London to Oxford 2026: Ride Report

Ride leader Anton reports...

After asking Greg, the original leader of this ride, if he needed any help, I soon found myself taking over the role since he was swamped with work.

With Greg having already discussed the catering at the halfway stop in Amersham with Friday's members Rachel and Stephen Wilcox he was expecting 30 riders to be attending!

Unfortunately the ride was close to being cancelled. The number of registered riders was only 18, with some six dropping out before the event. Furthermore, I had a health scare that was only resolved a week before. With such low numbers, Rachel and her team didn’t want to hang around the church hall in the early hours of Saturday, but suggested an alternative. Namely, I was given the number to the key safe and they would lay out tables and chairs in the side hall, leaving buttered rolls and fillings for the riders to make their own, plus tea, coffee and cakes. This worked out well since it removed the pressure on me of getting the riders to the hall by a specific time. 

So to the ride. 

Arriving at Friday’s Central, a number of the riders were already waiting and had taken over a couple of the benches used for the food outlets. By 11:40 all the riders had arrived and I gave the mandatory briefing, including the introductions of my Wing (Peter), All Upper/TEC (Liam until Wendover, Andrew after Wendover), and then explained the IMPORTANT role of Waymarkers. From what I could gather nearly all riders took part in waymarking. Thanks.

At midnight we rolled away, heading West past the London Eye, before crossing the Thames on Westminster Bridge, passing Parliament with the tower of Big Ben lit up. From Birdcage Walk we passed in front of Buckingham Palace, before continuing on Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner.  Following Knightsbridge Road, passing The Royal Albert Hall, we shortly turn North towards Notting Hill, Harlesden, and Wembley, where the arch of the Stadium was lit up in the night sky.

After Wembley we continued through Pinner, Northwood and Richmansworth, before a climb at Mile End under the M25. At just short of 40km we finally left the urban roads of Greater London behind before arriving just over 10km later at our halfway stop in Amersham at 03:30 - perfect timing.

Once in the hall, everyone mucked in getting the prepared food out, and putting the kettle on.

Since it was dry and we were in the side hall, Rachel had suggested that we could bring our bikes into the main hall to save having to lock them up outside.

By 04:30 everything was tidied up and ready for us to continue our ride towards Oxford. It also meant that the last station on the Metropolitan Line was now behind us.

From Amersham we started to see signs of the HS2 construction sites, and soon after Missenden we joined the new CP50 cycle route towards Wendover, where we had our one and only mechanical. Unfortunately it was the ride leader who suffered from a shard of flint in his back tyre. To save people hanging around, I asked Peter to lead the group and wait for us in Wendover. This was a good idea, since it took three of us an age to remove and replace the very tight tyre, and when we rejoined the group everyone was sitting comfortably in the town square. 

In Wendover we said goodbye to Liam and then skirted to the North of Princes Risborough before joining the Phoenix Way into and through Thame. 

After Thame we passed through Shabbington, Worminghall and Wheatley before the final climb of the day through Littleworth. Here the 100km of headwind finally got to me so I again asked Peter to lead people up and over the climb and wait for me at the T junction.

Once I had my breath back we continued and soon passed the Mini factory in Cowley before the final stretch into the centre of Oxford, and our breakfast for those who had not peeled off early.

Thank you to everyone who came on the ride and especially Peter my Wing, Liam and Andrew the “All Uppers”, and special mention to all the waymarkers that make all Friday’s rides such a success.

This is a pleasant ride, with only a couple of hills of note, and urban light for nearly half the route. Hopefully, there will be increased numbers to run the ride again in 2027.

Ps. The following day I planned to cycle home from Oxford doing a total of 155km. Unfortunately, I fell foul to another shard of Chiltern flint. After nearly an hour, with much swearing, sore thumbs, and close to calling the Bike Rescue Service, I managed to address the flat. 

Subsequent to the ride I ordered a Tyre Glider and what took me nearly an hour to do with tyre levers was sorted with this device in minutes! 

https://tyreglider.co.uk/product/purchase-tyre-glider-evolution-of-the-tyre-lever/