The sun was shining with the promise of a pleasant ride. In Liphook people are being stopped by the Vice squad asking about a male known as Smashie, Apparently this undesirable has been sharing his ‘Birds’ to dodgy men in lycra. Satisfied that the police were on the job the shabis began to saddle up.

Several shabis showed their green credentials and ditched the diesel to cycle to the start , news reports suggest this was in fact a go slow protest holding up innocent commuters on their way home. As 6:30 came and went, Algenon roared into the car park with some bird he got from a man down the road. Where were the Vice squad .

10 riders set off , Chuff, Genghis, Algenon, Sir Fallalot, Fracker, Tonka, Slumpy 2, Dave the plasterer, Simon P, Big Ring.

Through the golf course the ground was firm and the going good. A slight detour at Iron hill saw some new windy single track before getting back on track and heading up to Linchmere common. A right turn was met with “We usually go this way at the end of the ride” The RM was not lost as we descended a seldom used track with some tricky drop offs, a gentle taster for Wales.

Across the road at Linchmere Church brought us to the well used bridle way, despite perfect scoping at the weekend the mud was deeper and softer than expected and soon all were bogged down.

The mud appeared to have taken extra hold of Big Rings wheels, not to worry brute force will do the trick? OH no it won’t as bits of chain link flew everywhere Big Ring came to a halt. As luck would have it, while Slumpy is an expert in chain repairs, Algernon always has his camera ready to document the fun, so after several minutes everyone was again on the move, with a couple of action photos to show the Grand-Kids:

Some swift peddling over the top of Marley was followed by swift downhill to Kingsley Green. A short piece of roadwork before we climb back up Van Road to the dizzy Marley Heights. The pain of the climb was worth it with some great single track taking us all the way back to Iron Hill.

A slight diversion saw the Shabis tackle several deep ruts with Big Ring taking a tumble.

Back on the road and a blast through the golf course to arrive back at the Links for the meal.

Meal for all

RM - Chuff

T shirt points - Chuff, Genghis, Algenon, Fracker,Tonka,Slumpy

Fall for Big Ring

Chuff x

Big Ring: