We are going to continue with the experiment for six weeks. I have set up the blog now so that you can comment without signing-in to Google, just look at the blog and comment by hitting the comment link to the right of the 'Posted by...'. Type your comment in the box provided and then where it says 'Comment as: select profile', choose 'Name/URL' from the drop down menu, type in your name and then hit the 'Post comment' button. I have chosen the 'Moderate Comments' option which means that I need to check and pass each comment before I allow it to be published, I will update the site at the end of each day so keep it current.
I know it seems a bit complicated but once you have done it once or twice it will become second nature!
Steve
Saturday 18th July
MTB Walton on Thames. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00/Hampton Court Bridge 10.00.
Mick Ayliffe (Ride Leader)
or
Cyclosportive Ride No1. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00.
Caroline Harrison (Ride Leader)
Sunday 19th July
Sumners, Barns Green. Cheam Station South Side 9.00/Walton on the Hill Pond 9.45. 65 miles.
Trevor Hughes (Ride Leader)
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Saturday, 11 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Saturday July 11th 2009
And so, the final curtain. All slumber-heads this morning, a slow breakfast followed by a frenzy of bathroom wall building and three-man-mirror putting up. At 1100 the three most useless handy-men, Micks Ayliffe & Sutton with Norman sneaked away from Bedlam on their bikes to repeat the first day's ride down the Vezere gorge at Comborn. Before they got there they took a short diversion to pay their respects at the graves of Father and son Rabe and Andre Briar, three resistance fighters “fusillees par les barbarien Nazi’s en 1944.” Denbo and Mick had stumbled across the roadside memorials many years ago and we have visited them whenever we have visited St Ybard since then. Then it was on down to the river, past the luckiest garden gnomes in the world, where alongside the bridge we found an ideal property for sale. Norman agreed it would make an admirable acquisition but said it would not be acceptable to the Lady Wife because it was too far from Tesco’s. After the climb to Estivaux, taken at a much steadier pace than on day 1, we rode into Perpezac-le-Noir for drinks at the bar and then out onto the old main road, now deserted because of the nearby motorway. Then it was round to the Lac de Poncharel to meet up with the rest of the lads who had brought along a picnic which we all enjoyed before flopping out in the shade to rest and oggle or perspire in the strong sunlight. About three o’clock those of a competitive nature retired to the café for Crepes, Cornettos, coffee and beers while we watched two hours of the Tour on Tele. Another fine day awheel completed by a refined potter back to base camp and a plunge in the ice pool which is supposed to do you good. All that remains is to take Trevor down to the Auberge St Roche in the village for a thank you dinner tonight and then up and away at sparrow fart in the morning back to dear old blighty and you lot. Make the most of your last day and we hope to see you on Tuesday for the Bastille Day celebrations.
For those of you of a measuring disposition the week’s mileage was 297 and the total climbing was 22,780 feet, the average speed will not be divulged to protect the innocent.
And so, the final curtain. All slumber-heads this morning, a slow breakfast followed by a frenzy of bathroom wall building and three-man-mirror putting up. At 1100 the three most useless handy-men, Micks Ayliffe & Sutton with Norman sneaked away from Bedlam on their bikes to repeat the first day's ride down the Vezere gorge at Comborn. Before they got there they took a short diversion to pay their respects at the graves of Father and son Rabe and Andre Briar, three resistance fighters “fusillees par les barbarien Nazi’s en 1944.” Denbo and Mick had stumbled across the roadside memorials many years ago and we have visited them whenever we have visited St Ybard since then. Then it was on down to the river, past the luckiest garden gnomes in the world, where alongside the bridge we found an ideal property for sale. Norman agreed it would make an admirable acquisition but said it would not be acceptable to the Lady Wife because it was too far from Tesco’s. After the climb to Estivaux, taken at a much steadier pace than on day 1, we rode into Perpezac-le-Noir for drinks at the bar and then out onto the old main road, now deserted because of the nearby motorway. Then it was round to the Lac de Poncharel to meet up with the rest of the lads who had brought along a picnic which we all enjoyed before flopping out in the shade to rest and oggle or perspire in the strong sunlight. About three o’clock those of a competitive nature retired to the café for Crepes, Cornettos, coffee and beers while we watched two hours of the Tour on Tele. Another fine day awheel completed by a refined potter back to base camp and a plunge in the ice pool which is supposed to do you good. All that remains is to take Trevor down to the Auberge St Roche in the village for a thank you dinner tonight and then up and away at sparrow fart in the morning back to dear old blighty and you lot. Make the most of your last day and we hope to see you on Tuesday for the Bastille Day celebrations.
