Passione Celeste by Mark Pritchard

Author:Mark Pritchard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2017-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

10. MORE MEMORIES AND SOME MEDALS

Sunday 14 August 2016, 108 Miles

Nostalgia in the Chilterns, or Where It All Began (C#31)

To mark the start of the second half of my Sixty Centuries Series I thought I would go back to the beginning. For a long time now I had wanted to do a ride in the Chilterns where I grew up and where I started to ride long distances. My first ever century ride started from our house in Prestwood and I have many happy memories of rides around the Chilterns lanes. As this was all nearly 40 years ago I suspect that there may be a gap between my memories and the reality. But whatever, it must have been good because I haven’t stopped riding since.

Using Chris Sidwells’s book as a starting point I mapped out a route that took in a lot of the places I used to visit. The route was a sort of circle, starting and finishing in Prestwood. It included a mix of lanes through the Chiltern Hills towards the Thames Valley and then turned northwards, eventually reaching the Vale of Aylesbury before finally heading back south to Prestwood.

An early morning alarm call had me rising at 5:30am, and following a quick breakfast I was in my car and quickly off for the two-hour drive to Prestwood. After parking up and unloading my Infinito I was soon ready for the off. It was interesting riding along the High Street and noticing the many changes that have occurred, notably round the shopping parade. But it was also revealing to see what hadn’t changed, and I recognised quite a few houses where I used to visit school friends back in the day.

Heading out of Prestwood I gradually became aware that my recollection of distances was a bit off the mark. Places that I thought were quite close together turned out to be further away than I remembered. But no matter; the constant succession of landmarks, some remembered but many forgotten, were making this a very interesting ride.

After a few ups and downs I was soon speeding down Whiteleaf Hill, a famous climb in the area and the place where I learned to hill start when my Dad was teaching me to drive. It is so steep and narrow that I could hardly believe my father would have taken me here. But it must have worked, because even though I say so myself, I’m a competent hill starter. And I’m a passable hill climber.

Talking of which, after about 15 miles it was time to tackle the first main climb of the day: Kingston Hill (Warren #122). This starts with a long, gentle drag before gradually ramping up through a series of bends at a maximum of 17 per cent, before finally levelling out after about three-quarters of a mile. I filmed the climb as I rode it, but the video is probably of no interest to anyone else! Much more entertaining were the red kites that I saw and heard on the first part of the climb.

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