Enjoying the Summer Flowers.

I was disappointed when I came back from France to find the hedgerows somewhat dull. However in the last three weeks there has been a marked change with many flowers blooming. Here is a link to my pictures of some. 

https://goo.gl/photos/saHxzUs97HbQRFX3A

How many of the flowers shown can you name? My own effort is shown below.]

Tuesday 26th July 2016.

Names of flowers (in no particular order),:

1. Daisy (A garden variety dumped by someone?)
2. St John's Wort. ( I am not sure which one as there are many)
3. Field Scabious
4. Great Knapweed.
5. Old Mans Beard (Wild clematis)
6. Corn Mint
7. Great Willow Herb (Not rose bay which was also very common)
8. Meadow Sweet.
9. Ragwort
10. Wild Marjorum
11. Wild Carrot?

Saturday 30th July 2016.

A good day out with the Winchester CTC. I had cat minding duties to attend to in Kingsworthy, so I left home early so I could do that en route. 

At the usual RV I joined 9 others. We were ably organized by the duo of Paul and Julie. On our way we were joined by Ian who accompanied us as far as Wherwell.

Our first significant port of call was the Yurt at Bransbury near Barton Stacey. Here we enjoyed good coffee and tasty cakes.

We were so comfortable in the yurt while a little drizzle passed by that we had difficulty in getting under way again. Back to reality, as the first mile included that testing little hill towards Newton Stacey.

I found myself a couple of times on roads I was not familiar with. Well done the duo and Shelagh in finding nice variations.

In Abbots Ann we sheltered briefly while a shower passed by.

We had a very nice lunch at The White Hart in Over Wallop, sitting in the sunshine in the garden. Here we joined Shelagh who had planned to lead the ride originally but had been unable to do so because of a fractured leg. (Not a cycling injury). Shelagh's husband Mike had driven her there to meet us. 

Proper hill climbing.

On our way home Simon and I left the others just after King's Somborne to go via Crawley and Three Maids Hill to miss the climb to Farley Mount. This did not mean we had no hills to climb. Here is Simon honking his way up that steep pitch from Crawley Pond on his superb 1953 Claud Butler.

I continued to chat to (bore?) my cycling pals about my recent M2M adventure, but they did complain that I had not worn my trade mark polka dot jersey and socks and that I had not yet got the matching bike as suggested by Nic. 

It was a most enjoyable day out. Thanks to Shelagh, Paul and Julie for organizing it and to the others who took part making it such a good one.

Gridironman

A busy end to the week.

Thursday 21st July 2016.

Gridironman & Andy at the Departure Lounge Cafe.

Friday 22nd July 2016.

I drove from home to the Youth Hostel at Blaxhall stopping en route to visit my pal from the M2M Chris. He introduced me to his border terrier Mollie who consented to have her photo taken with me. Chris gave me a very warm welcome and a delicious picnic style lunch. Almost as good as one of Julie's. We spent nearly two hours reliving our recent adventures in France before I continued my journey.

I arrived at the hostel at 3 p.m. and by five past I was on my "Posh" exploring the lanes locally. I visited the little seaside town of Aldeburgh passing through acres of onions on the way. I was disappointed that the beach was shingle. 

But it was a pleasant ride along the promenade where I spotted this Track Marshall which has seen better days. I was assured that it is still used! 

I continued along the seafront to Thorpeness. Another charming little town with a boating lake.

The Boating Lake.

Beside the road out of the town there is a famous house called The House in the Clouds. See what you think.

The only part of the ride I did not enjoy was part of the return journey where I had to ride about a mile along the very busy A12. Not very nice.

I timed my ride perfectly arriving back at the hostel a few minutes after opening time of 5 p.m. I had a reasonably good stay at the hostel with a number of hostellers to chat with, but as so often for the first day away I slept poorly. I popped down to the nearby Ship inn for supper, a tasty trout with almonds fresh potatoes and salad.

Saturday 23rd July 2016.

