The Dasset Dawdle

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end”

It all started a few weeks ago.  For reasons unknown to me, Chris decided he fancied riding an Audax and for reasons equally unknown to me, I found myself asking him if he wanted some company on the road.  So, we found ourselves signing up for a new event, the Dassett Dawdle, a 213km event starting in Bedford on Sunday 5 May.  I didn't really know what to expect from an Audax, but had the vague idea that it was a sportive for people with beards who cycled while wearing tweed.

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We arrived at the event early on Sunday morning (dropped off by my very understanding wife) to find that the truth was somewhat different.  There were bikes and riders of various types and vintages: Carbon TT bikes, a tandem, and Brompton-style folding bikes to name a few.  Most people appeared to be riding touring bikes and you could already sense that this was going to be more relaxed than a sportive, with the emphasis on completing the ride, not on the time taken to do so.

We had an inauspicious start to the event, somehow managing to get lost in the car park as we tried to find registration.  Luckily the event organiser, Jackie Popland, was on the lookout for two rookies and tracked us down.  Armed with our brevet cards, we were ready to start our long day in the saddle and we rolled out of Bedford at around 0800.  Alec had given sage advice to Chris saying, "If you think you're going too slow, you're not" and we kept this in mind as we made our way north onto familiar roads through Carlton, Harrold and up to Wollaston.  The weather was cool, but not cold, and the skies cloudy, but with no threat of rain and we were enjoying the relatively casual pace of the ride.

The first challenge of the day arrived at around 30km, as the road started to climb up from the River Nene near Earls Barton.  It wasn't a huge climb, but we were mindful of challenges yet to come and so we didn't attack it in the way we might have on a Sunday club run.  Chris' mantra for the day was "spin to win" and as we moved onto the steepest part of the climb I heard the familiar sound of a chain moving to the small ring.  Then I heard the sound of a chain falling off the small ring, shortly followed by the sound of Chris falling off his bike.  Luckily, a handy grass verge softened the landing and there were no other Audaxers around to witness his fall from grace.  We quickly confirmed there'd been no damage to anything other than pride and continued on our way, enjoying rolling roads and some beautiful scenery and villages.

The first really beautiful view of the day came just after 40km, as we left the village of Holcot.  The road suddenly dropping away in front of us, leading down to Pitsford Water, with the road passing over the reservoir.  The views north and south were stunning but we were quickly over the water and climbing again, up to Brixworth.  We'd been told that the first section of the ride was lumpy and it was living up to its billing.  A long, fast descent away from Brixworth brought us off the main road as we turned northwest and we found ourselves riding through some beautiful single-track roads, surrounded by fields and lined with an avenue of trees that reminded Chris of riding in France.  We made our way through the pretty village of Cottesbrooke, and more tree-lined single-track avenues into Naseby, our first checkpoint.

We stopped to have our Brevet cards signed and to top up our water bottles and enjoy some of the excellent home-made cake on offer.  The ethos of an audax is self-sufficiency, so the water and cake were unexpected and all the better for it.  The marbled chocolate cake was so good that it was a genuine disappointment not to find more at subsequent checkpoints.  We didn't stay long, but we swapped a few words with other riders and everyone we spoke to was having a great time and enjoying the excellent route.  We checked in by text and Twitter, said goodbye and good luck and headed south and west on the second leg.

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Almost immediately, the ride got harder.  The second leg of the ride took us into the wind and turning more southerly at Cold Ashby was like hitting a wall.  We were still feeling relatively fresh and the short rest at Naseby had done us some good, but there was slightly less conversation and slightly more effort being made now.  We rolled gently through more beautiful scenery and picturesque villages until we crossed the M1 and the A5 and found ourselves riding into Daventry.  We skirted the town to the east, so it's possible we didn't see the best of it, but this was without doubt our least favourite section of the ride, with the A425 peppered with roundabout after roundabout.  It was not a road I'd want to ride in traffic and it was such an unpleasant section that my legs, which had been feeling fresh and strong, suddenly felt very heavy and tired.  We cleared Daventry and stopped for a break to recharge a little, before we continued west again, through more stunning villages.  We were catching glimpses of the Dassett Hills now, as they rose in the distance, wondering which of them held the big climb of the day, soon to be upon us.

