Nice… Like the 3d graphic

That does put it all into perspective and glad I didn’t see that graphic before we left 😉

My cycle meter app suggests 3014ft of climbing, or 1000mtrs give or take. How does that compare with your Veloviewer/Strava Bartimaeus?

Hey DV, apologies! Yes you do roll quicker!

I’ve got 2800ft from my Garmin.. and I am now the King Of The Mountain on the infrequently used B2141 Climb, wherever that was! 8)

Nice one frogstomp…. And slackalice, I don’t mind as it’s quite true 😀

A lot of effeminate leg crossing going on up there, chaps! 😉

Apologies for radio silence recently, rather busy with family matters. Squeezed in a cheeky loop today though, up past Hannington towards the mast, then on across towards Highclere and then down to the valley again. Was lovely, just lovely. The descent down towards the Kingslclere road was beautiful. Overgrown, dusty, poppy-strewn. I stopped for a while, and all I could hear was the wind tickling the ears of the crops. Stunning.

Strava gave me 1,300m which it then corrected to 770m. Different sites use different algorithms, and I think Strava itself decides whether or not to adjust data based on its source… so a Garmin with barometric altimeter won’t get corrected, but my basic GPS will. It’s only ever worth comparing like with like.

frogstomp, I can see I’m now 4th on that climb, and we were just cruising. I may have a go at the KOM, as I’m not sure I have ever had one before. I only need 11 seconds but I need to get in quick before the fast people!

Found a lovely little spot to rest beside the River Test, it had a recently installed curved wooden bench. Such temptation to take off my shoes and have a paddle in the clear water! 😀

Did you do it CG? Sounds a lovely place to rest.

Had an hour or so at QECP this evening with Big Shep, good fun and I managed to make a climb I have failed on all year, I was puffing like a 40 a day smoker by the time I reached the top! First time I have used strava at QECP and I now know how bloody slow I am lol. Oh, and and the highlight of the ride was the slowest crash on a mountain bike anyone has ever seen, it looked like something filmed by the ‘slo mo’ guys.

That sounds great cg…. You certainly should have had a paddle!!
I still haven’t been out on my new Stanton yet… However that will be remedied tomorrow, hopefully alton way.
As an aside I did a little research on the kingsley vale ride.. The stand of yews is one of the largest in Europe, some of the trees have been dendro dated to around 2000 years old, it even survived the yew tax of 1472… Definitely going back to have a proper look. Cheers bartimaeus…..

yew tax of 1472

😯 Tell us more (or this is a clever play on words and you are really talking about female sheep)

In 1472 the statute of Westminster was passed that, due to the need for yew to make war bows, 4 staves of yew were to be provided for every tun (roughly 240 gallons of wine) unloaded at a British port….

Kingley Vale is an amazing place, haven’t been there for at least 10 years.

Nice history lesson from daftvader. 8) Have you managed to ride your new steed yet?

I’ve just had an interesting ride, specifically alongside where the Boomtown festival will take place this weekend (Cheesefoot Head). Lorries being driven precariously whilst negotiating tight turns plus masses of equipment covering an enormous area. Did I mention the dust?

Popped into a lovely thatched pub for some liquid refreshment. Had a small cup of tea from a machine, a glass of cranberry juice plus a packet of crisps. That’ll be £6 please. 😯

Yup, a short shakedown ride yesterday, everything apart from a slipping Seatpost, was brilliant. Can’t wait to get it to some fast trails. As for the history, I’m a bit of a geek especially when it comes to archery, medieval weaponry and trees!! 😀

Which pub was that CG? Should have just had a pint 🙂

Good news there! Your interests are certainly, er, interesting – the combination that is!

A heads-up for anyone riding the gulley in Hampage Wood, near Ovington – it is still there but very well hidden. It look as though the double-track bridleway descends through the wood but it doesn’t. Immediately before this and continuing in the same direction as before, the bridleway looks narrow and impassable but it does improve.

afternoon…
well another stonking ride with Mr Slackalice. Cheesefoot head this time. the trails were absolutely stunning and none of it was very hard, and every so often the trail threw up some delightful single track and some really swoopy trails 8) . the views seemed to go on for ever too , only managed to take a couple of pics. couldn’t have had a better hangover cure (figured i might loose my lunch after the first climb but thankfully didn’t )
[/url]IMG_1760 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]
[/url]IMG_1761 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

oh and the stanton…. soooooo good 😀 8) 😀
cheers…

john – pub was the only one in the village of Tichborne.