Next morning I was up about 7 a.m. and on my way to Bildeston for the Audax. It was too early to partake of the hostel breakfast so I looked out for a spot for coffee on my way. I was lucky, in Needham Market there was a car boot sale. I popped in and enjoyed a bacon butty and a coffee.

There were three different routes for the day, I had entered for the shortest, only 100 km. Our group was last away at 9.30. I rode for the first few miles with some others but they left me behind on the first hill a sharp climb at about 8%. However throughout the day I re-passed many of them and had others who had started behind me coming past too, so I was never alone for long.

The farmers were busy making the most of the fine weather to harvest their crops, combining, haymaking & baling were all taking place.

I managed to find the answers to all of the information checks and found that I was well up to schedule at the two manned check points. I stopped for a cold drink in one village and sat by the pond to enjoy it. Two other "oldies" joined me, one aged 84, and we rode together for some of the route. They were a bit fast for me, but I did manage to finish ahead of them. From time to time I rode with a guy from London on a fixed wheel bike. We rode the last 10 miles together and chatted afterwards while we had tea at the finish. He introduced me to his friend, Alex, a member of the VCC. who knows Bob Damper.

Hollyhocks on the beach.

Canada Geese on the lake.

A very happy Gridironman drove to Tewin to stay with his cousin and enjoy another fine supper and a well earned rest before driving home on Sunday morning.

Dodging the rain.

It has been another good week for me. I have managed three rides and have only got wet once, whilst adding another 155 miles to my annual total.

 I have been asked by some of my friends if I am going to do the "Guess My Miles" competition this year.  I had not thought of doing so but they were quite keen on the idea, so I will. It is too early to start that yet, 1st October seems more suitable so will start it then and close it on 30th November. Here is the graph of my progress so far this year, but remember that I will not be riding another M2M. For those of you who do not know the rules here they are.

Guesses cost £1 a go. The pot is split with 15% going to the winner with 5% each to the next two closest guesses. The remaining 75% is donated to the charity "Forever Angels".

Graph of my mileage. The X axis is the number of rides, not weeks. 79 completed so far.

Tuesday 12th July 2016.

Thursday 14th July.

My Groupetta pals being otherwise occupied I rode to the HCMF meet at The Northbrook Arms, East Stratton. I needed to do a few miles than the shortest way which is only about 5 miles. To start I went to Lasham Gliding Club for a coffee. A good choice as I was able to enjoy watching the gliders take off and circle. I saw 8 go up in a very short time. Perhaps there was some competition going on.

I still had plenty of time so I continued my travels via Weston Patrick and Tunworth. Many flowers, but not so many as I'd enjoyed in France. Apart from the ubiquitous common hogweed there were rose bay willowherb, bedstraw, and some yellow spikes I don't know the name of. The last were attracting a marbled white butterfly. I also saw this cereal crop, it is not normal wheat, any ideas?

I discovered that I could skirt Basingstoke quite easily without getting onto any busy roads apart from a short piece of the A30 before I turned off to North Waltham. 

At the pub I sat and enjoyed a pint with my friends before heading home for a late lunch.

Saturday 16th July

A modest number of riders for Simon's intermediate ride. Probably because many of the CTC are taking part in Sunday's epic ride from Wantage. Simon and I rode to Winchester to join four others and PinkPal joined us en route to our coffee stop at West Meon .

Despite Simon's assertion that it was not hilly we did seem to spend some time climbing, at one point at 13.3%. However we did enjoy the intermittent sunshine and found it a bit hot sitting in the sun while we enjoyed our coffee.

The pub were expecting us and service was very good considering they were quite busy. We enjoyed good food as we sat in the shady garden.  

Our return journey was up a couple more hills and down a recently gravelled slope to the A32. This was quite a challenge. Two of our group left us in Four Marks to return more directly to Alresford.

Unfortunately I had a flat tyre in Medstead and had to change my tube. I was ably assisted by Simon with lots of advice from the others. 

