BIKING BELLES, Chichester and District Ladies Cycling Club (TM), incorporating Charity Belles

NEW ADDRESS FOR THE BBs

2012-12-05T09:47:00.000+00:00

We've moved to.......

www.bikingbelles.co.uk

and

www.bikingbelles.co.uk/forum

Saturday, Nov 10

2012-11-10T17:56:00.002+00:00

Another great turnout today....Alison, Angie, Lynn, Sheila, Marj, Fiona, Ali, new Belle...Nicolette, Judy, welcome back Ruth! and Lisa

We met at Goodwood Hotel, cut through the estate and along past the motorcircuit cutting through Lavant and made our way to West Stoke. From here we went our usual route through Funtingdon, turning right at the pub and down turning towards Walberton. From here Fiona took over and cycled up her long slow hill, which was great for our stamina, ending up at our cafe in Compton....

Now here's the funny bit....Sheila locked her bike to Lynn's outside the caff, but she forgot to bring the key!! We suggested they both cycle home very carefully, but they weren't impressed with this suggestion so a friend of the cafe's owner brought his saw but as he had an operation yesterday he couldn't do anything with it. So yours truly with the help from Alison sorted it out in about 20 seconds....

Don't buy this type of lock as it's made of mostly plastic with a thin piece of wire running through it. I think Sheila bought it from Tesco. The 'D' lock designs are considered the best.

Hope everyone got home safely and hope to see you next week for TWO rides including Brunch at the Woodmancote...£5.

Halloween ride - 28 / 10 /12

2012-10-28T15:58:00.000+00:00

Hilarious - thanks to everyone for taking the trouble to dress up - a great day and we ended up at the Woodmancote for cake and coffee.

The witches were...Fiona, Angie, Viv, Lynn, Sheila, Angela, Claire, Alison, Val - Elise and Nikki joined us at the pub.

Enjoy these funny pics.....

Sheila, Viv, Val, Angela, Angie checking her texts, Claire and Fiona....outside Goodwood Hotel....

Fiona, Viv, Lynn, Elise, Angela, Angie kneeling at the front and Sheila....outside the Woodmancote

Angie.....

Viv and Sheila....

Cake.....

Angie, Baileys and hot choc....

Elise and Angie..

Nikki, Claire and Viv....

Social Belles - Oct 26

2012-10-27T15:42:00.001+01:00

We met at the Horse & Groom in East Ashling - Jane, Alison, Judy, Lynne, Fiona, Sheila came along. Good food and good company, I think I can say the evening was another success.

Sandra and Simon popped by as did Kim and Shaun from SDV. Kim has tickets for sale for the SDV Christmas party on Dec 14 which the BBs have been invited to. If you'd like a ticket please call Kim on: 07920762155. They cost £15 each.

The next Social Belles evening is on Friday, November 30.

Oct 23 - Charity Belles presenting our cheque

2012-10-24T18:13:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday, October 23 we met with Di and Jo from The Sussex Snowdrop Trust to present our cheque totalling £2,009.78.

A large part of this total was kindly donated by The Southdown Velo Club and John Rowlands representing the Club joined us in the presentation.

Thanks to Leyla, Jane, Angela and Fiona for coming along on Tuesday.

Well done and many thanks to everyone who helped raise this amount!

John Rowlands and Di Levantine

Saturday, October 13

2012-10-13T15:51:00.003+01:00

We've been so lucky with the weather.....another sunny morning and we even managed to sit outside the Compton cafe again enjoying their delicious cakes!

This is a lovely ride and always a popular one. From Goodwood we cycled through Lavant, Chilgrove and along through the Mardens (up that nasty hill) and we met quite a few other cyclists at the top of the hill. After a brief chat with them all we made our way down the long stretch to Compton.

These hills aren't the easiest to cycle, but well done to Judy and Ali who worked hard and should be pleased with themselves...it gets easier, I promise!

From Compton, the usual way home and turning left towards Funtingdon, we said goodbye to Fiona and Steph here and Noreen left us at Halidays. A good ride home getting back at about 1pm.

I think everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was lovely to see you all again......Marj, Judy, Fiona, Ali, Noreen, Steph, Jane, Caroline and Sandra.

Hope to see you all next week

Marj and Judy planning our next ride....

Saturday, October 6

2012-10-06T17:43:00.000+01:00

A 9am meet at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, a great mornings session at the veladrome wth Pod.

Jane, Angie, Julia, Ali, Fiona, Steph, Jenny, Carla, Tizzie and me.....both Leyla and Jessie both managed to oversleep and missed the session!

I very big Thank You to Pod for your patience and understanding.....who's easier to teach Pod? - men or women??

