Whitsun Bank Holiday

I trust you all managed to get a few long rides in this weekend in preparation for the upcoming Etap.

On Friday my brother, my mate and I rode from London to the New Forest, some 95 miles through some beautiful countryside in glorious weather. We went tyhrough Surrey, West Sussex, Hampshire and into Dorset. Yes we did get lost a number of times and no it was not a hilly ride, more distance. Despite an average speed of 17 mph it still took all day and we stopped for leisurely teas and lunches. I can definitely recommend the route. Very little traffic and good roads.

Once we got to the New Forest we had to cycle across the top towards Ringwood. I was staying the Bank Holiday Weekend in a caravan site near Fordingbridge called "Sandy Balls" with my family. Thoroughly recommended the site. Anyway, I drove the other two to Salisbury to get a train home only for them to discover that the mainline was undergoing repairs over the Bank Holiday weekend and that they had to catch a slow train to Portsmouth for a long slow journey home (along the same route they had come down i.e. Liphook, Petersfield, Hazlemere etc). Very late night for them getting home after 10 PM.

That was the only real ride I did over the weekend, however, I did manage scenic rides of 20 miles each with the family Sat, Sun, & Mon in the New Forest. On Monday my 6 year old was tired and refused to pedal his tag-a-long so I had to tow him 20 miles whilst he did a running commentary of his observation from behind me. This is good training which I willingly accepted except for a couple of big hills where I used motivational speaking and coaching techniques to get his help and demanded he helped under threats of taking away his Easter eggs if he didn't.

The Wife was complaining that she was not in training for the Tour de France and that all weekend I was going to fast for her to enjoy the experience. She rides a Peugeot touring bike (racer style) and was pedalling furiously to keep up with me. She also complained that as soon as she got to the top of a hill where we (my son and I) were waiting for her we went dashing off without giving her time to recover. I don't know what she was complaining about, I was on a hybrid, carrying the rucksack, and towing a 6 year old (he is a strong pedaller when he wants to be and enjoyed Sat and Sun but Mon was a day to far for him).

All in all we had three punctures over the weekend so I spent Monday PM fixing punctures. My brother decided Sunday that after his Sunday morning club run he would test the strength of his carbon frames and forks. The car in front of him stopped sharply when someone opened a car door into the traffic and he was unable to stop the bike in time and took out the rear lights and went for a short flight landing heavily on the tarmac. The ambulance and Police were called and the guy was booked. My brother was fortunate to have not broken anything but is feeling bruised and grazed and his bike needs to go back to the shop for testing. My mate managed some shorter rides. His training has paid off and he has now overtaken me thanks to his new Look bike.

The wife will not let me do a reckie weekend in France but has booked us to spend a week in Sicily at Club Med over Whitsun Bank Holiday. Lets hope Etna dopes not decide to erupt whilst I am training on her slopes.