71 Kilometres in 4 hours, felt very heavy going, no surprise after a late night watching the Highline Arts at Glastonbury (Storming set by Metallica) on the BBC. So a sluggish start out to Grately Station and then onto the Port Way which follows the route of an old Roman Road. It was banded on one side by the Railway and the other mostly MOD land, but it proved to be an very enjoyable start to my ride with meadows on either side of the track and Skylarks singing, this soon changed character to a small wooded single track which alternated with wider pieces of bridleway all the way to Porton Down, then on to Pitton, East Grimsted and the Cycle Byway which at that point was also National Cycle Route N24 through West and East Dean, Lockerley and turned north at Moffisfont and into a headwind which was present all the way home to Andover through Houghton, Longstock and the Clatfords.
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Lovely cycle ride in the long shadows of a summers evening, 27 Kilometres in 1 hour 30 Minutes enough Said. Out of Andover on the N246 Cycle Route south through the Clatfords, at the Fullerton cross roads, turned towards Red Rice and then took the Bridleway to KentBoro, from there to Grateley and then back to Andover through Monxton and Abbots Ann. 82 kilometres in 5 hours, up very early and didn't see anyone on the roads until we where half way round the loop. Legs proved to be rather heavy, not quite recovered from the previous days ride. So left Andover on the N246 national cycle route and the went west through Anna Valley, Abbots Ann, Monxton, to Grately where we turn north to pass under the A303 at Quarley. On to the Chutes and after a long ascent onto the Chute Causeway, to Oxenwood, where the descent began then a straight forward route back to Chilbolton via the various Bournes and Longparish. Due to the early hour of our departure saw alot of wildlife mainly rabbits but a fallow deer on the road at Quarley was the highlight.
45 Kilometres in just under 3 hours, a long loop south of Andover which covered some of the Test Valley Way. Went out via Anna Valley, Abbots Ann, Monxton, Grately, Nether Wallop, furtherest point was Broughton, back via Houghton, Longstock, Fullerton and the Clatfords. The weather was great sunny but not to hot and a gentle breeze which cooled you as cycled along. Got a slow puncture between Nether Wallop and Broughton, a very tough thorn had gone thought the back tyre. Of the three punctures I have had since starting to ride, one was a pinch flat the other two where thorns. I hear that the South Downs Way is rather hard on tyres/inner tubes - looking at peoples blogs of their experiences of the traverse, you either get loads of punctures or are lucky and get none. Lucky we always now travel with a spare inner tube and puncture kit so we were on our way quickly enough. Considering getting some tougher tyres or kelvar bands which you put into the tyres to add protection, at the cost of weight.... Stopped at the Bridge over the Test River at Longstock the road is called 'The Bunny' and connects the Longstock Road with the Romsey Road north of Stockbridge, it also allows access to the Test Way. The Big News of the day was by British Heart Foundation South Downs Way Challenge Entry Number arrived amongst the information pack for the event. So it was become rather real now with only four weeks to do. better get the miles in!!!!!
Forty Miles in just under Four Hours, For the first half of the ride I had a nice steady headwind to contend with, but once we turned the corner at Oxenwood the wind assisted in pushing us along. From the top of the ridge at Conholt Park to Clanville a descent of three miles we did not have to pedal once. So you win some, you loose some.
The route was nothing new just the used the N246 Sustrans National Cycle Route out of Andover, then through Chilbolton, Longparish, Hurstbourne Priors, Hurstbourne Tarrant and up to Oxenwood, where we turned back towards Andover, cycled along the Chute Causeway to Conholt where I stopped for a break. While I was stopped, I observed i was being watched from the adjoining cereal field by a pair of tall ears which belonged to a hare. Once the hare realised it had been spotted, he popped his head up for a look see and then was off like a rocket further into the high cover that the cereal crop provided. The brakes behaved very well and where well bedded in with no yowling like a monkey which had been a symptom of the issues observed previously. Bleeding brakes indeed - during my last ride out, noticed the back brake was binding and causing a lot of drag. Returned home and investigated the issue, only one of the Brake Pistons was working the other appeared to be seized up, as the brakes have had no maintenance since the bike was purchased over a year ago and the bike had done 2000 kilometres - i decided that the bike needed some overdue maintenance.
