Hampshire Riding Once More.

Thursday 25th August: A special day for me. My wedding anniversary.

It was also my first proper ride on PARIS, my new all carbon Roubaix Sport. I was slightly nervous as to whether my calculations of gear ratios were correct (approx 29" compared to 25.5" on Sporty and if I would be able to climb the 8.6% gradient from Ropley to Lyeway.

I managed it quite comfortably. 

I called at Owen's Cycles, to get some accessories and of course to show off my new toy to Owen.

I also asked Owen to turn over the handlebar extension to raise the bars a little. (The riding position is now virtually the same as it is on Sporty.)

I soon felt at home on Paris and am already getting used to using a compact 11 speed instead of a triple 9 speed set up. I found I was using the 50 big ring much more as I using just half of the rear cassette I  have the use of 6 gears. 

I only did a modest  18 miles as I had much else to do at home after my two week absence.

My Course and Data for the day:

Friday 26th August 2016.

Tempted out again by Andrew who was riding to Waterlooville to pick up some parts for his Alresford Mobile Cycle Repairs business.

It was a lovely day for a ride, sunny but not too hot provided one was either in the shade or moving. Unfortunately it was soon evident that I had a problem. Paris was making funny noises near the rear. We paused a couple of times to try to diagnose the problem without any definitive success. I thought it was a spoke issue but we could not find anything amiss. We then decided it was the spoke protector which was rattling. 

As it did not seem in any way to be inhibiting the performance we decided it was just annoying and we would deal with it later.

Further investigations since have revealed that it was at least partly a spoke issue as one of the spokes has now lost its nipple. Although Andrew or Simon could fix this for me I decided to take Paris to the Bike Shop so that the repairs can be done under warranty. With it being bank holiday weekend they were very busy and were unable to find the time to do it immediately, so I must wait until next Wednesday to get Paris back. (I think I can hear sniggering coming from the bike room where Sporty and Posh are resting, maybe one of them with get an outing tomorrow or Tuesday!)

Despite my troubles we had an enjoyable ride dodging the traffic in Waterlooville and riding some of the inadequate cycle paths! Andrew completed his purchase and we headed back home a superior way, past The Bat & Ball where we topped up our fluids.

On the way we climbed a steep hill, this one 12.3%. I managed that one too, but don't think I would cope with much steeper.

Andrew took me up a lane which I have not ridden before to the top of the Old Winchester Hill Ridge . It was much easier than the one to the former HMS Mercury but there is a snag, the last 300 yards are rough gravel track, so I walked that.

We descended the lane to Dean and went past the Meon Springs Fly Fishing and through West Meon to Hinton Ampner and Cheriton.

We completed our ride with another refreshment stop at the Tichborne Arms Beer Festival. We were too early to hear much music but Andrew went back later I believe.

Today with it being showery I have been dodging in and out of the garden doing some tidying and have cooked up a large pot of my own brand onion, tomato and courgette sauce.

Gridironman.