31/08/2023 - 'Life on a bike' by David

Alice and I ventured into the New Forest on August Bank Holiday Monday on our tandem for our first bike ride of the year.

We usually pack the panniers, charge the speaker and head out west three or four times over the summer on sunny days, but of course, this year has been a bit different. 

The tandem was a wedding present from Alice's parents and we actually rode it on our wedding day!

We have also cycled around the Isle of Wight, ventured east to Netley and Hamble on evening rides to eat chips as the sun goes down and participated in Cycle Southampton on closed roads and through parks on it and it's always great fun to ride.

I'm always up front, in control of the steering, gears and brakes and Alice is on the back, in charge of the sounds, google maps and camera! That doesn't mean she can take it easy though as the pedals are linked, so if I'm pushing hard, she has to aswell. 

We are into trig pointing, where people search for trigonometrical points which are found all over the world and were historically used in geodetic surveying (mapping). These days they are virtually redundant as satellites and computers are now used for mapping. After a bit of scrambling around we found two! One was over a fence near a railway embankment and another on farmland, where we had to do a little trespassing! 

We cycled 20 miles in the late summer sun to Marchwood, Hythe, Staplewood and Eling and stopped at two pubs to drink black cherry Kraken and coke at the first and cider at the second, picked and ate some blackberries while simultaneously doing a wee, sat on the world's oldest pier train still in use, and had a thoroughly nice day with my lovely Alice.

We usually complete a 45 mile round trip that includes Leap, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst but we could both feel it in our legs and decided on a shorter route.

If that is my final bike ride (and I think it probably is), then it was a lovely last ride in the saddle.

I have loved cycling since my first bike, a second hand red and blue cheapie as a child, through to my first drop handle bar racer as a teenager, then a wide range of road bikes, mountain bikes, town bikes, hybrids, folding bikes and single speeds as an adult and even a unicycle!

I have cycled on my paper round, to school, to work, to see girlfriends, for pleasure, competed in triathlons and time trials, rode a naked bike ride and have cycled on the London Olympic velodrome at Lee Valley and have loved every turn of the wheel. 

I have cycled into the back of a parked van, gone over the handlebars in front of a couple of nippers who applauded me! I've been knocked off by a motorist on a roundabout, who said they didn't see me (in my fluorescent jacket on a bright morning), and I have flopped sideways while stationary in front of a little old lady walking her dog, having forgotten to unclip from my pedals. 

When I first met Alice, I had 8 bikes which she thought was far too many as she had none. I bought her a birthday bike and she loved it and so our adventures on two wheels began.

We have enjoyed bike rides all over the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Amsterdam and in London and have had sore bums, tired legs, a fair few arguments but great memories and photos to treasure.