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I have to get home this weekend from Wantage (near Oxford) to Cambridge. I thought I might as well cycle the Icknield Way since it seems pretty direct, plus why not?
Cross bike OK? Or should I play safe (but slower) and go with a 29er HT?
My darling wife tells me I have a hard deadline of 7pm when we're supposedly having dinner with some friends, so faster is better, but falling off all the time is probably not going to help with that.
Not sure a cross bike would be faster. In places yes, not in others. Classic gravel vs xc 29er debate terrain.
I did the Ridgeway, which takes in a fair bit of the Icknield Way, on an XC hardtail and wouldn't have wanted to go lighter.... apart from the last day riding in hurricane Bertha when I could have done with narrower tyres for the mud.
I did on my Salas Fargo last month with 2.1 Race King tyres as part of a 12 day 1000 mile ride. Then it was very dry so their minimal tread was not a problem.
The photos that are agaiont the route in Kommoot give a good represenation of the terrain.
Hardest bit was a sandy section in Thetford forrest, where i had to get off and push as no traction. But you will probably have turned off to Cambridge by then.
I think you will be best on your cross bike, plus if you have to switch to the road to make your deadline it will be faster when you need to be very fast. Plus cross bike will be faster getting to the point you join the trail.
I would start at 1st light, work out a schedule and if you are dropping behind t their is scope to edit out some of the trial when it loops around a bit,
Have fun.
Tim
Well, dinner party cancelled as my wife has been in close contact (inside a car, inside a restaurant) with someone who tested +ve for Covid19. And the people we're going to don't particularly fancy catching it.
So pressure off, and with all the rain, I'm going with the 29er and an LFT.
Well, that would have been pretty miserable on a cross bike, especially with my 30mm semi-slick rear tyre and the far-too-high lowest gear. Also the completely ploughed up field near Ivinghoe Beacon would have been especially underwhelming.
A fair amount of roads where a cross bike would have been nice, but the off-road sections would have involved a lot of frantic scrabbling for grip followed by walking.
That lush Salsa Fargo would have worked well, but 29er was fine, apart from feeling a bit sad and slow around Wallingford where lots of people out on their Sunday morning bike ride kept swooshing past me on their fabulous road bikes.
Pro tip: bring more food. I picked up a bit from a van at the top of Wendover hill, but the last 75km or so was all on some windfall apples I found on the trail near Letchworth.
thank you for taking the time to come back and update the thread.
for any given section of trail, the internet will tell you both that you absolutely need a full DH Rig and at the same time, any 'normal' person will be fine on a rigid fixed gear on 23s - but real, recent experience is actually valuable