Bad news everyone, not only is it nearly the end of August, but that’s also the last Bank Holiday until Christmas, so I hope you all made the most of it.
I’ve had a bit of a mixed bag this weekend, with a bit of pottering around wrapping up odd jobs, a little bit of walking, and a bit of cycling, so there should be plenty to talk about. So where should we start? Well how about in the order things happened for a change. I spent most of the day on Saturday, catching up with odd jobs, and trying to wrap up a few loose ends before I start anything else. There seems to be quite a list that never seems to get any shorter. But, amongst other things I have finally cut back and polished the paintwork on the Bangernomics Peugeot where I treated a few (or more than a few) rust patches that were starting to appear around the rear wheel arches and lower sills a few weeks ago. One thing that is for certain, is that I’ll never make a bodywork repair guru. Whilst the rust’s gone and hopefully it won’t come back, it’s hardly a seamless paint match, a situation that’s not helped by it being rattle can paint and done outside during the great British summer. But, it’ll do, and however it looks, it’s better than the dreaded tin worm eating it away! More within my skill set, I’ve also taken the opportunity to change the oil and all the filters on the van before it goes for its MOT on Tuesday. I’m cutting it a bit fine on the MOT this year as I normally get it booked in and out of the way well in advance, but I’ve needed the van for the last few weekends, and whilst I don’t expect it to fail, you never know. If next weekend's blog is van repair related, you’ll know that it wasn’t good news, so watch this space. The Plums that I mentioned last week have continued to ripen through the week too, so Saturday morning I picked 2KG of the ripest fruit to make into jam. That’s only a fraction of the fruit that’s on the tree, and it made 7 Jars of beautiful jam, so I’m either going to have to start thinking of other things to make with Plums or eat nothing but Plums for the next couple of weeks if they’re not going to go to waste. They are delicious, and so juicy, so I’m already eating as many as I can manage, the biggest problem though is that they don’t travel very well (or at all) so whilst I tend to get through a load of fruit through the day at work, there’s no way that I’m going to load my panniers full of plums for the ride into work, I can just imagine the mess when I get there!
Sunday afternoon I headed up to Wantage ready for Monday's Audax fun, and stopped off for a couple of hours walking along the Ridgeway on the way.
Since I’ve not been running and my Knees and Achillies have been playing up I’ve not really been getting many miles in of any sort, and despite the wind whistling over the hills it was great to be out. More positively, whilst I only did about 6 or 7 miles, my knees felt fine, and whilst my Achilles felt a bit tender by the end, I definitely see that as a step in the right direction and feel that things are continuing to improve. Fingers crossed we’ll keep moving in the same direction and hopefully I’ll be able to get back running, before too long.
Which, I suppose, brings us to the main event of the weekend, the Old Roads and Drove Roads 200km Audax. This event hasn’t run for a few years due to Covid and access issues, but it had a good reputation as a popular ride, so when it appeared back on the calendar I’d jumped at the chance to get signed up.
You’ll note that I said one of the reasons that this event hasn't run for a few years was access issues and that’s because the main raison-d'etre is the chance to visit the lost village of Imber, which sits slap bang in the middle of the Salisbury plain firing range. Imber was requisitioned by the Army as part of the build up to the D-Day landings, with the residents being told that they could move back in once the war was over. 80 years later and it’s still under the control of the MOD who delight in allowing the Army to fire their big guns right over the top of what remains of the village on a regular basis, meaning that it’s a bit dangerous to allow anyone to live there, and anyway, there’s only the church left, so there’s not much to go back too. Anyhow, all this Army activity means that the roads in and out of Imber are only open for access a couple of times a year, so tying in an Audax with the few open days can be a bit of a problem. Not this year though, all the stars had aligned and I’d been looking forward to this one for a while. It appeared that plenty of other people had been looking forward to it too, as there was a good turn out at the start, including someone from Cambridge who had bivvied out on the Ridgeway Sunday night and another who’d made the journey from Macclesfield specially for the event (at least I think that’s where he said, either way it was somewhere “up North”.. Luckily the weather appeared to be on our side too and we set off bright and early into the early morning sunshine, with barely a cloud in the sky, although the forecast, which turned out to be correct, was for it to cloud over as the day progressed.
