The Belles Workout Routine and Winter Preparation

Winter Exercise program...

Take one Weetabix.
Take an Aero chocolate bar.
Crumble the Aero over the Weetabix.
Voila!
AEROBIX !

The Belles Winter Preparation Thoughts...

Be safe - pedal cycles should have lights fitted and the police will help

In Thames Valley Officers will be able to issue a £30 non-endorsable fixed penalty ticket to any cyclist over 17 who uses a pedal cycle after lighting up time without lights.

The aim of the campaign is to stop people riding cycles without lights and to raise awareness of the dangers in doing so.

In an attempt to increase the number of cyclists displaying lights correctly and therefore reduce the numbers of cyclists involved in collisions offenders will be offered an alternative to paying the fine.
To take advantage of this scheme, offenders must:

• Purchase a set of cycle lights
• Take the receipt providing proof of purchase and the fixed penalty notice to any Thames Valley Police Station within 7 days from midnight on the day of the offence.
• The station duty officer will endorse the receipt and return it to you. The fixed penalty notice will be retained by the police. The fixed penalty notice will be cancelled and no further action will be taken.
• Do not produce a set of lights only the receipt proving purchase of lights will suffice.
• If you decide not to take part in the scheme you must pay the penalty in full within 28 days or request that a court deal with the offence.

If you wish to have any more information about this or wish to contact Thames Valley Police for any reason, please call us on 0845 8 505 505

A Crash and More Cash...

Tuesday evening saw what will hopefully be the first of many evening rides now that the nights are lighter. We whizzed round the Ashendon, Dorton, Chilton, Chearsley circuit in just over an hour but it wasn't without incident.

Incident 1 - the CRASH
Poor Vicky took a big tumble when her wheel dropped down the edge of the road. It all happened so quickly. One minute she was leading the pack and setting a really good pace, next the noise of skidding on gravel was followed by the sight of Vicky lying on the road. There were two lucky breaks:

1. Isalda made an impressive swerve and
2. No cars were coming so Vicky wasn't hit by anything other than the road when she landed.

Vicky picked herself up and, despite a cut knee, grazed and swollen lip, sore hands (thank goodness for cycling gloves though) and injured pride, she cycled on undeterred with her usual good humour. You are a True Blue Belle and we are proud of you.

But...damn the state of our roads and, in particular, damn the drivers who think it's OK to drive over banks and churn up the verges which eventually caused the road edges to collapse and great big gaps to appear between the bank and the road edge. We need protection - which brings me nicely on to...

Incident 2 - the Men in Black
At Chilton club a mini bus full of young men in high spirits was unloading - that looked fun - then we saw the brand new, shiny, black saab parked outside, with men in dark glasses and smart jackets. Only one obvious reason for them to be there - body guards - so whose party was it? Well probably our little, jumped up, friend with the bashed up Ka and posh driveway/footpath (not bridleway) from Nether Winchendon House will know!

Who cares anyway - there is something more important yet to mention...

CASH
This week our efforts are so well rewarded - the wonderful ladies of Ashendon WI held a raffle at their monthly meeting to help us in our fundraising. They raised an impressive £32 for Macmillan Cancer Support. You are fantastic ladies because every penny raised goes towards a positive reality - £17.50 will pay for one more member of a cancer support group to go on a social event with other support group members. AWI - with your help we are now perilously close to achieving our target before even starting our Ridgeway adventure.

Morning has broken.....us!

An early start was made today - 7.30am on a Sunday morning was a tough call. We took a little while to get going but Tram hill up to Brill sorted us out. Followed by the long downhill into Little London and Oakley - weeeeeeeeeee.

As we woke up we started to appreciate the lovely wildlife and scenery that we are so fortunate to be surrounded by. Sian was particularly impressed by a gold coloured bird she saw (looked up later - it was a Yellowhammer) and our ever popular Red Kites. The fields are full of lovely mummy sheep and their baby lambs so we had to communicate with them as we went along!

From Oakley we took the road to Worminghall past the old airfield and we really kicked on in pace as it was soooo flat. At Worminghall we chucked a left and kept up the good pace to Shabbington and into Long Crendon. Our pace to here had been so impressive that we arrived far too early for the coffee shop. We pressed on to Chearsley.

After the 'no stop' success of Brill hill, Alex came close to repeating the performance on Frogmore Lane at Long Crendon - she made the mistake of looking back and lost momentum on the steep bit (where we reckon it's easy to fall off backwards on cos it's so steep). So she walked the last few steps - next time that's a challenge to be beaten.

The early start meant Vicky had little time to think about what she was wearing - Alex and Sian were thoroughly entertained by the stripy knickers under lycra which we had to view whenever Vicky was in front. Speaking of which we were supremely impressed to see the 'racing stripes' pass us as she smelt the coffee at Chearsley - she was down and up the dip like a rocket.

The Chearsley coffee stop was well appreciated and, as we left, we enjoyed a little banter with some fellow cyclists at the newly installed bike rack. Alex controlled her temptation to offer them a sweetie!! Only as we left did we realise what fab company we had just kept - their (specilized racing) bikes were truly amazing - they could have had all Alex's sweeties - in fact, honey, you can ring my bell!!!.

Heading home the view of Ashendon was stunning - in the sun with the village seemingly hanging off the Church - how lucky we are to be Pollicott Belles!

Speaking of Pollicott Alex ended our incident free trip with a wee topple as we cruised down the lane. At least now she knows how good her brakes are!

Girly Cycling Fun

Alex and Vicky are going to post up details of our last couple of rides including: mud wrestling, posh bloke bashing and a hill climbing extravaganza.

In the meantime here is a bit of girly fun.

http://www.agame.com/game/Cycling-Girl-Dress-Up.html

Come back soon!!

What to wear when cycling - part 2

We found this advice on a website that claims to be about cycling for fun. Well now we know what to do with bananas! You will need sound to view this video in all it's glory.



We certainly now have all the advise needed to kit ourselves up appropriately.

What to Wear when Cycling

This is an important subject for us Pollicott Belles, especially now that Alex has her new helmet.

We plan to share a series of 'how to look good in cyclewear' hints and tips over the coming months. We start with some manly advice which is:

Black lycra not red: