I found a bike today......

Well, it was a couple of weeks ago, actually. I was on the ride home from work, just passing Elthorne Leisure Centre, en route to the G.U Canal near Hanwell when I saw an abandoned Dawes Kalahari. I mean, you just can't do that to a Dawes!

I couldn't take it with me. For a start the chain was off and the back wheel mangled.....so, what to do?

I moved it into the bike park area of the Leisure Centre and told the staff I would bring the car back the following day to rescue the unrideable heap outside! 

Project....methinks

......progress will be slow....

Talking of which.......here is a great short film by a talented film maker called Sam Bailey. 

Love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2S6VwfHwpI

Stag morning & a windswept return - Summer commute ride

Hanworth Park to Ealing & back via Hampton, Kingston, Richmond, Isleworth 
& Brentford 

Distance 35 Miles 

The daily commute ride can get a little predictable though never dull. When time is limited and the destination always the same there isn't much room for variety of routes, but at the this time of year the longer daylight hours and decent weather make it easier to work in some variations.  

I hadn't cycled through Bushy Park since we moved from East Molesey in 1999 though my 'Summer' route took me around it on the busier main road from Hampton to Kingston-Upon-Thames. 

So, a few weeks ago I tried out a route through the park from West (Hampton) to East (Kingston Bridge) and what I found was a lovely (and largely traffic free) new route on good smooth surfaced roads/cycle paths across the parks 2.5 km span.  

Rush hour on the path through Bushy Park

It is possible to traverse the Park from a number of directions without encountering traffic, although there is a road route for cars from North to South. 

Interestingly, drivers stick rigidly to the 20 mph speed limit here making my brief crossing of this road very easy and relaxed. There are warning signs about the Park's resident Deer population but I don't understand why drivers would keep their speed down here and yet so often ignore 20 limits in residential areas where children often walk to and from school! It reminds me of the way drivers always slow down to pass a horse and rider and yet often zoom past cyclists dangerously close! It seems that when in our cars we hold animals in higher regard than another human being.   

I had to cycle close to these guys, easing up on the speed a little but they were unconcerned by my presence unlike the Does further away who were much more guarded with their new Fauns.

My return journey was a on a more established route down the Grand Union Canal from Hanwell  to Brentford. There are changes taking place at Brentford lock: the dismantling of the old covered loading area and the building of waterside apartments. The tow path still goes under 

the giant shed roof but for how much longer?  

The old.....being dismantled

making way for the new......

After the ride across Syon Park and down Thameside through Richmond, the turn on the corner in Petersham allows an escape from traffic across leafy Ham Common. 

Green avenue - Ham Common

Despite riding into a strong South westerly it was a lovely evening to be skirting the Thames. 

Thames near Kingston

THE ALAN FURLEY MEMORIAL AUDAX 'DOWN THE UPS' RIDE - 8th June

Beech Hill - Hermitage & back - West Berkshire Audax 

111km - 5hrs 42 mins

My first Audax ride was an annual ride organised by Reading C.T.C.

Interesting mix of ages on this one and as ever you get talking to fellow riders along the way.

A lovely sunny day with a cool breeze and some very pretty villages on the route.

Crossing the River Kennet

Participants passing Bradfield College
The chap in the foreground in red and yellow made it round more less alongside me and it was only when I got back to  Hall in Beech Hill that he told me he was 73 years old. Not only that, this was his 9th Audax ride this year!! If I can do this when I am 73 I'll be more than happy!

Rolling Berkshire landscape

Chievely Church

School boy sign prank near Snelsmore

View near Snelsmore

Winterbourne Stream - tempting my hot feet!

Bagnor

View of White Hill - near Kingsclere

Ecchinswell

Aldermaston Village 

Beech Hill Village Hall - Start & Finish

The Route

Thrills, Spills and a Bee in the Bonnet

First Club ride - Farnborough to Brook (Haslemere) and back
Ride out with ten members of the Farnborough & Camberley CC 

55.26 miles     
3hrs 34.09    Av. 15.5mph

No pics and an incomplete GPS journey but I thought I'd include this as it was my first ever 'club' ride, tagging along with FCCC

Riding with a group of ten at a brisk pace this was a challenging but rewarding ride through some lovely Hampshire & Surrey countryside. 

