Blog posts

Neil Eason writes . . .

Another sunny and warm September day greeted a mix of 18 G3 and G4 riders. The route through the N Hants lanes provided some stunning vistas, quite a few hills(!) and some notable landmarks including Jane Austen’s house, Ropley Station on the Watercress Line ( our steam buffs/nerds lingered far too long here but it was magic! ), and the Civil War site of the Battle of Cheriton.

The Bucks Head at Meonstoke on the River Meon proved to be an excellent choice although it was noticeable that the first climb after lunch was taken at a somewhat more sedate pace than normal!

Thanks to all who participated in a very enjoyable trip – let’s do it again next year!

Neil

Louise Gagnon writes . .  .

The CTC has many long honoured best practices that have stood the test of time.

One of them is that at junctions, each rider should check that there is still another rider following, and, if not, wait at the junction.  Makes sense and this is why we have also put this good advice in our Group Riding Guidelines as well (Art.20).

But what if the person in front does not heed this time honoured CTC practice?

Well, an empty junction with many options – such as this one – is what you are likely to find yourself confronted with.  Bah, humbug!

Of course, this is a whole lot of no fun, specially if it is a cold winter…

But if it is summer, sunny and 22C, you can always do like the infamous lost 5 riders (all ride leaders as well): enjoy the sun, take a “selfie” and wait for the main pack to come and get you.

A bit of humour and good cheers but please heed the precious CTC time-honoured practice of making sure you are being followed – and make sure to brief new riders as well.  Thanks!

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!

Louise 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!.

Louise Gagnon writes . . . . 

Who would have thought that (a) the awful weather forecasted 24 hours earlier could change so dramatically and so positively and (b) SPF factor 30 barely coped with the bright sun and 28.5 C ?!

Riders came out of the woodwork and eagerly joined the two Johns (John Murdoch and John Child) as they led memorable remote start rides down from Rowlands Castle.

The grade 3s led by John Child ventured thru Bosham, exploring the lovely lanes around the coastal area back to Chichester. A mere 47 miles given that we were “delayed” at the Bosham ferry crossing. We however made the best of this fallow time catching up with accounts of each other’s summer vacations.  As one rider so accurately pointed out, such remote start rides truly bring out the “kid out for the day to play” in all of us; we were only 30 miles from home but it is as if we had landed on a foreign shore.  A great day out!

The hazards of sun exposure?

Our back marker, Keith Stainer, fending off the damaging sun rays.

Do as you wish fellows, I am proof positive that beer and cool shades are the ultimate protectors!

Part of the remote start gang just outside Bosham.