England : Cheshire 200 km 'audax-style' forum ride, Sat, 27th June, 2015

[ColinJ]

I have now updated the first post of the thread with full details of my proposed route.

@skudupnorth - shall I add your name to the 'confirmed' list?

 

[ColinJ]

I have it on good authority the Venetian is temporarally closed (the club use it frequently, although Ive not been).

Apparently, theres one next door though, which is nice but pricey.

Thanks for that. I'll phone them to check.

PS Texted them. They texted back to say they WILL be open on the 27th.

 

[SteCenturion]

Sorry Col, after expressing an earlier interest to duck in & duck out on part of this ride I must now abstain.

I will be in Cheshire, but drinking responsibly in Warrington as my team have progressed to the Q.F of the Rugby League Challenge Cup & take precedent.

Have a great ride out.

 

[ColinJ]

Sorry Col, after expressing an earlier interest to duck in & duck out on part of this ride I must now abstain.

I will be in Cheshire, but drinking responsibly in Warrington as my team have progressed to the Q.F of the Rugby League Challenge Cup & take precedent.

Have a great ride out.

Ok. Catch you on another ride some time.

As for the rest of you ... stop slacking, and sign up below!

 

[skudupnorth]

I have now updated the first post of the thread with full details of my proposed route.

@skudupnorth - shall I add your name to the 'confirmed' list?

I'm in,should be riding fixed aswell

 

[ColinJ]

I'm in,should be riding fixed aswell

Excellent!

I would imagine that 99% of this route is very fixed-friendly, judging from the profile.

Riders:

• ColinJ
• Littgull
• skudupnorth

More riders welcome - sign up below.

 

[skudupnorth]

Looking forward to my first big ride of the year .......now where is Potsy with his new hipster single speed ??

 

[NorvernRob]

Would have loved to have done this, but I work Saturdays and have no odd holiday days left.

 

[ColinJ]

Would have loved to have done this, but I work Saturdays and have no odd holiday days left.

Sorry about that, Rob!

I might organise a Sunday ride later in the year, but it wouldn't be in Cheshire. It would probably be in West Yorkshire and/or North Yorkshire and/or Lancashire.

 

[Littgull]

If you have ever fancied doing an audax '200' but never got round to it, then this forum ride might appeal to you.

I chose Cheshire rather than my usual Yorkshire/Lancashire locations, because a hilly 200 would probably be too much for my current level of fitness, and I am struggling to get CycleChatters to turn out even for hilly 100s so a hilly 200 definitely would not go down well!

The ride will start and finish in Wilmslow, at Broadway Meadow car park near the railway station. I have tried to stay away from busy roads and built-up areas as much as possible.

The ride distance will be approximately 206 km.

If it were an official audax then you would have to do your own navigation, and there would be checkpoints to consider, but we won't bother with that - I will guide us round using my trusty GPS. I will supply GPX files for the route so any of you with your own GPS device can download the route for backup.

We will aim to do the ride at audax pace i.e. averaging 15+ kph including our stops. I would prefer to aim for 20 kph, giving us a 10 hour ride time. 15 kph would give us a 13.33 hour ride. It will be a flattish route so I don't think that a 20 kph target is excessive. If you think it is, then this ride isn't for you this time round.

The ride will start at 08:00 so we should get back at about 18:00 and certainly before 21:30 so we should not need lights,

I have split the ride into 3 parts separated by cafe stops ...

Part 1: Wilmslow to Bunbury, 78 km

View attachment 91165

GPX file for that attached to this post (CC 200 part 1.gpx).

Cafe stop at Tilly's in Bunbury.

Part 2: Bunbury to Venetian Marina, Cholmondeston (Nantwich), 62 km

View attachment 91167

GPX file for that attached to this post (CC 200 part 2.gpx).

Cafe stop #2 at the Venetian Marina cafe near Cholmondeston, Nantwich.

Part 3: Venetian Marina to Wilmslow, 66 km

View attachment 91168

GPX file for that attached to this post (CC 200 part 3.gpx).

Elevation profile for the route (If you look at the vertical scale you will see that even the biggest hills on the route are nothing to worry about):

View attachment 91174

Hi Colin,

Looks a really well planned interesting route you've drawn up there. Good to see skudupnorth is joining us too.

I forgot to mention I've got some larger washers for the screws on my car bike rack which should prevent any shearing through the screwhole as happened last time. I'll test the rack out before the 27th June just to be sure they've done the trick.




Confirmed riders:

• ColinJ
• Littgull

Prospective riders:

• Sign up below!

 

[ColinJ]

(I thought you had forgotten to reply there, but you have accidentally hidden your words away in side the quote!)

New washers - good - I was just thinking about the dodgy rack problem this morning ... It would be a bit of a show stopper (and potentially lethal to drivers behind) if our bikes were to fall off the back of your car on the motorway!

Yes, it will be good to see skud again.

 

[ColinJ]

Oh, and in case anybody fancies riding a shorter ride ... You would be welcome to ride out with us but then turn back when you felt that you had done enough with us. You would have to take care of your own return navigation though.

If you came as far as the cafe stop in Bunbury and went back by the same route you would nearly get an imperial century in so you could add 2 or 3 miles on somewhere to make the distance up!

 

[andytheflyer]

I'm making progress on my route.

Malpas would be at about 85 km so I think that would be a good place for a cafe stop. Can anybody recommend a decent cyclist-friendly cafe in Malpas, or nearby?

There are 2 cafes in Malpas, plus Table at Eatons (more of a restaurant - but does coffee and cake in the mornings). The Old Fire Station on the High St (opp. the shop) is a popular cyclists stop, and the new one (can't remember the name!) just up Wrexham Road about 50m from the High St Cross. And I live about 200m further down Wrexham Rd if anyone has a mechanical and needs help.

Apologies, but 200k a bit beyond my range!

 

[ColinJ]

There are 2 cafes in Malpas, plus Table at Eatons (more of a restaurant - but does coffee and cake in the mornings). The Old Fire Station on the High St (opp. the shop) is a popular cyclists stop, and the new one (can't remember the name!) just up Wrexham Road about 50m from the High St Cross.

Thanks Andy, but I have changed the route slightly and put in an earlier cafe stop plus a second one later.

Apologies, but 200k a bit beyond my range!

How about this shorter alternative ...?

We should be getting to Malpas between about 12:30 and 13:00 and will then be riding another 62 km to our second cafe stop at the Venetian Marina near Nantwich. If you fancied joining us in Malpas, you could ride 39 km with us to the cafe and then ride back by the same route, making just shy of 80 km, or you could cut across country to Malpas and get it down to about 65 km in total?

If you [OR ANYBODY ELSE!] like the sound of that then let me know and we can sort out the details.

 

[andytheflyer]

No problem.

Checked the calendar after I posted and found that we go away that day - so can't join you anyway, which is a pity as I want to join in one of your rides and this goes right under my nose. Would be good to meet some faces to go with the names.

I'd be happy up to about 140k or so, just done the Anglesey Lanes (104k) on my 'bent and I'll be doing the Legend of Gelert again next month (132k) on my road bike.

I'll keep watching to see what you come up with next! Have a good ride - hope the weather is kind.