HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY BIKING BELLES!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

My thanks to all Belles who made this such a special 1st Birthday Ride. It was great fun and certainly a day very much to remember....

From left to right....Karen (founder member and BB's official cake supplier), Gill, Claire, Ellie, Caroline, new Belle; Steph, Angela, me, Elise (founder member and BB's official champagne supplier), Baby Belle, Mercy ( BB's official chocolate expert) and Sandra.

What a great weekend we had....it all started at Karen's BBQ on the Saturday evening and she brilliantly made a BB's 1st Birthday cake, take a look....

 Very well done and thank you very much Karen!

Nikki was at the BBQ also, we hadn't seen her for so long as she's broken her foot. Hope to see her out cycling sometime in the Autumn.

Nikki receiving her Club top.

Caroline was also at the BBQ - wearing Elise's fancy headband in readiness for her Moulon Rouge party this weekend (note the price tag!)....

Then on Sunday morning we all met at Chichester Station and caught the 9.14 train to Portsmouth Harbour - a great turnout, thanks to everyone who made this such a great day for the Biking Belles. 

Mercy brought with her pink balloons, birthday girl badges, party poppers, we caused quite a bit of a stir on the train... actually everywhere we went!

Elise serving what was to become the first of many bottles of pink champagne!

And again on the Catamarran....

Balloon Belles.....

Grace...our first Bunny Belle!

First stop was and what will become a regular refreshment stop in Ryde, the Chocolate Apothecary, naturally we all ordered chocolate of some description....

Mercy in heaven!

The cakes here are wonderful!

Reluctantly we left this lovely cafe and made our way to Bembridge...

On the road to Bembridge.

So many people commented on our lovely tops, even chatting to us on the Catamarran and pub about what we are all about!

Had lunch at the Crab & Lobster Inn in Forelands, Bembridge - lovely food - fresh crab salad, sardines, spicy prawns...

The beach just below the Crab & Lobster pub

From Bembridge we made our way back to Ryde via Brading...lovely country lanes and passed by a vineyard...

Returning to Ryde, Mercy popped back into the choc shop and some Belles had an ice cream.

Map supplied by Mercy....

Here's looking forward to our 2nd Birthday Party Ride!

Sunday, August 21

'This road is closed!!'...how many times did we hear this??

Here they come....

We caught the 0759 train from Barnham to Horsham, where Mercy met us and led the ride to Dorking via the quite lanes through Rusper and Capel. Approximate distance was 15 miles to Dorking where we made camp at the Cockerell or is it a Chicken ?? at the Dorking roundabout.

Not as many crowds as I thought there'd be and we had a very good spot to see the cyclists coming directly towards us and then passing us by...in a flash it was all over.

Very exciting atmosphere and the Belles who were wearing the official pink spotty tops were a media magnet with many photographers taking our photos! We'll be looking out for coverage in this weeks magazine and newspapers!

We didn't manage to see Mr Cavendish, but so glad to see he won the race!

Afterwards we headed on towards Dorking town centre for a piece of carrot cake at the Cafe Rouge...

As the race was over and the roads deserted for just a few cyclists we ventured onto the road hoping to cycle back towards the Chicken, but this was not allowed...This Road is Closed was the screach which followed us all along the road. What a shame Surrey Council didn't think to allow families and keen cyclists the opportunity to cycle part of the Olympic route once the excitement was over!

Again, the pink spotty Belles were approached, this time by members of the Surrey Council asking for details of our Club and making a note of our Blog address and Twitter address. We're famous at last!

Mercy then led us back to Horsham via a similar route - quite hilly and at one point we climbed up a 17% hill! As she mentioned....it was character building!

It was a fun day and so glad we made the trip. Finally getting home at about 3pm and those who cycled from Tangmere, we probably cycled 45 miles!

Well done and thanks to everyone who came out and thanks to Mercy who led the ride and gave me a day off!