Sundayriders

Tuesday ride

2012-01-25T12:41:00.001Z

Wet and cold, Roger was foolish enough to turn in the pouring rain :). We both froze, Roger had a problem with cold hands. First time I've ever seen any sign of suffering from him!! I punctured, of course, at the coldest point of the ride and poor Roger couldn't undo zips or retrieve things from his pockets, his hands were that affected.

Sunday ride

2012-01-22T14:32:00.001Z

More vernal loveliness pushing it's way through to herald the new season. Lots of tall purple crocuses in sheltered places on today's ride. Another mild day at 12'C - no gloves needed today! An abundance of horses on the trails today,not so many bikers.

Snowdrops

2012-01-21T19:39:00.001Z

A quick ride over Leith for Jane to get the QOM on the 'Rookery Climb' She got the QOM and third overall. She also sneakily took my KOM on Roger's climb :( We also saw our first snowdrops of the year. The weather was wonderfully mild at 13 C I took my gloves off!

Turbo

2012-01-19T19:20:00.001Z

The Tuesday over the hill gang rides are so tough now, that one needs a thorough warm up before joining them for a ride. ;)

Tuesday mtb

2012-01-17T21:26:00.001Z

A nice steady single track ride over Leith and then Holmbury with Roger. My back brake failed, but bizarrely I got a pb on summer lightning using only the front brake.

sunday ride

2012-01-16T09:27:00.002Z

A supposed steady ride around the downs, but I blew up totally after stopping to fix a flat and becoming quite cold. A beautiful until then, the last hour was a haze of loathing :)

New year chips

2012-01-14T13:11:00.001Z

Today's ride as through a beautiful frosty winter wonderland to Barnes Green for our annual January feast of chips. The ground was mostly frozen like our feet.

Sunday ride

2012-01-08T16:48:00.001Z

A classic Sunday Riders Sunday ride around the downs. JD came for a ride today and was going well after her Xmas training in Santa Cruz. I'm still desperately trying to sit and maintain a high cadence. It's very painful but my legs are starting to adjust.

Christmas in Ibiza

2012-01-03T17:51:00.003Z

I rode everyday except one,including six days with the C.C. Santa Eularia. Some great steady rides with a fast line out at the end. Me and Jane did the second section of the Sant Josep extrem, which wa fun, but I'd forgotten how technical the riding was when a bit greasy. My perfect dry summer tyres are a bit skittery on la patina.

Christmas day ride

2011-12-26T11:54:00.001Z

Fabulous ride to the fire station near San Rafael to see Vincenç at work. Alguien tiene que trabaja :)

Full sus

2011-12-12T09:55:00.001Z

Back on the Santa Claus for the moment. A good steady weekend of mtb, downs link on Saturday and a tour of the hills on Sunday.

Birthday Chips

2011-11-27T20:33:00.002Z

Today we rode to Barnes Green via the downs link on the mtb's for my birthday meal of chips!!

Boxhill

2011-11-23T14:29:00.001Z

I left Dorking in thick fog only to burst through the ceiling into the sunlight at the top of Boxhill. Dorking is under there somewhere :)

Sunday Ride

2011-11-20T18:42:00.000Z

Today we did a similar ride to Tuesday, I got lost a little bit, but it was essentially the same route. The weather was fabulously foggy and fabulously sunny in equal measures, with temperature a mild 11C! Autumn is dragging it's feet into winter in a most agreeable manner.

Epsom loop

2011-11-19T23:06:00.001Z

Still very dry! We did a shortish off road ride to reinstate Jane's skills as she hasn't ridden off road for a while.

Tuesday mtb

2011-11-16T06:47:00.001Z

No Roger today, But with PF as a substitute we had a good ride around the downs on firm trails in the autumn sunshine 2.44 and 44 km.

Winter

2011-11-15T08:31:00.000Z

As the leaves turn orange and then brown and are swept away by the easterlies (or by those stupid noisy blower things that a certain type of man feels compelled to own bah!) , a different bike appears on the roads.... The winter bike. Here is a spy pic of my neighbour's fabulous mudguard bedecked creation that puts my best bike to shame. :)

Rides

2011-11-14T14:33:00.000Z

Back to steady road rides recently. Sunday was the longer route to Barnes Green, a place that I normally loathe. But we sat in the sun and used the free weefee to blog. The whole place has had a make over and is a bit nicer, especially the free weefee. :)

Untitled de parkaboy en Garmin Connect: Detalles

2011-11-14T09:39:00.000Z

Untitled de parkaboy en Garmin Connect: Detalles

weekend mtb rides

2011-08-22T17:13:00.001+01:00

Two ride this weekend:

Saturday hard mtb with Paul

Sunday recovery with JD and Greg.

Tuesday othg

2011-08-16T17:53:00.001+01:00

Tough today......ufff!

Sunday - Park and Ride

2011-08-14T18:33:00.001+01:00

Park: at 10.30 we parked ourselves at the side of the road to see the practice event for the Olympic road race.

Ride: 10 minutes later we were on our way to Redhill Aerodrome for brunch. The place was buzzing not only with the usual baby planes but there was also a helicopter fayre with "fun flights" and, in the neighbouring field, a steam rally with a variety of vintage vehicles.

Life is all go here in Surrey:)

Juanita

Saturday ride

2011-08-13T19:00:00.002+01:00

This morning, once I'd finally been prised out of bed, we rolled out on one of Raymond's Tuesday Rides to Harting.
The GPS worked perfectly and wound us through tiny backwaters, quiet lanes barely one car wide with a few steep kicks and rolling downs.
After a re-fuel of coke, coffee and tea-cakes we retraced our route home, minus gilets and arm warmers as the skies had cleared and the temperature soared to 24'

juanita

Othg

2011-08-10T08:20:00.001+01:00

Today's destination was Hartfield via the way we usually return. It was quick today, with Andy leading the charge on all of the hills. It felt a bit cold for me and my legs didn't warm up until the last few k's

Ibiza Agosto

2011-08-08T09:28:00.008+01:00

I had a nice week in Ibiza mountain biking last week. I spent the first few days riding with Jane's sister who has recently taken up biking. On the Wednesday I met up with the guys from Kandani a group from the local bike shop that I often ride with when I'm in Santa Eulalia. Wednesday was a reasonably paced mtb ride of around two hours. I hung around near the front with the quicker guys who attacked everything, all of the singletrack, every rise and each technical section. The others complained a bit every now and then and the group would ease up. Only to split again on the next technical section or climb. At the end a couple of the faster guys - Jose and Toni asked if I fancied a ride the next evening too as they were training for a Transalpine event. Me and another guy, Cesar from Leon also on holiday, said yes. This was a much faster paced ride and great fun, with a few big climbs chucked in too. At the end of the ride they said we had to come for a ride the next day too, because the club had organised a big ride for Santa Maria's day!

The Santa Maria ride was straight to the opposite side of the island with a couple of big bumps and lots of caminos in between.

The temperature was nudging the mid 30's on the big climbs to the rocky coast and even the locals were complaining of the heat!

We grabbed a quick coke from a cafe at the bottom of the hill. I was surprised at the brevity of the stop, they were setting off before I'd downed my can of coke.

The last 10 km or so saw the pace start to lift on the caminos and back lanes as we approached Santa Eulalia. Me and one of the younger guys Ernesto, managed to get a gap on one of the rises coming into to town( well, he did all of the work and I held on:)) I got to the front to do a bit and he called me back as we passed 'Servifruit' a fruit wholesalers. This was owned by Pascual one of the riders from Wednesday night and he's promised everyone some ice cold water melon at the end of the ride.

We eased up for the others and we all piled into Pasqui's chiller room to get out of the heat. Then he came through and chopped up some huge red water melons... delicious :)

tuesday ride - othg

2011-07-26T18:54:00.002+01:00

After a kicking from my neighbour last Wednesday, a kicking on Saturday from the Alphas, a slapping on Sunday from my mtb buddies, I was expecting another from the othg! But no, it was a fabulously steady ride. Eric and Alan got on the front for a lot of it and kept the pace down and we all chatted as we rode through the beautiful Kent countryside to Four Elms. Sometimes I forget that we can take it easy, though I wouldn't want to do it too often as my average heart rate was only 115bpm :)

It was nice to ride with Bob Maylin once again, he was one of the original 'bad boys' of the Tuesday rides. Always kicking off on the hills, usually after eating a banana.

Coming back was a similar affair. All in all a lovely recovery ride

sunday ride

2011-07-24T14:49:00.004+01:00

Julie came for a ride today and brought cakes! Jane is away and now I feel sick. She also brought along her fabulous new bike. A Trek nine series with full xtr, I felt sick then too!

We,that is me Paul and JD, did a classic sundayriders ride: Up over Leith for some singletrack and Jane's impossible climb, over to Holmbury via the tough climbs of Jolwynds and Telegraph. We did some singletrack here and watched a bit of the Surrey off road half marathon and cheered them on a bit too. Then we rolled back to catch the tdf.

The roads and trails were strangely devoid of people.

Wednesday surprise ride

2011-07-20T17:23:00.002+01:00

I haven't felt much like riding this week, but this morning Mathew suggested a quick easy spin around the Wisborough Green circuit. It hurt solidly for three hours, we averaged 18mph and my heart rate averaged 154 bpm which for me is 88% uff! I tried out some new cranks, which I think were a little bit closer than I normally use. The main aches after the ride were not in my legs but my buttocks...interesting! I need bigger buttocks :)

Dodging the showers

2011-07-17T15:46:00.001+01:00

No mtb today, we nipped out and tried to avoid the showers. It chucked it down whilst we were in Starbucks!

Strangers in the night

2011-07-16T23:00:00.001+01:00

Whirring and panting in the middle of the night :) I'm sure there'll be butt kicking on the next othg ride :)

test from bt

2011-07-06T18:21:00.001+01:00

test for email blog from bt

Alan

2011-07-06T13:30:00.001+01:00

Saturday 2nd July

2011-07-02T20:04:00.004+01:00

Today we went to see the llamas, we followed the GPS route through leafy Surrey lanes, grungy Horley suburbs, up past Tulleys Farm on long forgotten roads from my days on Thursday club runs. Then it was new territory for me, rolling roads with fabulous big ring blasts to Wych Cross. I didn't actually see the llamas as it was a choice between the entrance fee and the discovery of wheat free, gluten free, vegan chocolate chip and lemon zest cookies. I ate the cookies whilst looking at the photos of the llamas on the wall:)
The home trip took us past the resevoirs of Ardingly where the pleasure of steep swooping descents were matched by the pain of leg burning sharp climbs, through Balcombe (a favourite old haunt) and back to familiarity as we hit the time trial blast home from Rusper. A fine day out in balmy weather.

Jane

Friday July 1st

2011-07-02T19:57:00.003+01:00

My day off and I wake at 7am, bright as a button! This must be taken advantage of so I jump into my cycling gear and haul my surprised bike out for a trip to Cripplegate. It feels like ages since I've been off-road and summer has sprung, 20mph hill was dripping in wild sweetpeas and The Roughs were resplendantly green with field upon field of ...!!.... hemp plants !! rad lane and 'Twix were still a bit damp but nothing to slow me down too much and after the scary-fast descent into Cranleigh I'd been out for an hour. Hmm, if I get a clear run down the DownsLink I could be on for a good time - I decide to try it and adopt my best time-trial position, get in my biggest gear and graunch away. There were a few early morning dog walkers, runners and horse riders around but notwithstanding I arrived at the Lake in a PB of 1.48:)

It's too early for the cafe to be open so I eat an energy bar in the sunshine and head back for a steady ride home. As I pass the caravan site at Slinfold, campers are cooking their breakfasts and the aroma of baked beans makes me hungry. I make a quick scan of the site just in case Raymond, LCO and Growler are miraculously there waiting for me in our tent:) They're not so I carry on, up HorseBlock which was surprisingly painless and arrive home with a trip time of 3.51 and a good 52 miles in my legs.

Jane

tuesday ride - othg

2011-06-29T07:58:00.003+01:00

The Llama Farm

Today I met with the 'over the hill gang' from Betchworth. We were due to go to the cafe at Four Elms, but Steve offered to take another group to the Llama Farm. I was intrigued, so I went with them :)
The cafe was quite nice, and the Llamas lived outback in a sort of Llama bedsit with pictures of their relatives on the wall.

We had a little bit of warm rain on the return journey, and some loud thunder! I was a little bit scared, but I'm learnig to man up a bit!

A nice steady 90km on the road bike.

El Extreme '11

2011-06-10T23:32:00.007+01:00

This is the third year that I've entered the Extreme and from the registration form I can see something's changed. In order to compete in the Extreme event you now have to be federated, which I take to mean have a racing licence. I do not possess a licence so the alternative is a secondary race for non-federated competitors - same course, same distance(65km), same rules. Being stingy by nature I'm loathed to shell out for a licence that I won't need or use other than for this one day so the marcha turista event it is, the only other difference is that there is no 40+ catagory so I'll be mixing it with the youngsters. Raymond has a race licence so has entered the federated race in the 50+catagory. One advantage this has is that Raymond can now ride his own race without feeling obliged to stay with me. We pick up our goody bags and dorsales: yellow for la marcha, red for federated girls and oldies and green for the senior blokes

.

