Took part in an organised sportive with Glorious Gravel in the Chilterns.
This was an absolutely amazing route - 10 out of 10!. Throw in fabulous weather and fabulous friends, made it a awesome day out. Taking in parts of the Ridgeway which I've always wanted to cycle along, long sections of the 'Chilterns Cycleway', and beautiful trails and gorgeous quaint little villages including Turville which is where they filmed The Vicar of Dibley.
With the Chilterns, it was not surprising that there was quite a lot of climbing, 6 category climbs, some getting to 18% gradient in parts and well over 3000 feet of in the 75km route. This was the longest I've ever ridden my mountain bike, but I'm glad I took the MTB, although my thighs are on fire today.
Starting out at Kingston Blount it's not long before you join the first section of the Ridgeway with gentle climbing to get to the top. The route included a quite a bit of road, but the roads were extremely quiet and small, mostly all part of the ‘Chilterns Cycleway’ route.
We had a number of fantastic downhills including Pishill (top speed of over 30 mph on MTB), before we turned around and then climbed back the other side on the off road gravel trail, where we encountered quite a lot of mud towards the top. Weaving in and out of off road & then road sections passing through the ‘Dibley’ village and other lovely villages, Christmas Common and Chinnor Hill (a tough climb featuring in the 2014 Tour of Britain), before we went back onto the Bledlow Ridge and the Ridgeway again back down to stop.
Beautiful weather. fantastic views, great off road trails and great quiet country roads. I would recommend this route 100%.
Vicar of Dibley church
Thanks! 🙂
I love your write ups! Looks a tough one.