I’m writing this a couple of weeks later, having got over the disappointment of cutting the ride short.
I’d originally planned to ride the whole of the North Downs Way (the rider’s route version) over three days. At 275km, it would mean quite a lot of distance to cover each day – about 90km, which is more than my preferred daily average of around 50–70km. This depends on lots of things; the weather, what I want out of the ride, elevation and terrain/surfaces.
90km of undulating gravel & country lanes is not the same as 90km of Welsh bog. I often see people fixated on the distance (and sometimes elevation) and underestimating, or ignoring the terrain/riding surfaces.
Well, I underestimated this route.
I think I assumed that because it was close to home it would be easy, tame, compared to other routes I’ve done.
And that is kind of true, but also kind of not. The hills may not be all that big, but there’s lots of them.
I definitely assumed there would be plentiful re-supply points, and compared to a remote route though Scotland there definitely is, but there were not as many convenient places as I was expecting – I often find this awkward anyway, as a solo rider I have to skip some places I don’t feel comfortable leaving my bike outside, which is more often in less remote places.
Water was also an issue for me. I prefer to avoid buying bottled water, and I normally carry more than I should. On this trip I tried to carry less and refill more often. This didn’t work out for me. I ended up running out of water a couple of times, due to a lack of refill points (as above with convenience & safety). On a more remote route I’d take a water filter.
On the second day I began to realise that to finish the whole route would be verging much more into Type 2 fun than I wanted for this ride. I decided to cut the ride short, skipping the third day and leaving the route half way through the second day, where it passes just north of our house.
I didn’t enjoy the feeling of having given up, but I felt like it was the right decision. It had been a better route than I’d expected and I plan to do it again – with a better understanding that it’s still requires effort.
The scenery doesn’t compare with Welsh mountains or a more remote area, but the route winds its way through quite a busy area of the country very well. I wouldn’t travel down from Scotland to ride it, but if you’re relatively local it’s worth it.
I was surprised to end up chatting to a few people who shared an interest in bikepacking; a lady at my local station who’d recently ridden the Badger Divide and two people at Ide Hill, one who was going on a month long tour around New Zealand, and a guy who’d ridden to all the main football clubs in England! It was nice to chat with each of them and hear their stories and get a slice of their relationship with bikes.
Oh, and while I hate the process of setting up tubeless, it did save me from having to fix an annoying puncture near the end of my second day – so it redeemed itself!
