Hampshire Loop :: Day 1 :: Aldershot to Rake

It was months ago that Alan and I first discussed doing a ride this weekend.
We discussed it, agreed it was a good idea and then did no more planning until the day before when we had a hasty zoom call to throw route ideas around.

I’m very pleased with how nice it turned out considering how little prep we did. Beautiful trails, passable weather and a nice pub dinner to round out the day.

Our route :: https://www.strava.com/activities/11659402175

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== Bollé Eco ==
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=== Music ===

Dude, Where’s My Horse? :: Nat Keefe with The Bow Ties
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr1hW0rMwhUGBPne6FYdyIQ

Alyssa :: The Mini Vandals
Sunshine :: The Mini Vandals
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTdSDPjB1kle7puRKAuHP_g

Mysteries :: Dan Lebowitz
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOg3zLw7St5V4N7O8HSoQRA

For Time To Disappear :: Go By Ocean
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxL45f5F04UvgjYM9Ew-1fA

Firefly :: Chris Haugen
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNXDIltPLbdcAavUtL00i7g

Smoke :: Lish Grooves
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCic-oq3pWq4hfUVbxP7zxMQ

okay I am at Al the Shar train station it’s June it’s cold it’s windy it’s been raining really hard all morning it’s June normally if you found me riding at this time of year yet beset by inclement weather you’d expect to see Allan somewhere in the picture getting his dirty accursed fingerprints all over my ride but sadly Allan is nowhere to be seen on this oh no there he is hello Alan hello hello viewers [Music] we’ve been cycling for about 15 minutes now I think in completely the wrong direction we’re heading back to reading along the canal so uh I blame Alan I told you it’s his cursed touch sun shining but we’re lost what are you going to do you know it happens when you put Jeffers in charge of navigation go on then you lead the way n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] right viewers we know that Jeffers loves a tanuk wafer watch his little face light up when he says this tanuk wafer cream biscuit with a delicious chocolate flavor cream quilling oh jeffing I’ve got a little surprise for you what is it your favorite but not your favorite yeah mind blown look his face okay so in this thought it’s a tonx milk chocolate wafer cream so I’m a big tonex fan as many of you will know yeah this yes this is new what is it I’m going to say initially I don’t like the packaging as much this is a sort of standard chocolate bar plastic tear open whereas the classic tonx is of course foldable lovely shiny paper don’t turn away from me when I’m talking about wafer biscuits this is I’m going to try it I’m going to try it now try it you must okay just going to try it M it’s lighter mhm it’s crunchier it hasn’t got the chew of the classic maybe slightly sweeter yeah no it’s really good it’s very nice um initial thoughts it’s not quite up to the classic but do you like it I do like it it’s very good thank you that be £189 please yeah it’s a bit weird is it how it’s like you got cream in it [Music] so the reason that we did 15 minutes the wrong way along the canal and the reason that we just found ourselves confronted by a heavily gated mod track where I thought we could ride and there reason that we’re Sheltering from the rain in a random muddy patch of trees with Allan looking like a little cave boy is that this was a very very hastily planned ride we’ve been talking about doing something this weekend for a month and we just didn’t organize anything we didn’t sort anything out until yesterday when we finally got on a zoom call and hastily tried to work out what we could do where we could meet that didn’t involve either of us doing massive train Journeys and drives and where we could ride so we’ve headed south from alers shot into some mod land which is proving hard to pick our way through and we’re aiming for rake we’re aiming for the flying bull at rake we’re not camping we’re staying at the Flying bull where we have stayed before if any of you watched our King Alfred’s way trip all those years ago we stayed at the Flying Bull on the last night and had a very good burger so that’s it that’s the plan we’ve got the route is going to change as it has already done twice you eating another tonx jeers my second tonx this is a classic you see the higher quality packaging and after the creamy one it tastes even chewier and more caramelly I recommend cocktailing you tonics oh you could split one in half and stick one together is that a thing chocolate bar modding is that a thing on the internet I’m going to get involved in that t modding yes [Music] indeed this is not showers this is rain this is not what I wanted [Music] [Applause] w [Music] found the Magic Pebble it’s