A BIG Thank You

I was relieved to get my 175 miles completed in the allotted time.

I was delighted that I came 40th out of 68 virtual riders. I was also the highest placed virtual rider for my age! There was only one virtual rider older than me and he came 44th and took an hour longer than me.

But what got me through the miles was knowing that I was supported by my family and friends. I have been blown away by your encouragement, comments and sponsorship.

As I said in my last post, I was providing refreshments for New Forest Cycling Club to help them through their 100 mile D-Day ride around the D-Day sites in the new Forest.

So I spent Friday baking to feed the hungry cyclists. 

The cyclists very generously donated to my fundraising.

I am absolutely delighted that my fundraising has reached £780! With Gift Aid, this  is £917.50 for four great children’s charities -Teenage Cancer Trust, Nordoff Robbins, Childline and Save the Children.

My grateful thanks go to each and every one of you for  encouragement, kind comments and sponsorship.

Thank you for reading this

Julie x 

 

Final Ride -Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride 9th June 2022

Although Wednesday's weather forecast was ok, we actually had several heavy rain showers and even some thunder. I worked in the morning and had Pilates in the afternoon. I'm not a fan of thunder so decided against riding. However, the sun came out and I did wonder whether I should have reconsidered and gone out on my bike.

Again the forecast for today was ok, but it definitely wasn't flaming June! I dog-sat for the gorgeous Micah today so decided to get out on my bike when Micah was collected.

As soon as I left the house the drizzle started! My neighbour asked if I was going to turn around and go home and usually I might have done!

However, I needed to get my final miles completed. I am having a baking day tomorrow as I am providing refreshments for Barry's New Forest Cycling Club colleagues on Saturday to help them through a 100 mile ride that takes in D-Day sites in the New Forest. 

So off I went, soon stopping to put on my waterproof jacket as the rain got heavier. 

I followed a similar route to Monday, heading out of Brockenhurst towards Sway, Boldre, Pilley and Norleywood. I stopped at Norleywood to wipe the rain off my glasses so I could see again as there was driving rain at this point and my peaked cap didn't protect my glasses form this rain!

I must admit that I did have to dig deep here to keep pedalling. With the driving rain, it felt more like a winter ride. My backside wasn’t very comfortable and my mouth was hurting with the cold! I felt like a grumpy old woman! 

Even the beautiful landscape seemed to match my mood and didn't inspire me today.

Then I though of children that are going through tough times and why I am doing this ride and this was the motivation to keep the pedals turning.

I remembered reading that £6 to can cover the cost of  a Childline phone call from a child, so thinking of all your generous donations was also very motivating to me.

I gave the beach loop a miss today, so headed to East End, East Boldre and to Hatchet Pond where it was of course was windy. So it was head down and do battle with the wind.

I did see Barry who was warming up for The New Forest Cycling Club Chain Gang and then Phil H who gave me a cheery wave and hello.

Some ponies crossed the road in front of me as I approached Brockenhurst. A Mum and foal walked through the watersplash in Brockenhurst, stopping for a drink. This helped to put a smile on my face.

As I approached home, I was hoping I'd done enough miles to get me to my 175 target (maths not being my strong point!) Usually, I'd go on a do a bit more cycling to be on the safe side.

I downloaded my data into Strava and then to "Race Nation" which adds it to the leaderboard the Heavy Metal Truants. This said that I'd cycled 283km

So I asked my friend Google what this equates to in miles and it said it was 175.848 miles!

So I am now virtually at Donington for the Download Festival, reaching it in 11 days, taking 17 hours 9 minutes and 36 seconds! The person above me on the leaderboard who cycled .8km more did it in 8 hours 47 minutes!

But it isn't a race, I entered it to challenge myself and to raise money for four great children’s charities.

I will update on my sponsorship total after the weekend.

Thank you for your support, encouragement, sponsorship and for reading this.

Julie x

https://sportsgiving.co.uk/sponsorship/entry/622518

Ride 5 -Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride

After my mammoth 40 mile bike ride on Thursday, I took Friday off to recover!

Today I was back in the saddle again for a ride in three parts.

Firstly, (as the village was busy and it was windy) I decided to cycle along the trails.

I headed up towards Brock Hill, did a loop around the arboretum and turned round and cycled back again. I saw this delightful foal and Mum, some deer and cows having a paddle. Although there were a few drops of rain, it didn't come to much - thankfully!

I then headed around North Weirs to the village to see the vintage car display as part of the Jubilee celebrations.

