Good luck with this molgrips and hope the weather is kind now and during ride!

Pierreponts and Catherine Wheel in Goring, others already mentioned and rightly so….both excellent

Well I fitted the Ralphs. Call me a fool.

TBH, they may have changed over the years. They certainly don’t feel thin at all. I’ve ridden far longer on far less rubber. Also they seem rather supportive – I had them down to 20psi messing around in the street and they don’t seem to bounce or squirm.

I know of all the taps on the sdw.. What’s the tap situation here??

DrP

There’s not many, there used to be a few more but they’ve disappeared.

So Weeksy – could you perhaps take a look at the map in the link in the first post and let me know which taps are no longer there?

Ralphs ! – oh well, some of us did warn you 🙂

Good luck.

So Weeksy – could you perhaps take a look at the map in the link in the first post and let me know which taps are no longer there?

Ooooof, i really wish i could help more than i probably can. The one just up from East Ilsley no longer exists for sure, the one just up from Wantage is still working off the top of my head when i used it 2 months back… I’m very vague on where others are though.

When you get to Goring, about 50m up from the cafe is a mini-market type shop selling anything and everything

Taps – after Goring heading west there’s a couple marked that aren’t there now, 1st one after Goring that I use / know is there for sure is at Wayland’s Smithy.

Prob easier to simply buy bottles from the shops…?

I did quite a bit of riding there last year and was surprised at how easy but satisfying it was.
Eastern bit, not sure – it looks like more short sharp climbs, which is energy sapping. However there aren’t too many of those it seems

You will notice them – the climb out of Wendover, the climb up from Whiteleaf (walk if you’re sensible), the hideous long drag in the wooded ditch which isn’t that steep but has a surface of leaves, loose dust and large rocks/branches, Barbury Castle, the climb up from the curry restaurant etc.

Add in the mileage and the pounding you get from dried hoove prints and I’d suggest you don’t enter it too lightly. I’d done a lot of miles, trained specifically for it and was on a short travel FS – it was still hard!

Taps I used were

Aston Rowant – nature reserve
Wendover Church
Sparsholt (I think) it’s on the left just at the end of a track with a racing trainer advert
House – just by an A road crossing on the W end

I’m not under any illusions as to the difficulty of the overall route! I do think it’ll be easier than rocky Wales though. We’ll have to see 🙂

What was your time asdh?

fyi – Buckmore End farmshop is about 250ft from the actual Ridgeway path & visible enough not to need locking bike up, not sure what they sell as they are closed Mon & Tue but do advertise “stopping for lunch” so probably something half decent but at a price & should be good for water fill up too

Sorry if I sounded a killjoy didn’t meant to but it took a lot of willpower for me to keep on going. If I hadn’t arranged a greeting party from Pedalhead (who runs the site and designed the route) I would have bailed.

Time was 14:49. If things go well and I can get some distance in over the winter/spring I may retry to see if I can improve.

I’m expecting to need willpower yes!

Right, caravan site booked for Friday and Saturday night, 3.6 miles from the start. It’s on.

However, rain forecast for Friday and Friday night, so it may end up being off again. Still, a week is a long time in weather forecasting.

I don’t suppose any of you are familiar with the byway that goes along the south edge of West Wood just south of the A4 and comes out in East Kennet?

good luck with your attempt molgrips 🙂

i live in devizes which is about 8 miles from avebury and have always wanted to do the whole route one day (have only cycled as far as liddington castle).

am having an operation on tuesday to hopefully cure me of a problem that has stopped me riding my bike for a long time,and once i can ride again i am hell bent on starting riding my bike again and i would also like to have a go at the double one day. i even bought a national trail guide for the route a few years ago as i really wanted to do it.

i do love riding the ridgeway around the marlbrough dowms (on a sunny day you just cannot beat it).

good luck and keep it rubber side down 😀

Mate, good luck with the OP and hope it works. And I agree – it is glorious riding.

thanks a lot molegrips 😀

i am definitely looking forward to reading your report on the double once you have completed it 😀

Rode a fast 3.5 hours on road yesterday and six steep hours today off road, and I feel pretty good actually. Fingers crossed!

Time to put my feet up and eat, I think.

I don’t suppose any of you are familiar with the byway that goes along the south edge of West Wood just south of the A4 and comes out in East Kennet?

Yes, it is mostly OK but sections may still be an utter clagfest. Was up on the Ridgeway today and it is all drying out nicely.

Right. Forecast is now looking decidedly less dry. It’s forecast to piss down on Wednesday and be a bit showery on Friday.

How do you locals reckon it will end up? I’ve seen the western part dry out fast, because it’s exposed, but it’s more wooded towards the east isn’t it?

My most remembered experience of the ridgeway was coming back down the path to Avebury, when it was damp.

Not sure how far away my bike landed

1 day shouldn’t cripple it, i can do a check on Thurs for you if you want ? The area around Ilsley/Streatley are some of the claggiest sections, so if they’re OK, then the rest will be fine.

The further easy you go it may be wetter, but it’s not Ridgeway claggy clay, so helps.

