Chocolate Frog Circuit.

Sunday 24th 2018.

My last ride in my 84th year.

I had a good restful day yesterday so I was ready for another ride to complete my year. Three of the Groupetta joined me for a ride to Oakhanger. A good way to finish my year!

It has been a really good week for me with a total of 153 miles ridden. According to Strava I actually managed 8 PBs today, to add to a mass of others on Tuesday when I was with the Pedallers and a couple on Wednesday with the LotSW Group. Thanks to two of the best bikes I've ever ridden, Posh & Paris. 

Looking forward to a celebration tomorrow evening with my friends at The Flowerpots Inn, Cheriton. Join us for a drink if you can. 

Cheers.

Gridironman.

New Forest, Bournemouth and The Piddles.

My third mini cycling/camping car trip.

Tuesday 19th June.

Pedallers Ride From Poppies.

Set off in Dobbin on Tuesday morning to meet with The Pedallers Group at Poppies. From there Karen led us on a very interesting ride to Brockenhurst. Our first mile or so we headed North. I thought B. is South. Soon all was revealed as we turned West over the hill to West Wellow, Bramshaw and Stoney Cross. I was in my usual position at the back accompanied by Bill. After a gloomy and damp start, it was another very nice day. Lots of ponies and cattle about, on the old airfield a group of them did not want to move to let some cars by.

We shifted them! Lots of other folk out on bikes and the Rhinefield Drive was very busy with lots of activities going on. We had our break in Rosie's Tea Shop after riding through the ford. The route back was much flatter and for several spells, I lead the group at such a pace that for a while I was averaging 13 mph overall. This soon dropped to 12.8 by the end. (RWGPS seems to flatter, recording 13 overall). After a refreshing final drink together at Poppies we went our own ways. Mine was to drive on to stay with my good friend David in his new home in Bournemouth.

Wednesday 20th June.
LotSW Ride from Bournemouth.

The Faffing Begins.

David and I were joined by Ian, Caroline and Alex for a LotSW

group ride away from our usual haunts
David led us out of the town along some very busy roads which I did not like very much. However, we were soon out into the country and enjoying the warm sunshine.
We rode into the New Forest area, but further South than on Tuesday. David suggested a coffee stop in Ringwood but knowing where we were from Gridiron rides I suggested we went to the Farm Shop Cafe in Crow Lane. This worked out well as they had some nice cakes and we were able to enjoy sitting in the sun behind the cafe while we rested.

Orchids.

After some discussion, we followed the Gridiron route to Burley. When we turned South to Bransgore we passed a large number of orchids. They varied in colour quite a lot with some being almost white. We had a very pleasant lunch in the garden of the Crown Inn in Bransgore. 

Fortunately, David had his maps and was able to navigate us through some fairly busy areas back to the coast where we crossed over the entrance to Christchurch Harbour from Mudeford to near to the spit by Hengistbury Head. A pleasant ride back to David's from there.

After tea, we left David's to wend our various ways. Mine was to Crossways near Dorchester where I was staying in The C.& M. C. site. I had an hour to get there and I thought I had plenty of time. I had underestimated the density of the Bournemouth rush hour traffic and it took nearly 50 minutes to get clear of the conurbations. Only took another half an hour to cover the remaining twenty or so miles. The warden was unfazed by my tardiness and by six o'clock I had set up camp. I walked to the nearby pub, didn't like it much so walked the other way to the Co-op to get some beer to have with my own prepared supper.

Thursday 21st June.

 Exploring the Dorset Countryside.

Set off to find the grave of T.E. Lawrence (Of Arabia) in the nearby village of Moreton. Worth a visit for the most unusual and fabulous church with etched windows. T.E.L is actually laid to rest in the nearby cemetery just across the road.

Next, I headed east to Wool and turned to visit the Tank Museum

crossing a very crumbly bridge which is only open to pedestrians and cyclist.

HQ of the RAC. No not the motoring organisation but the Royal Armoured Corps. I rode through the grounds but decided I did not want to spend a long time looking at tanks but would rather ride my bike. 








I did park Posh next to one of the odder occupants of the car park.

I visited The Legionnaire, the Royal British Legion club for a coffee. Two other cyclists from Dorchester who were sitting outside and recommended the lemon and blueberry cake. They were right it was very tasty, one offered to help me scoff it.



