Sunday Riders ~ 26 May 2013

By on 29 May, 2013   /   Blog posts  

Following the excellent trip round the Isle of Wight which was marred only by the fact that I was riding my lovely, but slow Bike Friday, with the weather looking promising I decided to take the Eddy Merckx out for its first long ride, in order to try and redeem myself on the speed stakes. Frankly I don’t like people having to wait for me on rides and they had to do a lot of that on the IoW! Not so today, I’m glad to say.

Nine of us gathered at Guildford Station and it’ll hopefully teach me a lesson that I didn’t record the names of everyone in the group. Those whose names I can remember are Clive Richardson, Martin Vinson, Chris Boggon, Tim Bar, Peter Hackman, Mark …(?), two others who sadly have to remain nameless and myself.

Leader Clive, who’s a fit guy, started by taking us directly to Leith Hill which we ascended, followed by a drop down the south side from where we continued east, crossing the A24 to arrive for coffee at the Farm Shop in Newdigate.

The lunch stop was a long way away at the RSPB place just south of Pulborough, and took us several hours to reach. 

About mid-way between coffee and lunch we passed a group of riders going the other way and I was surprised to hear my name called out. It turned out that it was Brighton CTC and Tony Green took the photo above as we were passing.  Good to see you, Tony – sorry not to stop but we were on a mission.

Following a late lunch at RSPB Wigginholt, it was time to head north and homewards. This is a shot featuring Martin modelling one of our great new cycle tops. We weren’t very impressed at Kirdford Stores when they said we were too late for tea, but we stopped nevertheless for a rest and a snack.
Overall it was an excellent ride of about 80 miles. Many thanks, Clive, for choosing the route and leading the ride.

To view the route in more detail, click on the link below
http://connect.garmin.com/course/3736652
Note: this course may not be entirely correct but it’s close.
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Isle of Wight ~ Wednesday Ride 22 May 2013

By on 29 May, 2013   /   Blog posts  

Great to get away from the West Surrey area for a change. Two groups headed IoW-wards: one was a group of four aiming to circumnavigate the island following the signed route, which is a 60+ mile bash comprising numerous hills and some flatter sections. Having ridden round the island twice previously in a clockwise direction, I was keen to do it the other way round and was pleased when everyone seemed happy to do it that way. Group members were John Murdoch, Nick Davison, Pete Chimes and yours truly. Below are a few photos taken on the ride. There’s no news about the other group at present, although some may be forthcoming later. (It’s OK, they’re not lost and still over there!)

As you can see, the weather was dry but generally overcast. Temperature-wise, it could have been warmer but compared to recent weather, it was pretty good. The photo above shows us in front of the ferry we didn’t catch – the one from Lymington to Yarmouth!

This is the cycle path from Yarmouth to Freshwater Bay

The two photos above were taken from the top of probably the longest hill on the ride, the one east out of Freshwater. We bumped into several locals who had acted as marshals on the annual IoW Randonnee, held at the beginning of May which goes round the island and attracts several thousand riders annually.
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