Mad Summer Hare

Hop over to Warwickshire for a bushy-tailed bimble along quaint country lanes

- Sean Lacey

New sportives can always be a bit of a gamble — will the route be any good? What about the facilities and feed stops? But, in the case of the Mad Summer Hare, all those usual fears can be laid to rest.

The experienced organisers of the long running and yearly sell-out Mad March Hare event have taken the idea of their season opener with a sensibly thought out route and mileage, and designed an event ideal for a late-summer ride. Cleverly this can be ridden as tame or as tough as you feel like on the day.

Despite being so close to the urban sprawl that is Birmingham, the rural and unique setting of the ride HQ at Umberslade Farm Park makes you think you are really in the middle of the countryside, and the roads leading you away continue the theme as, despite the numerous major A roads and motorways that you will criss-cross, you’ll travel on quiet B roads and minor back lanes heading south.

On a roll