I was up early and with it being such a lovely day I decided to get away from home early and ride to Crawley Pond to meet Barrie's Pedallers. In fact I was so early that I arrived there almost half an hour early.
Two members of the police force were there checking for speeding motorists with a radar gun. They told me that there main role was to get the motorists to slow down rather than to book anyone. In the whole time I was there i never saw them actually clock anyone.
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| Crawley Pond. |
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| Residents of Crawley Pond. |
The first of the other riders to arrive was Simon on his beautiful 1960s Holdsworth; Similar the one he rode in his youth.
We were soon joined by the other riders including Yi-chun who was greeted by a singing of "Happy Birthday".
After some discussion about the suitable route to Waitrose's Leckford Estate coffee shop I suggested we went via King's Somborne. Simon immediately set off at a good pace with the rest of us trying to keep up. After a couple of miles 4 of us in the lead realised the others were nowhere in sight so we paused to let them catch up.
It was a lovely day with lots of aromas in the air, most enjoyable as long as you don't suffer from hay fever.
We had soon crossed the Test and were heading back northwards through Houghton & Longstock to arrive at the cafe in plenty of time for a laze in the sun while enjoying coffee or tea and cake.
Jo produced a candle and stuck it on a piece of cake and lit it for Yi-chun to blow out while we sang "Happy Birthday" again, much to the amusements of the other customers.
Before we could get going again there was a discussion about how many bikes would fit in a van with Sarah producing a measuring tape so we could experiment with several of the bikes. This is to help in the planning of a trip in France by some of Barrie's Pedallers in September.
Our route back was via Leckford and over the hill past the Leckford Hut to Crawley. It was one o'clock by the time we got there, so beginning to feel a bit peckish, I accepted a lift home with Sarah.
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| Thursday's Route & Data |
A most enjoyable social ride and it was great to meet Yi-chun for the first time, on her birthday too!
Saturday 17th May 2014. Winchester Intermediate ride to Fritham in the New Forest.
It was a warm sunny morning so I changed my mind abut driving to Winchester to the start and rode instead. Got there in plenty of time having ridden part way with my friend Julian from Alresford and having passed Paddy who was on his way home from a ride of about 20 miles.
A baker's dozen riders set off from the RV, Barrie leaving about five minutes before the rest of us.
Present in addition to Barrie, Daren & Claire and me were: Karen, Sarah & Chris, Gordon, Simon (2), Graham and three new riders (to me), Katrina & Simon (3) and an Louise. It is always nice to welcome new members and discover their backgrounds and tastes in cycling equipment. Katrina and Simon (3) were equipped with state of the art expedition Thorn Cycles with Rholoff gears. Rather more as Simon (3) said like Land Rovers compared to Louise's Specialized road bike like a sports car.
We followed the well used route to Poppies for coffee via The Old Sarum road, Merdon Castle and Braishfield. Unfortunately Claire had technical problem which delayed us for about 15 minutes before we set off again. Barrie left us here to return home on his own as he had other matters to attend to.
Daren had chosen an interesting route on some roads I'd not ridden before this was to lead to our first bout of Hide and Seek. Between Sherfield English and West Wellow Katrina, Simon (3) and I lost sight of the group and did not see the group take a right turn. When we arrived in the village centre we asked a man if he'd seen any cyclists. He told us he had and told us which way to go. However it transpired that it was not our group! When we got to the A36 I knew we needed to cross over it to get to our final destination, The Royal Oak in Fritham. However, we needed to turn left or right along the A36 to find the road to Nomansland. I chose left. A mistake we should have gone right! We tried to phone the others but could not get a signal on my phone, so with the help of Simon's Garmin we took a road through Canada. This turned into a rough track for about half a mile crossing Canada Common before we came out onto Bramshaw Common. I now knew where we were and we decided to take the direct route through Bramshaw to the pub. We arrived to find lots of cyclists there but none of our own group. I tried to phone again but once more got the message "No network coverage". (Strangely an hour later I was able to phone home!).
It seems that some of the riders who had tried to contact me had my old phone number.
We decided there was nothing more we could do and while we were waiting in the queue to order our food the other 9 arrived. We sat outside to eat our lunch but the sun went in and one or two of the group felt quite chilly. We had a talk about cuckoos and the one we had heard earlier. (My fourth of the year).
Lunch over we set off on the homeward run. This went well until Daren's route took us through the Mountbatten estate on a very rough track for a short way. I was one of the first to get to the hamlet of Lee. I was with three others but once again there was no sign of the rest. We waited for what seemed ages and eventually Graham set off to look for them. he was gone for another five minutes and I decided I needed to get going if I was to be home by six. I had only gone 100 yards when Graham called out "Here they come!" and we were all together again. Shortly after Simon (2) also left us.
Karen suggested an alternative way to North Baddesley and when we got there Claire peeled off for home in Southampton. Shortly afterwards the local fete provided the perfect place for a comfort break.
With everyone fit for the road again we set off through the lanes to Chandler's Ford. Karen's turn to leave us here with Gordon leaving us near Hursley.
The depleted group diverted off the main road near the King's Head and the first three took one lane and the other four another I chose to follow the latter. When I asked about the split I was told that Daren had been told so I was surprised at the top of the hill in Oliver's Battery when an irate Daren passed me complaining he'd had to go back to look for us.
Simon and Katrina left us here and Sarah, Chris and I were then the only ones left to return to the centre of the city. I shouted a farewell as they turned into the car park and continued on the last leg of my journey home. They passed me in their car just before I crossed over the M3 bridge.
It had been a day of very mixed fortunes and emotions. A few lessons to be learnt
1.I should take a map even when I know the area reasonable well and am being led. This would facilitate finding the best alternative route when a problem arises.
2. We all need to make sure we have one another's up to date mobile phone numbers.
3. Better communication is needed between the front of the group and the back and checking that everyone is aware of a change of direction at road junctions.
Nevertheless a day I enjoyed greatly.
Here is the map and data for my ride.
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| Saturday's Route and Data. |
Can you please check you have my latest mobile phone number.
It is 07443647594
Gridironman.
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