On Sunday 12 July 2026 the Highwheel Century Riders Association in association with the Veteran’s Cycle Club. Although the HCRA has been around for a long time, without a steward it existed only on paper; the last cycle organized was 2013. Graham Earl seeing it’s potential to fill a gap between social cycles and flat-out racing resurrected the HCRA. Many of us will never be Richard Thoday’s or Roger Davies‘ when it comes to racing, and while social cycles are nice, the have zero challenge or health benefits.
The “Century” ride however is a mark of cycling achievement attainable by all who are willing to put the time in training. It gives us mere cycling mortals a goal to aim towards. And without a goal, all our cycling is a bit random and lacks any sense of urgency. But when you have an immutable deadline to cycle 100 miles in your diary, you have no choice but to get serious and put the saddle-time in.
A “Century” cycle is a mark of achievement by a cyclist riding a modern geared bicycle with all the attendant mod-cons. Strava even publishes a Century cycle “bucket list“. But cycling 100 miles on a Penny-Farthing is next-level stuff…
But on Sunday 12 July, even the weather was against us: 29 Celsius, blazing Sun & high winds in the 30 MPH’s.
Saturday Evening Communal Meal
The event actually begins the night before with a communal meal at Longwick’s only pub, The Red Lion @ 1830. I knew most of the usual Penny-Farthing mob, but there were a few there I had never met before. There was lots of manly Penny-Farthing braggadocio and talk of tractors and steam engines 😉. Because it was such an early start- 0500 breakfast with a 0600 start– we couldn’t stay very late, nor get too unfit tipping drinks back. Was nice to see some new faces as well as catch-up with old friends.
I had only arrived just before the meal, dumped my gear in the room- I stayed at the Peacock Country Inn a pub 5 minutes from Longwick– so had nothing organized for tomorrow and so definitely couldn’t stay late. Food was great, real ale was great, and the company was even better.
The Route:
Below is a screenshot from the route as displayed in the beeline.co app after I loaded the GPX file Graham emailed all registrants. BTW, I was impressed with Beeline.co’s Velo 2 which displays data from their app during the event. The Velo 2’s battery lasted almost the entire day; only died a few miles from the end. But even after the Velo 2 battery died, the app which squirts data to it on my iPhone didn’t and captured all the route metrics for the entire century. And I could still hear the Beeline app beeping in my jersey pocket reminding me a turn was approaching despite the Velo 2 display battery going flat.
I’ve put together a video from my helmet-cam footage which captures turns & waypoints from just the first lap to give a flavour of what the route was like; most likely useful for those considering the challenge if Graham runs it again.
Sunday Pre-Start: 0500-0600
The alarm went off at 0400 and I knew I had a long, hot gruelling day ahead of me. After getting dressed into my cycling gear pack everything up back into the van so I could depart for home from Longwick Village Hall home.
I followed the other rider Peter who was staying at the Peacock and we arrived ~0445 @ Longwick Village Hall where Graham & his better half Sarah already had a really nice light breakfast laid out. A croissant with jam was exactly what I needed to motivate me!
Graham gave us a short briefing at dead on 0600, and by 0612 we were leaving the parking lot on our first 25.3 mile lap.
Start: 0612
All of us were conscious that temperatures would quickly rise to 29 Celsius by 1100, so we were keen to get (2) laps under our belts before then to reduce the time cycling in extreme heat. So although about 1/2 the riders attended merely for a social cycle for only a lap or two, the pace was quite nippy for the first 50 miles.
After each lap I changed into a fresh pair of cycling shorts to reduce the risk of chaffing refilled my water bottles, reapplied sun cream and of course indulged in appropriate food Graham & Sarah had laid out for us at each stage of the ride.
The temperatures for the first lap were pleasant; perfect for cycling. The first lap was easy & uneventful.
But halfway through the second lap, things were heating up fast. I was being blinded by sweat pouring down my face and burning my eyes. The thing about cycling helmets is that protection and cooling are inverse.