Race morning dawns with clear blue skies and we drive to St Josep and gather in the campo de futbol, after a few warm up laps we group ourselves at the start line, the federated race was due to begin at 9am with the non-feds starting at 9.15 so Raymond moved forwards and I hang back with the yellows. The obligatory firecrackers denote the start and it's once around the campo before hitting the main road into town. It soon becomes obvious that us yellows will be in the way so we just tag on the end and just keep going - it seems the staggered start idea has been abandoned. Fortunately Raymond doesn't realise this. I settle in for a steady-fast Sunday Ride, working hard enough to be breathless but keeping out of lactic territory. This pace is fast enough to overtake many people on the initial road section and meant that I had a fairly clear path down the first rocky descent. Somewhere in the past few months I've grown to love loose rocky trails and I begin to pick people off on the downhills, something of a novelty:) All too soon the path starts to climb and deposits us at the start of the first climb - a steep hike-a-bike to wake the legs and lungs up, I am blessed with 7 league legs and pass quite a few people here too. The descent is a steep gravel hairpinned camino and to my surprise I'm not retaken by all the guys I've just passed.
Undulating rough caminos lead onto the next climb - a fairly technical drag to reach the first avituallamente. It's on this climb that I pass Maria from Mallorca, I think this disturbs her as she squeezes past at the crest of the hill but I blat past her on the fast rocky downhill. we trade places again as the descent turns to fine gravel fireroad but she's looking on the limit and as we reach the bottom I tell her that I'm in the other race and not direct competition, I offer her my wheel on the tarmac section, through the rivebed singletrack and then she passes as I grab an energy bar. Too busy eating I miss a turning and by the time I've backtracked she's out of sight. The next climb is one of my favourites Sa Capalleta, it rises in steps then gets steep but has a good line as long as no one gets in your way and it leads to the second stop and signature control. Next comes a wide gravel track descent with a sneaky sharp left, up and you are thrown into a rocky gulley and some fast furious singletrack which spits you onto a fabulous downhill road section of swooping bends - I pretend I'm Valentino Rossi but then decide that I should probably be Jorge Lorenzo, grinning widely.

Police stop traffic on the main road and it crosses into undulating gravel tracks interspersed with rocky singletrack and the odd bit of tarmac. Suddenly I'm powering through the lanes in Kent and really enjoying the ride. I've had someone on my wheel for ages and here I turn to see it's Senor otra vez! I smile and say hello we chat a little then he pulls away on the flat section, he's a powerful bloke! As I try to keep him in sight I notice my bike feels a little wayward and to my dismay my back tyre is soft, I pump it up and ask a marshall how far to the next stop - only 3km, it might make it. The route drops down to a notoriously wet riverbed crossing which given all the recent rain is inexplicably dry and a short hike-a-bike climb. My tyre is soft again so I set about changing it, I expected a pinch from my bonkers descending but it was a hole worn through by the tyre liner (my last 3 or 4 punctures at home have been identical) my spare has been carried around with me for probably 5 years as I've never before punctured in Ibiza, the valve was sticky and making it hard to inflate, some MasterGym guys offered to help and one squirt from a CO2 canister and it was up and running.
Back on track it was a smooth road down to the 3rd check and chip timing zone. I grab a drink and squeeze my tyre, not quite as hard as it had been or am I paranoid? I pump it to bursting point and set off up a rough narrow track with some little drops and nasty sharp ups that sap legs and burn lungs. Then it's the climb that provokes fear in the most hardy minds: Puig D'en Serra a ridiculously steep and interminable rippled concrete climb. Towards the top I pass Jo we are both surprised to see each other. I am pushing it a bit as I think if I have got a slow leak the quicker I can get to the finish the better, after the climb is another technical descent and again I feel a bit insecure, at the bottom I pump my slightly saggy tyre back up and tackle the next climb over a chain fence and the fast descent to the 4th and final checkpoint. Another re-pump and it's the final S'attalaya climb , a wide camino with the most spectacular views and a gradient to tempt you into the middle ring and graunch away. Once at the top it's just a matter of a bonkers downhill course to the finish, a very narrow, rock and root infested trail with a vertiginous drop to the right - completely off camber for me as I tend to get my right foot out if stopping suddenly. I ride some, scoot some, and walk some, aware that my tyre won't like much rocky impact. Two 6 foot rocky steps to negotiate and then it's downhill on smooth tarmac for the last kilometre to the campo. I have to take the bends with care but the tyre gets me home in a time of 4.32.

I've lost at least 10-15mins between punctures and wrong turns but it's enough to be first girl in the non-feds and I get a podium appearance and trofeo. It would also have got me the top step in the 40+ federated competition and to my chagrin would have placed me 3rd girl overall which came with a £100 cheque prize. On the other hand Raymond raced his own race, had I been in the same race he would have felt encumbered and he finished first in his catagory beating the Balearic 50+ champeon into the bargain. That meant a lot to him, would I have swapped the money for the smile on his face? every time. Memo for next race - take a spare tube that hasn't passed it's use by date!

Juanita

A king with no crown.

2011-06-10T07:34:00.008+01:00

Sant Josep Extreme

Sant Josep Extreme
This is third time that I've raced 'El Extrem' An annual 65km mountain bike race around the hills of San Josep in Ibiza. This time I was racing alone, as Jane hadn't got her racing licence and the rules had changed since last year. This year you had to be federated, as it was also the Balears Enduro Championship. They were running a non federated race alongside starting 15 minutes later, and Jane was racing in this. As it turned out later they'd dropped the 15 minutes later thing and Jane hadn't known and so had rocked up at the back for the start.

It didn't start well, during my warm up around the 'campo de futbol' my gears began jumping . This panicked me and suddenly everything felt wrong: my tyres felt soft, my fork didn't feel right and I wasn't sure if I'd eaten enough. The firecrackers went off on the other side of the field and we set off for a preliminary once around the campo before exiting and up the first road climb through Sant Josep. - I wanted a good start to get into the rocky singletrack descents, that I knew came immediately we turned off road. I didn't want to get held up by any weak descenders or in crashes caused by the more courage than skill guys :)- So, I went as hard as I could to hold on to as near to the front as possible. At about 25 minutes in I felt stuffed, my legs were shaking and my stomach felt a bit queasey. We hit the first 'hike-a-bike' section- a 1km long steep section of loose rocks at over 30% in parts. I struggled up this managing to overtake a couple of riders, thanks to my hiking weekends in Wales :) The next descent was another fabulous hairpin loose rockfest. I tagged onto the back of the elite female balears champion, when I felt something hit my calf and bounce off the chain stay. I thought 'my pump?' and stopped and saw that my saddle bag had unzipped and my mini tool had fallen out, luckily my tube was still hanging in there. Fifteen people passed me before I got going ....arrgh! I was beginning to hate this race. My handling was still pretty good and I caught the back of a group of riders and rode with them up the next climb. The check point at the top was water only and I grabbed a cup and missed, spilling it all down my front! It felt good so I did it again :) I set off before the others, because I knew this descent, a fast gravel fire road which then became a series of rollers all the way to the next climb. I started to feel good and found the big ring :)

At the top of the climb I poured more water over myself and set off fast. Some more fast rocky singletrack and a big stepped rocky descent followed. I was overtaking more and more riders, until I took a right turn and realised that I hadn't seen a marker for a few minutes. Damn, I turned back and 500 metres later I got back on the course. I was still feeling good and pushed on once again overtaking all of those I'd already passed before. As I approached the penultimate climb, I hooked up with a very old looking guy and guessed that he must be in my category :) I tested him on the first bit of the climb and then attacked, if attacking is the right word. Puig d'en Serra is two kilometers of 20% average, but I pulled away from him in my granny gear anyway :) Puig d'en Serra is a sort of graveyard of cyclists staring ahead walking their bikes in the sun, it felt good to pass them ;) Another great descent and 5km of rolling climbing to the foot of the last climb Sa Talaia - 2.5 km of 10% gravel track. I grabbed a coke and tipped more water into my jersey at the bottom and set off. I was still feeling good and immediately reeled in a couple of riders and set my sights on a group up ahead.