So I ordered two sets of new Sintered Brake Pads from UberBike Components and a Brake Bleed kit from Epic Bleed Solutions. Both arrived very quickly and I was in a position to attempt to resolve the issues with the back brake. So after some investigation on the web, found these very handy Articles - PinkBike Tech Tuesday - Silence That Squeaky Disc Brake and a Mtbr Forum thread which covered how to try and unstick the piston on a Tektro Brake system. The Instructions which came with the Bleed kit were comprehensive and easy to follow. The funny thing with the Tektro Brakes that the Voodoo Hoodoo came with, have the bleed port on the side of the reservoir, so I had to take the brake assembly off the handlebar and rotate if by 90 degrees to ensure the port was upright and parallel with the ground. I bleed the brakes as per the instructions three times, on the first two attempts the brakes felt very spongy and had no braking power when tested. On the third attempt the action was nice and stiff and braking was good but it did not resolve the stuck piston, as the braking was still coming from the single working piston. Following the advice in the Mtbr forum thread I removed the brake pads and then slowly pumped the brake lever, while holding the working piston back in place, this caused the stuck piston to extend a bit, I then cleaned around it with a qtip and alcohol, and repeated until it was out clean. I put a couple of drops of mineral oil on the piston sides, and pushed it back in and squeezed the brake lever again, I had to repeat the process several times until they both come out roughly even, once they were clean and lubed and working properly I pushed them both back in and reinstall the brake pads. So now to bed the new Sintered Brake Pads in. Five hours in the saddle, out of Andover on the south leg of the national cycle route N246. A long loop around to Hurstbourne Tarrant via Fullerton, Chilbolton Common, Longparish, Hurstbourne Priors. At Hurstbourne Tarrant followed the N246 north up to Faccombe, and finally Walbury Hill. The WayFarers Walk cuts across the road just below Walbury Hill and is a very good bridleway if a little flinty at this point. We followed the Way across the Hill and stopped to admire the view north from Combe Gibbet. Rather then cutting back down into the Combe Valley as we had last week. We deciced to follow the bridleway which runs along the top of the Down from Walbury hill in the east to Botley Down at the west end of the ridgeline. While the Test Way follows the bridleway the surface is rather good, but once the Test Way turns south at Wigmoreash Pond, things got very very muddy. The Bridleway was terribly rutted, with loads of standing water in the form of muddy puddles, which was a bit of a surprise as we where on top of the ridge line. The first part was a nice clay mud, which gave way to a lighter chalky mud, which was very very sloppy - and not doubt will prove to be a fine grinding paste on all the bikes moving parts. The ruts in places where that deep and numerous, rather then tempting fate with a pedal strike, I hobby-horsed along, The bridleway eventually met Woodcote Road and I decided to give the rest of the bridleway a miss as it looked no better then what I had just ridden. We then cut back south towards Fosbury and found another bridleway which cut the corner to Oxenwood. This proved to have been cut up by the passage of horses, and the mud was of a dark black colour, not as sloppy as the mud we have already ridden through. Unfortunately my choice of back tire - continental race king really couldn't cope with the mud - no surprise as it is a tyre designed for hardpack, and we spent most our time fish tailing down the muddy trails. From Oxenwood, we joined the Chute Causeway and rode east to Conholt Park, and then descended south through Clanville and Weyhill, Fyfield, around Thruxton Circuit, under the A303 at Quarley and then back to Andover through Monxton, Abbots Ann and Anna Valley. Before the Smartphone battery failed again we have covered 72 Kilometres in 4 hours 47 minutes. Elevation 799 metres. With the use of Distance Tracker Website total distance was 82.35 Kilometres. North Wessex Downs - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - The North Wessex Downs is a unique and spectacular landscape that includes tranquil open downland, ancient woodland and chalk streams in the centre of southern England.
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January 2023
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