Jon's off-road expeditions

Gravel/All Road/Bridleway exploration

Hi,

I'm Jon a fairly serious (if slow) runner and more recently (not quite so slow) cyclist out of Bedford, England. Over the last fifteen years or so, I've run up to marathon distance, completed hundred mile cycling events and done thousands of mostly off-road training miles exploring the countryside around where I live.

## Route focus

The routes mostly explore the landscape and rural rights of way in and around Bedford on a Gravel Bike with occasional sojourns to other areas and activities as opportunity presents.

Why Bedfordshire you might ask? Well naturally it's where I am at the moment but it is also a bit of an undiscovered Gravel Biking gem. It's got:
* A history that has created a fantastic network of off-road tracks and trails waiting to be explored.
* A climate, terrain and landscape that is pleasant enough to explore on a bike.
* Great transport links, e.g. from London frequent trains that take less than 40 minutes to get to Bedford from London St. Pancras.

## Cycling skills required

The routes are hopefully highly accessible. They should be rideable by pretty much any determined cyclist with sufficient time/fitness as long as they:

1. Know how to fix punctures.
1. Have some confidence riding with other light traffic.
1. Possess basic bike handling skills.

## Cycling fitness required and time requirements

As the mud and vegetation on the routes vary enormously depending on the season and precipitation levels, naturally, so does the amount of time and effort in completing them. As a rule of thumb if I know roughly how long riding the equivalent on road would take me then at a similar effort level these will usually take between a third to half as long again to complete.

## Cycling hazards

Cycling away from most motorised vehicles is generally much safer, but at some point, most routes will contain at least some of the following hazards:
1. Motorised vehicles - Almost all of the routes will run on roads and tracks that are used by motorised vehicles.
2. Poor riding surfaces - Ruts, rocks, potholes, puddles, tree branches, roots or large quantities of loose gravel, soft or hard-baked mud etc.
3. Unpredictable livestock, horses, dogs, walkers, cyclists and wild animals (if you are lucky).
4. Foliage - In the summer there are many plants that tend to overgrow the paths that can scratch and sting.

All of these are normally easy enough to deal with, however, to deal with them you need to know they are present and sometimes this isn't obvious e.g. ruts obscured by long grass being a particularly bête noire. The safest approach, particularly when riding something new, is to ride defensively and assume the hazard's presence until its absence is known.

## Cycling equipment

1. Bike - The routes have been planned for a Gravel Bike. However, whilst a Mountain Bike is overkill for the terrain and a Hybrid may not be quite robust enough for extended use, there is no reason they cannot be used at least initially to give things a try. In the winter it is important that whatever you are riding has good mud clearance.
1. Puncture resistant or ideally tubeless tyres - There are lots of sharp things in the countryside and avoiding routine punctures from them substantially increases riding pleasure.
1. Pump, puncture repair kit and at least one spare inner tube - Even the best puncture resistant setup will fail at some point.
1. Mini tool kit with chain splitter, spare split link and somewhere to store it.
1. Water bottle, water and carrier.
1. Robust GPS unit and/or phone mount - being able to readily glance at the route whilst riding is essential to ensure you don't get totally lost (if using phone I can highly recommend the range of mounts from Quadlock)
1. Mobile phone, a small amount of cash and a credit card - just in case!!!

## Navigation

Either as an app or standalone unit, I'd recommend using some form of GPS system to follow the routes, particularly the longer ones, as the technology makes staying on route much easier.

If using an app it is important to be aware of the limitations of your mobile device, particularly battery life, and consider using an app that has an offline mode to avoid:

* Reliance on unreliable data networks coverage.
* Using up data allowance. 
* Placing an additional load on the phone's battery life.

Apps that provide this include amongst others those from Ride With GPS's (with a Basic Subscription), Ordnance Survey's and ViewRangers

At the moment I generally use a standalone Garmin 820 unit most of the time because of its outstanding battery life, but I also have an iPhone mounted on which I can pull up large scale Ordnance Survey maps for when the 820 is insufficient to resolve any ambiguity.

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Jon's off-road expeditions

Gravel/All Road/Bridleway exploration

Jon's off-road expeditions

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CX Bedford to Old Warden loop

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