As I gained on them I noticed that one of them was wearing an Espalmador jersey from Formentera. I remembered that there were two Espalmador riders in my category. The first 2km of the last descent is a very technical singletrack with no chance of passing. As we crested the climb, I attacked hard across the short ridge to get to the descent before him. this descent is very scary and I would rather have walked most of it. At times it's a a couple of feet wide, with large roots and loose ball bearing sized stones plus a large drop to the right. Halfway down is a fallen tree.I dismounted and as I climbed over, I noticed that he was right behind me. Back on the bike and the next obstacle was a series of odd shaped rocky steps and I chanted to myself 'speed is my friend, speed is my friend' and somehow cleared them. I looked back and a couple of younger guys were on my wheel , so my rival must have walked that section. It felt better to have a buffer and I rode hard through the next singletrack opening a gap on the guys behind me. All that was left now was a 1 km downhill through the town on the road to the finish. Big ring and chain fully to the right, I was cutting corners as close to the police traffic marshalls as I dared. One last glimpse over my shoulder as I entered the campo de futbol and he was out of sight. I crossed the line at 4 hours 2 minutes. I felt a bit disappointed to go over four hours, which I felt I would have made if I hadn't taken a wrong turn :(
I showered and came back to see that the results were up and I was first in my category! I wasn't sure how it had happened, I felt that I'd had a rubbish first half of the race, but once I'd relaxed and chilled the nerves a bit, I had ridden fast. I'd pulled back eight minutes on the second placed guy from the 47 km timing point to the finish at 65km Later at the awards, he was crowned Balears master 50 champion. He's a great rider and a nice guy. I think that if he'd realised that I was so close behind on the last climb, he would have attacked and beaten me. So a bit of luck came my way and I made the top step!

Jane had two punctures and still finished first in her race and would have won the master female catagory and come third overall in the federated race :)

Bank holiday Monday extra ride :)

2011-05-30T21:17:00.002+01:00

After nice steady off road ride with jd yesterday, we decided on a mtb on the road ride to Four Elms.

The trip to Four Elms is a nice rolling ride through east Surrey into Kent. There are no real hills to speak of, so it's a fairly high pace steady hard. It turned out to be warmer than we thought and just after Betchworth Jane took off her gilet and knee warmers. At the tea stop we sat outside in the sunshine and I took off my leg warmers for the first time this year!!! (in this country)

A good three and a half hours on the bike. Later we discovered that Jane had burnt her legs.... Again!

Tuesday ride

2011-05-24T11:26:00.002+01:00

Not much time today, so I could only get an hour before work. So, I did the Coomb Botty ride. Standing on the hills today.

weekend mtb

2011-05-22T20:03:00.003+01:00

Saturday - Me and Jane did our 'on the road mtb' ride to Camelia Botnar. This is a great ride for pushing hard as there is a series of short sharp rises in the last section. We attack these hard and and as there is little chance of recovery between each one, it makes an excellent interval ride. We then ride steady hard on the return. This week was a particularly hard and excellent session.

Sunday - Paul came for a steady ride around the downs. He'd just got back from the Rally di Romagna with a lot of climbing, so we stayed off the hills :)

Jane saw a massive fungus!

Tuesday mtb

2011-05-17T16:06:00.002+01:00

I needed to stretch my legs a bit today, so I went of to Cripplegate Lake via the Downslink. I had intended to do a steady four hours, but was a bit quicker than I thought I'd be and did it in three hours forty something :)

I had a puncture at speed at the front today and almost lost control. It was a brand new tube on Sunday and the reason it deflated so quickly was that the valve seat had pulled out! This happened on Saturday too, I think that they were both Halfords cheapo tubes.

weekend mtb rides

2011-05-16T17:03:00.002+01:00

Saturday - A tough three hours to Camilia Botnar on the mtb's on the road. Jane was pushing hard on the hills and I was having a bit of trouble staying on her wheel. :)

Just into Colgate at the end of Tower hill, we passed three oldish road guys getting back on their bikes after what looked like a mechanical/puncture. I shouted 'everything ok' and they said yes. A few minutes later, I could see them chasing fast. Me and Jane gave a bit of a dig on the next rise, but the first guy came past very fast and shouted 'Come on lads' Jane shouted 'I'm a girl'. I jumped after him and just managed to get his wheel as we crested the rise. I noticed his mates get on my wheel and we were gone!We hit the next climb and he started to falter and the other two attacked for the summit. I didn't think that I had much chance on the mountain bike, but I went around the first guy and jumped between the two and took the sprint!!! One of them shouted 'you young bugger' I apologised and said that I couldn't resist. We all shook hands and patted backs etc and I eased over to the side of the road to wait for Jane. But she was right behind us!!... I was hoping for a rest because I thought I was going to throw up!

This seemed to open up my legs a bit and we pushed hard to Camelia Botnar.

Sunday - Was to be a steady climbing off road ride, I didn't feel good from the start and we only managed two hours before we came home. It was a great route though and I want to have another go this weekend. Jane put the hammer down across Ranmore Road, and I struggled to get her wheel. Just as I got to her wheel, I saw her chain clunk to the smallest sprocket and she began to hand me some serious pain. :)

Ben Nevis

2011-05-10T00:00:00.019+01:00

Richie had suggested that we walk Ben Nevis as a plan that he had of walking all of the highest peaks of England,Scotland and Wales. It also means that we bag our first Munroe. Ben Nevis 1344m, Snowdon 1085 and Scafell Pike 978 (Ireland has mount Brandon at 952)

So, me, Richie, Bob and Mark had made our way to Fort William for a couple of days, allowing ourselves a couple of days to select one with the best weather.The plateau is snowbound six months of the year and has cloud cover for n average of 300 days! We set off in a mild drizzle from Achintee Farm on the Mountain track, previously called the 'Tourist route' , or the pony track as it was created in the 19th century to serve the observatory at the top using ponies.

The first part of the climb ascends the Meall an t-Suidhe this part is mainly large rocky stepped hairpins as it winds around the shoulder of the mountain.

It wasn't particularly steep, but was relentless. The next col is where Ben Nevis starts properly and we crossed the waterfall after passing Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe.

Now we start the final eight hairpins and it becomes a series of massive head winds forcing you backwards and then as you round the bend a massive tailwind pushing you up the mountain :) for a stretch here the path all but disappears and it becomes a huge jumble of large, odd shaped rocks.

Toward the end of the hairpins, the red granite gave way to the black basalt and it started to get colder.

We also started to see some patches of snow, which I found very exciting and couldn't resist putting my footprints in :)We then followed the cairns, which looked like large shadowy Daleks fading in and out of view as the mist and clouds parted and then closed.

