The road.cc office is a man down today as Big Dave has gone out for a ride, the Highclere Castle Magnificat Invitation ride to be exact all 126 miles of it – all the riders are fitted with Champion Chip trackers so you can follow his progress throughout the day just by clicking here. Dave’s not the only road.cc rider there either, Jon Burrage one of our contributors, and a forum stalwart is also stretching his legs.

The route is 126 miles with 1700m of climbing, Dave’s never ridden that far before so we’re sure he’ll enjoy it. The trackers went at 9am when they leave from Highclere Castle and update the rider’s progress every four seconds all going well they should be stopping for teach and cake at Spearholt at 11:30, 42 miles in. Then they head off to the South Downs, stopping at Owens Cycles (84 miles) at 14:15 then it’s off again, climbing Stoner Hill and heading back to Highclere for 5pm. Sounds like a nice Spring leg stretcher and you can follow it all from the comfort of your computer.

Average speed for the ride is expected to be 18mph but last time we looked they were cracking along at over 20mph – mind you, they’d only done a couple of miles.

It’s not all play though, Dave and Jon will both be evaluating some new wheels from Mavic on their day out.