My only riding day this week as I went to Gloucestershire midweek for a reunion with some old Marlingtonion pals. (62 years since we left school).
Due to time restraints Simon and I decided to join Debs and her group at H's in Whitchurch and then skip lunch and return directly back home from the pub.
Here is Simon's view of the day:
"Today Bryce and I rode to Whitchurch to meet up with CTC ride to Thruxton near Andover. I took the opportunity to try out my Aldi £44 Helmet camcorder - its reasonable - sound not great and close ups look like you are in a goldfish bowl. Its a bit shaky but it is fixed to my cycling helmet! I'll do better next time. Today I was on my 1987 Hetchins and covered 57 miles at an average of 11.8 m.p.h. burning 3,400 calories. Here's my Garmin details
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/510925022.
This is just a 2 min clip the camcorder actually recorded 30 mins filling the 4 Gb memory card. The quality may well be degraded by Facebook reducing its data size - we'll see.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=892934490733534&set=vb.100000509757284&type=2&theater"
Not everyone may be able to view this video due to privacy restrictions. (Apologies if thatis so for you)
Simon an.d I left Alresford prompt on the dot of 9.45 a.m. and headed to Whitchurch via the Candover Valley and Micheldever Station. Not wanting to climb Mollie's Dismount I chose that route and took the much easier hill from Totford.
We heard lots of birds singing including a couple of wrens. The hedgerows have changed a lot now with many dog roses, both pink and white brightening up the scene. the Cow Parsley is now virtually over being replaced by Common Hogweed. (We used to make pea shooters from the stems of this weed).
When we arrived on schedule at 11.15 a.m. at H's we found it packed with riders;
In addition to Debs, Simon and I were:
Sara, Big Dave, Dave Foster, Simon Tanner, Katrina Tanner, Simon, Jenny, Alan Gwyer, John Spiers, Graham, Ken, Karen,Li-chun, Lee Hargreaves & Mark From Alresford.
Soon after we set off again. As usual I forgot to turn on my Garmin so lost the data for the first 1.5 miles! I'm told this error is not exclusive to old codgers!
In St Mary Bourne we almost repeated the mistake of two weeks ago when we changed direction and the last 6 or 7 riders almost went the wrong way. Fortunately Debs noticed that they had not made the turn and Ken also spotted the change of direction and we were soon all together again.
Debs then made sure that a rider was posted at each change of direction thereafter to direct the back markers in.he right direction.
We eventually made it to The Black Swan and we enjoyed a drink and a chat in the garden. One of our main topics of conversation was our concern for Christine M. who was mugged recently and also our support for both Chris and Sarah on their charity ride for "Women v Cancer" on Saturday night. They completed the 61 miles successfully in a shade under 5 hours.
To sponsor Sarah please go to:
http://www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Marshallsay
or to support Christine the link is:
http://www.justgiving.com/Christine-Marshallsay
Eventually Simon and I took our leave of the others and headed for Alresford. As it was already after 2 p.m. we took what seemed to be the shortest and quickest route over the hill through Abbots Ann and Red Rice and down to Fullerton. From here we went through Chilbolton and along the A272 to Three Maids Hill.
This is not an easy road as in addition to the fairly steep undulations the road is very rough and Simon was beginning to feel a little saddle sore with his Brooks saddle which needs to be softened some more.
I was home dead on the dot of 4 just in time to honour my other commitments.
My map and data for the day are displayed below You can see that my average moving speed is a little slower than Simon's. This reflects the times he paused to wait for me.
Debs reported:
"Lunch was good and so was the ride back although not far from Crawley big Dave got a puncture and had problems removing the tyre. We ended up leaving him and John Spiers to try and sort it out, there wasn't anything useful we could do! "
Another great day out for Winchester CTC. Thanks Debs and to all who took part.
Gridironman.
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