Friday 26th March - Father and son ride out together

Although the weather forecast had been poor, Friday started off dry and Chris with his son, Albert decided to fit in a short ride in advance of leaving on the family ski trip.

The route took in Old Burghclere and then Kingsclere, climbing up to Hannington before descending to Overton. the roads were dry and the sun came out but there was a strong south westerly wind which made the going tough at times.

At Overton the main road was joined, just after Chris was nearly "taken out" by a City Link van. Chris had seen it sitting at the junction and as he approached it started to pull out, luckily both parties put on their brakes and a collision was avoided. Could have been nasty, Chris was doing over 25mph!

After Overton it was on to Whitchurch and then a pleasant ride back through Crux Easton and a fast descent into Highclere. Albert was told he would win 10 Euros for the ski trip if he won the sprint for the Highclere sign but Chris made sure this wasn't to be. A fast last mile or so at nearly 30 mph through the village ended a good ride.

30 miles in just over two hours.

No cycling for a week as it's off to the slopes for all but one of the Tourmalet team.

Weekend 20th/21st March - Team kit arrives, a party and even some cycling!

Busy weekend for the Wayfarers Wheelers. The team kit arrived from MSTINA and all agreed it looks excellent - a big thank you to our team sponsors Stuart and Lisa Cameron of Cache Media and Neil and Christine Leah of C&N Marketing. Also thanks to Gianluca at MISTINA for "pulling out the stops" and getting the kit delivered in record time! Saturday night saw our second major fundraising event for the National Autistic Society. With nearly 80 people attending our Red, White and Blue Party, a 70'S-80's disco in Highclere village hall we raised £2012.00 from ticket sales, the guess the weight of the rider competition, raffle and charity auction. A good time was had by all and the quartet riding the Etape were resplendent in their new team jerseys.

After only a few hours sleep, Simon and Chris were off to a r45 mile road race in the Cotswolds and had a tough time in coping with the speed but nevertheless a good training opportunity. Steve(see blog below)took a long training ride with Stuart(his favourite route), over the Wayfarers Way at Sydmonton and then up the valley to Shalbourne and home. The weather was excellent for all concerned.

Easter holidays and late-season skiing trips now get in the way of training activities but the Wayfarers Wheelers should be back together on the road again for Easter Monday and after that the Chiltern Dipper 100 mile sportive.

Sunday 21st March (part 1)

Whilst Chris and Simon were off racing in the Cotswolds that left Stuart and I (Steve) to return to one of our favourite rides. After the excesses of the Wayfarers Wheelers fundraising Disco on Saturday night we decided to have a late start. We set off at the gentleman's hour of 9am in glorious sunshine, and whilst the clouds did appear later we had great weather all morning.

Our ride took us first over Watership Down at Sydmonton then South towards Whitchurch before turning West to St Mary Bourne. The route then follows the Bourne valley through Hurstbourne Tarrant, Upton and Vernham Dean heading toward Oxenwood. We peeled off the main road to climb up past the Shalbourne Gliding Club who were making the most of the weather. The steep decent into Shalbourne marked the turning point toward home. On another day we may have taken in some hills on the way back, but instead opted for for the easier route through Ham, Inkpen and Ball Hill.

38 miles in total at a steady 14mph was all we needed to clear our hangovers.

Saturday 13th March

Spring is here!

The temperature was finally into double figures and the skies blue. A team of 4 set off from Highclere this morning to do our regular hilly ride, taking in Wantage and Lambourn but in an alternative clockwise route. The group comprised Mark, Chris, Simon and Steve.

As we freewheeled downhill, away from the start an agreement was made to "work together" doing some "thru 'n' off" to keep the pace up. It was suggested there would be a fine of 20p a mph for anyone who came through and increased the pace above 16mph! It wasn't long before the potential for fines was substantial! Especially for Steve!

Our first 2 hours of the eventual 4 hour ride were done at well over 16mph and its only when we hit the hills after Lambourn that this reduced slightly, with the overall ride being done in just over 15mph - the fastest yet for a Wayfarers Wheelers training ride. Made more impressive by the 3500 ft of climbing en route.

Sign sprinting got off to a start at Kintbury, taken by Chris(the next one for him was at the end of the ride at Bagnor!). Each sign was contested by all with Steve taking his fair share but others won by Simon and Mark and the Marwood who joined us just before Lambourn.

The hills were another matter, Mark's climbing abilities were more than matched by Marwood as they powered away up each ascent. Simon and Steve followed with Chris bringing up the rear, although he did manage to beat all the group to the top of one steep climb towards the end of the ride after Farnborough "This isn't meant to happen" said Steve as Chris powered past " I am practising for the hill sprints in next week's road race" Chris replied. Fat chance!

After Peasemore and then Chieveley, the group slowed down as tired legs from earlier exertions had an affect. Marwood turned off for home at Winterbourne and the group broke up. The Bagnor sign was a big tactical game. Mark taking the pace up, then Steve "boxing in" Chris. The uncertanity about where the sign actually was contributed to a nervous mile or so with Chris eventually going very early and managing to hold off the others all the way.

In the last few miles Steve disappeared and Chris turned back to find him but soon gave up on the assumption that he had headed straight for home. Later it emerged that Steve's chain had come off and tangled, bending a link in the process - a ride home on jumping gears followed.

Great ride in perfect conditions with 60 miles covered in under 4 hours, no wonder everyone was tired.

Sunday 7th March

As mentioned last Sunday, the Wayfarers Wheelers went off to do different events this week.

The weather was the best this year so far with clear skies but still very cold - about minus 3 degrees C, warming up to only plus 5 degrees as the day went on.

All of the group had a late night the night before with Pete, still recovering from his knee operation, gloating as we left our Murder Mystery party that he would be reading the Sunday papers as we left very early to get to our respective venues.

Steve went on the Evans "Ride it!" event at Watlington, near Oxford with a route around the Chilterns and came in just over 4 hours for the medium 60 miles route.

Chris and Simon took part in the League of Veteran Racing Cyclists 19 miles 2-up team time trial at Napton in Warwickshire. A real "baptism of fire" for the two of them but a lesson in how fast they will need to go to be contenders at their level. They recorded a time of 1:05:30 compared to a winning time of just over 46 minutes. It had started so well with smooth changeovers between the two of them but a strong easterly wind and prolonged climb had its effect, particularly on Chris as they battled to turn in a respectable time. Simon remained strong to the end and there were some fast bursts in the last few miles but overall the field was a good 5-8 mph faster over the distance! The duo did however beat their "standard" time for their ages by 3 minutes 25 seconds and are keen to do another!

Back to a group ride next week and more hills no doubt but with a mind to the need for greater speed!

Wayfarers Wheelers team kit finalised!

Here is the team kit that the Wayfarers Wheelers will be wearing when competing in road races, time trials and sportives as well as out training this year. Sponsored by local media solutions company, Cache Media www.cache-media.com a big thank you to Stuart and Lisa there.

There is also a separate deal with another local company, C&N Sales www.cn-sales.co.uk for

arm warmers and legwarmers - designs to be released soon. Thank you to Neil and Christine at C&N.

Also thank you to Gianluca at MSTINA Cycling Wear www.mstina.co.uk for the jersey designs and production.

The boys are going to look smart!