For those of you of a measuring disposition the week’s mileage was 297 and the total climbing was 22,780 feet, the average speed will not be divulged to protect the innocent.
Friday, 10 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Friday July 10th 2009
What an excellent bit of bike riding from David Millar yesterday in atrocious weather at the end of the Barcelona stage of the tour. It’s a hard sport and he gave such a good interview to ITV after the finish which was so similar to Andy Murray. Anyway today we were up on time and down to the baker’s where we heard of a Farmers Market in Uzerche tonight and we decided to eat down there this evening. But before that the bikes offered us another day en velo au Coeur du Limousin. We started off north on gentle lanes through Corbier and Benayes to Masseret where we climbed to the Tower. The hotel there is building a new extension. Trevor offered us a visit to the top of the tower but this was declined when we found it had no lift installed. From here the Garmin took over and led us on a merry chase through heavily wooded parkland but revealed the rear of the impressive Chateau des Greniers. The next stop was at Condats-sur-Genaveix for coffee where we got on the wrong side of the proprietor when he found us wandering through his living accommodation; we’d gone in the wrong door. Then it was further across country to reach Lonzac at 1.30pm where the restaurant was fully booked with a family party and the shop had just shut for lunch. Onwards, ever onwards to Borelive, where we found a fine place able to give us a lunch on the terrace with white beer, blond beer and red wine to slake our thirsts. After an hour or so we were out on the road again to Espartignac and along the old railway track into Uzerche to watch the end of the Andorra stage of the tour at The Bowler. A successful breakaway win by Frenchman Brice Feillu of Agritubel, the yellow jersey on the back of another breakaway participant from a French team, Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, and a superb final 2 kms from Alberto Contador all renewed our faith in the old values of the Tour de France. Bradley Wiggins is still up there too in 5th place. How much better it is to see the race on TV live instead of by way of the sanitized evening edited highlights.
So it was quite late by the time we returned to the ice cool pool for our evening freezing; Mick’s fingers were still deathly white 30 minutes after he got out. At 7.30 five of us drove into Uzerche for the Farmer’s Market which we found disappointingly low-key so we drove to the south of town to enjoy a pleasant evening meal outside. The working party who had remained home, Trevor, Martin and Paul, are still working as I finish typing this instalment of the blog at midnight. Mad or what?
What an excellent bit of bike riding from David Millar yesterday in atrocious weather at the end of the Barcelona stage of the tour. It’s a hard sport and he gave such a good interview to ITV after the finish which was so similar to Andy Murray. Anyway today we were up on time and down to the baker’s where we heard of a Farmers Market in Uzerche tonight and we decided to eat down there this evening. But before that the bikes offered us another day en velo au Coeur du Limousin. We started off north on gentle lanes through Corbier and Benayes to Masseret where we climbed to the Tower. The hotel there is building a new extension. Trevor offered us a visit to the top of the tower but this was declined when we found it had no lift installed. From here the Garmin took over and led us on a merry chase through heavily wooded parkland but revealed the rear of the impressive Chateau des Greniers. The next stop was at Condats-sur-Genaveix for coffee where we got on the wrong side of the proprietor when he found us wandering through his living accommodation; we’d gone in the wrong door. Then it was further across country to reach Lonzac at 1.30pm where the restaurant was fully booked with a family party and the shop had just shut for lunch. Onwards, ever onwards to Borelive, where we found a fine place able to give us a lunch on the terrace with white beer, blond beer and red wine to slake our thirsts. After an hour or so we were out on the road again to Espartignac and along the old railway track into Uzerche to watch the end of the Andorra stage of the tour at The Bowler. A successful breakaway win by Frenchman Brice Feillu of Agritubel, the yellow jersey on the back of another breakaway participant from a French team, Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, and a superb final 2 kms from Alberto Contador all renewed our faith in the old values of the Tour de France. Bradley Wiggins is still up there too in 5th place. How much better it is to see the race on TV live instead of by way of the sanitized evening edited highlights.
