Around Burford

On Thursday Frances Tim and coach Pollyanna met up with Anne and David Snowden at Burford for a ride around the Oxfordshire Cotswolds.


We set off at a good pace through Taynton, and were soon joined by another cyclist( seen here in black) whose name we didn't catch but he seemed to know Pollyanna.



Heres David going at high speed, looking very professional.


















And here are some horses.


On through the pretty village of Leafield.







Then up hill for quite a way through the Wychwood Forest, this seemed to be quite a struggle for me so far, and I was begining to think I must be ill, but as we climbed Pollyanna noticed that my brakes were catching on the wheel. I had dismantled my bike to put it in the car last week and obviously put it back together all wrong.



So heres the view from the top, a quick fix for my bike and we were off. I can't tell you how much easier it was, 10 miles with the brakes on including going up hill is no fun, but probably quite good for my fitness.







Next up through the lovely little town of Charlbury, we took a short cut through the church yard here.



Still going up we stopped for Tim and Anne to check maps before going on through Coombe and stopping for lunch at the Cock inn, I don't remember the village where the pub is but Tim said it would be quicker for him to go home from there than to carry on with the ride, but then he would be stuck without a car so he thought better of it.



Pollyanna had the biggest chip so far in training and I thought the chips deserved a score of 4 Saddles but the average came out at 3.5 Saddles on this occasion.



Just a few miles further on through North Leigh we passed this pub called the Saddlers, the sign showed the Worshipful Company of Saddlers coat of arms but David said the motto underneath was incorrect, unfortunately the photo isn't clear enough and I can;t remember what it says or what it should say. David please comment below the blog.






Then just a few miles, through Swinbrook and back to Burford, and now Tims turn to look like a professional, which just proves that the camera does lie. He says hes going to get cleats fitted before the next ride as everyone else has them, lets see how many times he falls off before we next see him.
This ride was a very beautiful and not too difficult 34 miles, highly recommended.

"Derailleurs in the Mist"

The weekend started by killing two birds with one stone - not my wife and daughter I hasten to add!

In preparation for our holiday and having recently bought a new tent, we pitched it in Ali's parent's garden in Canterbury on Friday evening for a trial run. After a lovely alfresco dinner and few glasses of wine, we settled down for the night.



With a night interrupted by rain (it did so for about 15 mins), foxes (my son was a tad nervous to say the least as he was sleeping solo in the little tent) and the dawn chorus, this was not a great preparation for my training ride home.

After a quick shower I donned my new cycling jersey. Passed to me by Ali's dad who had been given it by his cousin who lives in the Queen Charlotte Islands near Vancouver in Canada. His cycling club is called "Derailleurs in the Mist" which I think is a great name for a club.

After a few quick posey snaps in the garden I left their house around lunchtime.

First stop was my mum and dad's house on the other side of Canterbury. It is only 1.7 miles from Ali's parent's house but straightaway it meant a small climb up through the university which offers rewarding views over the cathedral.

After a short break there and a promise to relieve her of two stone flower pots - at some stage in the future - I headed home using the road signs to guide me!

Met some curious old cow on the way who was none to impressed with me so her and her mate wandered off.

The route home took me over the North Downs. This was the first time that I had crossed the Downs from the north side which is a much more gentle climb than from the south side - my normal route - which is steep and fairly brutal.

I think it is always nice to end a ride with a descent and this is was I got. I should probably have extended the ride but after a restless night I was feeling fairly weary especially having pushed myself up the Downs at a fair pace so I dropped off the Pilgrims Way and headed home.

All in all this was a 30 mile ride at an average of 12.5 mph which I was relatively pleased with.

A weekend in Somerset for the 3 Amigos

Last weekend the three Amigos decided it was time to test ourselves with 3 days cycling in a row in the west country, so we arranged to stay with John Mc Donald and his lovely wife Gill who turned out to be a fabulous hostess attending to all our needs, she didn't sit down all weekend. It was like staying at a really good B&B.


This Mare and foal are also staying at the top B&B.


We were stuck in some bad traffic on the way down on Friday so our first ride was rather short 16 miles, but goodness me there are some killer hills round here not least of which is the first half a mile to go up out of Johns driveway. After that it was down hill for a while and then a continuous uphill stretch for 3 miles. The rest of the ride was shorter ups and downs, and all in glorious scenery.








Day 2 again of course starts on the very steep 1/2 mile out of the driveway a long stretch down hill and then a killer, or so we thought, we were glad to get to the top where Sally had her seat adjusted by John, only to turn the corner and see this.





Not only did it start off very steep, but it continued for another 2 miles or so. John kept saying Tim looked like a policeman on his bike, and looking at this picture I can see why, all dressed in black with pockets full of kit, he had just climbed a very steep hill in this picture though.


















It was always worth the climb as you get scenes like this at the top.



For lunch we stopped at a lovely pub by the river Exe and the chip score on this occasion was 4 saddles.


The afternoon proved to be much harder than the morning, but the scenery was fabulous. I was defeated by a hill on Exmoor near the end of the ride, this is the first time I have walked the bike up a hill for months and it rather upset me, so John said we will do a shorter ride tomorrow and you and I will cycle down it and up again .











So here we are at the top of said hill, having a rest while Tim sucks in his stomach claiming to have a six pack and I show off the fact that my legs are still white as the driven snow even after weeks of exposure to the sun.






Day 2 was 44 very hard miles after which we had earned a glass of wine while one of Gill and Johns dogs, called Henry cuddled up to his teddy bear on the setee.


Day 3 was to be 24 miles, bsically back to the hill where I failed in some rather wet drizzle, then to the pub and back again.





You can see here in the picture of John how much quicker he is up the hills, I am the tiny speck in the distance behind him, and the other picture is me looking very happy at having made it without dismounting this time.





We met some carriage drivers on top of the moors who had met at the pub for a drive around the hills.
When we reached the pub just as it opened we were told they were fully booked and that we could not eat there, the next pub was 4 miles away in the wrong direction. We must have looked very fed up and disappointed because the Landlord went off to talk to the Chef who kindly agreed to let us squeeze in, so in the end we had a lovely roast beef lunch, much needed after all that rain.




A massive thank you to Gill and John for their hospitality, and I must say that John put us all to shame with his speeding up the hills. He thought he was unfit until he met us. Our average speed over the weekend was about 8mph shameful, I know its hilly but John apparently averages 12mph around there. We have just 5 weeks to go, will we be fit enough? John will.