Note the despair in Pod's face!

I think we tested Pod's patieince at times - he had to show us how to take off a wheel...I don't think he was expecting to sink to such basic depths!

'Now girls....this is what we call a WHEEL'......

Someone's cleat which Pod said might need bit of a clean??

One of the reasons we booked this session was for a few of us to upgrade from trainers to cleats. However, we started off the session by checking our bikes - brakes, wheels, chain etc. Then we set off using our new cleats, shoes and pedals for the first time. And it wasn't as bad as I had expected! A big step for a few of us but after several laps we were all feeling much happier and more confident. I fell off! ....I unclipped my left cleat but for some reason I moved my weight to the right...goodness knows why, anyway, I paid the price.

Apparently we cycled 25 miles during the whole session!

We then went on to riding as a group and how we should ride as a group along the roads, so we will give this a go tomorrow.

After this we then had a bike maintenance briefing, which included removing the front and back wheels and repairing a puncture. I know Pod was screaming inside - but he was great and very patient. He's even said he will come back and ride wih us possibly in November.

Thanks again to Pod and all the brave Belles who came out today. Hope to see you all again soon - if not tomorrow morning at 9am!

Social Belles - 28/9/12

2012-09-29T08:23:00.001+01:00

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

2012-09-23T07:43:00.000+01:00

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

2012-09-15T17:23:00.001+01:00

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

2012-09-09T18:44:00.001+01:00

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

2012-09-09T18:08:00.002+01:00

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

2012-09-01T17:03:00.003+01:00

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

2012-08-26T14:32:00.002+01:00

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.

Saturday August 18

2012-08-18T18:36:00.000+01:00

We had a great ride today, and good to meet and ride with new Belles....Jessie, Linda, Mandy and Sue - all have said they're entering the Maratona next year!

We met at our usual meeting place, we made our way to Petworth - tea and coffe at our chocolate cafe, the plan was to go back via Ambersham and Heyshott but I met an old friend in the cafe and he invited us to watch some polo at his ground near Midhurst.

After a glass of champagne and really enjoyed the polo we eventually made our way to Heyshott, Cocking and then back home. By now it was getting very hot and quite glad to reach home. Meeting at 9am I think was a very good idea.

No pictures today as I forgot my camera...again!

Hope to see new Belles again next week.

Saturday August 11

2012-08-11T17:40:00.003+01:00

Another lovely morning...I met up with some of the SV boys in Boxgrove on my way to Goodwood. They were on their way to Rowlands Castle. John Rowlands and myself were the pacemakers going at a very fast pace, you'll be glad to know I didn't disgrace the BBs name and I actually think the SVs had a hard time keeping up with me!

We said our goodbyes at the Goodwood Estate gates and I went on to meet the girls at the Hotel.

From the hotel we made our way towards Duncton. It appears we hit 39.5 mph going down Duncton Hill, which is a record! Er...if you're a traffic cop reading this, I'm just kidding!!

Through Duncton we turned left towards Graffham, it was here Angie fell off her bike, we're not sure why, as there was no real reason! She was uninjured.

Oops.....

From Graffham we made our way towards Heyshott and then to Cocking. In Cocking we went away from our normal route to view a famous persons' garden (can't say who!). We found it and it has a beautiful and very large garden! We weren't spotted, so off we went back and made our way up Cocking Hill.

To note: the cafe at the bottom of Cocking Hill is still closed!

Caroline

Julia

Angie

We arrived at West Dean for tea and cakes, and sat outside and enjoyed the wonderful views.

From here we cycled along the main road towards Lavant, past the Royal Oak, cutting through Goodwood Estate and back to the hotel. Said our goodbyes to Angie and Julia. Caroline and myself carried on back to Tangmere / Oving.

A great days ride - such a pretty route yet a good testing ride - thoroughly enjoyed it and thanks to the girls... Angie, Caroline and Julia for coming out today.

Angie: I hope you enjoyed that vodka and tonic!

Caroline: Hope you have a wonderful holiday and see you in September.

Next weekend there's a Hardy Belles ride on Saturday and a Middy Belles ride on Sunday. Please email me if you're interested in coming out.

Sunday Aug 5

2012-08-06T11:13:00.002+01:00

Woke up Sunday morning to a heavy downpour, walked the dogs at Goodwood, got soaked!

Needless to say the Hardy Belles were out in force....me and Caroline plus Malc and Simon. Not a particularly long ride today as we made our way to East Dean and then ended up at West Dean for a coffee. Malc and Simon joined us shortly afterwards, but unfortunately Malc had a fall and had hurt his elbow. Off to St Richards with Becky and I hear all is well - nothing broken.

