Wednesday, January 10, 2018

DIY 200km Audax to Thrift Farm



I decide to have a go at a DIY audax. This involves planning my own route and ensuring the minimum distance traveling through all controls is greater than 200km. To keep it simple I use an out and back route. My destination is a cafe at a farm park near Milton Keynes. I've ridden most of the route previously when I rode from Birmingham to London. I try to shorten the ride to Warwick as best I can without riding on main roads. The benefit of a DIY is that I can choose when I ride so I take a day of annual leave with the weather forecast to be unseasonably warm and dry. Arriving in Warwick I'm disappointed to find that the cafe I have selected is unexpectedly closed due to a power failure. I could find another coffee shop but just buy a chocolate bar from a newsagent and get going again. I'm making very good time but 10km from thrift farm I get a puncture. A local triathlete called Dave stops to help which I'm very grateful for. Back on the road again I'm joined briefly by another local cyclist. Despite the earlier puncture I'm still an hour within the time limit when I reach the cafe. As I sit relaxing with a pot of tea and slice of cake I'm concerned to discover that the time on my receipt is 2 hours ahead making me out of time. After some discussion with the staff they are unable to change the time of the till. I set off to look for the nearest alternative business to get a receipt as proof of passage. The only option is a cashmere clothing company a mile down the road. I'm clearly not their usual clientele but they very kindly allow me to put a £1 payment through their card machine providing me with a time stamped receipt. An hour into the return journey my glucose drops to below 3 and I stop to gorge on a bag of raisins. As darkness falls I wait for 5 minutes to cross the Fosse Way which in rush hour traffic is very busy. Finally arriving in Warwick I head to a pizza restaurant where the owners allow me to bring my bike inside. Satisfyingly refueled I begin the last leg back to Birmingham. A heavy fog has reduced visibility considerably and I'm reliant on cars approaching from behind to light the road ahead of me. 10 minutes away from my house I choose to add a 4km diversion to avoid riding across a local park with recent reports of muggings. It seems an odd thing to do given how far I have ridden on my own without any concerns for my safety. Stopping for a receipt at the garage at the end of my road I reward myself with a bag of crisps.



   

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