The weather began to close in as we ascended through the snow line and visibility became quite poor. Next we met the steep snow section, called Maclean's Steep. (after the contractor who built the track) This bit was great fun,as the snow was quite deep and slippery.

As we crested, we could see the cornice of snow on the north face. This where people can become lost in the snow and stumble off the edge.

The final push saw us reach the summit and we crawled in the the shelter, the highest accommodation in Britain!!!

Our mistake here was to spend too much at the summit. When we left the hut to take the summit photos, I was already shaking with the cold. My hands had become numb and I was feeling a little bit unwell. I was concerned that I could get into trouble and had to descend very quickly. I started off heading down and shortly Mark passed me at speed, saying that he too was in trouble. I tucked in behind him and we set off at quite a speed. We caught another guy and let him pace us down the mountain.

It was a good half an hour before I started to feel warmer, and once out of the cloud cover it was a reasonable day! :) We eased up once we were warm and saw Richie and Bob talking to a couple near the waterfall. Unknown to us, Bob had tripped and sprained his ankle. So they had to take their time.

At the bunkhouse we had a coffee and watched the track through the window for any sign of Richie and Bob. Once they arrived we set off back to the hotel, whereupon we donned kilts and danced the night away!

I was a great trip and great fun hiking with Richie, Bob and Mark. I even went to a pub!!!! Maybe next time I'll have a drink too!

The next trip is in the planning stage and will be Scafell

Sunday ride

2011-05-02T22:32:00.002+01:00

Today JD came for a ride today.....hurrah!

We did a nice singletrack day, over Leith for a severely scarified Summer lightning. It was completely out in the open, very strange. then over to Holmbury for the whoop de whoops, telegraph and Ronnie Barker. We found a new trail up off Twixt and then rode back down it again. Then back home

eastbourne

2011-05-01T15:13:00.006+01:00

Yesterday was our first jaunt to Eastbourne off-road for several years. I was a bit doubtful, because the forecast was for a strong north-easterly. But Jane had set her mind on a train journey home over the Balcombe viaduct, so we had to go!

We reached the bottom of the Downs Link in well under 3 hours and were feeling pretty good after racing in Ibiza last week. As we turned east, the wind came head on. And the first climb up to Truleigh Barn was spiteful and joined forces with the wind to destroy my legs. We had to pedal down the next couple hills just to continue maintenance of headway :) To make things worse everyone travelling toward us was moving at a good pace, smiling and cheerfully bidding us good day. I began to hate them :)

The water tap at Truleigh had been broken and so I had run out of water by Ditchling, but I felt ok. At South Ease railway crossing I held the gate for a chap coming the other way and he said Raymond? It was Jerome, looking fit and getting a few miles in. I think we last met at one of the 24hr races. Just up the trail we got some water at the farm, and I drank my fill.

The next climb was where I thought that I would meet my maker, just as we crested I almost came to a stop as the man jumped out and hit me with the big hammer. Hammer Time!! Swathed in a cloak of zero sugar, self loathing and hate for the whole world I struggled to turn the pedals as I gurned into the wind. Payback time for not drinking earlier - with interest..... compound interest!!

I ate two orange torq bars, one banana flavoured, one gel and a full bottle of water, and almost immediately felt much worse! 15 minutes later, I was smiling as we rode down toward Alfriston :) I felt so good, that we decided not to stop here like we usually do for a coca cola. We attacked the next climb up to the Fort pretty hard and enjoyed it. We got a little bit lost dropping into Jevington, because Jane was hooliganing the descent and took a slight wrong turn which brought us out north of the church. Next, was the last hill, Wilmington hill a long,long drag to the top over looking Eastbourne. We rode to the trig point and then did the lovely swoopy descent through the golf course into Eastbourne. A fabulous but tough seven and a half hours and 122 km's.

Tuesday ride - othg

2011-04-12T17:51:00.005+01:00

Today was a new destination for the othg. The people who own the cafe at Four Elms have opened a new Cafe in Hartfield. Today's ride was brisk but steady, John rode on the front most of the way and he was flying :)

Strange but true related fact - Hartfield is where Brian Jones was found dead floating in his swimming pool, also strangely enough it's the home of the invention of 'Pooh Sticks' - a game that involves floating sticks .......freaky!!

I suppose this is how it happened:

'What is it Pooh?'
'Dunno, it's something floating in the water'
'Gives me a good idea for a new game, but we could use sticks instead of stones'

lco signing the papers :)

2011-04-09T19:22:00.002+01:00

lco - gets a good deal and manages to palm off the old red wreck on some unsuspecting car salesman :)

Lco's new car

2011-04-07T20:36:00.003+01:00

tuesday ride - othg

2011-04-05T17:56:00.002+01:00

Another road ride today, two weeks running!! It had rained in the, and so was wet on the roads. Puncture days!! I added a spare tube to my pocket just in case. At the top the second hill Matthew punctured and then again 10 mins later. we stopped to fix it, but they said ride on, so me and Chris rode on hoping to catch Gary who'd pushed on. On days like this it's better to push on in two or threes when the punctures become frequent. Otherwise you all get cold and then all stop again and nobody gets anywhere. It was getting late and Chris had to get back so we rode to Camelia Botnar. We attacked the bumps through Nuthurst hard and it was great fun. We didn't stop for tea, just rode back the same way!

Pen Cerrig

2011-04-03T10:26:00.005+01:00

Yesterday we went for a quick hike over Pen Cerrig. We saw another two people making there way farther across.

on the way up it was pretty grim - a bit damp and quite windy.

At the top after a coca cola, the sun burst through dragging beautiful blue skies with it!

Then we had toast and tea cakes in Crick Howell.

New Car

2011-03-30T19:45:00.000+01:00

Lco has bought a new car, is this where she bought it from?

Sunday ride

2011-03-27T20:24:00.005+01:00

No ride yesterday because we had a cpd course in London. Today we rode the DL again, but this time we passed the lake at Cripplegate and carried on until Partridge Green took the back lanes to Camillia Botnar for café and teacakes. We rode back on the road the usual way. We saw lots of pigs and piglets and at the Col De Colgate we saw the kangaroos!! This is where I saw one last year and no one believed me. This time I got photographic evidence :)

Tuesday mtb

2011-03-22T16:25:00.003Z

today we did a nice steady old Horrod's ride over Peaslake and Pitch Hill to Bramley, back long the DL over Black Heath and to Shere. A nice steady hard ride on firm ground, a couple of gears higher than we have been using :)

Sunday ride

2011-03-20T21:48:00.002Z

Today we rode some hills. Paul came out too.

We did the off road uppers and downers. All across the escarpment of the North Downs, up one Bridleway and down the next. Until we reach St Martha's hill, where we rode the new single track and then returned riding mainly up those we had ridden down and vice versa. We did discover a bridleway that we'd never ridden before!!

Saturday ride

2011-03-19T21:58:00.003Z

Today's ride was the second week running that we'd gone off-road to the café at Cripple Gate. We should have been in a Continuing Professional Development lecture, but their loss is our gain :) So we set off in the frost and sunshine for some steady km's. It was a bit muddier and harder going than last week. Jane was almost taken out by a blackbird on the way out. It flew out of the bushes and hit her front wheel, bounced off and resumed flying just before hitting the ground.

