Figure of Eight! Tuesday Ride with The Winchester CTC.

Week Ending Sunday 29th May 2016.

Only one ride this week as I have been enjoying a pre-holiday holiday! I have been to Cambridge and Tewin, near Welwyn in Hertfordshire to visit an old friend and my cousin. Since Tuesday the nearest I've been to a bike is a look at my cousin's 1988 Dawes Galaxy (Ladies) with Shimano SIS gears (Double chainwheel and a cluster of 6), Shimano cantilever brakes. She can no longer ride it and would like it to go to a good home. Any offers? It did the M2M in 1988!

The Groupetta Leader Board has an unusual look. Unless anyone has an amendment it looks like this:

I don't have complete elevation data so unable to say who did the most climbing.

It is now less than two weeks before I will be on my ride in France.

I am looking forward to it with a little bit of apprehension but also with the anticipation of a unique experience. 

Here are details of my Tuesday ride.

Park2Park, An Audax run by Southampton CTC.

A great Audax, well run with zero problems following the route, though I was a bit worried near Tangley when the road resembled a farm track. I persisted along it and sure enough it was the correct way. Bob's little bit of fun turning us into Pseudo Off Roaders?

There were some testing hills from time to time and I did walk part of the one climbing from Hurstbourne Tarrant, but on the whole it was less hilly than I had imagined, or maybe I'm getting better at dealing with them.

Positively flew round the course with an average moving speed of 13.1 mph. Even the elapsed time gave a speed of about 11 mph. It was a perfect day except for about 6 miles from West Tytherley in a "scattered heavy slow moving shower" problem was it seemed to be moving at the same speed as us staying right over us. It had stopped before we got to Romsey where it was perfectly dry.

John Moon who is sharing the M2M with me in three week's time was also riding, though we each chose to go at our own pace so I only saw him from time to time. 

The Trowbridge Group enjoying the refreshments at The Tea Cosy..

I was quickly away at the start leaving my friend John and the Winchester Group behind, thinking they were in front. I mixed it for a short way with a group from Trowbridge. 

Then as I climbed the first tough climb to Mardon Castle I was passed by a lady riding a blue Roberts classic touring bike I did not see her for a while but after the first information point I spotted her in the distance and used her as a carrot to speed me along. I caught up with her at the junction of the A272 with the A30 and we rode together for the rest of the way to the Control Point in Hurstbourne Tarrant. While I was talking to John I suggested she might like to carry on, and she did. 

There was a good group of riders from Winchester CTC, but unfortunately one of them had an accident and had to retire. I was not with them when it happened so I do not know any details.

Just after the Wallops I managed to catch up with Hilary again and we rode the rest of the way together. When we paused for shelter in West Tytherley John passed us and we did not see him again until the finish.

Gridironman.

Tea at the Chocolate Frog.

Tuesday 17th May 2016.

The trees are mostly clothed in green now with very few dark patches in the woods. The Cow Parsley and the May (Hawthorn) flowers are turning the hedgerows and verges into white again now the Blackthorn flowers have gone. Still lots of Primroses and Cowslips. Less obvious are Jack by the Hedge and Jack in the Pulpit, Red Campion too in many places and of course still Bluebells and Wild Garlic. In the sky more House Martins and a large Buzzard. Whilst having my cake I was visited by a House Sparrow and a Pied Wagtail, both looking for crumbs no doubt.

A most enjoyable fitness training day too with a good average speed despite some climbing.

Gridironman.

Chasing the Rainbow?

Saturday 14th May 2016.

Seeing that the Winchester CTC ride was an afternoon one with a comparatively short mileage I suggested to the Groupetta that we should do our own morning ride, get to Winchester in time for a light lunch before joining the CTC ride.

Our departure was a little delayed chatting to Cycmon's neighbours and then discovering that PinkPal was only coming for the morning we decided to stop for coffee at Barnaby's in Swanmore. Then Cycmon had a spoke problem so we visited the bike shop in Waltham Chase to sort that out. This meant we had to substantially revise our plan because time was now of the essence. I led my pals up Ashton Lane to launch PinkPal on her way back to Alresford while Cycmon and I turned towards Winchester. We went via Upham, Owslebury and Twyford aiming to get to the RV by 1.30 p.m. We failed in a glorious way, setting a load of new PRs on the way. We decided to try and catch up with the bunch and set off on what I thought was their route. It turned out I had only got it partly right and we made good time to Hursley, failing to see any sign of the group. 

Cycmon with his faithful Walter and Wisteria.

We paused to take some photos and Hey Presto the group appeared, from behind us. It appears we had passed the group in Sparsholt where the group had diverted along some minor lanes or when we took the shorter route from Crab Wood.

There were about 20 of us in all on the ride by now, including John S. Steve and  Caroline who had stopped to deal with Caroline's puncture. Some riders left the group to head home before our tea stop and others left soon afterwards. John as always, had a surprise for us, taking us up a lane marked as a dead end to link up with Hazeley Road via a very rough un-tarmaced lane. 

Some of the riders on the cycle path.

Cycmon and I found ourselves on the run into the centre of Winchester by the Cycle Path from the M3 for the third time in the week.  As we came into the centre of the city the group seemed to dissolve as riders disappeared in various directions. Eventually Cycmon and I found ourselves alone by KAS except for Alex and Ken.

Sunshine & Shadows.

By the time we got home I had done over 58 miles.