The first few miles set the scene for the rest of the day, with a stiff climb to take us across the Ridgeway for the first time of the day, coming almost immediately. If there’s two things that a good climb straight away does it’s wake up your legs, warm you up, and split the field up, spreading everyone out across the countryside, and today was no exception. A couple of fast riders disappeared up the road, whilst I slotted happily into a nice little niche at an effort I could happily maintain, without undue exertion.
By the time we reached the first checkpoint at Great Bedwyn, we’d made that first crossing of the Ridgeway, slogged up the long steady climb out of Lambourn and tackled the steep sharp leg burner at Ramsbury, all of which are a bit cheeky in their own right, but one after the other, well that’s just mean! From Great Bedwyn, it was familiar roads to take us down to the next control at Pewsey, where a chocolate croissant provided sustenance and a proof of passage receipt, before the next leg which would take us onto Salisbury Plain and eventually lead to the day’s prize at Imber. The first of the day's crossings of Salisbury Plain was a bone shaking affair, as we left the safety of the tarmac and took to the Military gravel tracks that criss-cross the military manoeuvring areas. I’ll happily admit that off road cycling does nothing for me, if I wanted to ride off road I’d buy a mountain bike, and that first crossing of the plain, firmly reinforced my dislike for having my eyeballs shaken from their sockets, backside battered, and wrists jarred to almost destruction. Sometimes though, you’ve just got to suck it up and get on with it. And despite the eyeball loosening surface, the views, quiet and solitude, of this normally inaccessible area, more than made up for it.
A return to a proper road surface as we exited the South side of the plain eventually allowed my vision to return to normal as my eyeballs settled back into their sockets and my pace return from the glacial picking my way around boulders and potholes experienced for the last few miles, to it’s normal not quite glacial pace.
The petrol station attendant at Tilshead, where I stopped for another proof of passage receipt, took delight in telling me most of his life story, whilst I quietly prayed that someone else would come in needing his attention so I could make my escape and get back on the road (thank you leather clad motor biker for replacing me as he started his life story again). Back on the road again, the next leg was the one that I’d come all this way for, but first some more gravel, although compared to the earlier bit this was like riding on a sea of clouds by comparison. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I think that Imber lived up to my expectations when I got there, although it was probably good that I wasn’t expecting much. The church which is about all that remains of the original village stood proud against the surrounding countryside, and a number of old buildings remain, minus their windows and doors and re-roofed in modern sheet metal. There were plenty of people milling around, taking in the unusual opportunity to visit and enjoying the late summer sun and whilst I didn’t stop for long on this occasion, I’d definitely like to return at some point in the future to have a look around the church etc. But for today, sweaty cycling kit seemed a bit out of place, and the need to plod on won over the urge to stop.
Pushing on, it didn’t take long to make it to the halfway point at Warminster, where a nice man, safely ensconced in the pub, stamped my Brevet card and provided the question for the next “Info control”. That’s an unusual approach as the questions are normally printed on the cards, but in this instance as we were heading back through Imber on the return leg, there would have been the opportunity to get the answer on the way out and cut few miles off the days total and we can’t be having that can we!
A long climb out of Warminster took us back through Imber and beyond, before we turned North West along more Gravel track and directly into the face of the wind which had picked up as the day progressed. More climbing opened up the view of the surrounding countryside and offered expansive views over the flatter ground towards Melksham, which was to be our next destination.
The last time I went through Melksham it was freezing cold and dawn was just breaking over the snow covered countryside. Today though was a bit more cyclist friendly, although I’d forgotten quite how long a drag it is to climb out of town along the A3102.
The turn after Melksham had bought the wind back onto my back, and the flatter roads allowed for a few faster miles as I headed back along familiar roads towards the next big challenge of the day and the climbs up Hackpen hill with it’s famous white horse (one of many in the local area), and a real leg tester! I’ll happily admit that I’ve walked the steep and winding road up to Hackpen Beacon on plenty of occasions, when tired legs have won over the desire to battle to the top. Today though, I’d just caught up with another rider, and we can’t be losing face in front of others can we, so it was an all out effort to to get to the top!
All that effort paid off though as from the top of the climb we turned off onto the Ridgeway, for one last bit of slippery gravel fun (or not as the case may be) and the gradual descent to take us back towards the start.
I’ll admit that I didn’t really enjoy those last few miles of potholed gravel, tired legs and tired bones didn’t take well to picking my way around puddles, and road tyres, whilst plenty grippy enough for the normal road surface aren’t ideal on gravel or slippery mud. That’s all part of the fun though and it wasn’t long before I was back on terra-firma, watching the miles slowly tick down as the afternoon turned to early evening and the days end slowly approached.