At the café we met one of the swrc groups, we weren't sure which but settledon the T group ;-) It was nice to see everyone again.

We had coffee out in the sunshine with some chocolate cake that JD had made for us

Sunday ride

2011-03-13T19:11:00.005Z

Today was the last ride for Stefano before he has to go back to Italy. We had hoped to do more rides with him but events had overtaken us. We were either Racing, in Ibiza or racing!

Today was to be a steady ride for the legs after yesterday's ride to Cripplegate lake. and it was :) We rode over past Shere to see the church that was used in 'Bridget Jones' and the field where 'Holiday was filmed' then over too Chilworth Manor where the 'Wedding Date' was filmed. Then up to St Martha's Church that featured in 'Canterbury Tales' (doing a bit of research shows lots of things have)

We talked quite a lot about British culture and Stefano felt that we have an inability to state a simple yes or no in answer to any question. We decided that this was true, well....definitely maybe :) He also learned that you can put 'ish' on the end of any word :)

Then back across the North Downs, where we rode the 'Soup bowl of Death' together and then stopped to help a road rider who'd ripped his rear tyre. We gave him some sticky tape and an energy bar wrapper to plug the gap. I asked what event he was doing and he said the 'South Western Spring Onion' doh! I was wearing my swrc top at the time :)

I told Stefano that next year I will put together a 'what appeared in a film' ride :)

Tuesday mtb

2011-03-08T16:52:00.003Z

We set out half an hour earlier today, because Roger had to home by 12.00. It was around 1'C when we set off and still quite icy on the roads, I wondered if the othg would go out today in these conditions. I'd decided on a steady cross country route of around two hours to get Roger home in time. It was very sunny and soon began to warm up,. We pushed fairly hard and because of the good going under wheel, we averaged 17-18 kph. About 12mph, which is quite fast!!

Hopefully, the weather will hold for the weekend as we are taking Stefano out for a ride.

note: on the ride home across Ranmore Road, I spotted Eric, Kay and Dave riding in the opposite direction on mountain bikes! :)

pen y Fan

2011-03-07T09:58:00.004Z

This weekend we did a couple of hikes.

Saturday - We went to ascend Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in South Wales. I found an aeroplane, but Jane wouldn't let me keep it :(

The view from Corn Ddu

and Sunday we hiked to Twmbarlwm via the Cwmcarn scenic drive. Some very steep ascents here.

Jane and lco 'chicken winging'up from Cwmcarn :)

thetford rnd 4

2011-02-28T09:19:00.006Z

Jane was lying second overall after the last three rounds, so she just had to turn up today to take third overall.

It had been raining up until the day of the race, but it was a lovely clear day. The course was shockingly wet in places, but began to dry out after a few laps of hundreds of wheelspassing over it. Just as it was getting dry and fast, there was a huge hailstorm that lasted a good 15 minutes! Suddenly, the course was covered in rapidly melting balls of ice. And in a trice was as wet and muddy as the start!

Jane rolled in fifth, which was enough to give 2nd overall.

tuesday ride - othg

2011-02-22T22:52:00.003Z

Today was the ride to Billingshurst. It felt very cold after a week riding in Ibiza :)

Once we got to the Haven the punctures started. I was first, then almost immediately Jack punctured. After he'd replaced it, a hole blew through the sidewall! We were now pretty cold and set off after the others who'd pushed on. A few hundred metres later, we saw Alan fixing a flat. At the cafe, the others said they'd had a puncture too.

The return trip saw a similar tale, with punctures spread amongst the group.

ibiza trip

2011-02-20T22:38:00.012Z

Last week me and Jane went for a week's riding in Ibiza.

I had a bit of a tumble on some steps and went head first over a fence, this is my worst bruise :)

We had a nice fastish ride with Kandani.

A technical costal ride with Bartolo

A gentle ride to pick some asparagus for tea.

And a ride to Santa Agnes for her fiesta with Mastergym

Tuesday - othg

2011-02-08T19:24:00.002Z

First road ride since the new year and the sunniest day of the year hurrah! It was hovering around 1C when I left at 10.00am, and a thick fog in Betchworth at the meet point. Ten of us set out for a nice flat ride to Four Elms near Edenbridge, and we averaged a steady 26kph. Towards Edenbridge the fog lifted and we were in a brilliant blue sky day , the cafe was bathed in sunshine.

On the way home a couple of the group chose alternative routes, whilst the rest of us chose the most direct route home. The temperature had risen to around 12C and it was balmy when we stopped for a puncture. It was nice spinning through the lanes in the sunshine. We had a bit of a burn up toward the end, where I sort of bubble off the front on a descent and nobody could decide who should chase me :) When they finally gave chase, I put my head down. hehe!

Sunday hike

2011-02-06T12:39:00.001Z

Twmbarlwm today.....dreary and cold!

Happy Birthday Jane

2011-02-05T21:12:00.003Z

The maam made a cake and me, Jane and LCO decorated it!

Saturday hike in Wales

2011-02-05T20:21:00.005Z

No biking today so we hiked up Pen Cerrig in Crug Hywel. It has been windy the last few days and we were forecast 70 kph winds and rain.

On the climb up, the winds hit us on the west side of the Table mountain and at one point we were pinned down by the strong gusts :) Jane's hat flew off to the other side and she risked slippery wet rocks to rescue it. We walked to the other side of the Table were it was completely becalmed :)

On the push to the summit we entered the clouds where once again we were battered by the wind, this time accompanied by icy rain. Visibility was poor, but it's a fairly easy navigation to the trig point.

We huddled down in the hollow cairn a bit further on, where we got into the Bothy bag and had some coca cola and sweets. The walk back down became a bit of trot as the wind carried us. Lco squealed a few times as the wind was easily able to push around her new light weight self :) Jane fell once when as seh walked her unweighted leg was blown into the other :)

We had tea and toast in the café in Crug Hywel.... lovely!

Tuesday mtb

2011-02-02T21:36:00.002Z

Just a short ride today, my legs were incredibly sore from Sunday :)

we explored the NDW going east from Dorking and took coffee in Starbucks in Reigate. The guy behind the counter was originally from Dorking Starbucks, he gave us some ice for Roger's thenar which was a bit swollen from his off on cosmic crunch. Neither of us felt sparkling, so it was nice to take it easy and explore some new trails.

thetford rnd 3

2011-01-31T10:17:00.004Z

A fantastic day out in Thetford! A beautiful winter's day cold but not too cold and importantly dry! It hadn't rained for most of the week, so the course was fast and grippy.

Paul performs a Vulcan mind meld with a large lowland Pine

It was the perfect course for Jane - smooth swoopy singletrack interspersed with fire road blasts to join them up.

Jane took first place in the ladies and is now lying second overall.

Paul took 10th place and I'm not sure of his overall position yet.

I rode with Jane for a steady training ride :)

Saturday ride

2011-01-29T15:21:00.003Z

The first snow drops.... hurrah!

