Training With The Belles

What an honour, what a privilege! As a male ‘non Belle’ and be allowed to partake in yesterdays training session was a real eye-opener, to see first hand what these girls get up to on a Sunday once they get together was a real experience. If you’ve been following these blogs then you’ve heard what the Belles have to say – now you can hear from a neutral inside the training camp.

As the Belles gathered together around lunchtime I was immediately made aware of the importance of warming up correctly so, to ease us into the next three hours of intense activity, the Belles opened a bottle of nicely chilled Cava. This early session of warming up clearly has much importance attached to it – ten minutes into warming up and clearly keen not to make any mistakes or cause injury, a second bottle of Cava was opened. “These Belles are nothing if not thorough” I thought to myself.

Once the Cava warm up session was over things started to get serious. The Belles took up position around the dining table and once locked into the correct posture more wine followed, not just a single colour though, oh no – that would have been far too easy. Before my very eyes several bottles of Merlot and Pinot Grigio were being placed around the table and the Belles pushed on. “How much more can these girls take?” I wondered and it wasn’t long before I found out.

Roast beef, slow oven cooked lamb in balsamic vinegar and rosemary, vegetarian lasagnes, roasted potatoes and parsnips, gravy, and Yorkshire puddings were served to really test the stamina of these disciplined and intense athletes. I could tell the Belles were finding this part of the training session quite tough as they kept having to stop for drinks, mostly Merlot and Pinot Grigio.

I was expecting ‘burn out’ any minute, this had turned into an intense session and I was struggling to keep up but I was yet again left in awe when the trifle, plum crumble, ice cream, and custard arrived. How these girls can stay that focused for this long was beyond comprehension.

Just as I thought they’d pushed too hard and were about to run out of steam more wine and a decanter of port was lifted into the training area by Vicky. “Get some of that down you” was the cry. Clearly these girls achieve greatness by pushing each other on to new levels of achievement. Teamwork at it’s best.



At last it appeared to be over, these girls had been at it solid for three hours and I for one stand in admiration. I’d heard how hard these girls trained and now I’d seen it for myself – this was the stuff of dreams, super heroes in the making, dedication beyond the norm. But…my admiration was premature – boxes of chocolate nibbles hit the table just about the same time as the cheese and biscuits arrived – cheddar, stilton, and brie – this top training session was still not over. I sat in stunned silence – how do these girls do this week after week?

Finally coffee arrived and plates were taken away – the finishing tape was in sight and the pain barrier had been taken head on by the Belles and made to look like nothing. An invincible demonstration of what four determined girls can achieve.

Now I know what the Belles are all about, commitment, training, dedication – I often wondered what they did and to be honest once or twice suspected they might be nipping off to the nearest coffee shop and sitting it out.

How wrong could I be?

Steve

Trouble with Conkers in Cocking

Time to take a quick look at some of the places we will visit along The South Downs Way.

First I found that the subject of an earlier blog: Cheesefoot Head is popular with US forces (as well as UFO’s and crop circles). It is a vast natural amphitheatre where, in April 1944, American troops gathered to see Joe Louis, the heavyweight champion of the world and where General Eisenhower addressed the American troops prior to D-Day.

Then on to Uppark House a National Trust property just outside Petersfield (and not far from where the Miller family of Liphook live). This house sits atop what was, by far, the longest & steepest hill on the London to Paris cycle ride I did back in 2009 (and which was the pre-cursor to all this Pollicott Belles cycling stuff). HG Well's mother was housekeeper there too - is that another UFO connection?

Next comes a section of the route called: Harting to Cocking and somewhere on the section is Didling Hill.

