Exercise on the Thames

Two pics of other people taking outdoor exercise from last weeks Saturday MTB ride along the Thames to Walton. The start of a ladies race in the Molesey regatta and another of a guy on our towpath for the first time. He'd come down from Llanelli to Paddington by train with some pals that morning and they were riding back to Wales along the Thames, the Kennett & Avon canal and over the Severn Bridge. They hoped to do it in five days.

Weekend Rides 25-26th July 2009

Saturday 25th July
Horsham Nature Reserve. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00/Betchworth 9.45.
Mick Ayliffe (Ride Leader)

Sunday 26th July
West Horsley. Cheam Station South Side 9.00/Leatherhead Station 9.45. 45 miles.
Trevor Hughes (Ride Leader)

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, the comment will be published below automatically.

Steve

Cycling on the Cote d'Azur

Having spent last week in Nice it was interesting to see that the Tour de France was generally overlooked. I didn't go out of my way to find a bar to watch the race in, and couldn't have watched for long at €8 a beer, but you wouldn't have known the race was on!

Maybe it's down to the manifold distractions of a city by the sea, or that a french rider wasn't going to win again or the fact that, in this tourist honeypot, sport seems to be unimportant (the same could have been said at a trip to the Monaco GP about 10 years ago when we had to ask the owner of a empty bar to put the qualifying session on the tv for us).

What was great though was to see how Nice has re-imagined itself. A tram system has been put in through the heart of the city and, last week, a fleet of 900 hire bikes was launched to complement it. The Vélo Bleu bikes take their name and colour from Nice's famous and distinctive blue seats that line the Promenade des Anglais; the two initiatives together have taken a crowded, dirty, stressed and car centric city and given it back to the people.

Steve

Saturday night, Place Massena

Weekend Rides 18-19th July 2009

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)

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

Four Go Mad in Surrey

Jeffrey Hull and Jan and Graham Hewitt

Christina 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?

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.

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!

The lads leave St Ybard for Lubersac...
(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!!!!

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.

St Ybard Charade 2009

Sunday 4th July 2009

As Rob Potter left for home yesterday evening Chris Devereux arrived. He joined us for the excellent barbecued duck in the garden. There was then an interlude to watch the Tour de France highlights programme on TV. Then it was back to the table for cheese, more wine and a French tart and you all know how we like a French tart on a Saturday night. And so to bed.

Up betimes (about 8 o'clock that is) and the usual disagreements about whether we needed bread or not. Out on the treaders by 0945 for an 0900 prompt start. Denbo and Pelvic Paul decided to stay at home to devote the day to this evening's spag bol, which had to be the best we'd ever tasted just like all the previous years. The rest of us, we were seven, set off via Lubersac to St-Yrieix-la-Perche in the direction of Limoges to the north-west. The distance is about 25 miles and they must be about the most deserted 25 miles of pure French countryside around. Up and down all the time, but virtually habitation- and traffic-free, for today alas, very very hot. The expectation was that we would split and the back group would short-cut to Pompadour. In the end we kept in contact and all arrived at St Yrieix together about 11.30. Our usual bakery was open and had no objection to us setting up camp in the street outside using their furniture. Coffees, teas and exotic fruit tarts were purveyed by a charming middle-aged lady who was much taken by Norman's Time machine, she had an Orbea herself. Then it was out into the midday sun for the hilly ride through St-Segur-le-Chateau and on to Pompadour for salads and rose wine in the shade taken at our bistro next to the mis-labelled public loos for which the town is justly famous. Pompadour is also known as an equestrian centre and as we left we watched a horse race from the raised terrace. Not exactly Le Derby d'Epsom but notable for being the first time we had ever seen horses on the track there. The slopes after lunch were more gentle but still, by the time we approached Vigeois, Norman and the two Micks had had enough. So they missed out on the last 20kms and four hard climbs to Vigeois Lake and headed back along the top road for home just in time to watch Mark Cavendish win the day's tour stage on TV. The four big-hitters returned an hour later, plunged in the pool and were entertained by the last 5 hours of the chefs' spag bol preparations. The product of their disagreeable labours was enjoyed by all and washed down with copius amounts of red wine freshly decanted into old wine bottles from a plastic container of industrial dimensions. With very smelly cheeses to follow. It had been a good day en velo pour les Rosbifs.