A quick shower and change and I was off out for an evening meal with my family. What a day!

Gridironman.

HCMF Meet at The Bridge Inn, Shawford.

Thursday 12th May 2016.

Back on the bike today after skipping the Tuesday ride because of a cough and wet weather. 

Cycmon wanted to plot a reasonably level route for the VCC to do in June, so we tried to be creative in plotting our way through Winchester to the pub. Here our record of the day's ride.

You can see that we were quite successful with only 926 feet of climbing and a maximum height of only 420 feet. That comes very near the end, just when the riders will be getting tired. Hmmm?

It was good to be cycling again, but I found that the cold had taken some of my energy away. However, I still managed a respectable 11.6 mph moving speed.

Gridironman.

A last minute ride to East Stratton

Sunday 8th May 2016.

I had to cry off from yesterday's planned ride with The Alresford Groupetta as I had a very sore throat and had been kept awake half the night with coughing.  I made good use of the time by changing the tyres on Posh ready for my June ride in France. Also had a sleep in the afternoon. last night I had a much better sleep so I was feeling more normal this morning. I decided as I put the wheels back in that it was time to clean the chain and give Posh a quick wash too. Cooked an early lunch and then set off for a short ride. 

This turned out very well. I discovered that the Hampshire Hilly Hundred was going past the end of my road, so I followed the riders on the shorter course along the Itchen Valley to Easton.

I turned northwards at Kings Worthy to Stoke Charity where I found I had intersected the longer route. As I rode towards Micheldever I was passed by 50 or so riders going the opposite way. Just before the A33 I saw the last one followed by the Broom Wagon.

In East Stratton as I was passing the pub I thought I saw a familiar face, this was confirmed by a shout of "BRYCE!" so I was right, it was my pal Laurence enjoying a drink with his wife in the sunshine. I joined them for a welcome pint of ale.

The Candover Valley from Totford Hill.

I was home soon after 4 having covered a modest 23+ miles.

It was a good test of my fitness, I had only minor problems with my throat, mostly fixed by that pint!

Gridiroman.

Warm sunny ride.

Thursday 5th May 2016.

Another creative route to get the HCMF Meet at The Watership Down Public House. Simon joined me at 10.30 then promptly disappeared again to go home to get his phone which he had left on charge. I think it was just to ensure he rode more miles than me. We have both done over a 100 this week already with the weekend to come. Who will get the medals this week?

In Old Alresford we passed a group of cyclists from Alton CTC heading towards Alresford. It was nice to see them and shout greetings. I only had time to recognize a few, but I was glad to see that Mark was one of them. I hope this means he has recovered from his accident.

The weather was so nice that it seemed to have brought out a lot of (fair weather?) cyclists. In the first 15 miles we must have seen more than 50.

The bluebells in Ellisfield Woods were magnificent in the sunshine and their scent today was competing with that of the wild garlic.

We managed to get to the meet around 1 o'clock, we must have been on the late side because Don was already there! It was especially good to see that Alan (1) who is some 5 or so years older than me and still pedalling like a good'un. Alan (2) was also there with the Sotonia boys. He has been somewhat restricted by health issues so it is great to see him clocking up the miles once more and looking great.

All too soon it was time to head for home, we tried not to repeat our Tuesday route and were successful. Today we went through Micheldever Village and descended Mollie's Dismount to Abbotstone.

Gridironman.

Simon's Tuesday Audax.

Tuesday 3rd May 2016.

Another enjoyable day. The weather was cool to start, but then just about perfect. We rode from Alresford to join a number of other riders at Crawley Pond. We decided to go to the Army Flying Museum for coffee. As we were going through King's Somborne a red kite flew over us. This is the furthest SW I have seen one. Shortly afterwards on the River Test I spotted a yellow wagtail. 

The Wallop villages looked lovely in the bright sunshine, lots of wild flowers in the hedgerows and the gardens all looking splendid with lots of tulips. The wild flowers are changing now, with Garlic Mustard, Stitchwort and others making their appearances, but primroses and celandine still in plentiful supply. 

We had a nice break at the cafe, but I was the only one to sit outside in the glorious sunshine.  I enjoyed a chat with a lady who was there looking after two of her grandchildren who were off school for an INSET day. We discovered we had much in common, she having lived very close to my daughter in Hedbourne Worthy.

In the woods lots of bluebells, also providing a lovely scent, in places on the other side of the road the Oil Seed Rape was competing both with scent and colour.

On our return journey we split into two groups near Stockbridge with four of us heading back up the Test Valley to Wherwell. Here we further split into two pairs and Simon and I paused to photograph the thatched houses.

After we had crossed over the A303 I suggested a small diversion down a lane into Forton. This is a hamlet, part of Longparish. It has a number of very nice houses and is much larger than I had imagined. One thatched house, Kingfisher Cottage, had been recently re-thatched and painted. and was under offer. Was I tempted to put in a rival bid, Nah! Much too big for a single man!

We continued to Whitchurch where Simon suggested a second stop at H's. I was a bit peckish by now so had a bacon bap. Very tasty. We now only had about 15 miles to get back to Alresford but needed about 20 to clock up the magic Audax figure of 100km, so we decided to use the PinkPal diversion through Itchen Abbas to achieve our aim. 

It was only 4.15 when I eventually got home. Nice timing for a cuppa.

Thanks Simon for a well run day and for my bacon butty and coffee.

Gridironman.