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Good job and a great day out.
Fords are the work of the devil having had to rescue holiday-makers who rode through the one at Walsingham. He managed the trip with no problems, she fell off and broke her ankle quite badly! A passing(!) off-duty paramedic was administering first aid when I rocked up to collect bikes and the uninjured chap.
Had a crash
That's a relief, was wondering who had kidnapped and replaced Poopscoop there. 🙂
💪💪💪
Long lie in now?
I should really do this route as I live in Norwich - where did you end up parking?
Good effort! Did you end up parking at Thetford or Knettishall?
Bloody hell, every part of me aches today.
Right, people have asked where I parked. I parked in a nice little village called (sp?) Coney Weston. There is a pub there too, in case that's of interest to anyone. You can park closer but the spots near the start look a bit dogging spoty to me.lol Also, there was a very real potential for me arriving back at the car very late at night and I didn't know if the nerby car park closes at night.
From Weston it's only a couple of miles via road and/ or a bit of the Icknield Way to the start of Peddars proper.
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A crash and a detour.
Ok, on the way back from Holme on Sea I was going well. Knees were giving me a little gyp so I started spinning more which helped. Roman road or not I additionally referred to viewranger on the phone if I wasn't sure. Trouble is,I hadn't charged it in the car on the journey down so battery was getting low. That was a concern as it also meant I couldn't use it to get back to the car.... Which I hadn't exactly played much attention to where I'd parked!😐
Kept on keeping on, just turning the pedals and the miles were clocking up well. Plenty of pedal strikes though as you have to ride in the well worn double/triple tracks which go into little pot holes randomly and if the pedals aren't horizontal... The trail let's you know it!
With only a few miles to go I'm going through a shaded section, due to the canopy overhead. Suddenly I'm just pulled of the bike, literally just grabbed and thrown on my back! Turns out I hadn't seen a branch that was pointing almost parallel down the trail towards me. It skewered me just below the left armpit as I rode past it and catapulted me off. I lay on the floor absolutely fuming! It then occurred to me how lucky I was, the branch had been broken at it's end and had a nice sharp point. If it had hit me in the chest it might have been very unpleasant... I tried snapping or bending it back out of the way but the branch was having none of it. Rather guiltily I had to leave it as was in the end. Bruised ego back on the bike I carried on.
Got to the actual end of Peddars! Just a little jaunt along Icknield Way then to the car. No problemo! Except I had a rather large brain fart instead. Got lost and ended up on a deep sand "road" leading to various fields with pig farms in. It was like pedaling through treacle and I was furious at my own stupidity. Phone was almost flat and taking a while to acquire location. Turned out I had to double back a couple of miles. Doesn't sound much but I was gutted, particularly in this bloody thick sand with tired "everything"! Wish literally 1% left on the battery I managed to figure out a way back to the end of Peddars (again) and how to get back to the car. Icknield, I hate you! Lol
Dare I dream of riding the SDW in under 24 hours this year, now? What's the worst that could happen?
See above for where I parked matey it's only a couple of miles from the trail start.
The going is fast on the whole but with some sections of sand that are draggy... though not as bad as if you go off trail in the section I mention above, that was hellish.
The start was pretty muddy with large puddles for a while until after the MOD firing range on the right. Then it's fairly compact sand/dirt. A fair amount of flint and stretches of trail composed of large bits of granite dumped in. You're down tube will sounds like a tin can being shot at by an air rifle...
Food/water wise I only stopped at Castle Acre bud. A very well stocked Spar that has an attached chippy... Though that wasn't open when I was there. You do pass a service station earlier on with MaccD etc though... Not sure if the Maccy is drive through only?
I rode the pedestrian version of the Way, cheekily. Less road I think and better scenery I'm told. Please be aware that some sections are pretty hairy with low branches/bramble that gets torn over your arms and legs like a hack saw. Don't think I've ever had a ride where I've returned with so many cuts and stings. In reality though, it's the branches you need to watch out for. Some of them were really nasty. In guessing covid has affected the maintenance of much of the trail.
Do try and ride through the ford with your mates! Keep your weight back though as I almost went otb as I hit something under the water. Has to be attempted though.😁
Good luck mate, it's a lovely ride and the road sections are really quiet, hardly saw a car until you cross the big A roads.
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Cheers poopscoop!
The three I am riding with have been doing a lot more recent riding than me, so I am going to have to reign them in a bit or suffer, I think!
