New Forest

We have been talking for quite a while about doing a mini touring trip with Sophie. Just waiting for the right 3 day weekend to cycle to the New Forest.

I had ridden before from Brighton, but we thought it would be more pleasant to get the train and cycle from Chichester. The remainder of the way is another 80km. This makes for a pleasant day when you're on the bike, as you aren't trying to race against the clock to make it there. Including very generous brakes this took us 8 hours. Once you get 5k out of Chichester all the way to 5k close to Southampton it's a beautiful ride. Going to the new forest through Southampton is not the best of ideas though, and next time we will take 2 days to get there through the Isle of Wight.


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South Downs Randonnee

I was approached by Sam to do the South Downs Way Randonnee challenge in January 2011, from Winchester to Eastbourne. I've been wanting to do that for a while but I was thinking of doing it in two days. 100 miles cross country on a bike is pretty damn daunting. 100 miles cross country on a bike on one day is... 100 miles... I said yes, because I didn't want to sound like a pussy. Also I wanted to have a go at it but I didn't think I was ready. Anyway I said yes, so I had to train. I went pretty hard for two months, and took it easy the third month to recuperate.

I felt good before the start at 5:30. We were pretty fast before we had our first break at 40 miles, but I was knackered. I had to go slower or I wouldn't be able to finish. For the rest of the way I alternated between feeling ok and thinking I'm going to finish, to feeling shit and thinking I'm going to have a fucking episode. Never mind. I thought long before the run that the point of reaching Ditchling Beacon would be the deciding point. It's 70-something miles in, probably the highest point along the way and half an hour downhill from home. So you see the dilemma... but I happened to be feeling good at that point. So we pushed on, and on, and on until we could see Eastbourne and then on, to the finishing line. We finished 14 hours after making a start. I was feeling tired but good. I've been feeling good ever since ;-)



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