Interuniversity endurocycle

On Wednesday 5th May, team member Rory Davidson set out on the longest ride undertaken by any of the Cambridge to Casablanca squad. It was to be an 89-mile ride, across the mountainous counties of Avon, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire, from the premier British academic establishment of Bristol University to its lesser relative, Oxford.

Things started well for Davidson, after a Bran Flake breakfast worthy of Chris "On Your Bike" Hoy himself, reaching the medieval town of St. Paul Malmesbury Without, within 2 hours. After a rejuvenating 'Manwich', he powered on at an average speed of 16mph. The charming town of Swindon, however, proved to be almost too much for Davidson, like many before him. The 'Mountain of Purgatory' near Blunsdon St. Andrew was tackled at an average speed of 6.2mph, and for the next two hours, he struggled through 'lactic hell', sustained only by constant messages of encouragement from his team comrades by text, and his desperate desire to escape the clutches of the Swindonian suburbian diaspora.

Our Glorious Leader, Cyclegruppenfuhrer Dean, was promptly dispatched to Wantage to 'bring in' Davidson to Oxford, like a tugboat with a struggling, stricken supertanker. By this time, however, Davidson had caught a second wind, and his determination to show no weakness to the team's disciplinarian leader meant that the last 30 miles were covered in decent time.


On reaching Oxford, we interviewed the exhausted cyclist, who seemed positive about the ride, and called it a "learning experience".

"It all started pretty well, and I thought to myself, 'I can do this in 3 hours flat'. But I hadn't factored in the mental toughness of the ride. I have never felt so low and alone as I did when cycling through Swindon, I can tell you. Imagine Harlow, Sarajevo and Grantham all rolled into one". Davidson went on to unconditionally praise Our Brother Leader, Illustrious Field Marshal and Saviour of our Nation, G.E.F. Dean, saying that "When I saw Chairman Dean on the horizon, in his dazzling baby-blue tracksuit bottoms, bright cricket jumper, and designer stubble, I knew that I would make it. Without our Dear Leader, I would still be recovering in a layby just off the A4 at Gozzards Ford"