The Jon Banks Memorial

My second M&S, unfortunately (or fortunately weather wise) missed 2023. I love night riding, everything is so different, yes you can miss some of the scenery but night & darkness bring its own beauty.

So having done it once before, I kinda knew what to expect, a great, fantastic support & lots of good camaraderie along the way. This year I decided to take in Stonehenge, what’s a few extra KMs when you’re already doing 308, & I’m glad I did, a tad chilly but great to see the historic stones.

Managed to complete the route before the rain arrived, fully enjoyed the event.

Iv’e had an awful 2024 and had lost so much of my confidence, bailing out of several rides this year. I entered this because of the amazing time I had in 2022 and had so much encouragement from the audax community, so I faced my fears and drove off to Bristol. I had a wonderful ride, seeing new and old faces. The support is wonderful and the experience can’t be beaten. I really appreciated the way the club had swept all the sand from the Bournemouth to Poole beech road, ;-: made it even better. Kudos to the organisers.

Just a lovely event. Organisers and volunteers committed to keeping riders in good shape with the controls. Night time roads were nice and quiet, plus fast. Return from Poole roads were small lanes. Enjoyed the Strawberry Line and paths a lot. Just take it easy on road tyres. All for £20 quid. What’s not to like.

Excellent routing across varied terrain, and as always some history to explore along the way. A shame it was dark on the leg from Barnstaple to Lydford as I reckon it’s gorgeous in daylight, motivation for next time to ride faster! The sleep control was just the ticket, and felt very thoughtfully laid out. My mattress deflated during my nap but I swapped it for a spare.

Another fabulous 600 from master-organiser Will. Beautiful, varied route across at least five counties, railway infrastructure galore (including a slightly-creepy Brunel statue perfect for selfies), and a very welcome sleep control with spot-on food, comfortable LEL-sourced beds and fairy lights to guide the way! Be warned – this has some very challenging climbing (and descending), particularly on the second day – I was not hanging around at the controls and had just 90 minutes in hand at the end. A shame that the wonderful Tarka trail was (for me) during the night section, however with such a good route there will always be good stuff hidden in the dark!