WillsWheelers

Hi everyone! WW website seems to be working again; thank you Steve Chapman. Tomorrow 3rd September, the first Tuesday of the month, a curry ride. Toby and I thought that it was time to go back to Blandford and the Simla. Meet in the supermarket car park as usual at 19:15. Route decision on the day. Heath, I think, will join us for a curry (around 21:15 Heath). Russ is mentoring junior football for next few Tuesdays. Nights are getting dark again so fully charged lights. The weather is forecast to be dry until until early Wednesday morning.

Tonight we return to an old favourite, The Red Lion (BH21 4BU) in Sturminster Marshall. Pedal off as usual at 19:15. The route is mostly flat with a couple of climbs up onto the Golf Course and the Tarrant Rushton Airfield. Some of the tracks will be overgrown so tights might be a good idea?

Last week Toby, Mike (welcome back Mike now fully retired) and Chris rode from the Drovers up onto Martin Down. The weather was wet (isn’t always this year?) but the views from the top of the ridge were memorable. Unfortunately the top field has thick growing tall crops that was difficult to push through. Still the views made it a very pleasant ride.

Note: there is a strong local campaign to raise funds from national cycling organisations to resurface the Tarrant Rushton Airfield perimeter road to make a closed circuit for road cycles, time trials, skates and a children’s training area away from other road traffic. If this comes off it would be great!

Greetings! Apologies for lack of posts for a few weeks. I was away for one, and the security system on my computer interfered for a week. Anyway now back on line.

Next Tuesday, 18th June, we plan to return to The Drovers Inn. Usual peddle off at 19:15 unless earlier time is posted / e-mailed. We stopped going to the Drovers before because it closed early in the winter, hopefully it will remain open now the lighter evenings are here.

On Tuesday 11th June Toby and I rode from my house to Moors Valley and the Verwood Forest. Originally we planned to ride from the Drovers Inn but the weather was unseasonably wet and we concluded that a ‘gravel’ ride would be more comfortable. The ride was wet and gritty but not muddy so plan ‘B’ did work. As we rode along the Castleman a dog walker advised us that was a search for a venerable schoolboy (he is autistic) going on in Moors Valley. This was indeed the case and while we were in the park we saw numerous police and rescue vehicles and several search team. The boy was eventually found in Christchurch! A long way from Moors Valley. I had a puncture in my rear tubeless tyre which was reasonably quickly fixed by a new ‘worm’ kit I had bought online. Combination of these new repair kits (I have used twice on my road bike) and latest tubeless sealant means that punctures are fixed relatively quickly. The speed of the turn around was aided by a kind motorist who stopped and offered the use of a track pump.

Early post this week in anticipation of good weather. If the weather Gods turn against us I will repost.

Meet at the usual car park in Ringwood for a ride along The Snake and afterwards a curry at the Takka Takka, aka India Cottage. As I type, pedal off at 19:15 will advise if this changes.

The Wills Wheelers website is back up and running, thank you Steve and Ollie. This post is to keep a record of what we have done. Last Tuesday Toby and I rode from The Langton Arms around the normal route up to the north. It was a lovely evening and a great sunset. The tracks were dry and firm, almost too firm when I almost lost control over a bit tractor turned up ridge. The single tracks were all brilliant fun! We cracked around very quickly and almost didn’t need lights.

Tomorrow we have agreed that we will ride from the Frampton Arms at Crossways (DT2 8BB). Pedal off at 19:15 as usual. It should be dry but cold.

There is no ride report from last week because it was half term and because I was recovering from an operation.

Mike and Ken are going to make valiant attempts to beat the rush hour traffic from Sunbury-on-Thames and Southampton respectively to ride this Tuesday so we picked a start venue on the east side of the area that we normally ride in. Hence we will ride from the Queens Head (The Cross, Burley, BH24 4AB) aiming to start at 19:15 but later if necessary depending on how they get on with the traffic. I propose that we ride the familiar route around the New Forest via The Ornamental Drive, Brockenhurst and the old railway line.

Last Tuesday Toby and I rode from my house along the Castleman Trail to the Moors Valley single track and then by a hard surfaced track to Potterne Park in Verwood and finally to West Moors by the cycleway that parallels the road and Newmans Lane. It was wet, gritty and muddy but not cold, well at least it wasn’t once we got stuck into the mud. A relatively short ride of 15 miles. The Moors Valley single track has a new diversion while more repair work is completed. We only saw one other nutter braving the weather walking a dog along the Castleman Trail. The dog didn’t look enthusiastic.

As usual meet at 19:15 to pedal off around one of the routes that we usually do from this pub.

I thought I would try including the GPX track from Garmin Connect. Let me know if it downloads correctly:

activity_2932937619

There wasn’t a ride last week. Unfortunately I was sick with bronchitis and could not ride.

Start of a new year, start of another Wills Wheelers season! To kick off the new year a ride from The Charlton Inn (DT11 9NH) on the outskirts of Charlton Marshall. Usual start time of 19:15. I know that Toby has a meeting and won’t be joining us.