Caroline and myself made our way home via East Dean Hill and Goodwood as Caroline wanted to get to the hospital to see Malc.

My best wishes to Malc!

No pics today as my camera had a flat battery...

Hills Belles on Monday evening....Aug 6 at 5.45pm if anyone is interested.

Tour de France

2012-07-23T20:17:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to Wiggo and Team Sky! What a historic day and I was so glad to be there!

Bradley's in the centre of this photo....

and he's on the screen below

French Boris Bikes!

St Swithins day

2012-07-15T15:25:00.001+01:00

It actually didn't rain ...and we even managed to sit outside at our cafe in Compton!

We had a great turnout today - Malc Belle, Morag, Angie, Sandra, Caroline, Mercy, Angela, Julia and Steph

We met at Goodwood Hotel and made out way via East Dean, West Dean, Chilgrove, Mardens and then stopped at our cafe in Compton.

We officially welcomed Malc on his first ride as our honorary Belle...and he looks splendid in his spotty top!

Julia had a fall along the back lanes in Chilgrove....our first fallen Belle for quite some time...

Close up.....

She was fine, just road scuffs.....Doctor Belle had several antiseptic wipes, tissues and the ever important aloe vera fragranced wet wipes to make everything smell pretty and nice afterwards.

Mileage: 32, not the Maratona but we had a few long pulls towards Compton which sort of brought back some Maratona memories!

Next week Claire has come up with what looks like a great ride around the Rowlands Castle area - approx 25 miles. There are a few Belles meeting at 9am in Chichester and cycling to the start in Rowlands Castle. Email me if you'reinterested in coming along.

Post Maratona - July 8

2012-07-08T13:45:00.000+01:00

Hard to believe this time last week we were competing in the Maratona, through wonderful countryside, sunshine and 32 degrees! Back to earth with a bang....wet windy morning here in Sussex but there were a few Hardy Belles who put on their Martona tops and came out....Val, Caroline, Morag and Steph.

One minute we had on our waterproofs, the next we were cycling in lovely sunshine. Needless to say we had to stop for tea and cakes. This time we popped in to West Dean.

Due to a few requests the ride next week has been changed from Saturday to Sunday. Please email me if you plan to come out.

2012-07-04T08:23:00.002+01:00

Well worth taking a look at the Maratona Belles page.....

BBs hanky

2012-06-22T20:07:00.001+01:00

I've found a supplier!

Let me know if you'd like one - £3.95 each, large cotton BB hanky!

THE MARATONA

2012-06-20T08:42:00.001+01:00

JUST 10 DAYS TO GO..............

Charity ride - June 16

2012-06-17T14:24:00.000+01:00

Thank you to everyone who came out yesterday and those who have helped sell raffle tickets and donated prizes, which has raised £258!

Thank you also to my balloon blowers, without whom it would have taken me hours to decorate the route - Elise, Tizzie and Leyla. Thanks also to Sophie who delivered all the prizes to The Ship.

Thanks also to Simon Ballard from CDC who kindly donated some cycling gifts.

Despite the cold and windy weather, I think we all had a fun day!

Swans and sygnets at the Chichester Yacht Club

At the start of the ride - we met at 4.30pm outside Bishop Luffa....

Rough seas at Bosham.....

Sandra, Caroline and Anthea shivering while waiting for the ferry!

Bethan and Matt

Malcolm and the ferryman

Elise and John with their tandem

Bethan and Matt

Nikki, Will and John at supper

Will, carrying his prize of a Bike Clock, I gather he made it home ok!

Along the Salterns Way.....

Our thanks to the ItchyBosham Ferry and all the staff at The Ship, Itchenor. Lets hope next year is hot and sunny!

Maratona Ride - Sun June 10

2012-06-11T16:39:00.000+01:00

We had a lovely ride today..met at Goodwood Hotel down East Dean hill, left through Charlton and Singleton along the main road past West Dean and turned right at Selsey Arms (which has now closed down and is under new management) - up the hill and along the long and winding lanes to the Fish House.

From here we turned right towards the Mardens and eventually made our way to our favourite cafe in Compton. We all thought that awful short sharp hill in the Mardens is much easier to climb these days!

Had a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake at our cafe and made friends with two robins who seem to have a nest just close to the cafe - see pic above.

After tea we made our way home via West Ashling, Clay Lane - saying goodbye to Steph and Sandra along the way. Elise and myself made our way home to Tangmere.

Thanks to all Belles who came out today, despite the wet start to the day it all ended on quite a dry and bright note...Val, Elise, Sandra and Steph.

Three weeks today we'll be in the Dolomites!!!