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I would add to what Didcotbob said that the ‘repairs’ done to the part of route 544 near the crossing with A4185 around December combined with the rain have left the track in a worst state than before.
I second that. I am using the Marathon Plus Tour myself for almost two years and they have been punctured only once by broken glass shards about 1 cm long in Didcot.
This is very worrying. I only share road with cars from Upton up to the farm and I do not feel safe at all there.
I think some reminder posters in routes frequent by cyclists would help. Which leads us to how to reach the parents of the young people cycling around without worrying too much.
Hello,
I had recently a discussion with a colleague in Amsterdam about the issue of cyclists without lights during the night. Apparently this was a widespread problem there that I was told got resolved only after the authorities started ticketing people…
Myself I have encountered during complete darkness young people riding across route 544 in dark cycles and clothing, as well as cyclists with blinding lights.
I am not sure if site security can address this issue, but it may be a start.
I scouted during the long weekend the Winnnaway and the track going from the George and the Dragon to Chilton and they felt more heavily damaged and difficult compared to following route 544 all the way through Hagbourne farm. Racing bikes cannot use any of the routes without risk of damage.
About A4185 it may be worthy to get the footpath extended adding a cycling lane. At its current state I personally consider it too dangerous to be used for commuting during rush hours especially during winter/night.
I would be glad to help to anything that has a chance to make the status of the route better. I am using route 44 coming from Didcot, it has sustained heavy damage since summer, so if there is something we can do we should give it a try.
I found this article very useful thank you!
Some lessons I learned cycling in the snow across route 44:
a) Snow hides lots of informations we rely upon, such as ramps (fell 3 times while passing through ramps), potholes. vegetation, road edges.
b) If the snow is thicker than your rim+tire, it will be very difficult to steer properly
c) Snows goes everywhere (disk breaks, crank,gears, chain)
d) It will take you roughly 3*normal time to get to your destination.
e) It seems to be easier to ride over snow that has been compressed by vehicles, if the track they left is wide, Narrow track makes your rear wheel drift erratically as it slips all the time on the edges of the track.