37 Kilometres in 2 hours 24 minutes. Out of Andover on the National Cycle Route N246, through the Clatfords and then to Red Rice and onto Danebury Hill. At Danebury Hill we took the byway known down towards Broughton, this byway passed the Tumulus known as 'The Turret' and then on to Chattis Hill, passing Houghton Down and then over the A30 towards Broughton.Cut onto another Byway which can take you either to Broughton or turns east towards Houghton halfway along. As it had frozen over night the muddy byway was acting like a rice pudding - The Frozen Mud was acting as the skin on the muddy pudding, which you broke through into the sloppy mud below. Needless to say the Noddy Nic tyres found the going rather difficult, and the back of the bicyle again was squirreling around, the solution was to apply more speed to try and not break through the frozen crust as much.The numerous puddles where also frozen, and in some cases you could get across without the ice breaking up. The byways where rather cut up due to the passage of a lot of horses, as from the number of hoof prints it appears to be a rather popular route for those horse riding. Once into Houghton we turned North and at Stockbridge, cut onto the Test Way back to Chilbolton and on to home.
It was -1 degree centigrade when I started the ride, and the newly purchased Rapha Merino Hooded Top was put through it's paces. I wore a base layer and middle layer under the top, and it proved to warm enough for the days efforts. Unfortunately because it's a knitted top we had to be a little more precise in our bike handling, as to avoid tangling with the brambles which lined the byways.
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48.65 Kilometres in 3 hours. Cycled out of Andover through the Clatfords, as it was still just becoming light came across a couple of Roe Deer standing in a field adjacent to the climb up to the Fullerton Road Cross Roads. Once they had seen me they sprung across the road and through a gap and off into a small stand of trees, they where the first interesting wildlife sighting of the day. Met the Test Way at Chilbolton and cycled down it to Stockbridge then to Houghton and then at Bossington followed the line of the another Roman Road which cuts through the area. At Woodlease Corpse followed the bridleway down into Broughton, passing the Broughton Down on the left, cutting along the edge of Smith's Plantation, at this point the bridleway is met by the Monarchs Way and Clarendon Way, and descents down to the top of Broughton. The Descent was very chalky, and the bike handle itself much better than expected, the Nobby Nic's tires not loosing grip on the way down. Lucky the chalk was still dry, don't think it would have been the same result if it had been wet. Then through Broughton and out on the B Road which follows the Wallops Brook into Nether Wallop, crossed the A343 at Middle Wallop and on towards Grateley Station and back to Andover via Monxton, Abbots Ann and Anna valley. In Middle Wallop we came across another good wildlife spot, a Little Egret standing in the bourne which runs parallel to the road through village. A little further on i thought i saw leaves falling from one of the trees which over hung the road, on closer inspection the twirling leaves resolved into two blue tits fighting, so intent where they on battling there opponent they drifted down to the puddle which was spread across the road at that point. The lower bird, I have to assume the losing side at that moment, landed in the puddle with some surprise flew off into hedge followed still by the chirping victor of the encounter. Once out of Middle Wallop, and into the open countryside I saw a couple of Red Kites, cycling above the fields towards Grateley. Tried the sample High5 Sports Nutrition Zero Electrolyte & Magnesium Sports Drink tablet - in cherry and orange flavour. It proved to be rather palatable, and was a nice refreshing drink for the three hour ride out.
Looks like a very interesting day out - http://www.bespoked.cc/ In fact the exhibitors list is even more interesting....
Sunday 19th April 2015 will be the twelfth year of the Houghton Trail Event. The event is open to walkers, sprinters, joggers and cyclists. The courses are mainly off-road and not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs. All proceeds go to the All Saints Church, Houghton. Registration Link
30 Kilometres loop south of Andover dropping in and out of the Test Valley. So having set the sag on the front and rear shocks, we went for a ride in the Test Valley. We left Andover on the National Cycle Route and then cut along the Test Way until it intersected with the 'Bunny' a nice country lane with crosses the River Test and brings you into
Longstock by the local Church of St Mary. The up and out of the Test Valley via Church Lane which is a long ascent and brings you out across from the entrance of Danebury Hill. I then cycled back to Andover via Kentboro, Monxton and Abbot's Anne. Church Lane, had always been a bit of a bugbear with me, I would always use it to descend into the Test Valley but have never cycled up it. It starts at the bottom as a tarmac road, and then changes into a gravel track and then finally a rather rutted way down the other side of the long whaleback which runs along the west side of the Test valley. Well today was the day, and I managed to get up it with out stopping, the advantage of having a granny ring on the Cube Sting. With the recent purchases came a few samples from High5 Sports Nutrition, today I used their Advanced Sports Drink Mix (with electrolytes) citrus flavour - the shorter name is 'Energy Source'. I have to say I really didn't like the taste - rather artificial for my palette, but it did the job in proving energy as required during the cycle ride. The on going saga of cold toes continues, having read a few cycling forums, we went for tin foil around the toes, unfortunately it didn't appear to have any effect, I still finished the ride with very cold feet. Now having a full suspension mountain bike, would mean setting up the front fork and rear shock's sag. The manuals which came with the fork and shock where not very informative. Luckily the front suspension fork came with a sticker on one of the legs which gave the Air pressure in relation to the riders weight. The rear shock didn't come with anything as useful, the manual only giving vague percentage ranges for types of use. Having looked at a couple of websites, particularly liked this Video from Ibis cycles which explained it nicely. The calculations you can use are as follows: To find the fork sag: Sag ÷ total fork stroke × 100 = Your sag in % To find the rear shock sag: Un-sagged eye to eye length - sagged eye to eye length = Sag (mm), Sag ÷ total shock stroke × 100 = Your sag in % The Voodoo Hoodoo's fork had never been played with apart from the rebound adjustment. So I had to purchase a shock pump to go along with the new bike. I settled on a BETO Shock Pump, model SP-002AGN, which was well reviewed and rather cheap. So the Cube Sting had arrived with the front fork feeling rather soft, so we added the required amount of air for my weight and this stiffen it up nicely. I reduced the air in the rear shock to give it some more sag, so it would soak up the bumps a little better. I'm sure from this initial setup we will change it around more than once.
The worst of the day was having extremely cold feet, had to get off and stamp some life into them half way round. Was wearing a pair of very thick socks and some goretex booties under my shoes, which didn't seem to stop the cold. So completed the chilly 51.60 kilometres in 3 hours.
Tickets bought for the first event of the year - Heaven of the South in May, will be camping over so it will be a fun weekend.
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