So it was quite late by the time we returned to the ice cool pool for our evening freezing; Mick’s fingers were still deathly white 30 minutes after he got out. At 7.30 five of us drove into Uzerche for the Farmer’s Market which we found disappointingly low-key so we drove to the south of town to enjoy a pleasant evening meal outside. The working party who had remained home, Trevor, Martin and Paul, are still working as I finish typing this instalment of the blog at midnight. Mad or what?
Thursday, 9 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Thursday July 9th 2009
It was another excellent ride today in good cycling weather. Six of us left about 1000 and took the hilly back lanes to the south to join D155 above Vigeios. Then we continued south on D3, ignoring the dive into the Vezere gorge at Comborn, to descend steeply into the old village of Voutezac where we just made the left hand turn onto the lateral road through Le Saillant to Allassac for lunch. A novel solution to the problem of getting pictures of this trip onto the blog, which had exercised the finest imported brains in St Ybard all this week, had been suggested by Professor Elliott last night. Unfortunately the silly old fool had failed to charge his camera and so his solution was not put to the full test. However just look at this and marvel.
What a load of posers! Le Vieux Pont de Saillant, Vezere.
It was another excellent ride today in good cycling weather. Six of us left about 1000 and took the hilly back lanes to the south to join D155 above Vigeios. Then we continued south on D3, ignoring the dive into the Vezere gorge at Comborn, to descend steeply into the old village of Voutezac where we just made the left hand turn onto the lateral road through Le Saillant to Allassac for lunch. A novel solution to the problem of getting pictures of this trip onto the blog, which had exercised the finest imported brains in St Ybard all this week, had been suggested by Professor Elliott last night. Unfortunately the silly old fool had failed to charge his camera and so his solution was not put to the full test. However just look at this and marvel.
What a load of posers! Le Vieux Pont de Saillant, Vezere.Allasac boasted a fine town square in full sunlight, a tasty sandwich bar and an accommodating cafe proprietor who let us eat our sarnies on his terrace if we bought a few beers. All was well with the world. Furthermore our host had sited his cafe next to a photographic shop which sold Mick a camera card reader that offered a more radical solution to the pics-onto-the-blog problem for 12 Euros. Alas, this was money down the drain and has failed to resolve our difficulty.
So it was that at 1 pm we wandered off into the heat of the Vezere afternoon with very full tummies. Up a goddam awful hill that went up for several kilometres at a fearful gradient and with a very poor surface. All enthusiasm for riding a bicycle drained away in an instant and at the top we sat and wondered how many cycling careers had been snuffed out by that bloody hill. Mortally damaged we limped along the plateau to Pezenec le Noir and down to Vigeois where we managed to persuade ourselves that it looked like rain and we'd best go straight back to St Ybard rather than continue to the lake to watch the tour on Tele. A load of bollocks really, it was that hill out of Allassac that was to blame. So we were home early, about 3 o'clock, it didn't rain (of course) and the rest of the afternoon has been spent finding the click on Dave's bike, in deep philosophical discussion of the troubles of the world and despairing of transferring images off Mick's camera onto this bloody computer. The Tour will have to wait until ITV4 tonight. We shortly will eat al fresco on chicken lips and hedgehog eyebrows. Denbo had wanted to eat out in town tonight but Paul's opinion prevailed when he stabbed Den in the belly with a carving knife. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Wednesday 8th July 2009
Another good day awheel; today the big one; Treignac and Suc-au-May for six of us. Denbo and Mick Sutton stayed at home. We were ready at 0930 but didn’t leave until 10.45 because we had to programme the Garmin with an inappropriate route. Norman’s saddle disintegrated at the start of the first hill but was quickly reconstructed. We had a strong coffee at Meilhards (we were not supposed to go there at all) and then we did a pleasant 4kms circuit of grit-filled lanes that delivered us back onto the same main road we had just left but now a full kilometre further from our destination. A minor anti Sat/Nav mutiny saw us sticking to the main road into Treignac and on to the Lac des Bariousses for lunch. Notable performance of the morning came from Paul Martin who rode away strongly on the climb before Treignac on only his second come-back ride on his Merckx road bike. After lunch the three big-hitters went onto the Lestards and Suc-au-May climb and the three old Joes returned along the lovely lane across the Vezere valley via Peyrissac and onto D3 at Chavagnac. Joy was unbounded as we bowled along through Eyburie, past the prison and down into Uzerche to watch the Perpignan stage finish at The Bowler ‘at – so-called for the entertainment provided for us at that establishment one afternoon many years ago by a wild member of the genus Rattus.
