Beating the Bounds of Dorset – Part 1

Dorset is a wonderful county with a huge variety of scenery and terrain and despite my Northern roots it is where I have lived for the last 30 years or so.  A ride around its boundary seemed a fitting way to spend a couple of days.

The route I devised, some 220 miles or 330 kilometres with about 4000m of ascent would be too challenging for a days ride so I split it into two. The first day went from East to West roughly following the South Coast from Christchurch back home to Burton Bradstock.

Steve accompanied me on this trip and it was great to have time to catch up on his recent cycling tours in Donegal and Brittany.

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My new bike

Thorn Cycles

I have 2 bikes.  My full carbon Specialised Roubaix and my Dawes Galaxy. The Dawes Galaxy was a bit of an experiment as I bought it off eBay to see if I liked touring.  I did quite a lot of refurbishment to the bike and since Toby of Pedals and Paddles sorted it out for me before LEJoG it has been trouble free and a really nice bike to ride.  The main problem is that it is too big for me. So for the last 3 or 4 months I have been researching my perfect Audax and light touring bike.  Everywhere I go I look at other people bikes and talk to them about bikes. I have read endless reviews about bikes.  There are so many different options to choose and I want this new bike to be right. I don’t want to buy another bike. Editors note: she talks of nothing else apart from bloody bikes!!

Dave’s Dales Tour Plus 200k

Richmond Castle

To end my week of visiting my roots in the North East I cycled this event on 21st September. The event is organised by David Atkinson and is based at the Swaledale Outdoor Club in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

Ralph Cross Audax 200km

Ralph Cross

My visit to family in North Yorkshire coincided with this Calendar Audax event so it seemed like a good idea to enter. The organiser Graeme Holdsworth was meticulous in his planning and the route sheet was very accurate and easy to follow and there was a lovely GPX file which I put on the Garmin.

I decided to take the trusty, old Dawes Galaxy up North as I knew it would be better able to cope with adverse weather and road conditions, should they occur.

New Forest On and Off Shore 200km

Completed Brevet Card

This is an Audax event organised by John Ward who organises other cycling events based at Lymington.

The start is at the Lymington ferry terminal. Cyclists are required to be ready to board the ferry at 07:35 ready for it’s departure to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight at 07:45. Before this Brevet cards and ferry tickets are collected from the event registration.

Registration at Lymington

The Old Bat was quite intimidated, as all the other riders seemed to be young, fit men with very snazzy bicycles and coordinating outfits. On closer inspection as the day went on some did not match up to this first impression. I did, however, only see 4 women on the 200km ride.