Arriving back at the start, tired, hungry and happy, I took the opportunity to take the weight off my feet for a few minutes and gracefully accepted the hot brew that was on offer, whilst I sorted through the days proof of passage receipts and filled in all the carefully remembered answers to the days “Info Control” questions (not really, I’ve got a rubbish memory so it’s easier to just get a photo of the thing in question and then update the Brevet card when your sat down).
Whilst off-roading and gravel aren’t really my thing, it was more than worth the few uncomfortable miles for the chance to visit Imber, and to be totally honest the entire day's route had been a delight. A good mix of testing climbs, fast descents and plenty of easier miles to make the distance up. What a great day out that was, and whilst I’m in no rush to have my eyeballs shaken from their sockets again, there’s no doubt that I’ll have forgotten that by next year and I’ll be on the start line again for more of the same!
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Right, having said last week that I was determined to keep on top of things, here we are again, and I’ve actually got something to talk about this week for a change.
As promised, I actually went out playing bikes last weekend amongst other stuff. But before we get on to that, lets just wrap up the little garage refurbishment job for the time being, because apart from a bit more tidying up, I’ve pretty much completed the first phase of my little garage / workspace project. I say pretty much completed, because like everything, I’m sure that over time it will evolve, and I’m still waiting for “The Emma” to acquire me some weights to attach to the solar panel before I fit that. But the space is at least now useable, and the majority of the tools are now in the correct places, so keep watching to find out what I’m going to be using this newly acquired dry space for. But don’t hold your breath, because there’s lots of other stuff going on at the same time, so it might be a while before I get back onto this one!
So, with that little update out of the way, lets get straight on to the weekends main event, the Airbourne 200 Audax, a gentle excursion through the Sussex countryside, taking in the delights of Eastbourne and the South coast, with plenty of opportunities for a bit of plane spotting along the way.
I’ll admit that I’d been a bit nervous about this one in the days leading up to it. I’ve not done any real miles for a few weeks and my knees and Achilles tendons haven’t really been playing ball, limiting any enjoyment and making me wonder if I was ever going to get back into proper bike riding again. So it was with some trepidation that I took the van down to the start at Horsham, and spent an uncomfortably sweaty night trying to get some sleep amongst the heavy rain showers and near 100% humidity that seem to have characterised the summer of 2023. Luckily, after a wet and humid Friday, Saturday dawned dry. Although as I made my way from my overnight spot to the start point, it didn’t look like it was going to stay dry, and it was still an uncomfortably humid morning. Formalities quickly concluded, it wasn’t long before we were ready to start the days fun, and after a quick briefing to warn us of the major hazards and biggest potholes, we were off. Passing through Horsham heading for Horley and beyond, the early morning departures and arrivals from Gatwick Airport provided some airborne diversions from the glorious countryside on offer at road level. Moving steadily Northwards the air traffic slowly changed from the outbound departures to the inbound aircraft as we made our way from one side of the airport to the other, signifying the passing miles in a pleasant way.
Lingfield, famous as a horse racing destination, marked the most Northerly point of the day and provided the first checkpoint, before we turned towards Ardingly and ultimately the coast.
The run down to Ardingly proved fast, on smooth roads with little climbing and little of note. The leg after Ardingly was however somewhat different, with the wind gradually increasing as the morning went on and we neared the coast, proving a forbearer of what was to come in the afternoon. Whilst there was little of note in the mornings leg, with the sun shining and the birds singing it was great to be out. Although, the one thing I must mention is the cycle path alongside the A27 which we picked up for the final 10 or so miles into Eastbourne. If you’re not familiar with this area, the A27 is an awful bit of road. It carries a heavy traffic load, but it’s only a narrow, single carriageway, in each direction, and Saturday, as I imagine it is most days, it was head to tail slow moving traffic, none of which was prepared to give an inch. That said, it’s also now got a new purpose built, segregated cycle / footpath, running adjacent to the road, and it’s brilliant. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this is one of the best bits of cycling infrastructure that I’ve come across in this country to date (the best bit is probably the cycleway which runs alongside the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway). Traffic free, those miles along smooth tarmac where an absolute delight, and judging by the number of families cycling along, and walkers and joggers enjoying the morning sun, it’s a hit with them too, providing a safe environment to enjoy the outdoors and get to your destination. Other councils take note, this is how you provide segregated travel options, not painting a line on the pavement that crosses the road every 10 feet or putting up a sign, and schemes like this are the only way to increase cycling miles and reduce needless car journeys!
