatever, that looks like a nice climb and I'd be happy to go that way if you'd prefer to. I will be getting about 1.5 km extra in anyway to and from the station.

 

[steverob]

I'm not sure that I am looking at the right hill because I can't see one which is as severe as 2.1 km at 7.2%. That would imply 151 m of ascent and where I am looking starts at about 130 m and goes up to 245 ...

The steeper route starts at the junction of Stablebridge Road and London Road in the village of Aston Clinton, goes all the way up Stablebridge, turns right at the top onto Upper Icknield Way, then first left on to Aston Hill Road, but DOESN'T then turn off into the Wendover Woods one-way road (like our current route does), instead going straight up Aston Hill. I make the starting elevation 111m and the top is at 263m (using RWGPS's measurements).

Or if you want an easier way to visualise the climb: https://veloviewer.com/segment/1533125

 

[steverob]

If we do end up doing the steeper version, the final route will end up looking like this: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26653905. It just adds on two little extra detours later on in the route to make up any missing distance. There's no need to download that to your GPS; it's just for your reference - I'll have those changes memorised if it turns out we need them.

 

[ColinJ]

The steeper route starts at the junction of Stablebridge Road and London Road in the village of Aston Clinton, goes all the way up Stablebridge, turns right at the top onto Upper Icknield Way, then first left on to Aston Hill Road, but DOESN'T then turn off into the Wendover Woods one-way road (like our current route does), instead going straight up Aston Hill. I make the starting elevation 111m and the top is at 263m (using RWGPS's measurements).

Or if you want an easier way to visualise the climb: https://veloviewer.com/segment/1533125

Yes, it would help if I had looked at the right climb!

I make the steeper part of that one 1.94 km at 7.4%. The extra 160 metres at the flatter bit at the start would bring it down to the 7.2%.

Right - I had better whittle down the route and get it on my GPS!

See you Saturday,

 

[Sbudge]

Yes, it would help if I had looked at the right climb!

I make the steeper part of that one 1.94 km at 7.4%. The extra 160 metres at the flatter bit at the start would bring it down to the 7.2%.

Right - I had better whittle down the route and get it on my GPS!

See you Saturday,

Both Steve and I know the area really well. If, on the day, anyone wants to detour up something nasty then I'll be happy to 'improvise' and then rejoin the saner members a mile or two later.

 

[Sbudge]

I went up Peters Lane/whiteleaf for the first time this year this afternoon, won’t be doing that again for a while!

Nice one! I reckon there's probably about a dozen (at least) very similar, some better some worse, within 10 miles of Whiteleaf...happy to act as guide. lol

 

[biggs682]

i am out of this ride but would love to catch up with a few more cc'ers , perhaps one day

 

[ColinJ]

i am out of this ride but would love to catch up with a few more cc'ers , perhaps one day

That's a pity. I will tag you on future LB rides to see if you can make any of them.