2nd DIY audax to the Cotswolds 200km

Poor weather caused the postponement of the blacksheep 'March madness audax'. To continue my RRTY I decided to do a repeat run of my cotswold DIY audax. I changed the route out to Pershore to avoid Redditch. I moved the final control from Stratford to Chipping Camden. This worked much better. There was a lot of surface water on the roads and as I cycled back to Birmingham in the dark it became difficult to judge the depth of the water on the narrow lanes. Paul phoned to warn of deep flood water on Icknield street, I'm glad I didn't cycle into that in the dark.

I almost didn't start this ride. I'd started a new glucose sensor the previous night and when I woke up in the morning it didn't seem to be working. There was missing data and the glucose results were erratic. After an hour the results seemed to settle down a bit and I got a continuous line on the libre reader. I left later than planned and the glucose sensor worked fine after this. Glucose control was generally okay although I did drop low in the last hour. I bought a cake in Chipping Camden (about 5:30pm) but didn't feel like eating all of it, my glucose was a little high (12) at this point, I injected 3 units for cake plus correction. I should have injected 2.5 units.    

 

DIY 200km audax to the cotswolds

 I DNS (did not start) the blacksheep audax from Tewksbury at the beginning of the month in favor of a last minute holiday to Spain with the Adventure Syndicate.This means another DIY audax. I plan a route to Lechlade in the Cotswolds via Pershore. The final control is at Stratford. The routes out of and back into Birmingham are tricky to plan without it being significantly over distance. My route to Pershore is the one suggested by google maps and follows a sustrans route through Redditch. Rather urban and with some off road sections I make a mental note to change this bit. I stop for coffee and cake at 'coffee and more' in Pershore. The toughest bit of the ride is Sudbury hill out of Winchcombe. It's a gruelling climb and I have to stop half way up. I pull over onto a driveway and notice the name of the house is 'St Kenelms' a steep hill near Birmingham. That can't be a coincidence!

Many of the villages near Lechlade are familiar to me as I visited the area frequently as a child. It's warm enough to sit outside in the cafe garden and I order a large slice of victoria sponge followed by bread pudding and clotted cream. My route back goes past Broadford tower which looks stunning in the late afternoon sun. My garmin appears to be indicating a right turn in to a field where I have inadvertently routed myself onto the cotswold way long distance walking trail. I take a slight diversion along the road. From this point on my motivation begins to lapse, I struggle on to Stratford. I arrive just in time to get a takeaway coffee and courgette and lime cake from the Pantry cafe.

Stratford feels like almost home but it is in fact another 35km back to Birmingham. My garmin leads me up a dead end road into an industrial estate. A security guard informs me that there is a bridle way on the other side but no road. I open google maps on my phone desperate to find an alternative route. I reroute via Ullenhall and soon find myself on familiar roads and continue home.

Glucose control was excellent, high overnight before the ride but managed to judge the correction perfectly. 4 units of levemir in the morning, 3 units of novorapid at pershore 2 units at Lechlade and 2 at Stratford. 6 units of levemir overnight after ride. 

 