Those lovely traffic free miles couldn’t last forever though and before long we were spat back out into Eastbourne’s lunchtime traffic. Heading through town the sea finally hove into view and as we turned to start heading westwards along the seafront the full force of the wind came into play. This was likely to be a hard few miles!
Not only is Eastbourne on the coast, but it’s also the eastern end of the South Downs Way and the start of the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. Which means it’s all uphill from the seafront to the top of Beachy Head and beyond. The long hot climb in the early afternoon sun bought a rare treat today though in the form of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight completing their air display for the Eastbourne Airshow. Slowly ascending to the sound of Merlin engines roaring overhead and the odd glimpse of the Lancaster and Spitfires looping around over the sea was one of the real treats of the day, and by the time I reached the top of the climb and gained a clear view over the sea, they had been joined by a Typhoon, adding the sound of jet exhausts to the melee.
Eastbourne to Shoreham along the rolling coastal road, was a strange mix of fast enjoyable descents, slow gruelling climbs, heavy traffic, and that persistent nagging headwind which made for slow, hard, going.
Eventually though I reached the final turn point, and turning North the roar of the headwind stopped to be replaced with peace and quiet for the first time since lunchtime and the energy required to push forward reduced significantly. Steyning, Ashurst, and Billingshurst, came and went in the late afternoon sun as the miles ticked steadily down. Until, just under 10 hours since departing I rolled to a halt back at the start. And what a great day out it had been. It had been a few weeks since I was last out riding just for the fun of riding, and I’d almost forgotten how great a feeling it is to cover long distances by bike. The sun on your back, the wind in your face, something new to see around every corner. New roads, new places, new faces. Hard climbs, fast descents and the joy of being outside all day. A great route, a warm welcome at the start and finish, the sound of Merlin engines over Beachy Head, the sun glinting off the sea, crowds on the seafront, quiet country lanes and the sound of tyres on tarmac. Brilliant!
After Saturday’s exertions, Sunday was an easier day, and something completely different for me.
Unusually, I was at a loose end, but “The Emma” was signed up to take part in an Autosolo car event at Thruxton, so I tagged along for a day out. Now, anyone’s that’s been following along with my drivel over the past couple of years will know that I have no interest in driving whatsoever, in fact I'd go as far as to say I hate driving! But I do enjoy a bit of tinkering with cars, and I’m more than happy to watch someone else trying to kill themselves, or thrash the bits off their car, especially when it’s not on the road. As I was out and about anyway, I went direct to Thruxton from Saturdays Audax and met “The Emma” there. Well, I say “I met the Emma there”, I got there at the time she told me to be there, and she turned up half an hour later and then complained that I’d parked in the middle of the row of cars and there wasn’t room for her car beside the van. "Errr, no, when I got there, I was on the end of the row, and I kept the space clear for the first 30 minutes before I gave up!! Anyway, minor domestic sorted, I did my allocated duties and swapped the wheels on the Peugeot to the spare set, ready for Emma to ruin the tyres, and then went and volunteered my services as a marshal for the day, for which the organisers were more than grateful. Well, there’s no point just sitting around is there! It was a good day out too. “The Emma” had a great time thrashing the little Peugeot around, and I enjoyed my day sitting in the sun whilst helping to ensure everyone had a good time. And as an added bonus, the cars still in one piece too.
And finally. It’s an awful position to be in, when you’ve got so much veg on the allotment that it won’t all fit in the bucket, and you’re having to use your hat as a makeshift trug!
