Take a hat

Last of the Summer Rides? - September 2011 Bournemouth to Marlow At the pub on Friday my working friends asked me what I had been up to today. Well, it’s been a death and life sort of day.............. Incident at Boscombe! I was up at dawn and off through the Park to Bournemouth Pier. At the seaside I turned left and headed East towards Boscombe. The recent bad weather had brought sand up onto the road so I needed to concentrate to avoid hitting the deck.  Between Boscombe and Southbourne the route was blocked by a Policewoman, "sorry you will have to turn back, we have an incident going on here." I could see a body lying on the beach! Ooerr! Apparently he had been retrieved from the sea.  That brought a different perspective to the day. It was even more wonderful to be alive and cycling and I most definitely would not be wasting any time whinging about the wind or the hills! Southborne to Chandlers Ford I headed up the zig-zag and along the over cliff to...

Anyone seen Number 17? So what is the usual outcome of a convivial Curry night at the Last Viceroy? Well, it could be simply a nice meal and a good memory. More likely for me, it would be an upset stomach or a hangover. On the other hand it might result in a commitment to do something never previously attempted, like entering a Time Trial? Surely not! I blame the Cobra. I have often seen cyclists bombing down the local carriageways at weekends with numbers on their backs and never considered that I might join them. I'm a tourist or a mountain biker, I don’t do speedy! However, I found myself signed up for a Saturday morning Time Trial on the A4 - the Great West Road. So I needed to be at an Industrial Park at twenty to nine on Saturday morning. I have a bike and the obligatory Lycra but what of the other logistics? Should I 'ride out' to the start, how do I know the route? Oh well, I suppose all will be revealed. Well, I arrived in good time for the start ...