Cows and Skylarks

Hurrah ...Spring is here! There have been glimpses during the last couple of weeks but last weekend was the real deal. As I rode out beyond Southwick I heard my first Skylark of the season and the cows were out inthe fields are a winter in the barn. It's such a boost to be riding in warmer temperatures and to see and feel the Sun. I even had my pitstop at the Beaches Cafe sat outside in the sun. As I said in my Tweet at the time ....it was the morning ride I had been waiting for through all the cold winter training rides and audaxes. It doesn't make the hills any easier though ...now that I have extended the ride out to South Harting there are two more proper climbs to take on ...the long steady climb to Ditcham Park School and then the harder climb to Harting Down ....in total this makes the ride 101K (63 miles) long with 1500m of climbing...a pretty good leg stretcher. I think it's now the perfect weekend training ride ...and is now officially the Chillmoister 100! It's taking about 5 to 5.5 hours to get round this with two cafe stops of about 20 mins each....Beaches on the Downs and then the Tea Rooms in Compton. The Harting climb is still requiring the Granny ring (the smallest cog on the front) to get up there so the next measure of fitness will beto climb this without it. Next weekend I'm riding The Dean. This is my 300K PBP qualifier ...a lumpy ride starting in Oxford ..heading west across the Cotswolds to Wales and back again ....but more about that to come

here's the usual view from Teglease down



and here's my favourite new haunt in Compton: