Though I may have a somewhat biased perspective here, that was a pretty good go for a first organised ride. Certainly there were points to learn from- as I wasn't sure about how quickly we'd be going, I didn't have a halfway stop planned out fully- Godalming would have been about halfway, there are a few good options there, but we'd already stopped at Ripley & at that point (Godalming) we all still felt good to go. The worst section of climbing en route is the few miles either side of Haslemere, so I didn't think it was a good idea to tackle that on a full stomach. But Charlie in particular was running out of steam by the time we got to Petersfield just before two, so we had a late lunch stop there. Relative lack of speed entirely understandable considering two of us were finding their way back to fitness. Our rather-later-than-I-was-thinking arrival on the seafront led me to abandon my intended extention to get this month's imperial century challenge ride out of the way (time enough for that, not least as I have a week off coming up). And on what turned out to be an excellent day for a ride (it tried to rain a couple of times, but nothing more, at times there seemed to be this strange orange thing in the sky, and there was this little-experienced phenomenon known as a tailwind. Yes, honest...), who cares?
It was a somewhat early start again, as I opted to get the 5am Southern service into Victoria- partly to make sure I wasn't late at HPC for the 7.30 scheduled departure time, the faster SWT one into Waterloo would be cutting it a bit fine, and partly because it was nearly half the SWT fare. Mr Walnuts was (true to form) the last to appear, just after 7.30 (tsk tsk
), and the four of us made our way south west. Davy suffered our first and only fairy visit on Putney Bridge, before we deviated from our planned route to follow Geoffrey's suggestions on getting to Esher- through the centre of Richmond Park rather than the southern perimeter, then Ham, Teddington, through Bushy Park and past Hampton Court. That all worked out very well, and avoided the dubious charms of the Kingston one-way system.
On we went to Cobham, Geoffrey took his leave there before the rest of us carried on down Plough Lane to Ockham and then Ripley. The need for tea was being felt by this point, so we stopped off at the most excellent Nest cafe. Recent clientele includes five little known cyclists (the Olympic road race team), who showed impeccable taste. Recommended. Refreshed, on we went, along the no-better-option A3 bike path to Guildford, through the (aargh) one-way system, and on to Godalming. Soon after that came the really lumpy stuff, I think the climb into Grayswood, (just north of Haslemere proper) might have had Davy regretting going SS for this. But, chapeau, he made it up that one and everything else.
After lunch at Petersfield, we took the longer but less lumpy and more scenic route, southwest- avoiding both Butser Hill and the nasty climbs at Buriton and on the road past Uppark. The long grind towards Clanfield (deceptively easy looking at first) was a bit of a shock to both Charlie and Davy, but it was the least-worst option. And payback came in the form of some lovely fast descents straight afterward. Through Waterlooville, up to the top of the hill (splendid photo op number one), and then down to the city, along the Eastern Road bike path then south to the front and final destination, the Castle (by this time closed), where the ramparts offered splendid photo op number two. After that, having led Charlie and Davy to Fratton station, I made my way home. 87.53 miles from Victoria, and a cracking day out. Thanks all, there will be a rerun....