And indeed, by 1100 it was HOT 🔥. At this point- 2 laps- many riders called it a day; only the absolutely bloody-minded persevered.
Laps 3 & 4:
At the beginning of Lap #3 I had to ditch my helmet and wear a baseball cap for the rest of the day. Although many will say such was foolish- and I’m a huge advocate of cycling with helmets– being blinded by sweat and boiling my brains in an unvented cycling helmet was going to guarantee that I had an accident. In extreme heat, the Specialized “Mode” helmet is not your friend. I had trouble with this lid at Knutsford due to heat.
Conscious of the demands 100 miles would make on my body which would be leaching potassium & sodium in sweat, I brought bananas & potato chips/crisps to eat each lap to fend-off cramps each lap. Additionally, I was eating an SIS glucose packet to top-up my muscles with fuel each lap.
But Graham was well ahead of me in respect to provisioning nutrition for the energy his cyclists would burn. He had provisioned sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, bananas, packets of crisps, banana bread & cakes to ensure everybody replaced the nutrients & calories we were burning to get through this monster. While we were out cycling, Sarah was setting up the next round of chow for us. I think all would be agreed that given the extreme temperatures, without this prior preparation by Graham & Sarah, many would have struggled to complete the Century.
Although laps 3 & 4 were crazy hot, on several long stretches we additionally had to contend with headwinds of 30+ MPH. I wouldn’t characterize these as “cooling”: it was still baking-hot. The winds really only served to increase the effort we had to exert 😓.
Although the route was *mostly* flat, there are a few sections with long gradients. There was a long 2.5% gradient leading to Chinnor. Not the worst in the world, but with a strong headwind on tired legs in blazing heat, it punished.
Hills on shorter cycles are merely tiring. But on cycles involving extreme distances when your body is depleted and dehydrated, hill can be a source of cramps. Despite eating & drinking each lap to ensure that I never became totally run-down, I still got hit with cramps about mile 96. I had to cycle at a relative crawl to avoid triggering them for the rest of the final lap. Even the slightest incline at this point would set them off! And my 2nd water bottle ran dry about mile 99 🤬. But Richard Thoday way playing music over a speaker which made things significantly less sh*t for the last moments of the Century
But I have to confess, by lap 4, doing what now felt like endless miles in searing heat made me think of Johnny Cash’s “Ghost Riders in the Sky” ballad about cowboys sentenced to an eternity in Hell futilly chasing the Devil’s herd which they’ll never catch 🤣
The Finish Line
I believe about 8 of us finished. I wouldn’t call the 101 miles- the route was 25.3 miles– “exhausting”. I did sufficient training prior to the event and showed up prepared. And I even prepared nutritionally eating salty crisps, bananas, SIS glucose packets in addition to sandwiches and the macaroni & cheese Sarah had lined up for us on our return from cycling a lap. I tried to rehydrate at the end of each lap before going out again, but at the rate we were sweating, trying to stay sufficiently hydrated was a task akin to sweeping sand on a beach. Also being a fat bastard certainly didn’t help: I was looking a bit like your typical “MAMIL” (“Middle Aged Men In Lycra“) with about 10+ lbs of extra wubbiness busting loose.
One piece of advice I’d give to those interested in cycling a Century- it appears that Graham will be organizing future Century Cycles– is to change your shorts after each lap to avoid getting a chaffing injury which could kill you chances of completion. It’s sweaty business and with ~9+ hours in the saddle, it’s an easy & sensible risk to mitigate. And you feel better in a dry clean pair of fresh cycle shorts!
The Day After…
I thought I’d be a hammered the following day, but I was otherwise fine. My quads felt a little sore walking up stairs, but that really was the worst of it. I believe training was part of being in good nick after the Century, but I also believe in equal measure so too was keeping-up on nutrition & hydration during it.
Big Thanks to Graham & Sarah!
Everything about the event was top-shelf and their planning was evident on 12 July. Even with the extreme heat the event was really pleasurable as we were spoiled with great food every time we returned from a lap. Big thanks to you both Graham & Sarah for hosting such an outstanding cycling event!
