A Classic Ride (That No-one Knows About!)

Every year there is a classic ride here in the UK that few people know about. It’s tough, but rewarding with challenging climbs and scenic vistas. The best part, though, it’s completely free to ride.

If you are looking for motivation to get out and ride, inspiration for where to ride or just want to stay updated on the latest cycling trends and offers, sign up for my FREE quarterly newsletter:

jollygoodvelo.com

—————————————————————————————————————
If you are enjoying the channel and would like to support it in some way, please visit: https://www.patreon.com/jollygoodvelo

Link to buy the Go2/ Insta360 OneX2 camera (affiliate) https://www.insta360.com/sal/go_2?insrc=INRDXUZ

Buy JGV Cycling Kit: https://godfrey.co.uk/club/jollygoodvelo

Email for business enquires: leonard@jollygoodvelo.com

Need anything cycling related? Buy it here from my Amazon store: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/leonardmlee

Social Media

Jolly Good Velo Strava Club: https://www.strava.com/clubs/jollygoodvelo

Jolly Good Velo Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/239075813411056/

Strava: http://www.strava.com/athletes/515946

[Music] good morning and welcome to the is of white [Music] Randy 6:30 in the morning and I’m still on the mainland in Portsmouth I’m just riding to catch the ferry over to the island and while I’m here a big thank you to Portsmouth City Council for making the parking so [Music] hard okay moan over let’s focus on having a fantastic day riding around the aisle of white few stats before we begin it’s 110 km round with about 1,600 M of climbing so it’s quite a tough ride I’ve done it many times in the past sometimes it’s been easier than others generally speaking the warmer it is the harder it is uh today there’s no danger of that because at the moment it’s only about 7° C but it is set to warm up to about 15 and the forecast at the moment is set for dry which is always a bonus that’s me at the ferry port um 5 and 1/2 km from where I parked the car and that’s because uh I try and use the free ones and that’s the closest one would you believe anyway I’ve got uh a little while before my Ferry goes so I’m just going to stand here in the sun try and get warm a little bit I’ve got Oscar joining me on this ride today he’s come over from newor uh to do it uh plus a couple of other uh subscribers to the channel uh so this is a fairly good place to try and uh meet everyone as they turn up you can’t be too precious about your bike on a on a trip like this willar sever or more sh including e cigarettes is not allowed even on the outside de the supervisor that’s us checked in at the first checkpoint on the route proper now first climb and uh this ride you’re either climbing or descending we picked up a couple of people to RVE we’ got Al Kathy Oscar aale somewhere and we’ve got Ro so yeah quite a group of us up a hill while you’re sweating away [Applause] yeah so this is not a race or a sport Eve it’s a randomy and that means you ride around and you stop at various checkpoints and you get a brevit card stamped on this ride I think there are six or eight of them and they’re kind of dotted all around the is we basically go right around the outside of the island and the thing with the island is it’s very hilly you’re either climbing or descending [Music] [Music] bit windy going through benbridge there thought I’d sit on Ant and owl’s Wheels get a bit of shelter didn’t Che down moderate rain so nice here we are at the first checkpoint 17 km in only another 90 to [Music] go so despite having a a really good spread of food there we decided to push on to the first or the next checkpoint which I think’s about 15 km away get uh get quite a way into the ride before we take on any more Refreshments I think I’ve got a bottle so should be [Applause] okay oh very little cheeky 12% of there that took some Doom believe me [Music] one of the great things about cycling around the island is that um although it is climbing or descending the climbs and the descents aren’t particularly long maybe 2 kilm at most and after cycling in South Africa and mayorca doing 8 9 133% 13 kilm climes they seem a little bit easy and of course A lot of them it’s a climb followed by descent so The Descent kind of takes you halfway up the next climb weather’s suddenly turned a little bit crap there’s the uh fog and the rain so yeah we just got to put our jackets on and grin and bear it yeah D Bo it’s raining again it is let’s hope it picks up second checkpoint 40 km in still a long way to go but uh we might just get some refreshments here um for the next checkpoint I seem to remember that’s quite a way further on [Music] now first one of the longer climbs now just going up Black Gang and uh and then we’ll be descending into black gang Chine we are rapidly approaching the bit on this ride that everyone’s dreading Military [Applause] Road Military Road is the point on the ride when you kind of think that you’re approaching the end even though you’ve still got maybe 50 km left to ride the the the ride or this section itself is pretty tough because you got to climb a very long hard climb and then you basically descend all over again lose everything that you’ve gained and then you have to climb it all over again it’s heartbreaking [Music] [Music] that’s the first bit done not too bad just the next bit which is the tough bit there we go that’s Military Road conquered and uh it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it was going to be maybe all those rides in South Africa and mayorca kind of stood me in good stead don’t get me wrong it was still tough but it wasn’t the slug that I seem to remember how was that chaps that was good yeah it could have been a lot worse could have been a lot worse I mean it was really two Hills isn’t it that that road yeah so you can get a bit of speed up on the downhill and the the last bit isn’t so bad the uh the first Hill is the worst yeah make it Build It Up Build It Up i’ 39 tail [Applause] yeah the next checkpoint I’ll be honest I’ve lost track of which one’s which now this is Yarmouth that’s the mainland yes just riding through Yarmouth now it kind of flattens out a little bit from here but we’ve still got about 35 km to go [Applause] second Fairy of the day this is the cows Floating Bridge or the chain Ferry just crosses the river yard it takes about 5 minutes and would you believe it we’ve been dodging showers all day and now the sun’s come out on the last 10K this is done you are done you are done but I can give no well there we go boys and girls that is the aisle of white Randon the long Route 110 km 1600 M of climbing and I found that tough not quite as tough as uh as I have done in previous years but it’s still tough I’m glad to finish it it’s just a short ride to the ferry now and then uh back to the car another 5K oh my God