Spring is abroad today, although it's blinking freezing :)

Just a short ride today, because we have the third round of Thetford tomorrow. We rode over to buy a wood burning stove from Gomshall, so only 22km ish.

Sunday ride

2011-01-23T15:43:00.005Z

Today we rode with Stefano whom we met in Italy last year. He is one of the organisers of the Rally di Romagna. Me and Jane rode to Cobham to meet him and escort him back to Dorking where we met Paul. ( JD has damaged herself and so couldn't make it today)

I'd pre-ridden the bare bones of the route with Roger last Tuesday. It hadn't really rained much since then and was reasonably dry under wheel. There were some bits of mud, but the idea was to avoid it :)

I'd decided we should show Stefano some of the best bits of singletrack that hold up well in the wet. Up over Leith to Summer Lightning, which had dried since Tuesday and was fast. From there we went to Friday Street and down by Belmont School to Holmbury. Once on Holmbury we did The whoop di whoops,Telegrafo,a few bits and then over to Ronnie Barker. We stopped at Peaslake for a foto shoot and for Stefano to have a look in the bike shop. Then it was pretty much straight home via Rad Lane and the Roughs.

Stefano seemed quite impressed with the amount of bikers we saw and quickly became the centre of attention on his Niner 29'er. I think it was seen as unusual because it is a full sus with gears, rather than as most in the uk a fully rigid ss ;)

We left Stefano smiling on his way back to Cobham via the A24 cyclepath.

Tuesday mtb

2011-01-19T12:34:00.002Z

Another warm day for me and Roger on the mtb's. It had rained a lot the day before and so it was a bit splashy in places. The idea was to do a singletrack ride today to check out the rideability of the trails for when Stefano joins us on Sunday!

unfortunately Roger got some chainsuck and twisted his chain and it took some time to sort it out. Don't buy those shimano chains roger :)

Sunday ride

2011-01-16T20:09:00.003Z

Me, Paul and Jane had a classic ride, similar to last week but on some trails that we'd not ridden for a couple of years. The going was fairly hard under wheel and the overall speed doesn't show the sustained non-stop effort of the ride.

We had blue skies for a bit today and temperatures in double figures - but only just :)

We were barked at by a grumpy fox - he was crossing the road about 3 metres front of us when he turned and scowled and then barked at me, I barked back and he looked at me muttered something and strolled to the road side.

Sunday ride

2011-01-09T21:32:00.004Z

Me, Jane and Paul did the first mtb ride of the year today. It was cold to start with, but very sunny with beautiful blue skies. Jane had very tired and slow legs and so suffered the whole three hours :) It was so cold that Paul got out the white jacket :)

xmas in ibiza

2011-01-02T23:17:00.004Z

We spent the xmas in Ibiza getting a few km's in. The weather was generally sunny, but a little bit cool at times - generally around 15' degrees. We rode most days and managed over 300 km's of mixed riding. Rode part of the extreme course and some good singletrack with Bartolo and josh near san Antonio.

Tuesday mtb ride

2010-12-21T23:12:00.002Z

Today me and roger went out for our first mtb ride for ages. We rode over Leith and did a bit of singletrack. There snow was still squeaky and grippy.

On the ride back we did the usual climb up White Down, it was still hard compacted snow and quite treacherous. On the first bend a 4wd had gone over the edge and was stuck, a little farther up we were shocked to see a Land Rover lying on it's side. Just past the Land rover were three other cars abandoned by the road side.

Unbeknown to us the Land rover was a recent occurence. At the junction there was a police cordon and an officer and the driver of the Land Rover. He said he just been driving down the hill when he started to slide and it turned over. His wife and kids had been ferried away by the police and he and the officer were waiting for the police car to return for them.

thetford rnd 2

2010-12-06T10:37:00.002Z

Jane had a been suffering with a sore throat almost since the last round and had only been on the bike once since, but I was still surprised that I caught her only a bout a quarter of the way into the first lap. She was going ok in the singletrack bits, but had no strength on the rises or open fire roads. I had put a more aggressive rear tyre on her bike, expecting some mud, but as it was the course was mud free. The tyre may have caused a bit more drag than she was used to.

In the second lap my rear brake lever suddenly came to the bar and I lost my rear brake completely.

So we dragged on for the minimum four hours, even slightly lurking a bit on the last climb to make sure we didn't have to go around again :)

Paul had another great race and took fifth in the vets once again.

Gorrick Brass Monkey rnd 1

2010-11-29T12:43:00.002Z

Me and paul rode the Brass monkey round one yesterday at Deepcut. The biking is fantastic there! The race included huge drop ins and and sharp climbs. Paul is very strong at the moment, and has been all year. He caught me on the second lap and I stayed on until the end of that lap where I picked up a bottle and never saw him again!

paul was 16th and I was 24th.

Sunday ride

2010-11-22T09:41:00.002Z

Jane was feeling a bit ill and so I nipped out for a quick ride around Epsom. A blip on the gps shows that I hit over 100kph on the return home across the flat! :)

Saturday ride

2010-11-21T11:36:00.002Z

Jane has had a bit of a sore throat so we did a steady longish road ride to BG. They'd run out of teacakes so we had toast!! Very nice :)

Tuesday mtb

2010-11-16T22:20:00.001Z

A gentle ride arond the north downs with roger today, a bit misty but some sunshine later. Very cold though :)

Xl Vuelta a Ibiza

2010-11-15T16:28:00.000Z

We're not sure if we can get out to this one yet.

thetford rnd 1

2010-11-08T08:51:00.005Z

My first time at Thetford for a couple of and years and Jane's for 3 or 4.

There had been a bit of rain the day before and a shower or two before the start,so the course was a bit sticky for the first two or three laps. It was a fantastic course, classic Brandon side of Theford. Lots of swoopy twists and turns in the singletrack and still big enough for 500 competitors.

I'd decided to ride with Jane and use the four hours as a long non stop training ride. ie to ride steady hard for six laps rather than bonkers for three and grovel for four :) The ladies went off two minutes before the men and it still took me over a lap to catch Jane! I was a bit nervous on the first lap and I'd forgotten how to ride a hardtail on this terrain, the last three seasons had been on the fullsus'. Once I'd remembered 'big gear standing up' started to get a bit more confident. By the time I'd caught Jane I'd passed at least three women riders and as there were only about seven ladies in her category I guessed she was either third or fourth. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to pressure her and the intention was a steady ride. At lap four Jane popped and slowed a lot, but more importantly she'd lost her skills in the technical bits. We eased right back for that lap and she had a couple of gels, a bar or two and some shot blocks. One of the ladies passed us on this lap. On the penultimate lap Jane regained her skills and 'maintenance of headway' was resumed :) a great book.

She caught the girl who'd passed us and sat with her for the the whole lap. Not long after we came through for the last lap Jane attacked and I held on for the rest of the lap :) Jane took a unexpected second place.