The ride down was straightforward and the half hour lunch stop with Chocolate Brownie and coffee seemed to do the trick nicely! 

The return went smoothly until, on a climb near Elstead I managed to get a Bee inside my helmet. I bet the guys thought I'd just stopped for a breather on the way up! Managed to stop and allow the Bee to escape without being stung. Phew...it happens!

Unfortunately, on the way down the other side of the hill one of the group hit a pot hole and came off at speed. Thankfully only cuts and bruises but he'd managed to sheer-off his carbon-fibre handlebars and so when all was deemed OK we fixed up a taxi pick up for him and the bike. The club guys told me this was a rare occurrence but it gave me a little more caution on the remaining down-hills!

Correction -  there was one pic. Martin took this on the cake stop in Brook. Yours truly in the foreground looking slightly worse for wear! 

Ride out route;
http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/287435129

Windblown West of Winchester - Evening ride 11th May 2013

Winchester -  Crawley (Hants) - King's Somborne - Farley Mount - St Cross 


Dist 23.85m
Tm 1, 52.10

Had two and a half hours to kill in Winchester while my son played a concert with the Alton College Big Band in Winchester's Great Hall. This was a black tie occasion for civic dignitaries to which parents of performers weren't invited! So......how to kill some time in and around Winchester......now let me think??!!

Had time to do a circuit which was the same as the route to and from the 'water station' at King's Somborne for last September's Winchester Mass ride.

Slightly off course around Littleton but put back on course by a local dog walker. Going out to King's Somborne was hard work into a blustery south westerly but between light showers there was glorious evening sunshine and some impressive cloud formations.

NCN Route 23, freshly surfaced near St Cross - if only they were all like this!

St Catherine's Hill from NCNR 23

Littleton Church  - with no tower

Crawley

Shower clouds - near King's Somborne

Rainbow over King's Somborne

Showers ahead - road to Farley Mount

Weird Clouds over Farley Mount

Tri-colour landscape

  

Silver & Gold -  on the way up

Sun sinking behind me

Looking North from the Mount

back in town - Winchester gothic

The Great Hall

Steps up to the hall

Roman Spring Ride - 20th April 2013

Phoenix Green To Calleva & back via Stratfield Saye & Bramley

Miles 25.1
Time  1.34
Av. Speed  16mph


Not quite Rome itself, more's the pity, but a lovely ride out to one of the Empire's far flung outposts, the Roman walled town of Calleva (Silchester, Hampshire)

Not much here to see except the extensive wall and the remains of an amphitheatre nearby but it's a nice spot, not far from Pamber Heath. The route is along quiet country lanes along the northern perimeter of the county.

On a day like this the site attracts a few tourists and ramblers but generally the surrounding lanes are quiet and it's a joy to head downhill towards Bramley.

Such a bright sunny day. Wall to wall blue skies. Lovely.

Clear skies & clear roads

Silchester Church &  Roman Wall

Roman town wall - Calleva

Hidden dip -  I would have taken a dip if I'd not been looking  where  I was going!
Oliver's Lane - Flooded  since Feb! 

Route

Timebends #3 - Thames Loop - commute ride November 2012

Some pics from my regular commute ride which I have been doing 5 days a week since last November.

Faced with a cycle journey to work each day, the challenge is to find routes that vary slightly within the time available either side of the working day. That's easier when the days are longer and warmer but its always good to change things and try to find more attractive roads or tracks.

Following the Thames gives you plenty to look and it often takes you away from the cut and thrust of the rush hour traffic.

Riverside Bike Park - Essential transport for Bargees

The long track from Ham House to The German School in Petersham

Ham House