Now in its sixteenth year, our Phil Hampton Memorial Ride this year will take place on Saturday 24th March. With this ride we commemorate the life of Phil Hampton who was tragically killed while cycling in 2002. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 and all money raised is sent to The Cyclists’ Defence Fund, a charity set up to fight legal cases involving cyclists but which now covers all aspects of cycling and the law.
Refreshments will be available at the start and finish, and there are also several pubs along both routes.
TIME & DATE: 10am SATURDAY 24th MARCH 2018
STARTS FROM: Medstead Village Hall, grid ref SU659369, postcode GU34 5LG
APPROXIMATE DISTANCES: 30 or 50 miles, and the routes are the same as last year; route instructions are available to download on the Cycling UK North Hampshire website http://nhampshirectc.org.uk/.
Pre-entries would be much appreciated so we may better estimate numbers for catering. To enter in advance please email a completed entry form to danjanmontgomerie@gmail.com and send a minimum donation of £5 via Paypal. When making your Paypal payment the address to enter is ctc_nh@yahoo.co.uk (note the underscore between ctc and nh). Alternatively, post a cheque (payable to D.Montgomerie) with your form to Dan Montgomerie, 23 Tower Street, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1NX. To receive printed route instructions in advance please enclose an SAE and indicate which route you would like. You can also enter on the day.
Kind regards,
Dan Montgomerie
Guildford Borough Council are currently holding a public consultation on a number of proposals designed to improve travel around Guildford. One proposal on which our members may wish to comment even if they don’t live in Guildford is to install traffic lights for pedestrians and cyclists at the roundabout A31/A331 where the cycle route from Tongham to Runfold crosses the A31. Anyone interested can find further details at:
There have been a couple of cancellations on 2 trips organised by Hilary Stephenson:
After a longish absence from the saddle due to many and long trips to Plymouth, the Christmas/New Year hiatus, Welsh rain, and wind, and unbelievably muddy and soggy roads I finally made it out, not once but twice this week. It is absolutely time to reacquaint myself with hills already climbed and to acquaint myself with new ones. Walking the new dog just does not help with what they call hills around here and what some of us might call absolute beasts of climbs.
Tuesday was a ride of chores – the notary and post office in the nearby village, though the puddle on the Hill Road meant I went around the hill via mucky farm (it lived up to its nickname) and then down to the town via the Kerry Road – a road that I had wanted to try out as it offered a different way into town. One might describe it as undulating, and the climbs were OK. It was the descent that was particularly challenging – a steep, muddy, gravelly, free-running water, breaking up lane that needed constant pressure on the brakes and a sharp eye to avoid holes and thorns as the winter has not yet cleared the final bits of hedge from the autumnal clipping. Amazingly you come across houses which do not seem to be farms on these back lanes – so remote that you can hear everything around you, no noise pollution. And yet such residents are not hermits. Even more amazingly spring is trying to spring; scattered clumps of snow drops and a few primroses in bloom and one bunch of narcissi waving yellow heads. But I don’t think I will be a regular along that road.
Sunday: choices, choices. Do I go out with the club? Do I get a head start on the club and cycle the route from the nearest point to home and let them catch me up? Or do I just do my own thing? I chose the later as I am just not fit enough to keep up with the club and there was no mention of a B ride. So I chose to ride around Cornden Hill. “Around” might be technically accurate but understand that it is not a ride which follows contours, rather it investigates the meaning of the single arrow on the map. I admit there is a piece of new(ish) fangled labelling that I just cannot get on with – signs which show a slope and a percentage sign – say 17%. What was wrong with 1 in 6? I understand that precisely – you climb 1 foot as you go along 6 feet. Simple, easy to read, easy to understand, easy to visualise and you can do it in metres if you like. 17%? Percent of what? A vertical slope, 1 in 0 – that should be 100% but of course that just disappears off to infinity and any finite thing as a percent of infinity is zero. Is a 1 in 1 slope 100%? What happens if the slope is steeper? (You get off and push!)
But the snowdrops are out in full bloom, cascading down banks and more primroses though the hedges are not quite the bocages of Normandy. Just wonderful to get out and about again and clear the cobwebs even if it does mean that the bike needs a full clean when you get home.