Gorgeous pics daftvader especially the fluffy clouds. 😀 Have you ridden the gulley in the woods near Ovington?

no idea where that is i’m afraid… will have a look
edit… just had a look and we went south, so no but will put it on the to do list

Lovely pics do need to get out there again soon, maybe one night after work next week.

SORRY BUT I’M GOING TO INDULGE IN A RANTETTE!!!

OK the wonderful 4 off road cycle trail packs, costing either £2 or £2.99 per pack, produced by Hampshire County Council:

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/cycling/cycle-trails.htm

It would seem that Ordnance Survey have come up with a new wheeze, namely the same routes but in A4 format and the cost … wait for it … £12.99 per pack.

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/maps.html?cat%5B0%5D=63&cat%5B1%5D=64&utm_content=

Alternatively you can download in pdf format at £1.99 per route.

Is off road cycling the new golf???

Well that’s nuts. You can have a years subscription to OS GetaMap for £15 and just mark them up and print them off yourself.

Thank you for reading my little rantette jambalaya. 🙂

You can even download them off the HCC website although, to be fair, some info is cut off but the gist is there.

Edit: I’ve also posted a review of a set on the OS website. Wonder if I’ll get banned? 😉

@cg – let’s just say I marked up some maps for myself and send them for your review to see if I’d done it right ? Which one are you particularly interested in ?

I need to do a good turn for someone on STW as I seem to be upsetting most people elsewhere !

Choose your topics wisely jambalaya. 😀 Have you been hanging out with the Big Hitters? 😆

I have much affection for those sets as they inspired me to venture off road with my quarter inch travel Trek hardtail. For someone who was clueless about maps, the thought of having those nice little discs on posts to enable me to explore the Hampshire countryside was exciting and brilliant.

Ooooh and just to say that I recognise daftvader’s 2nd pic, looks quite different from a week or so ago when I was fighting my way through. 😀

I hacked 65k’s on the CX last Tuesday, off down tonight for more of the same, Yay!!

I just need to post a thank you to Big Shep. One f the reasons it started this topic/thread was to try and get myself motivated by others riding in hants. Big Shep has got me out mid week round some local stuff that I couldn’t link together myself and it’s been great fun. Bit shit for him as he has t wait for me at the top of every hill but I am enjoying it and that’s all that matters really 🙂

So, to build on this Hampshire riding love I think we need to get a group ride together like the one that happened a few weeks ago. How many of us could make either cheesefoot, QECP, Kingsley vale as a location? Date to follow when location decided.

I have set I don’t use you can have for a tenner (+p&p)? 😛

I could be up for a ‘Hampshire’ ride – I rarely brave anywhere west of the A3 so maybe I should expand my horizons a bit 😀

The way the rain is coming down it may be a Hampshire swim bartimaeus… 😆 And I’d be up for anether group outing, so long as frogstomp and bartimaeus wait at the tops…. Again!! 😀

We need a voting thingy on here, but we don’t have one, so options as far as I see it are:
Mess around on the trails at QECP.
SDW ride from QECP.
SDW ride from Cheesefoot(Winchester) including cg’s sneaky Singletrack bits.
Kingley Vale as per last ride.

Any advance on those options?

CX bikes allowed?? 😆

Provided if fits in with other events I’m doing I’m up for a Groupootle 😀

Great idea peeps! The ride DV and I did from Cheesefoot was a great one, despite my legs suffering from a lack of rest!

I’ll gladly tag along any group ride, so long as it’s before the 26th Aug, as after that it’s goodbye Hampshire, hello Norfolk for the Slack family 8)

SDW ride from Cheesefoot(Winchester) including cg’s sneaky Singletrack bits.

hmm that sounds inteesting

I’m only avaliable after the bank holiday, so likely miss this one. However I’d vote for the cheesefoot head one as it was a really nice ride…

Ok so we have a venue, do we have a guide? I only know out and back from cheesy.

Date? 17th or 18th?

DV used his flash Garmin thing for our ride, so doubtless he has a gpx type file available.

I logged the route on my Cyclemeter phone app too. I’m not sure if I can get a working file from it so I’ll have a look. I’ve found the phone app not too easy to use as a route navigator as I keep it in the Camelbak, so if someone has a Garmin or similar, we’ll be fine! I’m happy to strap it to my bars and lead, although I’m not the quickest /fittest of riders! 😉

Will see if I can sort one out later, who wants it?? If I can’t it’s the hants council rout for cheesefoot head….

I’ve an 810, you can ping the file to me if you like 😀

Will do…. Off to Derbyshire tomorrow so will try tonight, if I don’t drop me an email and I will do it Monday.