Starting with Cocking (well would you expect anything less of me). I googled it and (eventually among other things) I found the delights of the Cocking Community Website. The breaking news is that the petanque pitch and childrens play area are closed for the health and safety reason of dangerous conker trees. And (just when I was just thinking the place does not wholly live up to it’s name) I found 2 menu choices fabulously entitled ‘Column Unveiling’ and ‘Cocking Views’ and here I found this which I loved (click the link): http://cocking.org/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&task=view&gallery=2&Itemid=53

Harting’s website just can’t compete so I am going to move on to: Didling Hill. I think this is another feature of London to Paris. We cycled past a truly beautiful church located in a field and (Victoria and I) spent a few hours afterwards marvelling at how lucky we were to be seeing such wonderful places on our route. I think this is the one – St Andrews, Didling Hill:

Suffice it to say that I am now so looking forward to this cycle challenge and can only hope that we get to see all these fabulous places in glorious sunshine! I'm taking a detour round Cocking to find that column!!

Pride before a fall...

Our eventful ride last Sunday meant we had to shorten the route and take to the roads but I was so proud of the Belles - especially Amber who took her first 'field' expedition completely in her stride. Though quite fun, we had had a tough ride and there were very few grumbles despite being muddy and tired. Amber was late home too so on the 'home strait' of Quainton road I upped the pace and sped off. It didn't go so well!

I've always thought that people who crash on black ice must have been driving too fast for the 'obviously icy' conditions. Actually I now know that black ice is invisible - totally invisible. I didn't see it coming, I didn't have even the slightest suspicion that it was icy. The road was wet - NOT icy. Amber says I went down like a 'plank' which, though I'm not keen on the analogy, feels appropriate. My wheels just went from under me. I hit the road, very hard and very quickly - I didn't even have time to think 'it's gonna hurt'. Suddenly I was just lying in the middle of the road.

Survival instinct kicked in - 'cars coming' I thought and stood up quick which caused me to make a swift return to the tarmac. I did a sort of dancing on ice routine and got to the verge performing a Hamill-Camel figure-skating move (google it!) to retrieve my bike. Simultaneously I tried to give a reassuring thumbs up to the concerned looking lady in a, by now, passing car and make positive responses to the voices in my head saying 'are you OK?'.

As my world began to re-balance and I finally managed to stand up I looked around (expecting nothing less than a string of '6's') but found I had competition in my new found sport. Amber was the last Belle standing and Vicky and Alex were both lying on the verge a short distance behind us.

Ooer - Two cars were approaching and I was terrified they would brake, skid and hit us all (it's a bright outlook on life I have at times like this). So I stood in the road, waving my arms until they slowed down.

The driver of the first car passed slowly waving cheerily back at the crazy lady. The second car was a Community Police patrol from Waddesdon and thankfully more aware of the road conditions. You have to love our Community Police - we were informed they were making regular trips up and down this road to check for (further) incident and accident - it was black ice all the way to the A41 (about a mile). Police advice was not to continue along it but to take the Waddesdon road which was ice free.

Of course we took the Police recommended route home which, though further and involved cycling more of the A41 than any of us are comfortable with, was another new route for us Belles.

With no more ice to worry about we pedalled along reflecting on the incident. What if?.. no, don't think about it! we didn't have a video camera and that was that - £750 from 'You've been Framed' would have boosted our fundraising - sadly it was a missed opportunity. When, eventually the conversation turned to the lovely Community Police I was surprised by my fellow Belles' powers of observation. While I had been stood telling the friendly face looking out of the car all about the fall (and rather hoping he would call an air ambulance) it seems the others had been clocking all - I must have been in shock cos I missed all this:

1. He had an iPhone 4 (so there was no chance of reception to call the air ambulance then!).
2. The driver was a WPC (I didn't even notice her. If asked I would have said he was the driver - dur - apparently he had a phone in his hand and was in the passenger seat).
3. He was good looking (see I was in shock).
4. He's not on Amber's watch - praise be he didn't recognise her!

I do know their car was back at Waddesdon Police Station as we cycled by and that they were not outside waiting for us with cups of tea (or an air ambulance or trailer) - where's the community spirit in that?

Anyway, it's over, we arrived home very late, very tired, very subdued but thankful to be very alive!

