The first Sunday in January is always a tough examination of rider and machine, just 7 signed on for this New Year test but all passed with flying colours on what turned out to be a monumental day on the bike.
Round 3 of the Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers Winter Series , a 75 mile loop through Dorset and Wiltshire, is regarded as the hardest of the four rides, the relentless up and down, some typical Dorset hills and its place in the calendar all combine to make it a ‘good day out’. A stiff south westerly was on our backs but the rain was heavy and never really eased as we headed to Cranborne, away from the main roads the lanes were flooded and full of sticks and stones, the standing water slowing us at every turn. The scream down to Coombe Bisset tempered by the wind, the Ebble valley was essentially the Ebble river and Shaftesbury was in a cloud, visibility down to 100 metres.
The descent of Foyle Hill was taken cautiously but it was fast through Marnhull, Hinton St Mary and Sturminster Newton with Tom Stocker pulling strongly on the front. By then only the three of us, Eamonn Deane and Robert Pilato glued to Tom’s back wheel. Louisa and Andy Cooper had left early on gravel bikes, Mark Westcott by then had stopped for coffee and sausage roll at Shaftesbury and spare a thought for poor Marc Woodhall who punctured inside the first mile and rode round alone (and finished!). Hammoon was flooded, Mark and Marc were to find the barriers closed by the time they arrived requiring a detour, and the climb out of Okeford Fitzpaine is hard enough without the buffeting cross winds. Blandford Forum, Langton Long, Cowgrove, Wimborne, Rowlands Hill and Colehill were all wet! Jonathan Charman and Kevin Ridge had better things to do but welcomed us back with tea, cake and bacon baps, thanks lads. All 7 that rode deserve a pat on the back for the optimism to sign on and a hot bath for the guts to do it.
Not surprisingly the field has been decimated and only 3 remain with the possibility of completing all four rides, Eamonn, Tom and Marc. Hope you all make it to the start of the 100 on the 2nd February