Our GRIDIRON 2004
If you had asked us while Tim
lay in hospital at the beginning of June what the chances were of us riding the
Gridiron this year, we would have been very negative as Tim’s newly diagnosed
asthma was making any additional effort off the agenda. The positive side of things was that
his heart had been given a clean bill of health, so he was reaping the reward
of all that past cycling. With a
change of drugs he was able re-start cycling at the beginning of August, but it
was only several weeks later that we felt confident enough to book our places
for 3rd October. The
forecast in advance was poor, nothing like the glorious summer’s day of 2000,
the last time we had participated. However, for the first 40km the weather was kind and dry. We made good progress from Boldre and
were soon cycling across the open heathland of the New Forest. Tim fuelled with one of the delicious
smelling bacon rolls at the start. We cycled through Burley Moor where I remembered walking with my school
friends on our way to the Youth Hostel about thirty years ago. Next we passed a group of brown ponies
with white heads and necks as if they had been dipped in whitewash, an amusing
genetic traint. The rain held off
until the first checkpoint. Hyde
Memorial Hall was full of noisy, happy cyclists in a warm fug. We checked in quickly and moved on
while it was still dry, down the precipitous Blissford Hill which I always
forget is coming, but within minutes we were stopping to don our
waterproofs. This was when I discovered
my 15 year old jacket was really no longer capable of keeping me dry for longer
than a short commute. I made a
mental note to visit Stonehenge Cycles when we were next in Salisbury. We had been looking forward to the ride
over the open heathland along Deadman Hill (what lovely names we encountered),
but in the event it was a bit of an endurance test with the rain and wind
lashing against us and with little visibility. We managed to miss the turn down to Nomansland and so in
true “Search Me“ style map read our way back to the checkpoint, riding the last
bit against the flow of cyclists with their “helpful” comments about us going
the wrong way! The eaves of the
cricket pavilion gave us a little shelter for our lunch. A begging pony failed to tempt us to
spare any scraps for her and we were soon on our way again, retracing our steps
at first. Eventually to our relief
the rain eased and then we rode a delightful section through parkland with
lovely Wellingtonias. We had just
started to dry out when we reached a deep ford, so we followed the example of
the tandem in front and used the footbridge. As we coped with the traffic on the main road through
Ashurst we looked forward to the open forest that we knew lay ahead on our way
to Beaulieu. The rain threatened
again with a loud clap of thunder and we hoped that it would move away. It did, we were lucky and although
cycling against the wind we were able to enjoy the section of open heath this
time. We even found somewhere dry
to perch and eat a Mars bar.
After Beaulieu we followed familiar lanes, past Bucklers Hard and the ancient barn at
St Leonard’s. Last time we stopped
here at the seat for a break in sunshine, but this time we wanted to make time
before the threatening rain arrived. It did, with a vengeance as we neared Lymington. Cold, hard drops lashed at us for a
while. Leaving Lyminton we made
our second mistake and missed the turning off the B road so slogged up the hill
in the rain and traffic. However,
we soon re-joined the rest and knew we were close when we saw cyclists who had
finished ahead of us, coming back towards us. Boldre Memorial Hall was a very welcome sight and we enjoyed
our cakes and tea. One
cyclist reported his milometer confirmed 100.01km! Examination of the map later that evening confirmed that our
detours had definitely NOT been short cuts and had added 6 kms to our
total! We plan to continue
participating in similar events in the future. Of course we hope for nicer weather, but then we also love
the green English countryside so appreciate the results of all the rain! Sorry if you were there and we did not
recognise you. Our thanks go to
the organisers for arranging an excellent day’s cycling.