Well, today’s the day: Dave and Trev are off on their 320km adventure back to Colchester. You can track them here, and use the comments to wish them luck or take the mick. They’re planning to roll out at 5am and do the ride in 16hrs. You can also tweet them messages at @roadccdave and @trevor_ergon24 respectively. Good luck chaps!
Follow Dave and Trev on their 320km ride to Colchester!
16 hours is the target, but how will they fare on their West-East adventure?
Fri, Jul 01, 2011 04:27
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road.cc’s founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony’s journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website – the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc – finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ – which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he’d like to own a carbon bike one day.
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Latest Comments
60somethingcyclist 45 minutes ago
@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Ben Graham 4 hours ago
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
Rendel Harris 4 hours ago
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
Rendel Harris 5 hours ago
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
Bungle_52 6 hours ago
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
chrisonabike 6 hours ago
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
chrisonabike 6 hours ago
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
ktache 7 hours ago
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
mdavidford 9 hours ago
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
31 thoughts on “Follow Dave and Trev on their 320km ride to Colchester!”
I hope there’ll be someone at
I hope there’ll be someone at home in Colchester to let you in. You have told them you’re coming have you?
From the trace they look like
From the trace they look like they have taken a wrong turn! Colchester is East not NW.
That saddle looks a bit high
That saddle looks a bit high !! :O
Going good guys,Keep it up !
Going good guys,Keep it up ! 🙂
good effort so far gents,
good effort so far gents, making good progress
Looks like they’re hitting
Looks like they’re hitting Burford on schedule – I was hoping to ride out there myself to have coffee and cakes with them but sadly have been unable to get away from the house – well done gents, enjoy your break, and happy riding the rest of the day.
Great bike riding weather in this part of the country B-)
Good going…makes me pucker
Good going…makes me pucker up just thinking about being in the saddle for that long. I wonder if they’d be up for a little detour to join me for tea and cake on the seafront in Brighton this afternoon.
In burford enjoying a whole
In burford enjoying a whole foccacia to myself. Trev went for the croque monsiuer. We left 30m late so running behind a bit 🙂
I hope you went to Huffkins?
I hope you went to Huffkins? Best coffee shop in Burford.
Good luck today chaps
Croque monsieur? Sounds like
Croque monsieur? Sounds like an old school TDF cafe raid. Did he manage to filch a bottle of brandy and stash it in his back pocket?
Five hours in. Good going
Five hours in. Good going fellas. Just think of the bonus points you’ll score in July’s Metric Century Challenge!
Well done, lovely day for it.
Well done, lovely day for it. Hope there’s something in the legs for the hills in Colchester up to town centre.
Congratulations on finding
Congratulations on finding the secret Bicester By-pass.
Just out of interest, what
Just out of interest, what are you using to do the tracking?
Trev looks pro! You’re
Trev looks pro! You’re looking a lot thinner Dave! That road.cc jersey, is it Sportwool? Do Rapha know about it?
Nah, it’s actual wool. Black
Nah, it’s actual wool. Black is very slimming too.:-)
We’re using opengeotracker for the tracking, running from my phone.
Lunch now, lasagna and chips FTW!
dave_atkinson wrote:Nah, it’s
It’s very slimming when it’s a size too small all right… can I have it back soon.
When you arriving? I am off
When you arriving? I am off on holiday in that neck of the woods next weekend.
Husbourne Crawley for lunch –
Husbourne Crawley for lunch – did you ride through the safari park (I can recommend it).
Good luck with the rest of the ride.
Into the final hundred now I
Into the final hundred now I guess =D>
Lasagne, chips, Tangfastics. The food of gods.
C’Mon Guys you are doing so
C’Mon Guys you are doing so well, I reckon ya gonna do it well inside ya time ya set yourselves. Well done 🙂
Honey! I’m home!
Final scores
Honey! I’m home!
Final scores on the doors: 356.8km, 23.1km/h avg.
I have a beer in my hand & a fry-up on the way 🙂
Nicely done
Nicely done
I’m up to 356m at ave speed
I’m up to 356m at ave speed of 2.31 km/hr.
Well done guys, oh by the way the game crashed when you were away. 🙂
Well done Fellas. Nice day
Well done Fellas. Nice day out. That must have been one of life’s tastiest beers ever. What time do you start the ride back to Bath today?
simonmb wrote:Well done
I’m never riding a bike ever again
Well done gents! I salute
Well done gents! I salute you. Rest up and remember the recovery ride back to Bath to keep those legs loose 😀
Well done! Very impressive
Well done! Very impressive effort.
Thanks for all the comments
Thanks for all the comments guys, I am glad our little adventure seems to have provided some Friday entertainment for some.
I felt good when I got up for a ride this morning but as the clouds rolled in and the itv4 coverage of le tour came on my motivation evapourated. A touch of DOMS in the afternoon meant it was probably the right choice
An awesome ride from Dave who was strong as an Ox after the quadruple espresso stop at 265km – little did we know there was nearly 100km to go. This is definitely one of my most satisfying cycling achievements despite not involving a podium or podium girls. I hope Dave agrees too.
oh and simonmb – thanks for the comment regarding looking pro, I do try my best 😉
yeah, big thanks to everyone
yeah, big thanks to everyone for getting involved, it was fun, sort of 🙂
I can smell my mum’s fry-up from 100km out so that gave me a push. Trev was strong the whole way through, though we both got a bit bored of the lanes after lunch. you should have seen the pair of us TTTing down the A421 just outside MK, we hit 50kph along that bit and it wasn’t even downhill. much 🙂
Gonna try the ‘low’ route
Gonna try the ‘low’ route next time 🙂