The MAMILs were out in force for the Evans Cycles Great Missenden ride and I felt decidedly underdressed in baggy shorts and a tee shirt. Not a problem though as they do a very nice line in Gore bike-wear that you can borrow and optionally purchase at a decent discount, shame I couldn`t find a rain jacket that fitted as the early morning drizzle was showing signs of staying for a while. With me was ``Scouse`` Steve who was keen to get a decent length ride in before we face the challenge of the London to Brighton off-road event in a couple of weeks. In addition to the clothing-loan Evans laid on a wide range of demo bikes, loan GPS units, and a range of snacks, drinks and bike bits for sale. At the start and en-route there were stations with water, (free) energy drinks and snacks which together with slick organization made the £11 entry fee seem like good value. There were three routes to choose from at 11, 22 and 33 miles, we went for the 33 mile iron-man option because we`re ard.

 

 

 

At the start we were all tagged with timing chips and following a briefing we were sent on our way in small groups with strict instructions to leave and return via the sensor mat that would record our times and show how slow we were!

 

 

 

The route was well marked, with a combination of arrows and ribbons to make sure that there was rarely any doubt which way to go, the only challenge was the splits where the different length routes diverged. I had my trusty GPS strapped to the 'bars (what can't be fixed with gaffa-tape or cable ties?) so any errors were quickly spotted.

 

 

 

As it's the Chilterns the route was a never flat, we seemed to be slogging up very long climbs or speeding down all-too-short descents and the result was that it all felt like a bit of a grind, certainly not as much fun as Ashridge single-track but good training for "the big one" in a couple of weeks. It did eventually stop raining and we pressed on with the occasional stop to enjoy the Bucks countryside and the ride passed uneventfully with no crashes, punctures, mechanical failures or tantrums.

 

 

 

We finished in a little over 4 hours, which is average judging by the times on the Evans website but we never set out to break any records, just have a good ride and enjoy the sense of achievement. And the MAMILs? All I can say is that there are a lot of people out there who should really think twice before squeezing themselves into Lycra and going out in public.

Simon