This was my first time riding the Phil Cooke challenge ride, so wasn’t really sure what it would be like. A large number of A5 Rangers had turned out to ride as it had a start in Towcester. It was nice to see everyone before the start. (I’ll leave them to write their own reports as to how their rides went)

The ride set off through the country lanes towards Dunchurch, the front group staying together for about the first 10 miles before the hills stretched everyone out. I lost contact with the front group at about this point. However after a few miles I noticed Dave Lazenby behind, so thought it made more sense to ride together. Maxine joined us after another few miles and we all cycled around together.

At Dunchurch we stopped to get a little token to say that we had been there, and then headed on our way. We weren’t long into our return trip when my chain broke, luckily Maxine had a chain splitter and after removing a link we were able to continue. I’d noticed that the chain wasn’t running to smoothly beforehand, everything had been fine, until I washed the bike the day before. Note to self don’t wash your bike ;o)

We arrived back at the start having covered the 67.5miles in 3hrs 32mins (3hrs 44mins including all stops etc)