The March East/The March West (2 x 200 DIY)

The March East – 8th August 2020

Last November I rode to March in Cambridgeshire to see my Nan. Sadly she died in January and with lock down it had made it very difficult to finish sorting out her house. My parents asked me if I would be able to help out and I thought it might be nice to do this trip again by bike one last time. I took different routes to and from this time, as honestly there were big portions of the routes I rode previously that I felt could be improved upon. In the main I’m pretty sure that both routes this time were a lot better, but it is somewhat difficult to be completely objective about it. This time round I got the chance to ride in day light on hot summer days, compared to cold, wet and windy November days with several hours of darkness.

On the outward route I specifically avoided Nuneaton and Hinkley this time. The route here had been slow in the traffic and it was certainly sensible to stay south of these towns and miss them out completely. I cut north around Bruntingthorpe, stopping off at Cafe Vonteux. It was a little early for lunch though so it turned into more of a snack stop. The sausage rolls were frankly awesome. This is a great cyclist’s cafe and one I would want to visit again sometime.

I decided to go to Rutland Water on the outward journey this time and thought I would try out the inner loop and north shore cycle way. The inner loop was slightly tougher going than I expected. Not hard by any means but the gravel path is rougher than I expected and there are quite a few undulations. The north shore cycle way is nice enough but there is an early portion that runs next to a fairly busy A-road, so if I was doing something similar again I would take the south shore instead. It’s a tarmac all the way and pretty much runs along side the water for the whole stretch. Just after Rutland I stopped off at Stamford. I had only planned for this to be a quick bottle refill but it was so hot at this point I just needed to get out of the sun for a while. I found a bit of shade and once again availed myself of some forecourt hospitality, tucking into a cold bottle of Coke and a bag of crisps. I sat lent against a brick wall for much longer than I had planned, but it was pretty relaxing watching the world go by. It reminded me of summers when I was kid. Busy doing nothing without a care in the world.

Once again I decided to avoid a larger town in the shape of Peterborough. Passing through the town last time was complicated to navigate via cycle ways and a needless waste of time and effort. I stayed to the north, heading through Market Deeping which was a far better choice. This also meant that I had the chance to try out a few more of the old Fenland drovers’ roads. It turns out I had chosen quite a mix of surfaces to ride here from tarmac, to concrete slab farm road, gravel and dirt double track. The biggest challenge however was the wind. I really like riding the long, straight flat roads of the Fens, but when the wind is in your face and as keen as it was that day it can make for a soul crushing experience.

The March West – 10th August 2020

Getting on the bike 2 days later I initially felt fine. Legs didn’t feel heavy at all and I was ready to ride. Within 10 minutes though my hamstrings were feeling pretty sore and my quads just didn’t want to work at all. I thought this is going to be a long day if it stays like this, but fortunately after half an hour or so I was warmed up and they didn’t bother me for the rest of the day. I headed south out of March again finding myself on a range of drovers roads and throwing the bike over some locked gates. Again I surprised myself at just how quickly your average speed drops as soon as you go off road. I know I really shouldn’t be surprised, I started long distance riding as a mostly off road rider after all but I still have a moment of disbelief whenever I look at the average speed after a reasonable  section of gravel or double track.

The ride to Market Harborough was pleasantly uneventful. It was hot of course but I made a concerted effort to plough through my bottles and for once I think I just about managed to keep up with the fluid intake. I seemed to be stopping all the time to get a refill but this also gave me a handy excuse to get in the shade for 5 minutes. You can keep hydrated and remember your sun cream, but being in that sort of direct sun for that kind of time period wears you down regardless. There seemed to be a surprising lack of over hanging trees on this route generally. The few times I did ride through a small wood or forest there was a noticeable drop in temperature and audible sigh of relief. I had planned to have lunch at the Three Swans as I had stopped there the last time I was in Market Harborough. Not only was the food pretty good but I remembered they had a large out door seating area. As I neared the town, the idea of a Gregg’s Roast Chicken pasty popped into my head and I really couldn’t shake off the idea. I sort out the purveyor of baked goods and rolled around the corner to the small town centre park. Once again I found myself a suitable spot in the shade to eat and watch the world go by.

Leaving Market Haborough my route took a somewhat illogical drift and then definite turn to the north. The obvious choice would have been to keep heading due west towards Lutterworth, however there was a “L-shape” of squares to the east and south of Hinkley that I wanted to bag. Given that I also wanted the last 30km or so to be south of Coventry, as I have done the route home on the north side quite a lot recently, it would have made far more sense to have picked up these squares on my outward ride. As it turns out though having the longer route to do on the day I had the tail wind meant it all worked out for the best.

Even though I had stopped very briefly on the edge of Hinkley to fill my bottles, a mere 20km later was Brinklow. I had noted during my route planning that there was a shop on route, and the thought of an ice cream on this still insanely hot day filled me with joy. I sat outside the village shop, on an almost deserted main street tucking into a 2 scoop strawberry and chocolate cone. £1.90, bargain! This was probably one of the best moments of the day. As much as I like riding the bike, it’s often the little moments off the bike that really make a ride. Whilst I’m all about the journey (how else could you ride these distances often in a loop?), sometimes these little stops can feel like a moment of destination.

The one main difference I had in terms of bike setup for this trip was that I used my ReStrap Handlebar harness. For this sort of ride where I needed some off the bike clothes or a change of riding kit I would normally have just used my large AcePac saddle pack. I knew it was going to be very hot though and I wanted to carry a third bottle. My third bottle sits in a cage on my seat post which would rule out the saddle pack. There was certainly some aero cost but I felt it was worth it. I hadn’t used a large bar harness on this bike before and I expected it to make the steering feel much heavier than it did, which was a pleasant surprise. For the future though I think I really do need to find some sort of 3rd bottle mounting solution for the underside of my down tube. Unfortunately the Monki clip that I use on the seat post and on the down tube of my other “road” bike won’t fit around the over sized Ti tube on the CGR. For someone who really likes to have versatility in my setups I really don’t like being forced to use the bar harness when I don’t really want to, just to carry a third bottle.