Don’t you get some magic moments with the French language in France? The Bowler bar is also a PMU horse racing gambling centre and if there are people in there playing the horses then horse racing has priority on the large TV screen – our TV screen!. Sure enough, when we arrived, a race from Longchamps held the attention of the clients. The patron explained that there were customers playing at the moment but he switched to the tour coverage for us as soon as the race was finished. There were 40kms left to race and a break of six had 2 minutes advantage. After about half an hour Mick diplomatically offered one of the gamblers to switch back to horse racing if he wanted to continue playing which the old chap sportingly declined.
“You understand, Sir, that the English have a special interest in your tour this year, we have a rider capable of winning stages.”
“Oh Yes, who is he?”
“Mark Cavendish”
“Yes that’s him. But he’s not English is he? He is from the Isle of Man!”
“Ah that’s only when he loses. When he wins he’s English!”
Anyway at the end of the stage Tomas Voekler, a Frenchman, survived the breakaway to win by a few seconds with Cavendish third. As I left the bar I shook the old gambler by the hand, “Felicitations!” The old chap smiled.
A few minutes later in a Supermarket a young guy was helping me to look for a card reader for my cameras pictures. He had called for the manager to see if they had one in stock but I was about to leave because the manager.had not turned up. “No, No,” said my helper restraining me from leaving. “Wait. He is coming, but he is an imbecile.”
The big-hitters came home about 6.30 having had an excellent afternoon defying gravity. We ate pork chops with apple sauce from the barbeque with new potatoes, beetroot and avocado salad and drank local red wine. It is a good life!
Another good day awheel; today the big one; Treignac and Suc-au-May for six of us. Denbo and Mick Sutton stayed at home. We were ready at 0930 but didn’t leave until 10.45 because we had to programme the Garmin with an inappropriate route. Norman’s saddle disintegrated at the start of the first hill but was quickly reconstructed. We had a strong coffee at Meilhards (we were not supposed to go there at all) and then we did a pleasant 4kms circuit of grit-filled lanes that delivered us back onto the same main road we had just left but now a full kilometre further from our destination. A minor anti Sat/Nav mutiny saw us sticking to the main road into Treignac and on to the Lac des Bariousses for lunch. Notable performance of the morning came from Paul Martin who rode away strongly on the climb before Treignac on only his second come-back ride on his Merckx road bike. After lunch the three big-hitters went onto the Lestards and Suc-au-May climb and the three old Joes returned along the lovely lane across the Vezere valley via Peyrissac and onto D3 at Chavagnac. Joy was unbounded as we bowled along through Eyburie, past the prison and down into Uzerche to watch the Perpignan stage finish at The Bowler ‘at – so-called for the entertainment provided for us at that establishment one afternoon many years ago by a wild member of the genus Rattus.
Don’t you get some magic moments with the French language in France? The Bowler bar is also a PMU horse racing gambling centre and if there are people in there playing the horses then horse racing has priority on the large TV screen – our TV screen!. Sure enough, when we arrived, a race from Longchamps held the attention of the clients. The patron explained that there were customers playing at the moment but he switched to the tour coverage for us as soon as the race was finished. There were 40kms left to race and a break of six had 2 minutes advantage. After about half an hour Mick diplomatically offered one of the gamblers to switch back to horse racing if he wanted to continue playing which the old chap sportingly declined.
“You understand, Sir, that the English have a special interest in your tour this year, we have a rider capable of winning stages.”
“Oh Yes, who is he?”
“Mark Cavendish”
“Yes that’s him. But he’s not English is he? He is from the Isle of Man!”
“Ah that’s only when he loses. When he wins he’s English!”
Anyway at the end of the stage Tomas Voekler, a Frenchman, survived the breakaway to win by a few seconds with Cavendish third. As I left the bar I shook the old gambler by the hand, “Felicitations!” The old chap smiled.
