After a week of emergency training, the weather gods were nice to us yesterday and made what could have been a sloppy ride another dry n dusty one.
I left at 8am and arrived at Brixworth Country Park quite early as the motorway, despite the M42 being closed. Plenty of time for a coffee (thanks Dan) after setting my bike up. As 10am neared, it was eveident it was another good turnout. I did my usual meet n greet and then we rolled out around the edge of the water. A little busy with walkers and runners but everyone got around safely before we alighted and spent the next few km in a nice tight group at nice pace. My legs felt good despite nearly 3 weeks off.
Just after 10km we hit our first bridleway and shot down a hill with I overshot and took some riders with me which split the group and spooked a horse apparently which was off the trail and some way back up the way we were supposed to go. I didn’t think we were that close. Back on track, a few of us regrouped and ploughed on up the disued railway line for about 10km through a couple of tunnels. The first one was a bit rough but the second one had been resurfaced recently which was nice. Great trail though.
This took us into a busy Market Harborough town centre which was busy and tricky in places to get around everyone and their dog.
Out the other side we picked up the canal towapth whicha again had a few walkers initially then thinned out and emptied.
Some of us stopped at Foxton Locks for a bite to eat which was a nice spot then it it was just a short section of the Grand Union canal left before we alighted at Debdale Wharf and climbed but I had a slow puncture (again!) and had to quickly change my tube. My TPU tube days could be numbered on the gravel bike but that’s another story.
After the flat of the canal the route was a bit punchy now with endless small ups and downs to deal with. A mixture of tracks and narrow lanes got us to Clipston Grange but here we went into a field the wrong side of the hedge and had to retrace to pick up the correct path. At Cottesbrook we enjoyed a fab wide gravel path that dropped us back onto the disused railway line which took us south skirting Brixworth before left and the last kicker of the day back to the country park on the Northamptonshire Round trail.
Today was a refreshing change from the usual gravel grind. Flat and fast with a good mix of trails and tarmac. I really enjoyed my first one.
Thanks to Ed for the route. And thanks to Justin, Hayley and Richard for the company
Adios
Hello Paul. Missed the ride as my mother was rushed into hospital the day before. I did the ride on Thursday with a mate on his new gravel machine and me on my old alloy cross bike. He loved it. I had another slow puncture on the last 20 miles after hitting a rock. I had the wrong tyre’s on, should have stuck to my semi slicks. We did the same wrong turn down the field, but other than that his Garmin was great. Cheers Paul.
ah good stuff, I really enjoyed it. Was the first time for me too
Sounds like tpu and gravel isn’t a great mix. I keep meaning to get a couple to carry as spares instead of the traditional ones but not sure if I can be arsed as dependablity doesn’t seem to be great!
been fine on my road bike, slow punctures on my gravel bike though and still unsure why
Sorry to have missed- repairing my GB today 😢🙌