We arrived at the village of Gaydon, a little east of Stratford-upon-Avon, and made our way to the second checkpoint.  Unfortunately, Chris had dropped his brevet card at some point on the route and so couldn't get it signed at this checkpoint, but the organisers were again well-prepared for us rookies and Chris was signed in without fuss.  There wasn't an awful lot at Gaydon, and we only stopped long enough to grab a fresh supply of water from a garage close to the checkpoint, filling our bottles and enjoying the ice-cold water on what was turning out to be a very hot day.  We knew that the big climb of the day would come shortly after Gaydon, so we didn't want to risk cooling down and so we set off again.  The short ride to Little Dassett saw our view of the hills shielded by high bushes on the roadside, but as we crossed the M40 we suddenly saw a very big hill, with what looked like a small fort on top.  While we were reassuring each other that the road wouldn't go up that high, we caught flashes of light near the fort: sunlight reflecting on car windscreens. The road would go up that high.  We lost sight of the hill behind tree cover again, as we turned south and east, approaching the hill but not yet able to see the road starting to rise.

Then, rounding a corner and crossing a cattle grid, the road started to climb gently, but we could now see the first ramp and see that the road was very quickly about to become very much the opposite of gentle.  I felt that familiar frisson of excitement as we hit that first ramp, saying to myself and Chris that it wasn't going to be as bad as it looked.  Chris didn't seem impressed.  Briefly hitting 22%, the road swept us up, curving first right and then left up to what appeared to be the summit, but when I got there I saw we were only half way up, and the road swung right again, meandering between the hills.  The views were stunning.  As the road curved left on the final ramp, a ewe and her lamb, just in front of me, were trying to get out of my way and making a very bad job of it, despite my gentle words of encouragement, and then suddenly they were gone and I was riding over a second cattle grid, and climbing one final ramp to enjoy sitting right on top of the Dassett Hills.

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As well as the stunning views, we were rewarded with a rolling, fast descent down toward Cropredy, and then further south and east through perfect villages and landscapes that looked like The Shire.  We made strong time, with the wind behind us now, pushing us down the long, gentle descents and cajoling us up the long, gradual climbs.  Although we'd been fuelling regularly on energy bars, gels and taking on lots of fluid, we were starting to get very hungry by now.  Our next, and final, checkpoint would be Steeple Claydon and we'd already planned to head straight for the Co-op and eat.  A lot.  We arrived to find that a number of other cyclists shared our master plan, but luckily the Co-op was well-equipped with sandwiches, scotch eggs, lucozade and other essentials.  Sitting on the pavement outside the Co-op stuffing one's face with snacks is alot better than it sounds, believe me.
Sitting turned out to be a bad idea, however.  We'd now ridden about 160kms and we felt every single one of them as we forced ourselves first to stand, and then back onto the bikes.  We were starting the final leg of the ride, heading north and east, still pushed by a tailwind, much-needed for the first 10km, while our legs recovered.  We passed through more villages on our way to the outskirts of Milton Keynes which seemed much more pleasant than Daventry had, despite being very similar.  We were being pulled home now, and as we crossed the M1 at Newport Pagnell the last major milestone seemed to be behind us, and we raced along the A422 back to Bedford, where a sparkling new brevet card was waiting for Chris.  More food and coffee was also waiting for us, but we'd planned to ride back to St Neots, and didn't want to make the same mistake we'd made at Steeple Claydon, so we thanked Jackie, the organiser, said our goodbyes to our fellow cyclists and pushed for home, and a well-earned pint at the Waggon and Horses.  In total, we'd ridden 230km in around 9 hours and by the end we both knew we'd be riding other audax events soon.

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Anyone who knows myself and/or Chris will know that we're ordinary cyclists, in the nicest possible way.  We're of average Group 2 ability, perhaps with a little more of a penchant for distance riding, so if we can enjoy an Audax, most riders in the club can.  For us, the success of our ride was founded on:

•    Riding within our limits. We stayed under Sunday club run pace until we were close to home.
•    Eating and drinking regularly, to keep our energy levels up.
•    Knowing the route. Getting lost can be funny on a club run. Less so 100 miles from home.
•    Good company. Sharing the ride definitely makes the miles go faster.

If you're interested in riding an Audax, details can be found at http://www.aukweb.net/, where you'll also find details of forthcoming events.  As this was our first Audax, we can't say if the experience was a typical one, but Jackie Popland, who organised the Dassett Dawdle, put on a fantastic event, with a great route and a very friendly atmosphere.  She's running a similar event on 10 August, the Rutland Ramble, and Ian Gerrard (a club member, I believe) is running a 110km event on 31 August, which could be an ideal introduction to Audaxing.

(Audaxing can be addictive - where will it all end? - a Super Radonneur series beckons: 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km events in one year - Ed)