A few minutes later in a Supermarket a young guy was helping me to look for a card reader for my cameras pictures. He had called for the manager to see if they had one in stock but I was about to leave because the manager.had not turned up. “No, No,” said my helper restraining me from leaving. “Wait. He is coming, but he is an imbecile.”
The big-hitters came home about 6.30 having had an excellent afternoon defying gravity. We ate pork chops with apple sauce from the barbeque with new potatoes, beetroot and avocado salad and drank local red wine. It is a good life!
Four Go Mad in Surrey
Jeffrey Hull and Jan and Graham HewittChristina Treacher had a go at the Downs Link on Sunday and talked three friends into going along. Starting at Bramley and turning around at Southwater after a stop, the ride was a great success. Where next?
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Tuesday 7th July 2009
Let’s finish off yesterday first. What a superb last hour’s racing in the Tour de France stage to La Grande Motte. We watched the ITV4 transmission in the evening between the courses of another excellent evening meal prepared by Paul and Denbo. The difficult winds of the Camargue were beautifully exploited by the Columbia-Highroad team who had moved to the front to prepare the finish for Mark Cavendish. An opportunist break developed with most of the Columbia team in it and (surprise, surprise) yellow jersey Cancellara and Lance Armstrong. There followed a most exhilarating chase that resulted in Cav winning the sprint from a group of 25 or so who had a lead of 42 seconds. Marvellous racing and we hope the girls of our 4-up team were watching because the techniques of riding hard in a group in strong winds were superbly demonstrated here and they will be also today in the TTT stage at Montpellier. I suppose you all knew that already but if you didn’t see it then try to get to a recording.
Was it the excitement of the TV that led to excessive consumption and noisy hilarity in the garden until late into the night? Let’s be generous and suppose so. Today was to have been a hard day up to Treignac and Suc-au-May, the highest peak in the area. Alas we arose to a steady drizzle and the lady at the bakers reported that the Meteo suggested it would rain on and off all day. Another cheerful customer gave his opinion, with a grin, that this wet weather would last until Christmas! That was enough for us. You’ve got to be adaptable haven’t you? The morning was devoted to manual labour around the house, finishing off the staircase, demolishing a wooden case and chopping wood. Lunch was reserved at the Espartignac restaurant, one of our favourites. We drove over there in the cars which was just as well as it rained on the way. Soup, turkey gizzard salad, pork chops and beans, extensive cheese board, choice of five desserts, coffee, bread and wine aplenty, all for 11 Euros. Probably the best thing Rob Starey ever did in his life, finding that restaurant at Espartignac.
The weather cleared up as we came out into the afternoon and managed to save Paul from being kidnapped by the hairdresser who has premises under the restaurant. Here we split. One car went to the Super-U for shopping and the rest went to the Bowler Hat where they persuaded the patron to turn off the horse racing in favour of the Team Time Trial. Another super afternoon’s bike racing unspoiled by the rain that fell occasionally on Uzerche High Street outside and unspoiled by the beer that was imbibed. A fantastic cliff-hanger finish with Armstrong and Cancellara ending the day equal on time. Home to postcard writing, carpentry, more tele and good crack. See you tomorrow. Pray for good weather please.
Let’s finish off yesterday first. What a superb last hour’s racing in the Tour de France stage to La Grande Motte. We watched the ITV4 transmission in the evening between the courses of another excellent evening meal prepared by Paul and Denbo. The difficult winds of the Camargue were beautifully exploited by the Columbia-Highroad team who had moved to the front to prepare the finish for Mark Cavendish. An opportunist break developed with most of the Columbia team in it and (surprise, surprise) yellow jersey Cancellara and Lance Armstrong. There followed a most exhilarating chase that resulted in Cav winning the sprint from a group of 25 or so who had a lead of 42 seconds. Marvellous racing and we hope the girls of our 4-up team were watching because the techniques of riding hard in a group in strong winds were superbly demonstrated here and they will be also today in the TTT stage at Montpellier. I suppose you all knew that already but if you didn’t see it then try to get to a recording.