This gave me 13.39 miles. I stopped and saved my Garmin (GPS tracker) at this point as I didn't want to lose this ride if it didn't auto-pause.

I then cycled home 0.9 miles had lunch and a shower.

Then it was back on my bike again and cycling to Brockenhurst Football Club where the Jubilee celebrations continued.  I had to stop for a photo of this cute foal en route though.

I was helping on the WI Refreshments stall, mainly walking round and collecting cups, so amassed 7000 steps doing this!

I then cycled home and this combined journey gave me an additional 2.85 miles.

This gave me 17.14 miles for today.

If my calculations are correct, I only have 50.77 miles to go.

Thank you for reading this and for your support

Julie x

Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride - Day 4 3-6-22

Today Barry took me out on a ride across the New Forest. Today was the first sunny day for my ride and the Forest looked glorious.

We headed out of Brockenhurst towards Bolderwood, turned left up the top and headed across the Forest to Moyles Court and up through Gorley. We headed to Bickton to reminisce (as we rented there for a few months), headed up to Fordingbridge and looped back to and cycled to Stuckton. From there we headed up to Hyde where I was allowed my first stop and a lunch break!

Fortified by lunch, we cycled through Ogdens and back to Mockbeggar then Rockford. We then cycled through an area I hadn't cycled before, along High Wood Lane and then took Forest tracks through Linwood to Picket Post. 

We went through a tunnel under the A35 which we had to share with a couple of cows who were sheltering there in the shade! I was a bit nervous about passing so close to the cows in a confined space, but thankfully they were happy to share their space with us. 

Barry noticed he had a slightly flat back tyre, so after pumping it up, we decided to take the shortest route home on the roads in case there was a problem with the tyre (as I'm his usual rescuer!)

We headed along the back roads around Burley, through Blackwater and back home. I was just short of 40 miles at this point so rode around the block to go over the 40 miles.

Barry has once again plotted my virtual route to Download and I am now at Towcester (a place I know well as we lived here for a few years in the 90's).

Thanks to Barry dragging me round, I now well over half way there (sing Bon Jovi 'Living on a Prayer' in your mind 😊).

Only 67.91 miles to go.

Thank you for reading this and for supporting me.

Julie x 

Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride - Day 3 1-6-22

After cycling more than I've ever done in 2 days (just over 60 miles), I decided to make today a recovery ride.

I worked this morning and then had a "English Madeleine Making" class followed by Pilates this afternoon, so I decided to cycle to these just to turn my legs over.

Just as I set out, it started to rain, but thankfully didn't come to much!

English Madeleine making went well, then on to Pilates.

On my way home, I came across a couple of New Forest-style road blocks.

I cycled 5.42 miles and may well be thankful to these few miles by the deadline of 10th June! 

I also think my legs and backside will be pleased that I only cycled a short amount today as I am cycling with Barry tomorrow!!!!! There may not be as many photos as I may not be allowed to stop!!!!

One of the charities that I am cycling for is Nordoff Robbins who do excellent music support for children. Here is what the donations can hep with:

Barry has plotted me a map of my virtual journey to Download Festival at Donington. After day virtually leaving Alexandra Palace on Monday, my 30 miles took me as far as Watford, day 2 to Whipsnade and today I reached Leighton Buzzard.

Only 108.7 miles to go!

Thank you for reading this

Julie x

Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride - Day 2 31-5-22

 Oh Deer! A Day of Mixed Weather

I was fortunate to have little sister Sue cycling with me again today.

We had an errand to do in Lyndhurst so cycled up to Standing Hat to go to Lyndhurst via the trails. "Hat" apparently means 'a raised area with trees'.

Errand completed, we headed to Emery Down. 

A few drops of rain appeared, but we continued, heading towards Millyford Bridge. The drops became a downpour so we sheltered under a tree and put on our waterproof jackets. Although there wasn't the dark skies of yesterday, the rain continued, so we found a sheltered log to sit on by a stream and had our lunch.

The sun came out so off came our waterproof jackets and we headed onto the trails from Millyford Bridge. The trees looked stunning.

 The rain came down again and on went the waterproof jackets!

We continued on our route, cycling up the hill and coming out at Canadian War memorial. Find out the history of why the Canadians are remembered here.

With the rain showers, it would have been very tempting to head for home at this point, but if teenagers can face cancer treatment and children face many challenges, then I can put up with some rain showers!

