A story of remarkable thighs
It’s a while since I updated the blog and I’d like to report
that training has been progressing nicely. In a wonderful display of
Britishness, the announcement of a water shortage and hosepipe ban in the South
of England heralded the wettest April since ‘records began’. It was therefore
with some amusement that I read a letter in the newspaper written by some chap
asking whether he would be breaking the law if he were to use his hosepipe to
pump the flood water out of his garden.
So on 22nd April it was waterproofs out and off
to Devizes in Wiltshire. Our route took us through Wickham and Marlborough and
then a loop south of Devises bringing us into the town for breakfast after 60
miles. The peddle back was uneventful getting us home after 113 miles, all at a
modest 14.5mph.
For the May Bank Holiday weekend we planned an excursion to
Dorset. The idea was to take the scenic route down to Swanage where we would
spend the night with Harley’s Dad and return home the following day. We set off
before 06:00 on Sunday, a lovely morning and the first day in cycling shorts of
the year, for me anyway. We headed South, through the tranquil New Forest and
stopped for breakfast at Fordingbridge. We then turned west towards Blandford
Forum, a place that always makes me feel slightly apprehensive as it’s home to
my old school although on this occasion, a peddle through the school grounds
brought back happy memories of rowing, rugby matches and nefarious practices in
the woods involving bra straps and Fisherman’s Friends.
We left Blandford and headed South towards the ‘Jurassic
Coast’. This spectacular 95 mile coastline which runs from Exmouth in East
Devon to Old Harry Rocks at Studland in Dorset is England's first natural world
heritage site and is a quite, quite beautiful part of the country. At Lulworth
Cove we stopped for chocolate and then headed east along the coast towards
Swanage.
And then the event.. “Just a moment” says Chris, “my f***ing
gear cables snapped’ and did we have a replacement? Did we hell! The only
solution was to rig up a fixed gear arrangement and press on. Now for those of
you who know this part of the world, there’s no shortage of hills and the
notion that Mr. Prietzel’s thighs were up to this challenge with no working
gears certainly filled Graham, Harley and I with a healthy degree of scepticism.
How wrong we were, Chris stood up on those peddles, ground up those hills and
frankly it was all the rest of us could do to keep up. Indeed, so intimidated
were we by this macho display that under Graham’s expert direction we added a
couple of large but completely unnecessary hills near Kimmeridge just to try and
level the playing field; but it didn’t seem to make any difference, round Corfe
Castle, up Kingston Hill, Chris was turning those peddles like a man possessed.
We stopped at one of my favourite pubs in the world, The Square & Compass in Worth
Matravers where the beer was so powerful, it soothed aching limbs and provided exactly
the fuel we needed to get us smoothly if a little unsteadily the few remaining
miles to our destination.
We got to Swanage at 18:30 after 135 miles to a fabulously
warm welcome from Peter Bell, Harley’s Dad who was ready with the beer and
sympathy. After a swim and a huge chilli cooked by Sue Burfoot and Alison Bell
it was time to see if we could do anything with Chris’s gear cable. Graham
advocated trying a combination of specialist knots, perfected during his time in
the Navy but on balance, we thought that finding a bike shop the following day
was probably a better alternative.
Early on Bank Holiday Monday we set off for the return
journey, Chris permanently in 4th gear and seemingly quite
comfortable with the arrangement. Shortly after crossing Poole Harbour on the
Sandbanks Ferry, the rain started to lash down and with every bike shop we passed
firmly shut, we pressed on for home with Chris staying in the same gear for the
entire 105 miles – respect!
For the weekend of the 12th and 13th May
we all had different commitments but managed to get some good rides in, Graham
had to go down to a party in Kent 100 miles away, Harley and Chris completed a
114 mile loop to Reigate in Surrey and I did a 110 ride returning to Brackley
in Northamptonshire and breakfast with my brother before returning home via
Steeple Clayton, Thame at an average of 17 mph – getting fitter!
Two weeks to go!
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