Cycling Blog number 699. What have I started, and when do I stop!? I don't know who reads them, but know that my "Breeze" blogs are read usually by 30-40 people. It's lovely that so many riders enjoy browsing through them. I hope that the photos and routes give you inspiration of where to ride with your family and friends, or if you have yet joined a ride, that you will join us soon.
It's half term, and with "Nannie" duties starting tomorrow, I offered a Monday ride this week. It was filled in no time at all, so the need is there for Monday rides too. (I am normally busy on Mondays, so this is not a regular slot for me). Last Monday, I cycled with friends to Windsor Park, which was looking gorgeous, so I thought I'd take a Breeze Group there this week to enjoy the spectacular autumn foliage.
We arranged to meet at Frost Folly car park, at the back of Moss End Garden Centre. As I passed the garden centre intending to turn right into Bowyers Lane a "Road closed " sign. I thought perhaps flooding after the horrendous thunder storms yesterday? But then I could see a power cable had come down, and was swaying not far off the ground. I pulled into the pub car park opposite to turn around, and Gill and Louise were there too. 😀 We did a detour to get to Frost Folly and thankfully the others found their way too. Sandra rode from home, and was wondering why no one else was there. 😇
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Selfie at the start, incase it clouded over later. A glorious day.
Louise, Angela, me, Sandra, Gill and Rose. |
We rode initially on part of a regular route as if going to Cranbourne Fishing Cafe, then a left and a right to join a section of the Forest Road into Ascot. We then worked our way through to the pedestrian entrance to the Racecourse.
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Strange how we can cycle in to that part of the racecourse where a section of turf is wheeled
away other than on race days. |
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| We enter the racecourse, with the turf at eye level, with the jumps ahead. |
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| Photo by Angela |
Round the racecourse and onto New Mile Ride, ignoring Watersplash Lane our left, and continuing on an easy downhill through Cheapside. Then a right turn onto the main road, for about 100 yards, and left into the pretty Mill Lane. Just one slight incline, then into the park at the Black Nest Entrance.
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| Sun beams at the Blacknest entrance. |
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All traffic free now, inside the Great Park.
Photo by Angela |
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| Photo by Angela. Rose and Louise peddling. |
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| Photo on my camera, taken by Jessica. |
We dropped down past the Polo club, and took the left fork, where the trees were almost fluorescent. That said, my camera, which is uber sensitive, did something weird, and made them look radioactive!
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Amazing colours as we approach Saville Gardens.
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| Photo by Angela. More realistic colours! |
We had her quick release front wheel off in no time, and the tyre levers had the tyre off as easily as any I have ever removed. Phew. I left Angela to deal with the next bit, whilst a few others looked on, some realising that they would have no idea what to do. (Ladies. A good idea is to practice at home in the garage, with no stress or pressure. Then it's easy if you need to do it on a ride. ) We checked and rechecked the tyre, and eventually found a hole with a very sharp tiny peace of glass. Angela had picked up a tip from me before about having tweezers as part of your kit, and she did need them to gouge out the offending sharp object, which was embedded in the tyre.
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| photo by Louise. |
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We all took a turn at putting air back into the replacement inner tube
to get the pressure as high as possible. |
On our way within 15 mins at a guess, with just one more incident... when I fell off. I had called "Biked passing, but a stupid dog, heading straight towards me, forced me to ride over a big chunk of a branch, hidden amongst leaves. The dog owner picked up my bike. (would have helped if he had controlled his dog in the first place.). Soft landing, so no harm done.
Soon we were passing the Royal School on a nice long downhill run, before the inevitable up hill to the gate house. Angela felt her tyre a bit wobbly, so some pressure had come out of her tyre again.
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| Angela topping up with air again, which this time was enough to end the ride. |
We climbed Watersplash Lane, back through the racecourse, and cut through to Sandy Lane to join Chavey Down Road, and passing Lambrook School (where all of William and Kate's children attend). We split into 2 groups for the short section on the B3022, Bracknell Road, where we had a very close pass with an idiot driver, who put his foot down heading straight for an oncoming car, shortly before we turned into Malt Hill. 😡
Quiet lanes to finish our ride, and Sandra left us just before our final turn, to ride back home. Well done Sandra. 40 miles I am guessing. Thanks all for coming out to play on a Monday.
NEWS - Another crazy historic day in Parliament. Yesterday, 3 candidates announced their running for PM, after the resignation of Lizz Truss after 45 days in office. Boris ... BORIS.. was ready to stand again. How can that happen?! By last night he had seen sense or had it knocked into him, and removed his bid. So, down to Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak this morning, both of whom lost less than 2 months ago, when Lizz Truss won. Crazy world. Penny M stepped down about lunch time, so Rishi Sunak is our PM. Let's hope the stock market settled down now. Not good for anyone, young or old.