We headed round the back of Bolderwood towards Burley, a route I hadn't cycled for a while and were rewards by several sightings of deer herds. With full zoom on my phone, this was the best picture I could get.

From the outskirts of Burley, we headed along the Lyndhurst Road, then back through the trails to join the road to Bolderwood and luckily saw more deer.

We stopped for a drink and a snack at the Knightwood Oak, thought to be one of the New Forest's oldest trees. Find out more here.

We then headed for home, via the trails to get maximum distance in today. With a small extra loop at the end, we clocked up 30.21 miles.

Today's deer count - lots!

Only 114.12 miles to go! Tomorrow will be a rest day with just a couple of local journeys to/from Pilates etc.

Thank you for reading this and supporting me. I am blown away that my sponsorship hip total has gone up to £390

Julie x

P.S. My sponsorship page can be seen at https://sportsgiving.co.uk/sponsorship/entry/622518

Heavy Metal Truants Virtual Charity Bike Ride - Day 1 30-5-22

Today I started my second year of doing the Heavy Metal Truants Ten virtual charity bike ride, but this year I am aiming to complete the 175 miles in the allotted 12 days.

My sister Sue is staying with me at present and so she is accompanying me for a couple of days. Thank you Sue.

We looked at 4 different weather forecasts before we left and although all the forecasts were different, it did look like we were going to get wet at some point.

From leaving home, we had only cycled for 3 minutes when we had to stop to admire (from a distance) 3 foals with their Mum's and Aunties.

We headed out of Brockenhurst towards Sway. We saw more foals so decided to keep a total.

We cycled through Boldre, Pilley, Norley Wood, East End and then took a detour down Tanners Lane to head to the beach for a quick break for a hot drink and a piece of flapjack.

We saw a Oystercatcher chasing a crow off from their nest area.

We then cycled through Sowley, St Leonards, Buckler Hard, East Boldre to Hatchet Pond.

We stopped at Hatchet Moor to have our lunch and was accompanied by a Black Headed Gull

We enjoyed some sunshine whilst looking over the pond.

But in the distance we could see dark clouds and rain. We decided to cycle back via the tracks hoping they would give us some shelter. We cycled through Roundhill campsite and across the road into the woods.

As we headed back to Brockenhurst, we decided to add some mileage by going via the Recycling Shed in Brockenhurst to empty the aluminium bin that I monitor.

We came back via Culverley and North Weirs, but saw that we were just short of 30 miles, so headed up to Puttles Bridge, before turning back for home.

Amazingly, we dodged the rain and stayed dry!

During the ride we saw/heard Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Buzzard, Black Headed Gull, Oystercatcher, Guinea Fowl, Thrush and Pheasants (amongst others that I now can't remember!)

The foal count was 18 New Forest foals and 3 foals in fields.

We cycled 30.67 miles.

Only 144.33 miles to go!

Thank you for reading this.

Julie x

Heavy Metal Truants (HMT) X Virtual Charity Bike Ride The 10 Commandments

I am a bit of a reluctant cyclist.  I’m not keen of the thought of going out on a bike ride, but I love it once I’m out cycling around The New Forest.

Since having M.E. I have tried hard to try and get fit, but its always been an uphill struggle (excuse the pun!)

When we first moved to the New Forest, I took part in a 25 mile bike ride.

Six years ago, I did a 5km charity “run” ( for run read slow trundle).

Last year in took part in the Heavy Metal Truants IV Virtual

So it’s time I challenged myself again.

So I’ve entered the Heavy Metal Truants  2022: Ten Commandments Virtual Challenge.

This involves a virtual bike ride of 175 miles - the equivalent of cycling from London to Donnington where the Download Festival is scheduled to take place.

We are given from 30th May until 10th June to cycle the 175 miles.

Last year, I took part but did it over a longer time frame, but this year I am challenging myself to get as much of the ride done in the allotted 12 days as I can!

My efforts will be in aid of some very deserving charities - Teenage Cancer Trust, Childline, Nordoff Robbins and Save the Children who’ve all been hit hard by the pandemic and have continued to do their work through it all. Save the Children are helping children in Ukraine at this time too.

I am hoping that I will cover the distance and will do as many miles as I can towards this total. Knowing that I have your support and sponsorship will spur me on do the best I can and cover as many miles as possible 

For transparency, I do have an e-bike which helps me cope with hills, but I will be peddling all the way.

I will do updates of my progress here on my Blog 

If you can, please sponsor me at https://sportsgiving.co.uk/sponsorship/entry/622518

Thank you for your support.

Julie x