Saturday, July 23

The BB's Club tops have arrived!

We're pink ......and can be seen from the moon!!

We all were proud to wear our lovely new tops, but there were two Belles (who were relegated to the back of these two pics) who wouldn't wear their nice new tops - apparently holding back until our 1st Birthday Ride on August 21! 

As you see, they were both upset about being kept in the background!

Doreen being confronted by one of the drivers in Goodwood asking why she wasn't in pink as with the rest of the group? She didn't really have an answer.

We set off in our bright and brand new tops from Goodwood Hotel, there was a classic car rally starting from Goodwood at the same time and I think aiming to get to Outer Mongolia??

Cycling up New Barn lane, turning right at the cross roads, we headed towards Upwaltham, down Duncton Hill, which was a bit of a thrill with all that free cycling, we stopped in the village for a drink, Claire had been bitten by something, I think a bit of Savlon may have helped the sting.

Heading towards Heyshott passing through some beautiful countryside.

A curious rooftop sculpture, looks like a dragon and his slayer perhaps?

Making our way towards the lovely cafe in Cocking - Moonlight Cottage. Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, lovely sandwiches, superb cake and cups of tea and coffee to prepare ourselves for the Cocking Hill, which actually was a lot easier this time around. Claire told us we had used up over 1,000 calories so far - excellent, no guilt about eating that cake then....

Charlton Hill - geting easier also!

Now the easy bit...cycling down Kennel Hill and towards the start of the ride in Goodwood. Reached home at about 2.15pm - 35 miles cycled and over 1,000 calories used up....very good day!

Thanks to everyone for coming out...Doreen, her sister Angela, Claire, Karen, Caroline and Elise.

Next Thursday the Belles are off to Glorious Goodwood - Ladies Day on Thursday, July 28...here's hoping for sunshine!!

Easy Belles Ride - Sunday, July 17

Sun, rain, wind, shooting, scrumping, puncture, tea and cakes!

An action packed ride this one, which was supposed to be an Easy Belles ride! We all met at the start of the Centurion Way to discover there was a Triathlon in progress. Not a problem as we weaved in and out of the runners along the track.

The section of the track which runs along the Midhurst/Chichester road Leyla spotted some apples gowing along the hedgrow so we stopped and had a taste. They looked delicious but on tasting they were extremely sour!

We reached West Dean village and Leyla found she had a puncture. The ever ready Belles got out their tool kits and set to work! Elise had a spare inner tube so this was inserted but found that it had narrower fitting than the original.  As it was beginning to rain we decided to cycle on to West Dean garden centre and consider our next steps over a cup of tea.

Taking another look at that inner tube...

All sorted, we repaired the original tube and squeezed it back into the tyre.

Clay pigeon shooting along the way.

 As soon as we left the garden centre the heavens opened, so we all waited a few minutes underneath a tree. 

Cycling home there were still quite a few runners on the track...

We finally arrived back home at about 1.30pm - rather longer than planned. It was good to see everyone - Elise, Joanna and Leyla. There will be another Easy Belles ride in August - date tbc.

The next ride will be a MTB ride on Saturday July 23 and we're meeting at The George pub in Eartham. Further details will be posted on the Blog shortly.