Riding through the lockdown restrictions

The amazing Axe Valley Pedallers have taken on the mission to make the most out of the latest Covid restrictions.
With the current lockdown in place, it was suggested that there would be a Festive Challenge to ride 500 kilometres (over 300 miles) over the twelve days of Christmas.
A brave trio of AVP members decided to have a go and, bearing in mind the wet, cold and often icy road conditions together with Xmas family events, shopping etc, it was obvious that it would not be easy.
However, three stoic pedallers took up the challenge, the first being Nick Gaffney, who went out in all weathers and completed all but the last 80 miles.
The last couple of days were predicted to be very icy, so he had to abandon the challenge and, as he did not have a turbo trainer to complete virtually, consoled himself with a homemade pizza.
Next to take up the challenge was Jonathan Read-Bone, who decided, as the rules were sufficiently unclear, to ride the distance indoors virtually on his turbo-trainer.
The excuse was that he had a lot of work to do (by phone, Zoom etc ) and by the miracles of technology was able to combine the cycling at same time, so finished his effort on December 30.
Finally, David Gray took up the challenge and went out in all weathers, which included a puncture on one day, to get as far as to be within 28 miles of completing before the weather made it impossible, so he did that last stretch indoors on his turbo trainer.
Well done to all three for having a go, no doubt they will all look forward to doing it again come Christmas 2021.
As we progress through the latest lockdown, pedalling enthusiasts can visit the British Cycling website for guidance on what is currently permitted.
The latest restrictions state that you should only ride alone, with your household / support bubble or one other person.
The other key element of the rules is to stay local, which shouldn’t be too difficult when we live in such a beautiful part of the world.