Blog posts

Sunday All-Day Riders ~ 7 December 2014

By Mark Waters on 7 December, 2014 / Blog posts

Yesterday, we all woke to a cold and frosty morning, but this morning we woke to an altogether warmer day, so there was absolutely no excuse not to get out and ride – particularly since the ride started just down the road at Godalming Station. So where was everyone – with the G&G Wayfarers indulging themselves at their Christmas lunch? Anyway, there were just two of us joining leader Clive at 9am, myself and Keith Gooders, who described himself as an ‘occasional’ rider with us. Well, Keith, just try and make it just a bit less occasional, if you please – it was great riding with you!

My somewhat tardy start caused me to leave my satnav behind, so I’m relying on Keith to send me his track which will be added to this blog later (which he did, and it is). Essentially we headed south via Wormley and Lodsworth to Midhurst for coffee – free mince pie today: yay! Then down south of the 272 through those lovely wooded lanes to Pulborough and Wigginholt RSPB for a light lunch. Then retrace and back home via Coldwaltham, Fittleworth, Kirdford, Plaistow, Dunsfold and so on. And boy, did the legs grumble on the hills towards the end. Total mileage for me: 65.5 miles (more for the others); that’s exactly 100kms with 1100 metres of climbing thrown in – not bad for December.

This was the route, which you can view in more detail here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6604423

There was one shower – and we were in the caff when it came over; otherwise it was really very pleasant despite a bit of a headwind at times. A lovely winter day, and here are the photos to prove it:

HEARTSTART

By Liz Palethorpe on 2 December, 2014 / Blog posts

Since this blog was written (December 2014), we have been contacted by John Hawthorne who advises us of two other articles on the subject which we might find it useful to read. John wrote the second one.

https://www.cprcertificationtrainingonline.com/how-to-perform-cpr/

https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/how-to-save-a-life/how-to-do-cpr

. . . . . . . . . .

What to do in the following situations until professional help arrives:

Cardiac Arrest
Heart Attack
Choking
Severe Bleeding

It is not only the elderly but any of the above situations can happen to anyone of any age. HeartStart 2 hour course is run every other Wednesday evening from 7.00 – 9.00 at Farnham St Johns Ambulance Station (next door to Waitrose), parking is free after 7.00 and the course is a donation.

The contact is Keith Aston kc.aston@btinternet.com.. More info here.

Roger and myself found the course excellent – just hope we never have to use our new skills

Sunday Ride with the Sunday All-Day Riders ~ 16 November 2014

By Mark Waters on 16 November, 2014 / Blog posts

Nine of us met at Godalming Station at 9am and the weather was mild and dry, so a happy group set off southwards to coffee at Wisborough Green. Cyclists everywhere as usual and loads at the café – luckily we got seats in this tiny but delightful stopover – the coffee’s good too! Don Jones turned up to see us – he wasn’t riding owing to a neck issue; Don, you need to be more careful with that violin playing!

Next we headed east towards Southwater and then Horsham for one of our favourite cafés – the one in the Park, where the food and drink is very reasonably priced: and what a change that makes! I reckon you need a good £15 to cover coffee and a modest lunch – today I got away with about £11. Good to see Paul Holmes here but he didn’t stay long with us, so I never got a chance to chat: sorry, Paul!

And so back homewards via Ewhurst. The group split soon after, some heading westwards and others continuing through Shamley Green and Wonersh and back to Guildford and Godalming.

My total distance was a respectable 55 miles. Here’s the route and, to view it in more details click here.

Shades of Autumn

By Mark Waters on 12 November, 2014 / Blog posts

Yes, folks, we’re deep into the autumn season: winter definitely hasn’t arrived (thank goodness!) and autumn just goes on being really pretty wonderful.

Here then are a few images from a couple of rides undertaken by your Chairman in early/mid-November which I hope convey the atmosphere of this fantastic time of year. Amazingly, the trees are still looking quite green, but they’re turning and the forecast is for a stormy month ahead; we never know when the weather is going to start being difficult but they reckon it’s coming up soon. So, weather, do us a favour and don’t rush – we’re loving the cycling!

Photography isn’t easy at this time of year owing to low light levels; when the sun shines, there’s a lot of contrast between the shadows and the bright bits which the sun’s rays are shining on, so the quality isn’t high, but I hope my tweaking makes them enjoyable to look at and nice and atmospheric. Of course I should really be spending the time preparing my speech for the AGM on Saturday but I’d far rather be doing this – definitely no competition!

The first ride was with Clive’s Sunday Rollers, out and about on the 9th. The weather was really quite good and five of us (Clive, Martin, Heidi, Julian and myself) rode from Guildford Station up and over the Surrey Hills, past Leith Hill and down to Newdigate for coffee. Next, heading west, Clive guided us on lovely roads via Ockley, Walliswood, Alfold and Dunsfold to Godalming where Hector’s Boathouse provided us with early afternoon refreshments. It wasn’t a long day, I’m glad to say, because even the downhills seemed hard work today. There is a need to get out more.

Acting upon my earlier conclusion that I need to do more riding, not to mention remind the Wednesday bunch that I still existed (in preparation for their votes on Saturday – well, maybe…; then again, maybe not…) I braved the expected rain and headed out on the 12th to meet the group at the Normandy crossroads. Thankfully dry when I set out, the rain wasn’t long coming, but in actual fact, it really wasn’t too bad despite what the forecast predicted. It was mild too and the day turned out to be a thoroughly excellent one in every way. I opted to go with the medium paced group which consisted of ten of us – too many to name everyone – very ably led by Laurie, my Chairmanly adversary, no less!

The lanes were gorgeous and extremely wet but there was no stopping us. After climbing Wanborough Hill we took the lane through Puttenham to Seale and over Botany Hill before riding a new lane (to me) past lots of very posh houses – definitely Millionaire’s Row.

Morning refreshments were taken in the very busy Maltings cafe, after which we headed out west into the wonderful lanes of north Hampshire. The route is shown below and I have to say that much of this ride was along roads I’d never ridden before and what a joy that is!

We took lunch at the Anchor in Lower Froyle which is a lovely pub, albeit expensive – £8 for a sandwich with a few chips on the side? Hmmm! Then, rested and refreshed, we headed homewards. See below for the full route.

To view the route in Ride with GPS, click here