More biking adventures. This time 6 Wheelers rode the King Alfred Way, a 240 mile mostly off road cycling UK route.
We took 4 days starting and finishing in Swindon and stopping overnight at Premier Inns in Reading, Petersfield and Salisbury. It is a fantastic route covering parts of the ridgeway, South Downs way and Salisbury plain. It goes past Stonehenge, Avebury, white horses, Winchester, Salisbury and along the river Thames. All sorts of terrain, chalk, sand, road, rock and plenty of mud!
The weather was much better than expected with just rain on the last afternoon. However that coincided with a couple of long stretches on muddy paths with deep ruts. It was mega slippery and we all had tumbles.
We had a range of bikes and tyres. I was on a full suspension MTB which was great for the downhill but hard work on the road. Probably the best bikes for the trip are hard tail MTB or gravel bikes with MTB tyres.
It was the first time I had used my MTB for bike packing. I attached the bags and everything looked good and except when I sat on the saddle the suspension flex made the bag touch the back wheel! Novice mistake so straight to bike shop to stiffen the suspension and raise the saddle. It was just enough that I could ride but now I have a hole in the bag!
It was a great adventure lots of laughs, food and weary legs.
Author: Richard
Date: 2nd August