I continue past The home of T.E.L. now under the care of the N.T. but decided not to stop but to head back towards Dorchester. The climbs so far had been easy as I had craftily chosen my way along river valleys, but I became more adventurous and went over a hill into Puddletown an interesting little town and then I rode up the Piddle Valley to Piddle Hinton. One hill out of the village was about 14% I could go that way or continue up the valley to Piddle Trenthide where another 14% hill would take me onto the same ridge. 


I chatted with a motorcyclist and he advised me to go the second alternative as there was a nice pub along that road. 
He was right, I had my lunch there in the garden before tackling the hill from P.T.


I had to walk the first 300 yds of the hill but then was able to ride the next one and a half miles to the top. the views from the top were great making it well worthwhile. 

The descent from there into Dorchester of about 6 miles was extremely easy with just a couple of uphills and according to my Garmin , I clocked 40 mph at one point.

Thomas Hardy's Lovely Cottage and Garden.

I chose a route back to the Campsite which took me near Thomas Hardy's home so I decided to pay it a visit. (Fortunately, I had my N.T. card with me). It was well worth the visit but they went and closed the tea room while I was admiring the garden! Doh!

The last few miles were very easy being mainly flat. I popped into the Co-Op for some fresh milk to brew a cuppa as soon as I got there.

It had been a fabulous day and I had enjoyed the very sunny but not too hot weather too.

Another successful mini tour. In a most lovely area. I recommend it to anyone who loves the countryside.

Gridironman.

June High Jinks!

Three rides this week. Each with a different group. 

A. The Pedallers. 

B. The LotSW and 

C. Alresford Groupetta.

I am pleased that I have been able to achieve a few new PBs.  Three on Tuesday, Three on Thursday and just one on Sunday. Total miles clocked up in the week just over 107 miles.

Tuesday June 12th. 

Please ignore the incorrect month. It must have been corrupted during the upload to RWGPS.

Thursday 14th June.

Sunday 17th June.

Gridironman.

Fun & Games

Despite my sore side from my tumble two weeks ago I have had a great week. In addition to making great progress in tidying up my garden, with the able assistance of my new under-gardener, Karlene, I have had two excellent rides. One on Wednesday and another on Thursday and then on Saturday helping Andrew and Tricia with running the cycle Jumble event in the village hall at Itchen Abbas. Today Sunday 10th I went to watch the Criterium Races in Winchester.

Wednesday, June 6th, Ride to Queen Elizabeth Country Park.

Thursday 7th June, Meet of HCMF at the Dog and Crook, Braishfield.

Saturday  9th June, Cycle Jumble.

Up early and was at the Village Hall, in Itchen Abbas by 7.30 a.m. Helped set up the tables for about 20 stalls selling bikes and assorted cycle bits and pieces. I had taken two of my older bikes, Tiny and Posh to sell as I have hardly ridden either since May last year. It is the second time I've sold Tiny, made another £30 profit! Can't be bad. The good thing is I passed them on to two folk who seemed genuinely keen to ride them. I am pleased to see them put to good use as well as freeing up storage space in my utility room. I also managed to sell some other items and books and with my share of the takings for the day I came home nearly £200 richer.

Tiny with the red label, Sporty with the yellow one.

It was a bit like war, long periods of calm and boredom, punctuated by short periods of excitement and panic! It was, in fact, good fun with plenty of chat with other cyclists and a couple of shared bowls of chips with drinks at the nearby Plough afterwards.

Sunday 10th June.

Enjoyed the afternoon watching the races, some hard racing with several individuals dominating some of the events. Zoe Backstead in particular! (Magnus's daughter I believe). My friend Harvey had a disappointing day being lapped in the Elite Race. 

I enjoyed a number of very good chats with a number of people from Winchester CTC and also others, including one with a guy who knew a lot of my Sotonia pals and also Simon Turner. He also came from the Midlands. Another told me about some of the major tours he had watched over the years and we were not surprised when a rider came a cropper right in front of us as we sat having a pint, he hit the barrier and tumbled but he seemed relatively unscathed and once he had got his chain back on he rode after the others.

What another good mixture of cycling activities! I even managed to dig my veggie patch too. It wasn't quite as bad as Chris's allotment.

Hope you all had as good a week as I did!

Best wishes, Gridironman.