Autumn 50 and 2 other rides.

Another good week of cycling for me. I think I have done enough miles to retain the TUK medal for another week. After my trip to France last week I was too busy to ride on Tuesday. It was wet anyway! But on Thursday 24 September I rode to the HCMF meet at The Brushmakers, Upham. I went one of my favourite ways out of Alresford via Ovington and Gander Down. Then to vary the route to Upham I continued through Owslebury and Marwell to Lower Upham and then back up the hill to Upham Village.

At the pub I found a modest number of riders. Most of the regulars were there and more came whilst i was eating. Some enjoyable craic before I decided to make the most of the fine day and return home via Bishop's Waltham, Swanmore and Upper Swanmore. From there  I took a very narrow lane over the hill to Droxford. The lane was very muddy and littered with gravel and larger stones so I was relieved not to pick up a puncture.

From Droxford it was a long but gentle climb to the top of Beacon Hill before racing along the ridge to the Milbury's and down through Beauworth. A good workout!

Saturday 26th September. 

It was another fine sunny day so I was very happy to be the leader for the Winchester CTC easy afternoon ride. I popped into The Worthies Music Festival on my way to the start to enjoy seeing my grandaughter Zoe taking part. She sang three songs accompanied by Tom on guitar. She did well.

At the start I was joined by Margaret & Paul, Gray, Steve, Ken, Lauren, Simon, Alan, Daren, Brian, Caroline, and two newbies, Kitty and James. As James is only 14 Simon agree to be his responsible adult for the ride.

I had chosen a wriggly route to try to introduce some lanes to riders that they had not ridden before.  Paul agreed to be tail gunner and off we went. We had no trouble in keeping the group together and I did invite the stronger ones to ride ahead up some of the hills as long as they waited at the top.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the route and all were ready for a cuppa at the GC. Some would have liked it earlier but "hey!" you can't please everyone! Five riders left us here to return home to points south of Winchester. The remainder followed me back to Winchester via Colden Common and Twyford using Church Lane to avoid some of the traffic.

Brian left us near Five Bridges and the rest of us dispersed in the City. Simon and I took James to the RV to connect with his mother before riding home .

Whilst we were waiting I took this picture of Simon riding around the car parkon one of his veteran cycles that he has restored so well. 




A most enjoyable and relatively easy day.

Sunday 27 September 2015. The Main Event of the week. The Late Season 50 Miles from Alresford.

A good number turned up to join the ride from The Swan Hotel. At 9.30 we set off and were soon streaming through Old Alresford and climbing up towards Upper Wield. I was joined by Mark Heal as the stronger riders pulled away from us and we rode the whole day together. That was really good for me as I could not keep up the pace of those youngsters. It was a good turn out for the Alresford Groupetta with 5 of our six riders taking part. It was PinkPal's first ride since LeJog and she quickly showed her form and finished over an hour ahead of Mark and I!

It was a very hilly ride with many small lanes with plenty of potholes and loose gravel to contend with. Once or twice I had to call Mark back as he had made a wrong choice of route and once we missed a turn and my Garmin told us we were "off course". We consulted the map and soon rejoined the correct course. My right leg had started to cause me some problems with pain in my thigh muscles when climbing, so I walked a couple of hills.. However Stoner Hill was easy compared to some of the short steep hills we had encountered on the way, especially those just before and just after Selborne.

The Blackmoor War memorial. 

We stopped a couple of times for a break and to eat our food we had brought, eschewing a visit to the Chocolate Frog which appeared to be quite busy. Instead we stopped for a food break near the unusual war memorial by Blackmoor Church. 

Eventually we arrived back at the Cricketers in Alresford at 14.43 a respectable time for an old codger and his escort. Thanks Mark for your company, I greatly enjoyed our chatter about many  matters as we rode.