Was it the excitement of the TV that led to excessive consumption and noisy hilarity in the garden until late into the night? Let’s be generous and suppose so. Today was to have been a hard day up to Treignac and Suc-au-May, the highest peak in the area. Alas we arose to a steady drizzle and the lady at the bakers reported that the Meteo suggested it would rain on and off all day. Another cheerful customer gave his opinion, with a grin, that this wet weather would last until Christmas! That was enough for us. You’ve got to be adaptable haven’t you? The morning was devoted to manual labour around the house, finishing off the staircase, demolishing a wooden case and chopping wood. Lunch was reserved at the Espartignac restaurant, one of our favourites. We drove over there in the cars which was just as well as it rained on the way. Soup, turkey gizzard salad, pork chops and beans, extensive cheese board, choice of five desserts, coffee, bread and wine aplenty, all for 11 Euros. Probably the best thing Rob Starey ever did in his life, finding that restaurant at Espartignac.
The weather cleared up as we came out into the afternoon and managed to save Paul from being kidnapped by the hairdresser who has premises under the restaurant. Here we split. One car went to the Super-U for shopping and the rest went to the Bowler Hat where they persuaded the patron to turn off the horse racing in favour of the Team Time Trial. Another super afternoon’s bike racing unspoiled by the rain that fell occasionally on Uzerche High Street outside and unspoiled by the beer that was imbibed. A fantastic cliff-hanger finish with Armstrong and Cancellara ending the day equal on time. Home to postcard writing, carpentry, more tele and good crack. See you tomorrow. Pray for good weather please.
Monday, 6 July 2009
St Ybard Charade 2009
Monday 5th July 2009.
Chris Devereux left at dawn to return to his southern estate to do battle with the plumber. Good chap, he didn’t wake any of us up. Bowel movements started about 7o’clock as their synchronisation among eight young healthy athletes living in the same accommodation has proved to be a problem. Breakfast was even more leisurely than usual as Trevor was still struggling at the computer upstairs with the Garmin sat/nav system that was to govern our day. Pelvic Paul, the club’s most multiply fractured man, made an entrance in a most fantastical outfit of brilliant white emblazoned boldly front and back with “Italia” in blue, but in a Chinese script. This blended beautifully with his tightly waved silver hair. The Garmin started by taking us up to Condat-sur-Geneveix but after half an hour we realized that the route it had chosen for us had just taken all the highest points in the area and joined them together with the steepest and narrowest of roads. Some dissent was heard from the ranks and when at Masseret we were turned in the wrong direction to marvel at the medieval tower the gulf between the beauty of Paul’s fine raiment and his ugly mood was exposed, as he spat at Trevor, “Just make the f’ing thing get me to Lubersac by the quickest and flattest road for God’s sake!” Thus it was that we arrived in Lubersac for lunch at 12.30 where we met up with Denis who had driven over to meet us. We English crocks dined outside on French croques and baguettes under awnings which protected us from the occasional rain drops that kept falling on our heads. These raindrops became more numerous and closer together as we came to leave. Trevor turned downhill to continue the Garmin’s folklorique route while the rest of us plunged off uphill into the deluge and splashed off back home with what speed we could muster. Half an hour later four of us crashed into the yard of Trev’s place, chilly and wet but somewhat exhilarated at the end of 36 very varied miles. Trev and Mick Sutton stayed at the cafe in Lubersac until the rain stopped before coming home while Denbo and Paul completed their commissariat duties with a visit to the Supermarket. Now we are all back here, clean dry and looking very smart waiting for the next culinary creation to hit our taste buds. We may have a break-through on the pictures front. It looks as though two images may have been successfully dispatched to Stevey Baby in Pixhams Lane. The suspense of awaiting the outcome is almost as great as waiting for the result of today’s tour stage!
Ta-da!
