Social Belles - 28/9/12

One of the best evenings the Belles have had and it was lovely to see everyone and good to see so much enthusiasm for the club and cycling in general!

We discussed future rides and challenges - looks like 2013 and 2014 are going to be very busy, what with cycling up mountains and drinking wine in some wonderful locations! Watch this space.....

Thanks to Angie, Anu, Marj, Fiona, Claire, Alison, Noreen, Lynne and Ali for coming along to make this such a great evening.

We met at the Woodmancote (to remember - the parking is difficult and hard to find!).

The next Social Belles will be on Friday October 26 - pop the date in your diary and further details to follow.

Our bill arrived in this pretty red shoe - thanks also to the staff at the Woodmancote, I think we kept them on their toes !

The Birthday boys on the next table were passing around the pub's crown...

Birthday Belles

Happy 2nd Birthday Biking Belles!

We had a lovely day and we all went to Isle of Wight...enjoy the following photos......

Our prizewinners....Sandra won Best Sideburns!

The runners up were Gill and Tizzie.

Very well done to everyone for their efforts.  There were all sorts of wonderful designs...some made from a dogs toy, mobile phone cover, Sandra knitted her sideburns, spotted material.....brilliant!


The prizegiving ceremony - all three were perched on top of a bench! ....Sandra, Gill and Tizzie.

Thank you to the lovely lady from the Choc Cafe for acting as our judge.

Oops...wobbly bench



The winner - congratulations to Sandra!

Birthday Belles were: Val, Sandra, Angela, Anthea, Caroline, Elise, Tizzie, Gill, Grace, Sheila, Nikki, Julia, Steph and Lynne

Saturday, Sept 15

The first day of our new regime - 9.30am at Bishop Luffa - all seemed to work well.

Welcome new Belles - Lisa, Judy and Jenny. I hope you enjoyed your first day with us. Nikki kindly took the lead to Rowlands Castle. Taking us along a new and pretty route, we arrived at the cafe in Rowlands Castle at 10.20am, too early for our rendezvous with the SDVs, so off went went to Finchdean and surrounding areas. A lovely area and the weather was perfect.

We arrived back at the cafe at about 11.30am, just in time to grab and table and 7 chairs before the SDVs arrived! The other Belles out today were Steph, Caroline, Nikki and Angie

It was John Rowlands birthday - very happy birthday to you John! He was presented with a birthday cake, below...

It was good to see all our SDV friends again!

Jenny and Lisa and the back shot of Judy.....

Our chum Sammy....

Angie and Steph...

After coffee and cakes ( btw, we have noticed that their cakes aren't as good as the Compton cafe cakes!!) we split up - a few went back home to Emsworth whereas myself, Steph and Angie followed Ann from SDVs back to Chichester. We went at a good strong pace and I loved every moment!

I had driven to the start of the ride today, I reached my car around 1pm and I then went off to the gym, for yet more pain!

Great to see everyone today and hope to see you again soon!

Sunday Sept 9

Many thanks to: Baby Belle - Grace, Farmer Giles Gill, Lynne, Tizzie, Sally and Sheila who came to Oaklands Park to support the Belles at the Get Active Festival.

Here are the usual photos of the day....

Farmer Giles Gill..

Saturday, September 8

I forgot my camera again!

Another lovely morning and  another good ride. Steph, Caroline, Anthea and myself met as usual at the Goodwood Hotel and made our way to Compton and our favourite cafe. It was Compton's village fete today and as we met at 9am we missed the rush and avoided the heavy traffic which was expected.

From the cafe we cycled back via Funtingdon, past the Goodwood Motor Circuit and back home - arriving back at about 1pm.

Mileage: approx 28

Thanks again to everone who came out today and hope to see you again soon x

Saturday Sept 1st

The first day of Autumn today.

This had been planned as a bit of an epic ride and it was, we weren't disappointed. We met at 9am, which was a good idea as I didn't get back home until 3.40pm! It was a great ride and Malc Belle joined us at East Meon and cycled all the way back with us.

Angie, Caroline, Sandra, Elise and welcome back Steph and me, met at Goodwood Hotel,  cycled through the estate, to Lavant, past the Royal Oak to Chilgrove, where we met Julia at the junction. Then on along the Chilgrove road, up Harting Hill and then down again into South Harting and on to Petersfield, along the Winchester road to Langrish and then East Meon.

We reached East Meon at 11am and saw Anthea waiting outside the pub for us. It was lovely to see her again. I forgot to ask her how she enjoyed her ride along Hadrians Wall..... next time.

East Meon

Our first tea and cake stop....

Malc Belle

Here's Angie having trouble with her sock and velcro straps of her shoe....

From East Meon we made our way along the pretty lanes to Clanfied, with some short sharp hills along the way and then along Chalton Hill and as we were so close to Compton we just had to stop at our favourite cafe there. It was 1.30pm by this time, so we were ready for a spot of lunch. Julia said we had used up 2,000 calories to Compton, so we didn't feel guilty at all when ordering our baked potatoes, soups, sandwiches and of course tiffin!


After the food......

A great ride and well worth meeting that little bit earlier. From Compton we made our usual way back to Chichester and Goodwood. Another epic ride is planned for next week...details to follow.

Thanks to everyone who came out today who made this a fun day!

Mileage: 52!!

Sunday Aug 26

It was such a shame we had to abandon yesterday's Birthday Ride to Isle of Wight due to the awful weather. However, I've put Saturday, September 29 in the diary for our belated Birthday Ride, again to IoW. Details will follow.

A few of us met the following day for a Hardy Belles ride - Julia, Angie and Val. The roads were quite busy due to there being horseracing on at Goodwood.

Beautiful sunny day, with a bit of a breeze.

It was a great ride - thanks girls! All the way we were going at a good strong pace and only stopped in Petworth for a cuppa. Our speed was probably in the region of 18 - 20 mph and going down Duncton Hill Julia clocked 42.6 mph....a new Belles record...excellent!

We followed the usual route, said goodbye to Julia in Singleton, where Angie and myself decided to cycle up the Weald & Downland Hill....it's hell of a hill, but very satisfying once we got over the first hard strip. Going down Kennel Hill was great, completely clear road on our side but very long queues on the other side, so we free wheeled for most of the way!

We met at 9.30 and arrived back at the Goodwood Hotel around 1.15pm.
Mileage: approx 43

Have a great week and see you all soon.