Thursday 28th Jan 2016. An Afternoon Training Ride.
I was busy during the morning attending a seminar in Fareham, so was unable to join the Groupetta ride to link up with the HCMF group at the Bear & Ragged Staff. I believe that Simon and Andrew went and rode about 42 miles.
I got back home just after one o'clock and decided to get out on my bike as soon as possible as it was such a lovely day after the recent wet ones. I popped a pizza in the oven to cook while I changed and got Posh out of his hibernation. He was eager to get going to show me that anything Milo could do he could do better. He did not disappoint. The two bikes are very similar in many ways but I haven't got the riding position on Milo quite right yet .
I like the saddle and handlebars on Posh better than Milo's and the Zertz inserts in the forks and rear stays of Posh definitely make the ride a little smoother. The gears are a bit higher on Milo so for fast rides without too many hills he is probably a little faster.
I decided to try to keep away from mud and grit as much as possible so took the road over Armsworth Hill to Wield rather than the one through Bighton to Medstead. So far so good, but between Wield and Bentworth the road was very muddy and slippery, where tractors were working in and out of fields bringing the mud with them.
I was tempted to stop for tea at the Avenue G.C. but decided one of their Belgian Buns would be too much of a good thing.
I decided to pay a visit to Alton dropping down that steep hill into the town. It drops about 300 feet in a mile. At the bottom the college and schools were just turning out so there were kids and buses everywhere. I stopped for the "lollipop lady" and she thanked me very nicely. Next I passed two buses that were trundling along the high street at a very slow speed and headed out of town via the underpass to Chawton. Here I paused to look in one of the gardens and to admire the crocuses. I only had my phone to take a picture so I am a little disappointed by the resulting pictures which do not show the crocus very well.
I hightailed it along the A32 into the setting sun with a bit of a headwind, so I was pleased when I turned off towards Ropley. Then I crossed the Petersfield Road into Monkwood and took the lane to West Tisted. A very large puddle here about 75 yards long completely across the road tested the efficiency of Posh's new crud catcher. I only got a couple of splashes on my back, so top marks for that. Not far to go now, mainly downhill, so I made good time home arriving about 16.20, well before sunset at 16.48.
A very satisfactory training session in preparation for my Audax on Sunday. Here as usual are my map and details.
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