This is what my knee looked like when I peeled my cycling trousers off (impressively the trousers were still in tact).


Would not have looked good in the Sexy Santa Suit!



Back(y) In The Saddle

If you came to the Belles fund raising quiz night back into last year you might remember the question about a song sung by a computer in the 1968 film ‘A Space Odyssey’. So for those wondering what back(y) actually means, the clue is in the lyrics:

Daisy Daisy, give me your answer do,
I’m half crazy all for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marrige,
I can’t afford a carriage.
But you’ll look sweet
Upon the seat
OF A BICYCLE MADE FOR TWO!

And there you have it – I’m not sure who was who, perhaps I was Daisy and Sian was Harry Dacre (see how much you learn from these blogs?) or maybe the other way around. The bottom line is that Sian and I shared a bike up to the Gatehangers where I decided it would be safer to walk down to Westcott.



It wasn’t so much I didn’t trust Sian, or that I thought Amber might decide to caution us for ‘larking about on a Sunday morning’, it was the icy roads I’d had a warning about just before eight o’clock. Oh yes, and the paper mans endorsement of this warning. Riding a bike on ice is one thing, doing a back(y) is something completely different. The thought of whizzing down the hill from Ashendon to Westcott on the back of Sians bike seemed like a pretty bad idea.

So there you have it – back(y) – if it were to appear in the Oxford English then I’d expect to see ‘the practice of sharing ones single seat bicycle with a passenger balanced on the back’.


Alex x

A thorn in the side..

Partway through our route across the fields from Woodham to Quainton (I believe it was the 3rd or 4th field in) I couldn't help but notice a distinctive rubbery-squeaky noise coming from my rear wheel. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions so I declared myself as temporarily out of action and shouted "PUNCTURE!!" to ensure the others and anyone within a 10 mile radius were aware that I was going nowhere quickly. So.. all the Belles gathered around as I tipped my bike onto its saddle and tried to set about resolving the issue.

Vicky & Sian proudly produced a brand new innertube. Ah! Perfect! This would take two minutes to change and we'd soon be on our way. Whilst Vicky and I were wrestling with my tyre to get the punctured inner tube out, Sian quietly pointed out that my rear wheel was not in any way quick release and our complete lack of spanners (the tool variety) may cause a bit of a problem when swapping the new emergency inner tube for the old one. Despite our best efforts with my miniscule multi-tool, the bolts refused to budge and so the only way to get going again was to find the hole in the current inner tube.


We pumped the inner tube back up with Sian's handy pump and found the puncture with ease - because it was huge! Alex and Sian fitted a 'scab' over the wound which set within minutes whilst Vicky and I ran our hands around the inside of my tyre to make sure that the offending object had been dislodged. Vicky's "AH-HA!!" informed us that it hadn't been dislodged at all, and she produced what I think is possibly the most gargantuan thorn I have EVER seen:

Re-fitting the inner tube was a delicate procedure as we tried to avoid pinching it around the rear brake pads at all costs, and it took a further removal of the tyre to get the valve sticking out at the right angle for Sian's handy pump. What a palaver! Finally, after 20 minutes of standing in gale force winds, plenty of help from all 3 Belles and a self-setting 'scab' I was back in action and ready for whatever the rest of the ride could throw at us...

A Series of Unfortunate Events...

Saturday 8th January - the troubles began with an evening in Gatehangers - the new route was discussed, at length, with local farming folk who totally agreed (sort of, vaguely) that it was, indeed, an excellent route.

Next a text arrived - it was from Amber offering to pick up Alex in the morning so they could cycle back up the hill together from Wescott (Alex left her bike at Amber's house - bottom of the hill - last week). However, the new route would take us back past Amber's house so that wasn't a good idea. The trouble is the alternative was decided upon in an alcoholic haze - Alex would walk/backy down to Wescott with me. Vicky would meet us there. This was, with hindsight, a bad plan - we got off to a slow start and delays on route are what led to our eventual downfall. That and a series of events that were really quite unfortunate.

