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Wednesday 3rd September – Group 3 ride

By Laurie Mutch on 2 September, 2014 / latest news

The G3 ride tomorrow starts from Normandy Crossroads at 09h45 with tea at Secretts via Wanborough Hill (a bit of huff and puff) and Shackleford. After tea we head south-east to Plaistow via Hydestyle and Handon Copse, then west to Lythe Hill and north to Wormley.

Lunch will be at the Dog & Pheasant at Brook.

Return to Normandy via Elstead and Seale. A relaxed and beautiful ride of around 50 miles in total. Weather wise it looks set to be a good day, no rain, max temperature 22 degrees.

Refer Landranger 186, and GPS downloads available (email: laurie.mutch@btinternet.com)

Look forward to seeing you all.

Laurie

WMW Grade 3: two rides on offer 27 Aug

By Louise Gagnon on 25 August, 2014 / latest news

Two Grades 3 rides are on offer: Ride #1 from Pinkneys Green car park at 9:45 AM. Coffee at the Chocolate Theatre Cafe at Henley-on Thames (no longer at Studley Green cafe). 50 miles approx, gently undulating (not hilly), will keep to good roads but a few may be gravelly due to Monday’s heavy rain. Please bring 20p for the bridge crossing at Whitchurch-on Thames.

Ride #2 from Chobham Museum r’bout, at 9:45 AM, courtesy of Chris Williamson. Coffee either Savill Garden or Dorney. Lunch at Blackwood Arms in Burnham. Overall about 50 miles or so with a couple of stiff hills.

See you there!

Sunday Intermediates ~ 24 August 2014

By Mark Waters on 24 August, 2014 / Blog posts

It was a bit of a chilly start for August – last night in Northern Ireland it was minus 2º! Nevertheless it was sunny and a large, cheerful crowd gathered in Godalming in readiness for the Tanner’s Hilly One! And that’s how it turned out to be: it was good to ride some of the Bicycle Icycle / Greensand route – some in the reverse direction – which of course is a delightful route. It was brilliant to ride up Tanhurst Lane, something I personally hadn’t done for a good number of years: it was still just as good. We took our time over the ride and needed to wait for quite some time on a couple of occasions due to mechanical and gradient issues so Derek changed the lunchstop from Shamley Green to the Volunteer in Holmbury. And very nice it was too – they were busy but they had ample staff on duty and food came quite quickly.

The route shown below shows the one I took which copped out of the final few hills in favour of a flat route back from lunch. For a more detailed view click here: http://www.strava.com/activities/184753000

Thanks, Derek and Anne – nice ride!

A Day in Pictures – Tour of the Hills 2014 (Audax)

By John Child on 22 August, 2014 / Blog posts

L Louise Gagnon ouise Gagnon writes . . . .

7 AM: Don Gray, the ToTH “gros fromage”(big cheese), is already hard at work.

7:15 AM: Louise offloading £350 worth of groceries. That’s the quietest the kitchen will be all day.

8:40 AM: Riders start trickling into the Shere Village Hall

9 AM: Riders registering, having a cup of strong coffee and why not, a little pre-event stretch.

9:40 AM: Getting ready to start while Laurie Mutch, a Marshall on John Murdoch’s team, looks on.

9:45 AM: More riders with itchy feet while Don, his father and Peter wonder aloud where they have put the starter pistol. So much for entrusting this to former pilots!

9:47 AM: It’s a go!

9: 49 AM: “Heidi, my darling, so sorry for the late change of plans. Those legs are on fire!”

9:50 AM: They’re off! Don, happy after all to have had his Boy Scout whistle as a backup.

10:30 AM: Riders have gone. Dane entertains Jules with some hilarious GPS stories before scooting off on marshall duties.

10:35 AM: Phil Hamilton going home after helping out with registration.

11:30 AM: The catering team, minutes before the tsunami of riders glide in for their Stage 2 grub. (Back row: Lynette Jeggo, Brian King, Hilary Stevenson, Jules Lowe. Front row: Heidi Vinson, Louise Gagnon, Mark Waters).

11:40 AM: Peter Hackman caught red handed by a security camera. Seen grabbing a sandwich before heading to his marshalling check point.

1:30 PM: Riders rushing in for a bite at the halfway point.

Nick Davison oscillating between the banana butty and the chocolate power bars; so much choice!.

5 PM: Don still crunching numbers. 138 very satisfied Audax riders; another success for West Surrey CTC!.