Isle of Wight Weekender
The Isle of Wight is often the landmark I use to explain to foreigners where I live in the UK. It wasn’t something I knew much about in my younger years, but apparently, the Isle of Wight Festival is well known around the globe, something of an English Woodstock. You can see the island from the coast I grew up on, yet I’ve hardly ever been over there. If I’m honest, I’d have to text my mum to ask if we ever went as kids, because I genuinely can’t remember. Until a couple of years ago, when I headed over for a day ride, I might never have set foot on the island. Well known among road cyclists, this small island also has some great off-road riding, making it the perfect destination for a weekend of exploring by bike, with an overnight camp thrown in for good measure.
After riding the Bristol Rally back at the start of September, I thought that was my lot as far as riding trips were concerned for the year. But I didn’t need much encouragement when a friend texted to ask if I’d be up for a loop of the island one weekend before the weather really turned to autumn.
There are a couple of good route options around the island, with the majority of the riding off-road. The plan was to catch the foot passenger ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth, which is half the price of the car ferry, but still allows bikes on board. From there, we’d ride a full loop of the island, mainly sticking to the outer rim, with a few detours inland.
What started out as two of us ended up being a crew of five, and it was my first bike trip with a friend I’ve known for 30 years.
I enjoy travelling with new people, but as I’ve said before, you have to be selective about who you hit the road with because one bad egg can ruin it for the whole pack. I’m lucky that the person I do most of my bike trips with is someone I’ve also known for 30 years. We grew up riding BMX together, have travelled a fair bit and found ourselves in plenty of unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations along the way. There isn’t much that fazes us these days, or much that surprises us about each other.
I knew the island was pretty hilly, and that definitely rang true after the first day. I think we only covered 35–40 miles, but we were riding all day and it was pretty tough going. Still, it was a lot of fun, but I was definitely beat by the end of it.
Parts of the island, particularly the far side, really reminded me of the Purbecks, which isn’t surprising. It has that same rugged chalk terrain, with some pretty hairy descents and climbs that have you pushing hard just to make it to the top.
This was my second time riding a fully loaded flat-bar bike, and one thing I’d say is that when it comes to technical descents, I’d rather be on drops. I feel like having your weight further over the front wheel and being able to really lean into the downhills would have made a big difference. There were a couple of times when I felt a little uneasy bombing down those hills, sitting upright with my swept-back bars.
It’s definitely something I’ll consider more carefully next time I know I’ll be tackling rougher, more technical trails fully loaded.
The usual back-to-school bug had been doing the rounds in our house the week before we left, and although I’d managed to avoid the stinking cold everyone else seemed to have, I started to feel a bit of a sore throat a couple of days before we set off. I was loading up on vitamin C and all sorts of other stuff right up until Saturday morning, and although I wasn’t feeling 100%, I felt good enough as we headed over on the ferry.
That luck didn’t last long. A bunch of fireworks woke me up in my tent on Saturday night, and I found myself lying on my back with a nose full of snot, breathing through my mouth until my throat had dried out completely. Needless to say, I woke up on Sunday morning with my head feeling like it had been inflated and my face full of snot. Not ideal when you’ve got a full day of riding ahead of you, but after some coffee and a few supplies to stop my nose from leaking, we were off.
I’ve always figured that 50 miles a day is a manageable amount of distance to cover on tour, but I’ve come to learn that it depends hugely on a couple of key factors.
The first is terrain. If you’re riding up hills all day, especially when those hills are off-road and rugged, you might find yourself moving a lot slower than you thought. The second is what day of the trip you’re on. Your gusto might be through the roof on day one, but by days four or five, those legs might be burning and you’ll find yourself moving a fair bit slower.
Of course, there are plenty of other things that can affect how far you manage to cover in a day, but I think aiming a little lower on the mileage to give yourself some breathing room isn’t a bad idea. With this loop of the island coming in at just 80 miles, we had plenty of time for chilling, eating and bullshitting, which is what it’s all about.
I can highly recommend the Isle of Wight as a perfect little weekend bike escape. A few pointers for anyone considering it.
First up, don’t take the car ferry if you can avoid it, it’s an absolute rip-off. We paid £10 each way on the foot passenger ferry, so if you can get yourself to Lymington and take that across, it’s well worth it. I think the car ferry with a bike and foot passenger works out at around twice the price, so it’s worth checking your options before booking.
If you’re wild camping, be warned that there’s very little woodland on the island where you can tuck yourself away for the night. Luckily, two of the people riding with us had done the route back in the summer. Although they’d stayed at a campsite, they’d spotted a patch of woodland nearby the following morning, so we made that our end point for the first day.
The last thing I’d mention, and I’ve had a whinge about this a couple of times before, is the amount of bumpy grass we rode across. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind riding on grass, but bumpy, hoof-trodden grass that’s dried out in the summer isn’t fun for anyone.
But let’s not end on a negative. Aside from a snotty face on day two and the odd bumpy grass field, we had a great time, and I was genuinely grateful to get out there on one last short bike tour before heading into the winter months.