Sunday 9th January - was a frosty morning. I was excited about the new route. Over my breakfast I posted on facebook that I was heading out to cycle on ice, on a new route and that love would surely flow between us Belles. Oh many a true word!

Alex arrived in the garage, love a flowing, as I was preparing my bike, and advised me that the paperman had reported nasty roads. "It's a bit of frost" (I thought) and told Alex she didn't get out of it that easily - the ride is on and I presented the 'new route' with excited glee.

There follows a series of  events that were so unfortunate they are almost shocking. Over the next few days this series of unfortunate events will be blogged by Belles various:

• Alex will report the journey downhill to Westcott and her happy reunion with her bike.
• Amber will explain how she quickly became deflated and how this was resolved.
• Vicky reveals how cycling can bring back happy memories of gates and fields and things.
• We will all share thoughts and perspectives of our ultimate downfall.

This is the route - note it doesn't follow roads all the way - herein lies the problem!

Gates, fields and mud, glorious mud..

Our route took us from Westcott along the A41, towards Bicester, to Woodham. Here we took a right turn into a field which was marked as a bridleway. Our first hurdle, quite literally, was a typical rusty farmers gate with an impossible latch, after struggling for many minutes and commenting on how on earth you would hold your horse, tackle the gate and avoid the nasty A41 traffic, we decided to abandon opening the gate and lifted our bikes over the gate!!! (Not so easy with a horse!) I feel a moan to the local bridleway's council coming on!

Once over the gate and on our bikes once more we proceeded with some caution as the amount of cow pats in the field suggested we should be keeping an eye out for the said beasts, but a quick scan of the field assured us that they were not present!! Easy going it was never going to be especially following the 2 days of heavy rain we had that week, but my legs soon told me that my fitness levels were far from what I thought, but we carried on over several fields negotiating many gates, some good, some bad, but I informed the Belles that this is what us 'horse riders' have to deal with all the time and there are different techniques for different latches!! Sad that I am, but many years of riding these local bridleways gave me somewhat of an advantage on these skills!!!

Eventually we came to a railway crossing and this lead us into an arable field with a fine covering of wheat grass showing through, although there was a frost and the ground appeared somewhat firm, this was far from reality and quickly we found ourselves being bogged down in the mud! We quite literally ploughed through it and had to resort to walking and dragging our bikes as the wheels were so clogged with mud they wouldn't turn!!

Eventually we rejoined the road on the Shipton Lee - Quainton stretch and I for one was pretty pleased to be back on the easier going again or so I thought..................

Ring out the old, ring in the new...

Despite the weather being against us through most of December the Belles pedalled out 2010, sporting team Christmas headbands and lip gloss, and took time to reflect on what we achieved.

At the New Year's Pollicott Party we each cited our Ridgeway ride as the highlight of 2010. So I thought it apt to start 2011 with a pictorial reminder of what we did:

First Alex had to learn to cycle.



Then got her first bike.



We kitted ourselves out and took up our fundraising challenge...

With more than a little help from our friends...

and families



Then in June we took to the Ridgeway - both on our bikes...

  

...and off them - here's Alex



Sian and...

 

Vicky!



We rose to the challenges on route...

But also took time out to relax a little

The event was a family affair too - with picnics and...

Backies!

And finally - Celebration!

When we finished there was a brief period of 'never again' which quickly became 'let's do it again'. Well why wouldn't we? we each gained so much from doing this - a sense of achievement, a strength of friendship and a mutual respect that can only come from shared experience. On top of that we always have something to talk and laugh about AND above all we raised £1500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

So here we are at the start of 2011 with 32% of our fundraising target secured for a fabulous local charity - Helen & Douglas House. And... 



We have another Belle in Amber.

Without your support the reward for our efforts would have simply been self-satisfaction so we 'thank you' all for being there in 2010 and for helping us to achieve so much more than that. Please stick with us and help us to make 2011 another very happy one for the Belles and our charity: Helen & Douglas House.