PLAIN AND GAIN

Cycling Plus gets stuck into the Ekoi Stone Circle, which is aiming to be the biggest gravel ride in the south of England

-  Adrian Miles

Cycling Plus has spent enough time riding along the network of gravel roads and tracks of Salisbury Plain on countless photoshoots over the years to know it'd make the bones of a brilliant gravel event. Northern England and Scotland in particular are blessed with the terrain and wilderness to allow several events to develop into bucket-list rides - we count the Dirty Reiver in Kielder Forest and Dukes Weekender in The Trossachs among them. Both are tantalising prospects for anyone north of Manchester, but for riders in the south of England, both are onerous schleps up the motorway. A big hello, then, to the Ekoi Stone Circle, a new addition to the gravel calendar from events firm Hotchillee that levels up gravel riding for fans of the rough stuff in the south, making full use of Salisbury Plain's copious natural gifts for a rigorous test of skill and stamina.

With a name inspired by the world-famous Stonehenge, the ancient monument built to align with the sunrise on the summer solstice (the longest day of the year), it made marketing sense for Hotchillee to stage the event on the solstice weekend, this year on 24 June. It also made practical sense, since the longer Epic 215km route would need as much natural light as possible. For those who took on this route, I doff my cap. The shorter 135km Monumental option that I opted for would prove more than enough...

FROM BC TO BRITISH CYCLING

The longest day of the year got underway for me in a suitably bracing manner, with the roaring of my alarm at 2.30am. The Monumental-course riders were due to start at 5.30am, and it'd be a two-hour drive from my Cheltenham home to the start line at the historic hilltop fort of Old Sarum, the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury, dated to 400 BC.