Winchester CTC join the Alton CTC for their annual BBQ.

Our Happy Band of Riders.

My week has ended on a high! I led the Winchester CTC ride to join the Alton CTC at their summer BBQ. I had been worried ever since I agreed to lead the ride that all would go wrong. In fact everything worked out almost perfectly. Mercifully the rain held off and we had some nice warm sunshine for a good part of the day, though it did cloud over and go a little cool while we were eating.

John Spiers very kindly led a group from Winchester (John, Karen, Yi Chen, Caroline & Ian, Jenny, Phil, Dave Steane and Ken) to join Sarah, Simon, Mark, Lesley, Sue, Gordon and me who gathered in the station car park. We set off soon after 10:15 via Old Alresford and Bighton to climb the hill to Medstead. Here we paused to regroup.

As we were leaving Medstead we met a group of Alton riders riding a loop in the opposite direction to get to the BBQ at Newton Valence. We exchanged greetings promising to see them later.

Next we descended to the main Basingstoke to Alton road through Wivelrod and Theddon and stopped for a coffee break at the Departure Lounge Cafe. Here to my surprise I met my son in law Steve also cycling with two of his friends.

With so many riders service took a while and we were a little late continuing and when we did Karen and Yi Chen left us to return together to Winchester. We passed through Alton testing legs on the steep but thankfully short pitch of Church Hill. On through Holybourne we went, riding away from Newton Valence! However a loop first eastwards towards Binsted and then South through Wyck took us back in the right direction. The lanes were mainly quiet but we played leapfrog with a DPD van over a couple of miles as he passed us then was re-passed when he stopped to make deliveries.

Simon was doing a good job for me, pausing at junctions to make sure all took the correct route, while John did equally sterling work as sweeper up at the back. Thanks to both for their vital part,

Once through East & West Worldham we were onto the B3006 for a short way. It was very busy but thankfully we all arrived safely in Selborne. Here we turned up Gracious Lane and climbed the steep hill to Newton Valence. (This was at least less steep than the hill we used last year).

At the village hall we found a good number of the Alton group tucking into a delicious meal. We wasted no time in joining in. There was more than enough for everyone with plenty of variety of good fare. Especially worth a mention were the fiery beans! However the sweets to follow were fantastic too!

It was great to see so many friends from both groups enjoying the food and the company. I took a number of photos which I would be happy to share with anyone who would like one.

Please note you can view these full size by clicking on them.

It was great to see so many friends from both groups that I'd not seen for a while.

About 2.20 p.m. suitably replete we resumed our travels, returning to Alresford and Winchester by the shortest route. We were in the station Car Park in Alresford by 3.30 p.m. where we bid farewell to the Winchester starters and one another
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Whilst I greatly enjoyed the day and company I did not think it was quite as good as our similar ride last year because the weather was better that time.

Here are my data and map for the day.

Earlier in the week I had missed out on the HCMF meet at Hursley due to other commitments. This was in the end not a bad thing as the weather was not great. However later in the day the sun came out so I jumped on Posh and we set off on one of PinkPal's training routes to see how we could compare. 

I was very pleased with my performance but of course as PP is much better on the hills I could not match her overall average speed. 

Thursday's Evening Blast

Best wishes to all from a very happy Gridironman.