At the end we met Alan Parkyson who'd been riding well but cramped and dropped out of the top three and finished 11th. Paul had a great race, starting almost from the back he pulled back from 21st to fifth.

day 3

2010-11-03T17:08:00.006Z

A nice steady ride around the coast and the lakes today :)

stage 2 - the wet one

2010-11-03T08:33:00.008Z

Control de firma was inside today :)

It was rideable,just! But we had to walk :)

check point

the village people :)

Just as we head back, the sun arrives :)

A rare bike was h moment.

vuelta a formentera

2010-10-30T20:30:00.007+01:00

Stage one

the vuelta formentera is a 3 day tour of Formentera. We'd originally thought that it was the same format as the vuelta a ibiza ie day one sportif, day two race and day three sportif. But, it's all sportif. So it's a chill out training ride for us, we took lots of pics.

me in the deep sand - arena profunda

the windmill - la molina.

Jane finds the firmer ground.

To the lighthouse - el faro

resfriadoooo -

2010-10-24T18:44:00.002+01:00

Jane has a cold so it was just me and Paul today. We did a steady hard ride around the Downs taking in Holmbury, Blackheath and Pitch Hill.

The going was quite tough under wheel, so maintaining a steady pace was fairly hard.
We met Mick and a friend and later we met Gary, Jase, Tony and others near the windmill.

Still very little mud though.

vuelta a formentera

2010-10-19T17:49:00.004+01:00

Bartolo and friend pre-riding some the course for next weeks race :)

Tuesday othg ride

2010-10-19T16:32:00.002+01:00

Today was to be Dane Hill. As we left Betchworth, I noticed that someone was of the back so I eased a bit. Meanwhile at the front they'd pushed on,we closed the gap to the next group with Andy,Jack and Paul. At the T junction for Leigh we weren't sure which way they'd gone, not sure why they hadn't stopped! Andy's Garmin showed right, so we headed right. Of course they'd gone left :) Andy reckoned that he must have a different route installed, so we pressed on. His garmin indicated a left at Stan's Hill, but everyone said it couldn't be. At Charlwood we turned back to Stan's Hill :) Here we picked up Andy's route.

There have been mutterings recently about the rides starting off too fast. And some of the regulars have stopped turning up. The othg rides started out as a casual steady mid week ride to get the miles in. A similar thing happened a couple of years ago and almost killed off the othg. So some rules were laid down at the time: we were to ride steady until the last 10km or so to the tea stop and similar on the return. Hills could be attacked hard, but we had to wait at the top.Lately this hasn't been happening. This enabled anyone not so fit to get a good ride and if they were up for it, a bonkers bit at the end :) Even Gary went out with the early ride today! :-O It may be time to reinstate the rules.

We rode steady/hard and got to Dane Hill about 20 mins after the others. The return route was tough via Ardingly reservoir. At Colgate I noticed that Paul was off the the back, so I dropped back to see if he was ok and then moved up to the front group only to notice that Andy wasn't there. He wasn't in sight at Rusper I stopped in case he'd had a mechanical, but he'd missed the traffic at the roundabout and couldn't get back on. He was taking a packet so we bit and bitted across to the others.

A nice ride in Ibiza

2010-10-18T13:46:00.000+01:00

I might try this one with Rachel next summer :)

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Sunday ride

2010-10-17T17:14:00.002+01:00

Classic sundayriders Sunday ride today - Julie and Paul arrived at ten and the four of us rode over to meet Greg at Holmbury. We did lots of singletrack and climbs all around the Surrey Hills.It was a gorgeous day, 14'C at the zenith. It's this time of the year that we think 'this is the last one, this is the last one' and another fabulous day appears. The trails were beautifully dry and fast still - we could find mud if we wanted to :) Because we kept to the main trails we saw hundreds of cyclists,walkers and horse riders. There was also a couple of sportif type events on.

saturday sundayriders ride

2010-10-16T16:46:00.002+01:00

Jane wanted to visit Barnes Green to find out why I loathe it so much, so we did the same route as the othg from Tuesday. Jane liked Barnes Green very much, because they serve veggie burgers and chips. But, today we had tea cakes :)

tuesday ride - othg

2010-10-12T17:15:00.003+01:00

Today was Barnes Green :( But Cliff had a fabulous and longer route. The route back was the usual over the lumps past Warnham. A fastish ride today. Kay told Matthew off for pushing too hard :)

Tuesday mtb ride

2010-10-06T01:01:00.003+01:00

I'd been meaning to ride the to Cripplegate off road for a while, so when roger mailed to see if I wanted to go out on the mtb I got the mountain bike out. There'd been heavy rain recently and it was raining hard up until 10 am when Roger arrived :)

Rather than being muddy, everywhere was splashy and slightly hard going. We made the tea stop in less than 2 hours. - 1.59.59 :)

Andy, Richard and Sabin were at the cafe, having arrived there after an abortive othg ride peppered with punctures and drop outs. they couldn't believe how filthy we were :)

tuesday - oyhg

2010-09-28T19:50:00.002+01:00

Today was the ride to Westerham in Kent. Gary the Smithmeister had found a fabulous route through the lanes. As we set out from he cafe I discovered a rear puncture :( After we'd fixed it we set off at a leisurely pace, I notice that it was 1.45 and I had to be back for my first patient at 4.00.Then we took a wrong turn and I started to get a bit agitated that I wouldn't make it in time. So when we got to he A25 at Oxted I said that I'd head straight for Dorking. I got my head down and pushed, assuming that the others would turn off through the lanes. So we lined out on the A25 all the way back, not very nice but quicker. But..............as we turned into Pixham Lane Sabn said we'd made it for two o'clock and what time was my first patient. I said you mean three o'clock?

My gps is still an hour ahead from Ibiza......sorry guys...oops!

Tuesday othg ride

2010-09-21T17:10:00.002+01:00

Today was Dane Hill

It was pretty quick on the way back.

Sunday ride

2010-09-19T20:39:00.003+01:00

Today we rode around the downs on a steady ride, taking in a few new bits and enjoying the lovely dry trails. Even Ponds Lane was dry.

The ride was a 'fungi fest' The fly agarics were in abundance, with huge groups of them instead of the usual ones and twos. There were lots of others that we didn't know including this huuuuge one :)

tuesday ride - othg

2010-09-15T08:40:00.001+01:00

Barnes Green this time a nice variation from Routemeister Smith

martes con el othg

2010-09-08T11:55:00.002+01:00

Mojado! Pinchado! hoy llovió

Saturday and Sunday ride

2010-09-06T22:55:00.002+01:00

Saturday - Jane came out with the club ride for the first time in many years. Which was lucky because no one knew the way to High Beeches, and she happened to have it logged in her brain from a previous ride.

Sunday we did a standard Sunday riders ride around the downs and had tea in Cranleigh. We bumped into Vik and Mark and the others at Peaslake on the way back.

Trans Ibiza

2010-09-01T09:38:00.001+01:00

Trans Ibiza

Tuesday othg ride

2010-08-31T19:11:00.002+01:00

Today was to be the Barnes Green ride, but we decided on Pulborough bird sanctuary. Simon was out today,he's very strong. Much stronger than Andy!!! So it was a hard ride :)