Not my finest week ever!

I have had a very poor week this past week with only one ride of 33 miles. I'm afraid I just have not been my normal self, struggling to do anything much and taking time off to just take it easy and regain my normal enthusiasm for my usual round of cycling, gardening, housework and charity support. 

I am very pleased to report that I have had tremendous encouragement from my many friends and family which has helped enormously. I certainly think I should be able to join the Pedallers on Tuesday to hunt for pancakes!

My one ride was last Tuesday 21st February when I led a small group to Petersfield for coffee at The Cloisters Cafe. Here are more details:-

I was interested to find the pile of stones referred to in Ken E.'s report of his recent ride leading Winchester CTC. They are by the side of the A272 near Bramdean at the foot of the hill leading up to Brookwood Park.

We did find them and Simon took some photos. However it was disappointing to discover that they probably are not part of an ancient monument but are of recent origin. More details can be found here: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=14762

The weather was dull but at least it didn't rain. 
I did manage to drive to the HCMF meet at The Fox, Ellisfield on Thursday to enjoy the company of about 20 members. A very good turnout considering the weather which although mainly dry was very windy.

My school report for the week must be "Can do better"!

Grid(not so)Ironman.

Groupetta Fitness Training

Tuesday 14th February 2017. 

Alresford Groupetta ride to the Bat & Ball.

All pictures by kind permission of Cycmon.

Comment by Cycmon:

My cycling at the moment is like one of my old school reports 'can do better'; 27 miles on Sunday 35 miles today. Bit of a difference from the 50-60 I was doing on most outings last year! Ah well at least I'm getting out on the bikes – today PinkPal, Gridironman and I rode to the first Headquarters of English Cricket - The Bat and Ball at Hambledon (well its actually about 3 miles out of the village). 

Thursday 16th February 2017.The Groupetta ride to The Hampshire Bowman to join the HCMF.

Cycmon is beginning to write my blogs for me and supply some great pics of us riding. Here are his latest comments and pictures (Slightly edited):-

28 miles ridden today to the Thursday Fellowship pub meet at the Hampshire Bowman. I must be getting a bit fitter because on a few of the hills I was able to ride to the top first, get my camera out and take a few snaps (but only just!). There were some pretty tough hills today as you will see from the pictures of PinkPal and Gridironman just about keeping the bikes upright at the summit of one climb! 

it was a much milder day but dull at first with the sun coming out nicely later. 

I had planned a short but challenging route to the pub as you can see from the profile below on my map and data sheet.

A log fire greeted us at the pub along with a fair number of our fellowship. Cycmon was "in the chair|" celebrating his recent ? birthday. We had a pleasant surprise. Our recent supremo, Angela, was also there, by accident, having walked there with a group of ramblers. 

We enjoyed a tasty variety of dishes, mine was ham, egg and chips. Ages since I'd had such nice ham. Definitely carved off the bone. Just as we were leaving, Paul arrived having ridden from Andover, 34 miles, well done. 

It was only a modest distance home to Alresford so we added a small diversion to enjoy the views from the ridge near the Milbury's and then descended to Kilmeston by a different lane. A nice fast downhill to enjoy. We easily topped 31 mph. 

It was so pleasant an afternoon that when I got home I washed the mud, accumulated over the last three  rides, off the bike before taking my own shower.

Another very happy day with friends who are now getting back their fitness. Problem for me is are they going to get too fast for me?

Saturday 18th February 2017.Alresford Groupetta "Audax". 105 km.

We had a great day out enjoying the afternoon sunshine after a misty start. Lots of avian activity, apart from the ubiquitous rooks cawing and jackdaws clacking we heard many robins, blackbirds. thrushes, a skylark and many others unidentified. 