Chris Devereux left at dawn to return to his southern estate to do battle with the plumber. Good chap, he didn’t wake any of us up. Bowel movements started about 7o’clock as their synchronisation among eight young healthy athletes living in the same accommodation has proved to be a problem. Breakfast was even more leisurely than usual as Trevor was still struggling at the computer upstairs with the Garmin sat/nav system that was to govern our day. Pelvic Paul, the club’s most multiply fractured man, made an entrance in a most fantastical outfit of brilliant white emblazoned boldly front and back with “Italia” in blue, but in a Chinese script. This blended beautifully with his tightly waved silver hair. The Garmin started by taking us up to Condat-sur-Geneveix but after half an hour we realized that the route it had chosen for us had just taken all the highest points in the area and joined them together with the steepest and narrowest of roads. Some dissent was heard from the ranks and when at Masseret we were turned in the wrong direction to marvel at the medieval tower the gulf between the beauty of Paul’s fine raiment and his ugly mood was exposed, as he spat at Trevor, “Just make the f’ing thing get me to Lubersac by the quickest and flattest road for God’s sake!” Thus it was that we arrived in Lubersac for lunch at 12.30 where we met up with Denis who had driven over to meet us. We English crocks dined outside on French croques and baguettes under awnings which protected us from the occasional rain drops that kept falling on our heads. These raindrops became more numerous and closer together as we came to leave. Trevor turned downhill to continue the Garmin’s folklorique route while the rest of us plunged off uphill into the deluge and splashed off back home with what speed we could muster. Half an hour later four of us crashed into the yard of Trev’s place, chilly and wet but somewhat exhilarated at the end of 36 very varied miles. Trev and Mick Sutton stayed at the cafe in Lubersac until the rain stopped before coming home while Denbo and Paul completed their commissariat duties with a visit to the Supermarket. Now we are all back here, clean dry and looking very smart waiting for the next culinary creation to hit our taste buds. We may have a break-through on the pictures front. It looks as though two images may have been successfully dispatched to Stevey Baby in Pixhams Lane. The suspense of awaiting the outcome is almost as great as waiting for the result of today’s tour stage!
Ta-da!The lads leave St Ybard for Lubersac...
(Forget the comments below - Steve)
(Forget the comments below - Steve)
Strange attachments in my inbox
These have been sent from France, in the absence of captions I invite you to supply your own...
Caption to follow...
Believe it or not, Team Columbia do the same after a ride!!!!
Caption to follow...
Believe it or not, Team Columbia do the same after a ride!!!!Weekend Rides 11-12th July 2009
The results for the first attempt at using the blog to sort out who was doing which weekend run was mixed. A few who already had accounts left comments as to what they were doing and why they couldn't make it. Some opened a Google account to allow them to comment and did so. Some managed to comment without setting up a google account and one commented by email.
I have set up the blog now do that you can comment without signing-in to Google, just look at the blog and comment by hitting the comment link to the right of the 'Posted by...'. Type your comment in the box provided and then where it says 'Comment as: select profile', choose 'Name/URL' from the drop down menu, type in your name and then hit the 'Post comment' button. I have chosen the 'Moderate Comments' option which means that I need to check and pass each comment before I allow it to be published, I will update the site at the end of each day so keep it current.
I know it seems a bit complicated but once you have done it once or twice it will become second nature!
Steve
Saturday 11th July
Cyclosportive Ride No3. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00.
Caroline Harrison (Ride Leader)
or
Club run to Clandon. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00.
Barry Gregory (Ride Leader)
Sunday 12th July
Westerham. Cheam Station South Side 9.00/Merstham Station 9.45. 50 miles.
Bob Green (Ride Leader)
Tuesday 14th July
Bastille Day Ride. Ellens Green 8.30 prompt please. 75 miles, lunch at the Hollist Arms Lodsworth 13.30.
Mick Ayliffe (Ride Leader), Steve Edgar
Mick & Sheila's for drinks 19.00.
I have set up the blog now do that you can comment without signing-in to Google, just look at the blog and comment by hitting the comment link to the right of the 'Posted by...'. Type your comment in the box provided and then where it says 'Comment as: select profile', choose 'Name/URL' from the drop down menu, type in your name and then hit the 'Post comment' button. I have chosen the 'Moderate Comments' option which means that I need to check and pass each comment before I allow it to be published, I will update the site at the end of each day so keep it current.
I know it seems a bit complicated but once you have done it once or twice it will become second nature!
Steve
Saturday 11th July
Cyclosportive Ride No3. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00.
Caroline Harrison (Ride Leader)
or
Club run to Clandon. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00.
Barry Gregory (Ride Leader)
Sunday 12th July
Westerham. Cheam Station South Side 9.00/Merstham Station 9.45. 50 miles.
Bob Green (Ride Leader)
Tuesday 14th July
Bastille Day Ride. Ellens Green 8.30 prompt please. 75 miles, lunch at the Hollist Arms Lodsworth 13.30.
Mick Ayliffe (Ride Leader), Steve Edgar
Mick & Sheila's for drinks 19.00.
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