Thursday 21st Jan. 2015. HCMF meet at The Bishop's Mitre, Chilbolton.
The roads were free of ice and not too wet so I chose to take Milo out for another ride. The HCMF were meeting in Chilbolton so I thought that would be a suitable distance to have a decent test ride.
However the most direct route would get me there too early so I chose to loop around through Longparish.
On the way to Kingsworthy I passed Martyn and another rider heading for Alresford. Then on the climb from The King Charles towards Stoke Charity I exchanged greetings with Debs's horse riding friend.
I made exceptional time to Stoke Charity just over 44.5 minutes. Still not good enough to rival my other Groupetta pals.
In Bullington I encountered a tractor hedge trimming, covering the road with debris. Closer inspection revealed that it was a mixture of hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn. Not wanting another puncture, I stopped before the debris field and carried Milo for the next couple of hundred yards. Fortunately it was not longer.
I arrived at the pub to find that despite my detour I was still quite early and only Roger was present, enjoying the log fire. One advantage of being early was I was the first one to get served with lunch. This also gave me the opportunity to circulate amongst the other riders for a chat.
It was still only a little after one when I left the others so decided to loop again, this time to Stockbridge and Kings Somborne. As you can see from my splits I could not keep up that early pace, but I did manage an overall average moving speed of 12 mph.
On my way home I stopped for short break by Crawley Pond which still had a lot of ice on it.
Instead of going to Three Maids Hill for a change I went through Littleton and down Wellhouse Lane to Kingsworthy.
I was home about 3.20 p.m. in dire need of a cup of tea. Having had a good day out on Milo. (NO PUNCTURES)
I intend to ride Posh at the earliest opportunity to compare his performance with that of Milo before choosing which one to ride on an Audax on Jan 31st.
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