Hills and Mills 100km audax

An audax through East Sussex near to where I grew up is a good excuse travel down to the South East to visit my dad and his wife, Jane. Traveling down on the Friday evening I wait in London for an hour before I can take my bike on the train to Tunbridge Wells. After some discussion with my Dad and Jane we agree that I can keep my bike in the kitchen overnight provided it does not touch the floor or the walls at any point. A few tea towels and plenty of newspaper provide the necessary protection.
I send my dad a link to my strava beacon so he can track my ride, with strict instructions not to phone me but to contact Paul if necessary. 
The 100km calendar event 'Hills and Mills' starts in Hailsham and my plan is to ECE the event to bring the distance up to 200km. In addition to the rides to and from Hailsham I have included an out and back route to Lewis. Planning an ECE is more difficult than a DIY audax because of the need to arrive at the start early enough to pick up my brevet card but not so early that I am hanging around. My timing works out well as I arrive 15 minutes before the start and grap a coffee and snack in the car park with the other riders. The audax is designed to maximise elevation gain and includes 6 information controls. I have noted the locations with flags on my Osmond app which makes them easier to find. Much of the route particularly around Ashdown forest is through areas familiar to me. The pink cabbage cafe in Mayfield is fairly small but just about copes with the huge influx of cyclists. I order a cup cake and coffee before continuing on my way. It starts raining and pretty soon I'm riding alone again. A brief stand off with a nervous horse slows my progress. I catch up with another rider who's garmin has given up in the rain and we ride back to Mayfield together via a slightly confusing info control. Returning to the pink cabbage I warm up with a steaming bowl of butternut squash soup. The controller announces that closure of the control, I am now officially behind the clock. Back out in the rain I make my way to Hailsham. I'm looking for a particular farm to note down the colour of the gate for my final info control. I reach a junction and realise I've passed it. A group of cyclists gathers as we try and work out the correct location. I'm temped just to take a guess and write 'brown' but 'black' is the consensus answer so I go with that. With just 20 minutes to spare I arrive in Hailsham, a couple of loops of the car park before I find the entrance to the leisure centre. Wet and cold we hand in our brevet cards. The thought of riding home is not appealing but I force myself back out onto the bike. When I reach the road to Lewis I realise I have misjudged the route. The A22 is a major dual carraigeway with fast traffic, even getting across to the other side seems impossible. I stand and wait for 10 minutes questioning my decision, riding along this road would be stupid, I check my map but there is no obvious alternative to get to my control point in Lewis. With a sense of relief I abandon my ECE plans and ride back to Tunbridge Wells. I still manage 185km but I'm happy it was the right decision. Later I find that my dad has struggled with the strava tracker. Worrying every time I stopped, concerned about the responsibility of being my 'safety contact'. Overall despote the failed ECE it was a great ride although there were definitely more hills than mills!      

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.

   

The Poor Student 200km Audax

Paul fancies a change from hanging around in Tewksbury so I sign up for the poor student audax from Oxford. He agrees to drive me down to Pear tree services and will spend the day exploring Oxford.
I'm back to using my usual flash glucose monitor. The SW3 was too heavy to wear on my arm all the time and the glucose collector app crashing 3 times a day just got annoying.
My glucose is high overnight and I over correct at breakfast causing a hypo in the car on the way. Back in range by the time we arrive at the park and ride but I'm nervous about going low again and eat a packet of jaffa cakes. I'm absolutely freezing, the weather forecast says feels like temperature is -7 for the morning. The first section is relatively flat but I'm so cold I don't want to stop to check my glucose. Arriving at Malmesbury the cafe is busy but service is swift. I order a vegetable frittata with salad and also a slice of cake. Sitting down at a table I scan my glucose sensor and it alarms with a reading of >20. The next section is the most difficult and I don't want to over correct so inject 5 units.
I still haven't warmed up but I need to keep going so I leave after 20 minutes. It is 'continuously rolling and I leapfrog several groups as they stop and restart and I continue at a slow pace. The cafe at Chipping Camden is warm and welcoming with a roaring fire. I order a pot of tea and scones and put all my lights on charge. The final third is difficult riding in the dark. Seeing the red light of another cyclist ahead of me on the road is comforting. As I roll into the Pear Tree Services I'm shivering with cold. A cup of coffee and a danish pastry help a little. I need some warmer gloves for my next ride.
Glucose control has been terrible. It's hard to have the motivation to stop, take gloves off, scan glucose sensor and inject insulin when I'm so cold and just want to keep going.

