Focus Variado 1 : Hertfordshire 2
After conveniently scheduling my long ride on a day with heavy downpours last week, today was spectacular clear, blue skies (to start with). A friend of mine recommended a route set by the Serpentine Cycling Club that takes you through some beautiful countryside and challenges you with undulating topography. It’s 85km from Mill Hill up around Welwyn Garden City and back, so add the 15km round trip to Mill Hill from home and you have a round 100km ride. Not wanting to fall behind on the Battle of the Pre-Middle aged Bulge, I set off full of glee and with a print-off of a map and directions from the Serpentine website.
As with the ride to Boxhill, the first section through London is horrible. Bumper to bumper traffic escorted me all the way to Mill Hill. On bit of excitement was when a rock shot out from under my tire and hit the site of a van a two lanes of traffic over from me. I sprinted for about 10km through traffic hoping they didn’t chase after me, they didn’t!
The trip up to Mill Hill was only 30 minutes and the monotony of city traffic was blocked out by a 60 Minutes interview with Mitt Romney, the Mormon candidate for the Republican Nomination in the US. He’s an interesting guy who wants to run the US like a company, except that his company would persecute gays, stop Mexicans from illegally entering the US, ban abortion and send an extra 100,000 soldiers to Iraq.
Shortly after Mill Hill, I breathed a sign of relief that the traffic and interview were over and were replaced by some more peaceful country roads. The Serpentine directions were easy enough to follow and there were plenty of road signs. However, this was soon to change…
Up and down and round and round, the country roads were a joy to ride. My top speed at one point was a blinding 62km/h. The route took me first through Barnet then Arkley and then, oops, I missed a turn.
If you have ever driven in rural England, you will know that when signage is an issue. I don’t know if they were on crack at the time, but signs never seem to point straight down any road and road numbering is adhoc at best. Luckily, I found my way to Potters Bar (on the route) and was then quickly off it again.
For the next 90 minutes, I weaved my way across the route, never really being on it for more than a short stretch. I particularly enjoyed riding through Cole Green, where I took this candid shot. Doesn’t it make you feel like your home?
Anywho, I finally made it to Welwyn Garden City, pretty much half way. Sadly, this is also where things really went wrong. For some reason, all roads in Welwyn Garden City go to Hatfield, which was not, definitely not, on my route. I have quite good instincts when it comes to directions, so I did the only respectable thing I could do, I chose the first road that didn’t say it led to Hatfield.
This actually did turn out to be the right thing to do, the only thing that wasn’t so good about it is that the road quickly turned into a single track forest path that closer resembled a mountain bike trail than a road. At this point, I thought it safest to ask someone for directions. Typical for the UK, I quickly came across someone rambling (wandering aimlessly through the countryside in search of country pubs). He was friendly enough and explained to me that I had to follow the road/path I was on, ford a river (FORD A RIVER!?!) and then I’d be back on my route. Luckily, the road ford was dry, but I did catch a glimpse of some people having sex in the bushes. I was traveling at about 30km/h at the time, so it was much more of an undulating, white flash.
Shaken, but not stirred, I finally reached Ayot Green, which was almost back on track. I overshot the route again to Sandridge and again to Water End. Finally, I gave up trying to follow the route and b-lined it to Barnet, retraced myself back to Mill Hill and then home.
It was a great ride, although I did run out of energy after 3 hours, making the fourth a bit of a struggle. Key stats for this ride are:
Actual Route Taken
Distance = 101km
I really want to do this route properly and next time I’ll focus more on the 50 step instructions rather than the overview map. It’ll be interesting to see if I can juggle reading directions and riding.
The Variado performed very well over the duration of the ride. The carbon fork did a good job absorbing the jolts and jars from all but the poorest quality roads (like that single track through the forest). I have noticed a creak from the front wheel, which may be related to the axle as all spokes are still under good tension. Will have to take a look if some grit has infiltrated the bearings already. There is also a creaking noise coming from the pedals or bottom brackets. I tightened the pedals, but if it persists I’ll have to look at whether something else has come loose.
I also came across someone riding a Cayo, my, does it look all black and shiny… only 4681km to go. I dropped the “in a year” crap, once I ridden 5000km, then I’ll get a Cayo.
Off to my cold bath, hot shower and cold shower…