Will see what the weather is like regarding the ford! We have done a few bridleway rides round Oakham in the last month with several fords, so have had a bit of practice!
I need to service my bottom bracket, as it's started ticking. I think it just needs a clean & re-install. I'll be riding my rigid Inbred.
All your talk of flint has got me pondering whether to go for a tubeless set-up. My rear tyre is virtually bald, but it rolls fast :). I've got a brand new 2Bliss Ground Control that could go on the rear, but aren't tubeless & the Mountain King on the front is definitely not tubeless. I think converting to tubeless could have disaster written all over it at this late stage!
Last ride out I had a thorn puncture on the front & then went in the garage yesterday to find a flat rear tyre & a hole on the inside edge which looks like the tube might have just perished in that spot - not really sure.
Oh mate, I rode over so much bramble (and their thorns) I genuinely remember thinking, "thank f£&@ im tubeless".
I'd be inclined to stick in some Slime inner tunes or something if you don't want to faff around with tubeless just yet.
I was on HR2 and DHF, lol, not fast but fairly tough. Had the HR2 pumped up harder than usual to help with rolling resistance a little.
Don't worry about the flint so much as the bramble to be honest. If you take the same route I went you will be riding through frigging tonnes of it.
I'd definitely wear glasses of some sort too, got hit across the face by branches and stuff regularly on the less walked/rode parts. That could be nasty without some form of glasses on.
In summary, definitely put some gloop in your inner tubes/go tubeless and wear eye protection and gloves.😁
Oh dear! Cheers for the advice....am torn about the whole tubeless thing now!
Like I say I've got a brand new 2bliss tyre that I could put on the rear but I've never run these rims tubeless - they aren't tubeless rims so might be a pain in the arse.
No idea about whether the front tyre would go up tubeless and I'd also need some valves...I could visit the LBS tomorrow and see if they have a 26 tubeless tyre hanging around and grab some valves.
Or could take the wheels off my Stumpjumper, swap the cassette over & use them. They are tubeless....could be a better idea....
Cheers for the forewarning though! I'm always the one that stops the group for flat tyres!! :o/
Yeah, go for the path of least resistance mate I reckon, swap the wheels over of all that's needed is a change of cassette.
Sods law you'd ride it with bike "as is" and not get a puncture.... but......😳
Ha! Was just looking at some more of the pics I took on the day.
Yes, brilliant fun and it's inspired me to attempt the SDW in a day this summer too. That's going to be much tougher.😁
Oh, for actual fs!
I forgot @pictonroad asked me to get a picture of where he used to live back on page 1!
I'm sorry mate,I genuinely totally forgot.
Crap!
I did it with 3 mates yesterday.
Poopscoop - definitely good advice on the tubeless, although could have done with something faster rolling than what I had.
It was less thorny than I expected based on your description but there were definitely several bramble/thorn/nettle sections which were a pain (literally).
I found the way back much harder than I was anticipating. My legs weren't too bad, but my neck was really sore and my hands felt bruised from the off road pummeling! The 'hills' felt harder too for some reason - not sure how much due to just tiredess.
We parked in Thetford station and it ended up being 171km, which is the furthest I've ever ridden on road or off road. I would like to do it again, but maybe when I'm a bit fitter and on tyres that are a bit faster rolling.
That's great news stumpy! My hands/arms were feeling it even on my fs so I think it's not just my legs that I need to strengthen up.lol
How was the sand? It was a little damp when I rode it which helped reduce the drag a bit I think.
My longest single day ride too btw.
Next the SDW in a day but that's going to be bloody painful towards the end.lol I'll be starting that in the dark to (hopefully) finish in Eastbourne before sunset.
Yeah, I didn't realise it would be quite so harsh on my hands! If I do it again, I'll be taking the rigid fork off & sticking my Rebas back on. I'd also consider some Ergon style grips.
Although 2 of my mates were on gravel/CX bikes & the other was on an El Mariachi with skinny tyres & had locked his fork, so maybe I was just being soft.
There were a couple of sandy stretches that were a bit suspect to ride over, towards the Hunstanton end but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The ground was still a bit wet from the recent rain, so not as bad as it could have been.
I really enjoyed the varying surfaces - although the road sections on the way back were a welcome respite from the hand-battering!
I think next time, I'd rather do more of a loop than an out-and-back.