A lap of the Isle Of Wight

Hi all,

I'm feeling pretty good. Pretty knackered but pretty good.

One of the rides on my bike bucket list has been the Isle Of Wight. I've cycled down to the south coast near where I live many times and always looked out to the Island wondering what its like over there.

Now, I know.

It's hilly.

I live in Hampshire. It's lovely. It's lovely and mostly flat. It's a bit hilly to the North, but other than that it's fine. What I didn't expect was the scale of the hills over there. It's Devon style hills. Real hills. The north of the island is fairly flat, with rolling, gentle, undulants. As you go clockwise towards the south of the Island, all of a sudden you find the horizon is above you. A long way above you.

I set off with the local CTC group, who are a great bunch of people. the 9 of us set off at a gentle pace had a few laughs and a few breaks. We stopped at a fantastic tea room which you can see in the pictures below. If you are in the area give it a try. We lost a member of the group there as they found it hard going. They headed back North to the ferry. The rest of us carried on.

We got to about half way round (after Black Gang Chine) and we seperated into 2 groups. I tried to keep up with the fast group but I admit that after the hill, I was shot. I had a break and some sweets and waited for the slower group. I'm glad I did as it was great fun. Such a laugh.

I had a couple of issues where I ate too much or drank too little, but nothing major.

One thing that I will remember though. The roads are smooth. It looks like they've just been resurfaced for the most part. Also taking real, proper corners at 35mph on nothing but a small bit of tin is really exciting. I loved every second of downhill.

I won't be doing this ride again until next year as it was pretty tough. I need to do longer rides more regularly to get up to fitness for this sort of thing.

Pictures and Strava below:

Thanks for reading,

Cheap bike challenge? Matley Wood Hampshire

Hi all,

So recently I bought myself a bike to trash. A Rockrider 340 from Decathlon. Tiny 26" wheels, Tourney gear set, the usual really. It does have an aluminium frame though so...yay?

Anyhew. I thought I'd take it out for a spin with some mates to see how it'd do compared to some "real" offroad bikes. To put it simply it was outclassed. Everywhere.

On gravel, even though I changed out the stock tyres for mud tyres there was no grip. The  800mm suspension refused to push the front wheel back into the ground. It shock absorbance was also terrible, but I'm glad I wore my gloves. It meant that even at low speed, while my friends were cornering at a lowly 12mph they could make the corner. I had to slow down and had very little confidence.

Eventually we made it to the most fun part of the ride, Matley Wood in the New Forest in Hampshire. I've not been down there before, but there are many natural dips making it a good pump track and I actually managed to get some air on my bike a couple of times. It would have been so much easier with larger tyres and less weight!

Anyway. this is my handlebar view of what happened. If you don't catch the audio it's basically my friends warning me it's about to get exciting for a bike that cost £150 with stupid wheels!

Here's the vid:



I did do a speed test on tarmac in case people are interested. Bouncing up and down in the seat in the hardest gear at 27mph. Not too shabby. I wouldn't go that fast offroad though. Jebus.

Here's the strava:

thanks for reading,

Stockbridge struggle - April

Hi all,

Stockbridge. Stockbridge, Stockbridge. I have a love hate relationship with this route. I've done it 3 times and every time has been a bitch. The first time, my legs really weren't up to it as I'd only just started riding. The second time, I was with 2 people on roadies and I pushed far too hard on my 20kg commuter to keep up with them.

This time, I was on my own. I could ride at my own pace. Surely this time the ride would be better?
Surely this time I'd be sorted?

Nope.

I ran out of water about 10 miles from the end. I hit the wall horribly. No energy left and no water.
I phoned my wife, and I was going to beg pathetically for a pick up, but then she said that there was an ice cream parlour nearby.

I dragged my sorry ass the next 2 miles and got to the shop. "Home-made" ice cream. Real Coffee. OMG so good. I stayed there until the stars went from my eyes, and I could walk without my head fizzing and headed home as nice and gently as I could. I'm going to try it again soon!

I will crack this ride!

Pictures and Strava below:

Thanks for reading,