HCMF Meet at Tichborne and another circuit through Petersfield.

Thursday 6th November 2014.

Time for another HCMF ride. I joined Simon who was testing one of his latest refurbished bikes. This time a 1947 Selbach. As it had not been ridden far before, this was a test ride over a modest circuit.

We paused on the bridge by the ford for a photo shoot. 

Here is the proud Simon with the Selbach.

We rode a loop to the Tichborne Arms, passing it once to go through Cheriton, then along the A272 to Bramdean before returning to Alresford via Bramdean Common and Old Park Lane. In Alresford we diverted down Broad Street and thence via Drove Lane back to the Winchester Road and then to the Tichborne Arms again. We had covered just 15 miles.   Map of the day's Ride. There was a very good turnout of riders. I counted over 30. For this time of the year with somewhat indifferent weather this was very good. I was able to register another 20 entries on my "Guess my Miles" sweepstake. the pot is now over £38. (A couple of extra pennies having been donated).  There was a lot of interest in Simon's unusual and rare bike. After a good time chatting Bob Damper joined us for the long return Journey to the bottom of New Farm Road in Alresford. (1.76 miles). here we parted company and feeling I owed my supporters a greater effort to reach my target of at least 3,000 miles I decided to reverse the loop from the centre of Alresford back to the Tichborne Arms. As I neared the pub for the third time in the day I passed Alan, Colin and Mick all riding away from it towards Cheriton. I put a lot more effort into this loop. Here are my additional data for the day showing this lap of  almost 12 miles being completed at a speed of 13.7 m.p.h. In the end a reasonable number of miles ridden considering the pub is only a couple of miles from home. Saturday 8th November 2014. The day dawned wet with strong breezes and the forecast for more rain after lunch. As both Alton and Winchester CTC rides were afternoon ones and neither route appealed to us Simon and I decided to do our own thing once more. We decided to go over to the Meon Valley and see how things transpired before deciding where to go next.  We went through Cheriton and up the hill to the Milbury's. Simon was disappointed that I was not up to my usual "Posh" speed, as due to the forecast of rain, I was riding Sporty. We sped along the ridge and down Wheeley Down to Warnford. Simon doing a Good Samaritan Act here removing a tall cane that had blown down across the road while I phoned home to report our survival thus far and to give further details of our proposed route. This was through both West and East Meon. Then along the lanes through Ramsdean to Stroud. (The Hampshire one, not the Gloucestershire one). Here we decided to continue into Petersfield for refreshments. We had coffee and snacks at The Cloisters Cafe and Simon's Hetchin's Cycle, another of his precious steeds. attracted attention from a couple of other customers. I had a delicious Italian Ciabatta toasted sandwich with a cheese and bacon filling and a small side salad whilst Simon tucked into chocolate cake. Simon chats to another enthusiast. We decide that we should not linger as rain was likely to come soon so I chose to ride Stoner Hill out of Petersfield. For those who don't know it, this is a 2.5  mile climb with a maximum gradient of 7.2%. We took 17 mins 48 secs to climb it at an average of 8.5 m.p.h. according to the Strava analysis of my Garmin record. A PB for me even if I am only 635 out of 671!  Once at the top we headed for home via the lanes through Privett and West Tisted. As we reached the latter it began to rain and by the time we got into Ropley it was coming down very heavily. We paused for a short while under the canopy of the Shell service Station before continuing into Alresford via White Hill. The roads in the town were awash and I had to dodge showers from passing cars too. When I eventually arrived home, apart from my feet, I was not too wet, my waterproof jacket having done a good job. Thanks Simon for your company on another most enjoyable if very breezy ride, as we exclaimed at one point "Oh! What fun! Map and Data for the Day.  Gridironman.