Apologies for the absence of pictures. This is due to being on French dial-up only but the scientific team is working on the problem as we speak. Wondrous images may still come your way but Gawd know how! Night, night.

St Ybard Charade 2009

Saturday 3rd July 2009.

So here we are again up in the over-heated attic with a half-drunk pint of Paul’s St Ybard 2009 ale at our side trying to remember how we reported all this rubbish last year. In a flurry of expletives, Dave Elliot has just given up on trying to download today’s pictures. Apparently an essential piece of apparatus is not available to us despite explicit instructions having been given to our host to purchase one. Card reader is its name. There is a conflagration in the garden which indicates that the incineration of bits of duck is about to begin. Barbecue is its name. Ill-temper emanates from the kitchen where the first procedural disagreements of the year between our two chefs, Paul and Denbo, have just begun. It’s great to be back.

Today we had a welcome guest on our ride, Rob, dad of the lovely Emma Potter. He made the one hour drove north from his place in Laborie to arrive here about 9.30 just as we were finishing breakfast. This meal had required two trips into the village by eight blokes because the first expeditionary party had failed to bring back butter and jam to go on the bread. Stupid boys! The discipline imparted by Rob’s arrival resulted in our departure on today’s bike ride at the unearthly hour of 10.20; previously unheard of organisation.

Only Denbo stayed at base camp and he was charged with a shopping list for the local Supermarket. This was quite a momentous day as it signalled Paul Martin’s return to riding a road bike following his horrendous crash of September last year. In hot weather we climbed out of St Ybard and along the ridge before plunging down into the Vezere valley at Comborn and climbing out to Estivaux. Then it was along the road to Perpezac le Noir for beers and coffees and a rest. Another daunting 10 kms saw at us at the lake at Vigeios for an al fresco luncheon and a post-prandial kip in the shade of the trees. It had to be done; at 3 o’clock we returned up the climb out of the Vezere and back to St Ybard. We’d done 36 miles at a pedestrian pace in hot weather and we’d stayed together all day. Well done to Paul, Norman and Mick Sutton; we have seen too little of them this year so far. Dave and Martin availed themselves of the new hydrotherapy facility as soon as we got back. Rob returned south. It was good to have shared the day with him. Quote of the day? “Who should we appoint as wine connoisseur for this trip?” “Denbo? He’s always whining!”

Weekend Rides 4-5th July 2009 Test

An experiment to see if we can clarify who is going out on which ride at the weekend. There are a variety of ways of getting the info onto the blog, the best way would be to 'comment' and people can simply read the comments on the friday before the ride (I am normally in on a friday night to check the site).

Lets give it a try and see what happens, you can send any suggestions to me for improving the service. I think it will help to assess who can lead the rides, if we need a fast group as well, if there are any beginners out etc...

Steve

Saturday 4th July
Henfold Hill Lake. Organ & Dragon, Ewell at 9.00am.
Steve Edgar, Andrew Adams, Mark B

Sunday 5th July
MTB Ride. Cheam Station South Side 9.00am. 45 miles.
Rob Starey (Ride Leader)

Summer Lightning

A local legend

Wednesday Night Mountain Bike Ride took place a day early. A couple of guys I used to work with were going out to Leith Hill after work so I tagged along. We basically just mucked about for 2-3 hours riding what looked good and trying Leith Hill's 'Summer Lightning' trail. The trail was good but there is just so much variety on the hill that it never disappoints. A beer in The Star in Dorking rounded off a good night. Thanks for the guidance Neil and well done Jon.