The allotment’s been really productive this year after a slow start, and is continuing to produce far more than we can eat. The fruit trees in the front garden are heavily laden with slowly ripening fruit too (except the pear, which has never borne fruit, despite being covered in blossom every spring) and I suspect that I’ll have to allocate a couple of hours next weekend to making plum jam. So watch this space, and I'll be back next week with some more uninteresting drivel! Right, I know that I keep on saying it, but let’s get this little Blog project back on track and try to keep it that way. I keep on making excuses for my lack of updates, but if I’m brutally honest, I’ve just been struggling for motivation and focus recently, which isn’t really an excuse at all. I’m sure that you've all had enough of hearing about my seemingly never-ending bout of injuries too, which hasn’t been helping with the mental side of things either. But I do finally think that things are on the mend. I still think that I’m a fair way from a full return to running, and even when I do eventually get back running, there’s going to be a long slow battle to regain anywhere near the fitness and stamina I did have. But my knees are definitely getting stronger, and I'm hoping I've finally turned a corner on that front. I’ve had a few weekends off the bike recently too, which seems to be helping on the injuries front, although the miles continue to mount up with the weekday commute, so I’ve not been totally lazy. I suppose this leaves one big unanswered question though. If I’ve not been running, and I’ve not been out playing bikes, then what have I been up to? Well, for a start, judging from the weather over the last month or so, I certainly don't feel like I’ve been missing anything. I don’t think that there’s been a weekend when it hasn’t rained since June, and I certainly haven’t missed getting wet, that’s for sure. What I have been doing, is actually enjoying doing some of the things that I’ve been neglecting over the past few years, while I’ve been busy adventuring. For a start the allotment looks better than it has for a long time and I’ve been really enjoying spending a peaceful couple of hours pottering around, chatting to my plot neighbours and generally enjoying the place on a weekend morning. Instead of rushing around trying to get things watered and under control before rushing off for yet another weekend away. The rains certainly helped with keeping things growing too. I don't think I've ever picked so many Runner and French beans, and there's still more to come. The greenhouse has been equally as productive too, and I’ve eaten more Cucumbers than I know what to do with, and given away even more. Likewise the Tomatoes are laden down with fruit, the Sweetcorn looks like it will be ready in the next couple of weeks, the Beetroot are the size of tennis balls and more then ready to start harvesting, and we’ve been scoffing Potatoes, baby Leeks, Carrots and Courgettes like it’s going out of fashion! Surprisingly, the rain seems to have kept a lot of the pests and bugs away too. The last few years the Broad and Runner beans have been massacred by Black Fly, but this year, I haven't seen any. Likewise, it's normally a battle keeping the Cabbage White Butterfly caterpillars from devouring all the cabbages, but again I've hardly seen any this year. It might have been a miserable few weeks of summer, but I suppose every cloud has a silver lining, and we need to be grateful for small miracles. I’ve been busy on other projects too, in fact the last few weekends have been spent on what will hopefully become a bit of a long term big project. I’m not going to reveal what that's going to be just yet, as there’s a lot of background work to be done first. But, this idea has been knocking around in the back of my mind for quite some time, but has never been even close to coming to life due to a lack of space. That all changed a couple of weeks ago when I managed to acquire another rental garage right outside our house. Now, you’ll note that I said another there, as I’ve already got a garage, but it’s crammed to bursting point with bikes, tools, DIY stuff, and assorted treasure, that’s far too useful to throw away and comes in handy on a regular basis. “The Emma” says that garages are for keeping cars in, but I note that she’s got a bike hanging up in mine, and when the BBQ comes out she doesn't seem to notice that it’s been stored in my garage all winter. Likewise when she wanted a bit of wood for something the storage garage provided, so it would appear that she’s wrong on that front! The plan for this new space isn’t to fill it full of treasure though, it’s to keep it as a workable space. Somewhere that I can actually do some work without getting wet. Obviously my little workshop’s dry, but it’s significantly limited on space. Even having made the best use of every spare inch I can, there’s not even room to swing a cat, let alone cut up an 8’x4’ sheet of plywood, or work on a car. To that end, whilst a drafty, dark, old, garage is dry, it’s not a very pleasant place to do any real work, so before I even think about embarking on a long term project, I’ve been busy making a usable space. And you know what, I’ve been having a great time doing it. Making and fixing stuff has always been the real passion in my life, and it’s something that I’ve not really done for the last few years due to the running and cycling taking over. Yes, the allotment has still been ongoing in the background, and I’ve had a couple of other little projects bubbling along, but this has been something to really get my hands stuck into and get the old grey matter working, and I’ve been loving it. I’ve forgotten about all my aches and pains, I’ve enjoyed a few weekends off the bike and I’ve made what will hopefully be a really useful space and lead to even bigger things over the next few months. And at the same time, I feel refreshed and reinvigorated and I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike next weekend for a bit of Audaxing. But before we go back to playing bikes, let's have a few pictures of what’s been occupying my time! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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