Full Fat Festive 500 Pint 1

This as my second outing of the FFF500 and loved it… was lucky to be able to team up with a couple of other guys. Made day 1 magical, running into the Northampton Travelodge at around 330km. Up late and left at 5.50am, really enjoyed this section as dark turned to light (well, dark grey really). Much of the ride is in the dark and naturally cold and damp in places, but with the right kit it was fine. 2nd control was a bit dire as the cafe owner of Legends said there was nothing else open, only to find he was talking rubbish as we left the town. Really recommend this ride, it’s like an exclusive club!

With only 2x300Km under my belt and only been riding for 3 years I was a bit nervous of tackling this 510Km in middle of winter but I like the cold so though hell sign up give it a go, my motto is always push yourself you’ll be surprised. I chose to start the ride 10Km from where I live near Henlow on route which was just under half way from the start. It was a still cold grey day. It was also my first ride on the new saddle! Madness you should say but the brooks cambium C15 cutout was fab no complaints. Nice easy flat ride to Cambridge and St Ives just as it got dark. Getting very cold it was hovering about 3 deg C glad I had prepared with lots of layers. I took it real easy with no idea if I could ride this distance in one go let alone make the time. Colder and darker it got through familiar roads to Northampton and then the fog hit. With visibility only about 10 meters it was a slow ride through to Tewksbury and a welcome 1hr sleep was taken somewhere in the Cotswolds at a very clean bus stop. At this point I was way behind schedule and headed for Bristol via fast roads for breakfast at Will’s I hoped for 8:30am but arrived somewhere around 10:45am with very tired legs. Leaving Bristol I was thinking no way I can do another 170Km before the time limit so said hell to the pacing and went as hard as I could. Swindon and Oxford passed, Oxford was very pretty with the Christmas lights. A few busy roads here and there but pushed on as fast as I could, legs starting to tire. Finally I arrived where i started and stopped the Garmin wondering did I do it. In summary the Christmas lights were great it, be prepared for a lot of darkness 4pm through to 7am. Doing it at a different start time meant a lot of the scenic parts were pitch black and I hit a lot of busy traffic when I should not have. Lots of garages and stops to refuel on route. But amazing route taking in many counties and scenic townsvillages highly recommended. Took a few days to sink in I’d done 528Km in one go, but now very chuffed and looking back on it thoroughly enjoyed it. And yes I did make it my Brevet card arrived back today, I have 1min 30 seconds to spare! thank god I sprinted the last 3km. LEL next I just got a place = gulp. Oh watch out for the cows they don’t move out the way! thx again Will for organising.

Cracking ride, great route, fantastic organisation, first introduction to Audax, great experience, nice to meet Will. Thanks for the coffee and cake at the end, was pretty spent by then, got me through the ride home to Clevedon. Thanks

I think it is now a well worn route, but it was my first FFF500 and I thoroughly enjoyed. Wet damp miserable, but this is England in December after all. Not totally flat, but enough climbing to make it interesting. Wet all the way out to the first control at Farringdon, then dry to Winslow. Had an absolute blast to Cambridge via Oxford with a wicked tailwind by which time it was dark again. Onto St Ives via the bus way which is magical at night. Tailwind had become a cross wind and now a headwind. St Ives to Northampton for food and rest…Travelodge is an excellent on router stop. Up after a few hours to go through back lanes to Tewkesbury, fighting a strong head wind and more rain as the night receded. Then the challenge of the A38 all the way to Bristol, rain and strong winds…test your mettle. Then on via back roads back to Bristol and back to the start before it was dark. Really good challenge and nice welcome from Will and Pomeroy junior…recommended

Fabulous audax. Excellent communication-esp how to get around the floods. Northampton came at just the right point for a sleep- I know it is not very audax, but I do like a shower and a proper bed- and there was plenty of choice there. The Christmas lights on all the houses were very pretty and really cheered up the long dark evening (thanks for organising that Will). The only thing I would change if possible would be the quite long and busy A road before Cambridge- a car nearly took us out on it. The other audaxers were delightful and I really appreciated the welcome Will gave us at the end.