Any info gratefully appreciated Weeksy 🙂

So the chalk is only on the downs on the West? Cos that’s what I’m familiar with. What’s the Eastern end made of?

Forecast is less rain towards the east, comparing Princes Risborough with Swindon.

From what i’ve seen, once you get past Streatley it’s just generic mud/dirt etc. I’ve not ridden a large amount over that side once you get about 10 miles past Streatley, but nothing i’ve seen over there is an issue when wet

Good, thanks.

I don’t mind a bit of mud, as long as it’s a) rideable and b) doesn’t clog my bike up.

Best of luck molgrips! Feel free to email me if you want any specific info…my address is on the ridgewaydouble.net web site ;-). I live near Goring & will pop out & cheer you on if I have an idea when you’re passing.

Rode a few hours between Goring and Swindon yesterday. It’s very fast at the moment but some rain is forecast for tomorrow.

With regards to the singlespeed record…I went with a 32-18 iirc (29er) and used a pretty high cadence a lot of the time. I suspect some strong legs and a 17 cog might be a good tactic. I went rigid but it’s really bumpy in places so front suspension is probably sensible as well…more important than on the South Downs Double imho.

^^ What time did you do singlespeed (or do YOU hold the record??)

DrP

I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to have ridden the double SS, so by default I have the record :-). Also, I put the route together so had the benefit of knowing it really well.

🙂

Top of the podium is still top of the podium!!

I’d like to give the SS record a bash, but would want to ride/know the route a few times first..

I live right on the SDW, so ‘know’ it’s ins and outs, which helps when you’re head down several hours in… I wouldn’t want to make any ‘record attempt’ blind…

DrP

Thanks for popping in, pedalhead. If you think it’ll be ok given the forecast, that’s good enough for me. Although I’ll be annoyed if it gets slow and I miss the chance for a quick time.

I’m aiming for a 5am start so I should be what, 8-9am ish in Goring, hopefully. I’ll make a public spot tracker page and post it up here.

@molgrips I reckon you’ll be ok if the forecast stays the same. A fair amount of rain tomorrow but the ground is really dry so can probably handle it. The rest of the weeks looks ok so yeah, I’d go for it. Good idea doing it on a weekday…fewer people to dodge around at Ashridge. Please post your SPOT link when you have it :-).

@DrP well, at least the SS record was the overall record until June this year 🙂 I think you’ll find navigation pretty simple along the Ridgeway, but yes absolutely worth pre-riding it. I definitely lost a big chunk of time on the SDD because I’d never ridden it before. Let me know if you want some SS company on a recce ride sometime.

Ah no it’ll be a Saturday. Taking Friday off work so I can drive down with the family, camp and chill out a bit for an early Saturday start then sleep and drive home Sunday.

I don’t think I’ll have trouble getting up early though. I’m already nervous, which tends to get me up at 4…

Re nav – I plan on only taking a GPS and a phone, don’t want to be faffing with maps. I may get my old GPS off SaxonRider and have that as backup second unit.

Out of interest, i did a 7:30 rolling Avebury-Goring-Avebury in the spring. I get the impression that the Goring Ivanhoe is different, does that mean faster slower or just different? Just trying to get a handle on a time to aim at.

I suspect time has run out for me this year and i will be looking at next spring now.

ah ok. Well, watch out for the hoards of people at Ashridge 🙂 . As it’s Saturday, I’ll definitely be able to pop out and say hello. Of course, if you’d rather keep your head down and stay in the zone without interruptions then you can just tell me to piss off, I’ll understand 😆 .

I know what you mean about nerves…I’ve started long rides at 3am before because I couldn’t sleep & just gave up trying!

@mrmo the terrain west of Goring is more classic Ridgeway than to the east, which has (even) more lowland bridleways. There’s some nice stuff around Wendover imho, where the hills appear again.

Of course, if you’d rather keep your head down and stay in the zone without interruptions then you can just tell me to piss off, I’ll understand

I’ll certainly say hi but I won’t stop for long! PM me if you like with a location.

I’m working on the assumption that these miles will be easier than say Trans Cambrian way miles, to compensate for the fact there are rather more of them. What do you reckon? Easier or harder than TCW?

Ah don’t worry I’ll be on my bike & can ride alongside for a bit…wouldn’t ask you to stop 🙂 . I’ll just ride in the opposite direction and will bump into you at some point (unless you get lost!).

TCW was a navigational nightmare for me, and it was super wet, but even if it wasn’t, yeah the Ridgeway miles go by much faster. There really isn’t a single climb on the Ridgeway that you reach the base of and think oh sh*t I have to climb that?

Easier

Ah don’t worry I’ll be on my bike & can ride alongside for a bit…wouldn’t ask you to stop . I’ll just ride in the opposite direction and will bump into you at some point (unless you get lost!).

That’d be great 🙂 You should see from my spot how I’m doing, I’ll be on a sparkly red Salsa El Mariachi with Black carbon forks. And if the form is to be believed I’ll be sat at the side of the trail covered in Stan’s with the tattered ribbons of a Racing Ralph in my hands.