Simon's comments:

Simon Turner

18 February at 19:37

With my current level of fitness (still much to improve) I thought today I'd manage 50 miles so the CTC Saturday ride at 33 miles and heading for my home town didn't appeal. So I suggested to Gridironman that we should ride to the Black Swan at Monxton to do a before and after photo as I had found a 1907 photo of this pub with a family of cyclists outside. We then decided to join Laa-Laa & The Flying Scot in Whitchurch so a mere 17 miles before we began. In short I rode 67 miles and Gridironman 66, unfortunately TFS's chain broke north of Andover near Stoke - as it happened by a  pub doing afternoon tea's (I reckon he'd planned it!). Marvellous day still chilly but sun breaking through and towards dusk the sun was setting right over the crest of a hill we were descending almost completely blinding us with its intensity. Not so lucky with the camera today the morning mist did impact the first few photo's. TFS suggested that Gridironman at 83 this year was probably the boy in the original photo!!!

We had a really excellent day. The only downside was a rather substandard lunch at the Hawk Conservancy. they were very busy and their standards had slipped.

We did at least get a picture of the pub. Apologies for the sweat on the lens! (All pictures are Cycmon's. Thanks for letting me use them). After lunch we crossed the very busy A303 to get into Weyhill. A somewhat nervous transit. We got over the first half of the dual carriageway quite easily but had to wait ages for a gap big enough to scoot across the second half. It is a viable crossing but needs extreme care as much of the traffic is moving at 70+ mph. We found a nice route from Weyhill through Penton Mewsey and Little London. The daffodils at the entrance to Andover Cemetery were in full bloom, a lovely splash of gold in the sunshine!

We left TFS at The Oak to enjoy his tea while we rode on to Whitchurch. Laa-Laa returning with the car to pick him up while we helped ourselves to tea before completing our longest ride of the year. 

Cycmon & I have agreed that as we did the same three rides and completed around 130 miles in the week that we should share the Ton Up Kid medal this week, ignoring any small differences in the mileage recorded.

Here are some more of Cycmon's pictures to enjoy. 

What is this world if full of care if we don't have time to stand and stare!

Our last few miles were enhanced by the utilisation of PinkPal's variance of the way from Northington home by descending the speedy hill to Itchen Abbas. Of course I also escorted Cycmon via the ford to Farewell Corner to complete a magnificent day.

 Map and Data  for the day:

 Gridironman.

Two more chilly rides.

Thursday 9th February 2017.

Solo ride to HCMF meet at IBM Clubroom.

Weather rather chilly so I decided not to take too long a route to IBM. I could not persuade any of my Groupetta Pals to join me, but at least that meant I could go at my own pace. I avoided the B3047 by taking the lane through Ovington. When I got there I decided to continue up over Gander Down to cross the A272 and thence to Owslebury and Colden Common. I was a little cautious with Posh but the gears worked perfectly so that was not a problem. However I seemed to have picked up another odd sound when I brake. I paused twice to adjust my brake blocks but this made no difference. When I chatted to other riders at the club they were of the opinion that if there was nothing loose and the wheel was sound I should continue as normal to see if the noise got worse or better! I have examined both the brake and the wheel and can find no explanation. Any ideas?

Near Colden Common as I was riding from Fishers Pond towards the roundabout a car pulled out of a side turning right in front of me causing me to brake very hard to avoid hitting him. He drove off without a care in the world. I was being followed by a large lorry which had slowed waiting for a space to pass and I can only speculate that the motorist "DSM" and thought the truck was slowing to let him out.

Although it was a cold and grey day I was surprised that there were only 8 of us there to share the club with dozens of IBM employees.

I had a most enjoyable plate of fish and chips at a very reasonable price whilst chatting to the others. 

When I left the club I took the drive round to the Northern entrance to explore IBM's beautiful grounds. (Well looked after by Kevin, a friend of mine !)

Back to the centre of Hursley Village and then the most direct route home. 

I was mighty pleased to pop into a hot bath and enjoy a soak when I got in. I stayed in so long I could hardly stand when I got out!

Sunday 12th February 2017.The Groupetta ride to East Meon.

