Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
After a while you get to know the exact mileage to home from every junction, church and significant land mark! And you know the exact length of every possible additional loop that you can add to your route.
After a few years of the Metric Century Challenge I got to the point where, when riding away from home in audaxes or charity rides, I was able to motivate myself by visualising the last 10 miles of any route by reference to the last 10 miles of my most common route home on my local roads. 10 miles to go I'd picture myself at the far end of Frampton; 6.5 miles = the waterfront at Epney; 5 miles = a farm gate in Longney; 3 miles = just coming in to Elmore; 1 mile to go = by Riverside Farm in Stonebench.
When completing a Half Century Challenge ride near to home these days, I look at my mileage at every on of the above points and when I get to about the 20 mile mark I make a spur-of-the-moment call as to which extra loops or side roads to do to make the ride to Epney take up 5 miles, leaving me a known 6.5 miles to cover. If I ever get it slightly wrong I always have the option to miss my 1 mile mark and detour to Hardwick and follow the canal path home, adding just over a mile to my route, but lately I have been a model of on-the-hoof route planning efficiency.
After a few years of the Metric Century Challenge I got to the point where, when riding away from home in audaxes or charity rides, I was able to motivate myself by visualising the last 10 miles of any route by reference to the last 10 miles of my most common route home on my local roads. 10 miles to go I'd picture myself at the far end of Frampton; 6.5 miles = the waterfront at Epney; 5 miles = a farm gate in Longney; 3 miles = just coming in to Elmore; 1 mile to go = by Riverside Farm in Stonebench.
When completing a Half Century Challenge ride near to home these days, I look at my mileage at every on of the above points and when I get to about the 20 mile mark I make a spur-of-the-moment call as to which extra loops or side roads to do to make the ride to Epney take up 5 miles, leaving me a known 6.5 miles to cover. If I ever get it slightly wrong I always have the option to miss my 1 mile mark and detour to Hardwick and follow the canal path home, adding just over a mile to my route, but lately I have been a model of on-the-hoof route planning efficiency.