Eventually I was home by about 4.30 p.m. A good day out with chums.

Recovery Week 2.

My latest prize possession:

Confirmation of my 1,000 km Audax!

Tuesday 5th July 2016

Catching up with the housework and visiting friends has left less time for cycling, but I have managed a couple of rides. 

Saw this lovely field of flax/linseed near Old Alresford.

My main object was to visit friends, but took the opportunity  to have a good ride too. It was a lovely day with lots of sunshine and we able to sit in the garden while we enjoyed a cuppa with croissants.

After I chose a different route home which was slightly longer, but less hilly.

Thursday 7th July 2016.

As I had other commitments earlier in the day I was unable to join The Alresford Groupetta for a ride to The Thomas Lord via Petersfield. However I was home in time to ride directly to the pub.

Here I arrived just a few minutes before the Groupetta.  Lots of other riders there, it was a good opportunity to catch up with their news and hear their tales of foreign ventures too. Richard was able to tell us more of his challenge to ride from London to Paris later this month. He is raising money for a charity that he supports in a practical way. Here is a link to his fund raising page.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Richard-Brown73

After a light lunch I led the Groupetta back to Alresford via Wheeley Down, my choice.  The others seemed to be content for me to be the domestique leading them up the hill. I did post a personal best for the climb.

My Record of the day.

In Cheriton three of us were tempted by the thought of tasting a new beer in the "Pots", whilst PP decided to continue home alone.

Disappointingly the new beer was no longer available, but I did treat my pals to a pint in celebration of my recent birthday.

Saturday 9th July 2016.

Wanting to see something of my Alton CTC friends and enjoy some fresh routes I suggested to the Groupetta that we should join them for an easy ride. In the end only Cycmon and I did so. We left Alresford around mid day and rode to the start, arriving there in time to eat our sandwiches before the start. A large group of over 20 riders assembled and split into two groups, the faster riders opting to ride to Alresford whilst Tony led us a wriggly route to Alice Holt Forest. At Bentley station we were joined by a Comunity Support Officer on her bicycle. At first the ride through the forest was on a paved path, but then we went onto a track and then onto a gravel road. Posh not the best bike for this terrain, fortunately it was only for a very short way.

There is an activity centre in the forest with tea rooms, a bike shop and other facilities. Huge building works in progress to make a more permanent centre. I enjoyed an ice cream whilst others had tea or coffee.

Our return to Alton took in a couple of lanes I'd not ridden before and was very interesting. One of them had been recently gravelled so was not so much fun.

Once back in Alton Janice kindly invited Cycmon, Mick and I for a cuppa. So enjoyable we spent nearly an hour sitting in the garden chatting along with Janice and Dan.

Cycmon and I high tailed it for home, managing to raise our average speed from near 10 to just 11 mph for the day.

The only down side of the week was just as I reached the top of Broad street I realised I had a soft tyre. I thought it had enough air in it to reach home but I got off and walked the last few hundred yards. I have changed the tube this morning, nothing in the tyre, just a small puncture hole in both tyre and tube. I've mended the tube and have put some air in it to check it is OK before keeping it to re-use.

Gridironman.

Cooling Down Week.

Monday 27th June.

Already included in M2M blog.

Click on picture to see full screen.

However, I have been looking into some of the data from my Garmin recordings and have discovered that I achieved my best ever RITMO rating of 15.5 on tour. Here are more details:

For those who are wondering, RITMO scores are like golf handicaps, the lower the number the better you are. Maximum is 30. I am usually in the mid twenties. Mariana Voss was 3 last time I looked.

Thursday 30th June  Ride with Winchester CTC to Hungerford.

Saturday 2nd July 2016.

Met with Winchester CTC easy all day ride.

Now I must get on with some gardening. Lots to do after 3 weeks of near neglect. My kind neighbour Peter did water my plants and mow the lawns for me whilst I was away.

Gridironman.