Skipped riding on Saturday as it seemed rather chilly and I wanted to watch the rugby. Don't think today was any warmer, the maximum shown on my garden thermometer was 2º C only 1º more than overnight. However three of the Groupetta planned a ride at 10 o'clock. Sadly Andrew was feeling a tad poorly so wimped out, a wise decision as both Cycmon and I found that 27 miles was enough on such a miserable day. There were plenty of other brave souls out there, we passed a number of small groups, some solo riders and two largish groups. One unlucky guy had picked up a "Hampshire Diamond" and was replacing his tube near Tichborne village. He told us he was fine. I was able to confirm from a local man who was chatting to him that the cows on the farm there are indeed Herefords as I had thought. We got as far as East Meon before we decided to return home. We discovered we could get a coffee in the village shop. There was even a couple of chairs and a table for us to sit at while we warmed up. We were back in Alresford by 1 o'clock, perfect timing for lunch and then another Six nations match to watch. Here is my summary report:

Hardly an earth shattering week, but I did manage over 94 miles Though Garmin/Strava show less as Garmin failed to pick up part of my Tuesday mileage. The "fit" file was "unfit" having somehow been corrupted. This is a rare event, but i have had it happen before. On one occasion Ride with GPS did open the file when Garmin couldn't. Something worth remembering.

Looking forward to some warmer days this coming week.

Gridironman.

Gridironman Takes a Tumble!

Tuesday 7th February 2017.The Alresford Groupetta join the Winchester CTC day ride to Upham for lunch.

A lovely spring like day brought out 17 riders in all. Fourteen started from Winchester and 3 of us joined the ride on the lane to Tichborne near the ford. 

Things started to go wrong almost immediately when my front light fell off. I had obviously not secured it properly. I did not realise I had lost it but fortunately one of the others spotted it and rescued it for me. It appears to be quite OK.

The climb through Kilmeston spread out the group with yours truly helping to bring up the rear. From the ridge we quickly descended Wheeley Down to Warnford. 

As we climbed the hill, more problems, Eileen dropped her chain but Andrew W. always the gentleman stopped to help. This gave the rest of us a breather at the top of Old Winchester Hill. 

Our problems were not over, John punctured about a mile from the Sustainability centre. Knowing him to be very capable the rest of us continued and he soon joined us for coffee.

Andrew captured a picture of us Sustaining Ourselves.

Suitably sustained we returned along the ridge and descended to Droxford before climbing over the next ridge to Dundridge. The lane here was wet like it often is. A couple more hills to climb before reaching our next destination, The Brushmakers Arms, Upham. On the second of these wanting to keep up momentum I stood on the pedals with disastrous results, my chain broke and I came a cropper. Fortunately I fell onto the soft bank under the hedgerow and apart from being both a little shocked and winded I was OK. It wasn't until later that I discovered that my bike had also suffered some damage. The full extent to be checked tomorrow. (It is the first time that I have ever had such a mishap.)

Realising it was only about a mile to the pub I told the others to carry on and they did apart from Ian who stayed with me. I walked most of the way to the pub but was able to freewheel down one hill which made it quicker.

After lunch Andrew very kindly repaired my chain and got me mobile again. The group broke into a number of small segments from here with people dispersing homeward. Fortunately Andrew was still with me as I had some more problems with the chain coming off twice. We discovered the gear changing mech. for the chainwheels had been put out of alignment. Andrew made adjustments and I was able to ride home without further problems.

The left brake leaver has been pushed out of position by the force of my fall but continues to work OK.   

Out of position brake lever.

Andrew is going to replace the chain, re-position the brake lever and check the bike for me tomorrow. How good it is to have such capable friends. THANKS ANDREW!!

Finally just to make the day complete I had problems uploading part of the data of my Garmin Route to my computer, but here are the details.

Gridironman.

Winchester CTC Ride to Preston Candover.

Saturday 4th February 2017.

Only one ride this week due to weather and other Charity commitments. However, it was a very busy and enjoyable week. First at Naomi House, in the finance section, then preparing the Annual Return and accounts for Save the Children, Alresford Branch and last but not least helping with Winchester CTC, first at the committee meeting and then with the use of Face Book.

A chance sighting of a friend running in Kings Worthy and meeting another cycling friend near Oakley made Saturday's ride even more special. At one stage I appeared to have lost my bike!

Picture by Cycmon.

Down the Candover valley the snowdrops are now out in swathes and with so many birds singing can it be long before it is spring.

Here is my summary of the day.

Gridironman..