Just call me the hill climber...

Last week, five rides. This week, a bank holiday will help things along. Last week, almost 60 miles (59.1 miles) this week, so far, well, it looks as if it'll be something like 40 miles by tomorrow (2nd May) and if so I'll probably tip over 70 by Saturday, but only just.

This was a fairly tough hill.

Heaven for me at this present time is riding to Oxted. Along the 269 yesterday (Saturday 30 April) but through Woldingham this morning. Quite tough. I turned right on to Slines Oak Road and followed the road all the way into Woldingham, turning left at the top, riding towards The Ridge and hanging left until I reached Chalkpit Lane, the road opposite where Al Fayed used to live. It's a steep hill, much steeper than Titsey and there are plenty of twists and turns and I ended up in the suburbs of Oxted (if Oxted has suburbs, it's not that big a place). It's weird. I arrived into town from the other side of the tracks, so to speak, not a million miles from the Caffe Nero where I parked up and padlocked the bike, then I walked down towards the Starbucks where I ordered a large English Breakfast tea and a small bar of chocolate. The weather was good, not as good as yesterday, perhaps, but good enough to sit outside and watch the people pass by. This is why I like Oxted at the moment, it's because it's chilled and quiet and laid back and there's not much going on first thing in the morning. It's like nothing else, just being there, not really thinking but just taking things in. It's almost too good. I can see myself taking the train here one day soon, bringing the laptop and a decent book with me and chilling for the entire morning.

Having riden down Chalkpit Lane, I decided to ride back up. Titsey is a 16% incline, Chalkpit is 20% and I certainly felt it as I slowly made my way to the top. I turned right and headed for Botley Hill and I reached home around 1042 hrs, roughly an hour after I departed Oxted.

The Illustrious Illustrator (left)

I've got one more ride to go before work recommences on Tuesday and it looks as if I'll be going to the Tatsfield Churchyard to meet the Illustrious Illustrator. I'll leave the house around 0800hrs and should get there before 0900. It'll mean taking a flask and some tea, something I haven't done for a while, but I'm looking forward to it. In fact, I'm thinking of riding back along Pilgrims and then up Titsey Hill, just so I get that much-needed exercise... except that I didn't. I rode straight to the churchyard, chatted with Geoff for about an hour and then rode home following the outward route, a total of 16.10 miles.

It was strange being at the Tatsfield Churchyard after such a long absence. Memories of Andy and I sitting there in the sunshine, chilling out, talking about this and that and sipping tea, eating Belvita biscuits and preparing for the ride home. The rides seemed simpler back then, there was nothing gung-ho about them, no great urgency to cover a specific number of miles to feel on top of things. We just rode the bikes, invariably to the Tatsfield Bus Stop or the Churchyard or even the village itself. These were pre-coffee shop days when we spent absolutely nothing and only needed a flask of hot water, four teabags and some milk, not forgetting the biscuits. There was a division of labour too: I brought the tea and the water and the milk; Andy brought the biscuits and we did that for years and years. We sat on benchs, in fields, in churchyards on village greens near and far and were unconcerned that we hadn't covered more than, say, 32 miles in a week, riding only on a Saturday and Sunday. Things are more fretful now. We want mid-week rides to bump up the mileage, longer distances at the weekends, climbing big hills like Titsey and so on and then adding the rides to Strava and longing for kudos from fellow riders. There really is a clear pre- and post-pandemic thing going on with our rides and the long and the short of it is we're both riding a lot more and we tend not to visit our old haunts. These days we spend money in Costa or Caffe Nero or Starbucks, which is fine, there's nothing better in my book than riding to Oxted on a sunny day and sitting in a coffee shop chilling out before the ride home, in fact 'that ride' has become my current default, that's why it was so odd finding myself in the churchyard having to get used to the peace and quiet. The churchyard really is in a world of its own, it's away from the numbers, out of sight, out of mind, there's no cars, no people bar the odd gardener tending to the graves. Churchyards were our thing. Churchyards and covered bus stops, but now they're confined to the history books and can only be found, by and large, by scrolling back through this very blog to find shots of Andy and I sitting at the covered bus stop at the top of Approach Road, Tatsfield, or in the village. As I say, another era. Now we carry padlocks and mix with the general public. But there's no point standing in the way of progress. For a start, it's nice not having to carry a heavy rucksack full of water and teabags, which I did for many years. Now there's nothing on my back apart from whatever I'm wearing, I feel freer, I'm probably riding a little faster, it's certainly easier, and the thought of an English Breakfast tea (albeit one that costs me £2.88) makes the whole ride that little bit better. The destination, the halfway point, is a lot more appealing, there's little better than people watching in the sunshine, chilling while waiting for that moment when there's nothing else other than the ride home.

The Tatsfield Churchyard, it's been a long time!

Talking of the old days (as I was earlier) Andy sent me a direct message via Twitter talking about a past post, written back in June 2014. He said it's amazing how things have changed and I texted back saying totally, things have really changed. We don't see Phil from one year to the next. I remember him riding to Tatsfield Village not that long ago on his motorcycle, but that was it and I often wonder when (if at all) things will revert to what they used to be; not that they should, life moves on, things change, people change, circumstances change and, as I said earlier, while I wouldn't necessarily say things have changed for the better (that would mean that our times as a threesome were not as good as now) they have changed, mainly because of the pandemic. Phil remarried, he still lives nearby but he has different responsibilities. Andy and I still meet up, once a week (or we did until Andy's accident) but things are improving, Andy's on the mend and soon we'll be back, down in Westerham, sitting in the Costa having a chinwag. I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to say we'll see Phil again soon too and I hope we do, but it's whenever he feels the need.

Lastly, on how things have changed, if you compare the post Andy was referring to (click here) to recent posts, you'll notice a difference. While recent posts obsess about mileage and numbers of rides per week, the older posts focus on other stuff. The ride is there, of course, but it's not centre stage, we're engaged in other stuff, like cakes and biscuits, David Beckham and so forth, there is, if you like, a happier tone to past posts compared to more recent ones.

The Rockhopper, Monday 2 May 2022, Tatsfield Churchyard

Today is Monday and my cycling week has, of course, only just started. I rode 16 today and 20 yesterday (give or take) so that's 36 miles. If I can double that by Saturday I'll be laughing. Last week, five rides, so I'm not doing too badly.