very magical what flavor is it uh no you’re in it wasn’t supposed to actually lick it can’t find a magic [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] because the trail is actually on that main road and I don’t want to cycle on that so look for a left uh there’s a left there go goes back over to the right [Music] [Music] the riding today has been quite nice apart from a couple of sections of roads that were very small and narrow but surprisingly busy my worthy comp Canyon pointing out it had a bit of a West kernal way vibe to it for that reason but the overarching theme has been the weather not being able to get its act together at all I mean it’s beautiful now the sun’s come out but it was pouring down a moment ago it comes on so fast you have time to get your your your your stuff on I’m very wet and uh I assume Alan is the same yeah yeah they call him um vocal Allen in the mafia that’s his gang name because he’s just it won’t shut up can you shut up can we just go riding now please [Music] he [Music] yeah it’s miserable just like me don’t fall in come across a little uh spot of B this path is basically a swamp it’s um I mean it’s it’s Hub deep really thick sticky mud running with water uh lots of mozes Alan thinks he saw an anaconda but and now there’s thunder coming in behind us okay I think we’ve been a good cracking you got what an adventure wow I think that was probably the deepest longest pool of stench we’ve ever had to navigate on our rides that was slippery and sticky that was uh that was like the fog of Eternal stench I did hear a couple of fart noises Ste that was me sorry oh but now I’m not sure how we get round it there’s a sort of path which uh Allan’s going to lead the I’m not sure how it could be sunny and rainy at the same time it’s really weird it’s the curse it’s your fault lead the way if Alan had never made us go into that basement in Kida Brennan all those years ago we would never have been cursed and we would have been riding in sunshine all these years I blame Alan [Music] [Music] w [Music] when is a path not a path when Jethro is doing the M breeding that’s a Broadway apparently it isn’t really a trail think we might [Music] die there an old fence line oh it’s is this a no is that a trail this is all falling apart this is this is a trail on the map but in here it’s just it’s a deer paath at best and I think Allan’s probably just about had enough of my map Reading skills if I die he’s going to eat me if I don’t die he’s probably going to kill me well this is definitely a path look oh yeah I think it might be a foot path but take what we can find straight shot to the road from here I [Music] think what do you think of that I’m not going to lie disappointing I’m bit disappointed very disappointed can you lie can you just tell me it’s all going to be all right it’s all going to be all right thank God I mean it’s a beautiful hay Meadow and that but I don’t want to ride for it apparently there’s a path across it but you know Adam thinks he’s found an alternative so I’m following him he is Trail leader for this afternoon a [Music] oh [Music] tarmac [Music] [Music] a [Music] for the second time in recent memory I’m popping up at the end of a video to apologize for my shoddy production skills after a day of changeable and temperamental weather we arrived at the Flying bull at rake and the sunny skies we got our room we got our dinner we had a beer it was all Jolly wonderful and I went to back up the footage from the day and my SD card had a moment and decided to delete a load of files might have just been bad luck might have been the fact that I accidentally used an SD card which recently went through the washing machine we’ll just we’ll never know we’ll never know um I can only apologize here we are me re-recording after the fact you your lives slightly dulled by the knowledge that you’ll never get to hear the hilarious outro I recorded where I went off on a massive tangent about asking Alan to marry me and him turning me down I mean it was it was amazing I’m I can only apologize um day two is all good files are all intact so that one will be um as expected other than that I hope this has made some kind of sense and satisfied some kind of itch for watching me on a bike ride and Alan of course if you made it this far as always thank you very much please like Please Subscribe please consider adding your name to this list these fine fine folk these the amazing and the wonderful Among Us who support me on a monthly basis on Kofi um if you hop over there you can also support the channel one off you can buy stickers Link in the description also to my Etsy store where you can buy spoons beads all kinds of stuff that I’ve made affiliate links down below thanks button all goes to a good cause which is me not getting a job um which I’m well up for I love that stuff so yeah anyway thank you very much I’ll see you all on the next one bye now