Kings, Castles, Priests and Churches 200km Audax

Another ride from Tewksbury. Paul opts for the 100km ride so I get a lift down in the car. 4 cafe controls for this ride so I have to be aware of time  and not hang around too long. Early on in the ride a take my eye off my garmin and follow a couple of riders ahead of me. Soon after we have gone off route, taking a short cut missing out the first info control. We turn back up the road to Ledbury to get the name of the pub. First cafe stop is Bromyard with a visit to flowerdews cafe for a warm chocolate brownie with cream. Second cafe is the castle lodge buttery in Ludlow for tea and scones. The second info control asks for the number of columns on 'the Judoes House' in Presteigne. I study a tourist information board but all I can find is the judges house, is judoes welsh for judges? I retrace my route back through the town and count 6 columns on the judges house. 10km further on I reach Kington for a 3rd cafe stop, I sit outside and check the route sheet. It says there is a 3rd info control but there is no question provided on the brevet card. I ask another audax rider at the cafe who seems unconcerned about the discrepancy. Paul will have finished his 100km ride by now so I send him a message. Last stop is Allensmore Services where I buy a jumbo apricot flapjack and get my card stamped. A text from Paul says not to worry about final info control. The temperature drops and I put on all my extra layers and gloves for the ride back to Tewksbury. It turns out that 'Judoes' was just a misprint on the brevet card and there was no third info control!
Glucose control is good, one of the best days I've had although my SW3 runs out of charge before the end.   

Mr Pickwick's Crych Cymraeg 200km Audax

Google translates the name as Mr Pickwick's welsh puddle.  Paul has been studying the audax UK calendar and has identified the Tewksbury audax rides organised by Mark Rigby as being fairly easy to get to from Birmingham. He signs up for the 100km audax and I join the 200km. It's an out and back route into Wales. Weather forecast is cold and wet. Predictably I overcompensate and wear far too many layers. At the start of the ride I meet John, a new member of my local cycling club who does a lot of audax rides.
I have a new glucose monitoring tool for this ride. After a bit of hacking to downgrade the software I have a sony smart watch 3 strapped to my arm over my libre sensor. This reads the libre sensor by NFC every 5 minutes and sends the results by bluetooth to my phone. Results are then plotted in an app called XDrip. The algorithm for calculating the glucose value from the raw sensor data is slightly different to the official abbott reader but the results are fairly close. It's also possible to calibrate xdrip using blood glucose readings. This turns my flash glucose monitor into a continuous glucose monitor. My phone is set up to alarm if my glucose drops below 4 or rises above 10. In order to dismiss the alarms I have to stop cycling, log into my phone and acknowledge them. This becomes a real chore as the alarm sounds almost continuously in the first 20km with high glucose readings.
The ride is very stop start anyway as I take off and put back on my waterproof jacket multiple times.
First cafe stop is a Weatherspoons at Monmouth after a short stretch on a cycle path. Another rider explains that the hardest section of the ride is on the return leg but an easier alternative is just to repeat part of the outward journey. As I get closer to Talybot on Usk I meet audaxers coming the other way including a couple of Beacon riders. It feels late and although I know I'm within the time limit I worry I'm going too slowly. I finally reach the cafe and it's encouraging to see a large number of bikes outside. Inside it is crowded and the queue is long, I'm tempted by the veggie cooked breakfast but with time constraints I opt for a piece of cafe and cup of tea. Heading back towards Monmouth I reach a slow set of traffic lights. A cyclist stands on the pavement with a paper OS map spread across his bike. I decide to stick to the official route and take a left turn over the bridge. The hills are tough going but nothing stupidly steep. Arriving in Monmouth I catch up with a couple of other riders. The out and back routes cross over here and at a junction the 2 riders in front of me turn off in different directions! We soon regroup and find the cycle path, by the time I get to Symonds Yat it's dark. Sitting in the warmth of the pub I chat to a couple of walkers and eat my last slice of cake. Returning to my bike I find that my rear light has run out of charge. I'm thankful that I have a spare in my top tube bag. On the ride back the sky is filled with fireworks, a perfect end to the ride. Paul has a pizza waiting for me in Tewksbury but I neglect to inject sufficient insulin for it.