What a lovely day it was this morning! And a super day to go for a cycle ride. It seems that my aging sister had forgotten about me and I was planning on doing a solo ride. But with one quick upload to Facebook I managed to get a cycling buddy to come along.
Charlene is keen to go cycling and has been riding locally, she is young, tons younger than me and so well up for the ride to Downe Village for a lemonade and a sarnie! I arrived at her place and she was all set, keen as anything to get going! "It's a bit of a challenging ride" I told her, "Have you been to Downe before?" She said she had, and what mum hasn't, with Christmas tree farm just a little bit further up the road from the village itself.
Well the first hill was a lungbuster, Hollingworth, just to get us in the mood, ok, it's a tiny little one, but it still gets you puffing and prepared for the hills to come, just a little warm up for the long, but not very steep ride up to Downe.
I wasn't quite sure how Charlene copes with main roads so I kept to the little side roads, before crossing over the A21 to get to Farnborough. Our first proper bit of resting! Well, it is a rather nice ride down to Shire lane from there! There's hardly any traffic either with is always a lot nicer than getting a lung full of fumes!
Just to keep off the road a little more we went in through the gate on Shire Lane to High Elms Country Park, and then we popped out on to the long, long road up! I remember the first time I attempted this road, I did it in three!
Charlene was doing really well, but it was a hot day, and if you're not used to challenging roads it can be quite a thirsty thing, not to mention getting your heart rate pumping! Here is Charelene,
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| Charlene.. Thirsty work! |
Now days it just takes me a while, but I can do it. But Charlene hasn't done this ride before, and it is quite a challenge for fresh legs! So we took it easy! I don't want her to not like cycling! That's not what its all about. So we walked some, we biked some, and we screamed at some!
When we got to the Village we went straight to The Queens Head and had a very welcomed non alcoholic drink, with a sarnie!! Most enjoyable!
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| A well earned Lemonade |
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| My lunch!! Yum |
Suitable refreshed and energised I decided to head back home the same way, out and back. But to make Church Hill a little easier we went through a little path that was just opposite the road we came down from Downe. A bit of 'off-roading' which is the kind of cycling that Charlene has been doing! Heres some pictures of the field we went through!
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| Sound Of Music moment! |
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| Just can't wait to get back on that bike! |
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| Yoo hoo, is that snake there! |
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| Quick, I'm sure there is a snake! |
After this I think she started to remember the down hill sections of our ride as she said "Oh, shoot!, we got to go up there now"
But all in all a great ride and at least Charlene was still smiling at the end of it, and she wants to come again on another ride! Maybe I shall try and choose one a little less challenging next time though, after all I want to keep it fun for everyone!
And Geeky stats, well, sort of! I forgot to start my silly Garmin up on a couple of occasions! Brain like a sieve!
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