Our bike ride around Portsmouth Harbour - maybe too far for a first outing?  Of course not, London to Brighton here we come.

Team Waring were fast, good looking and one of the first finishing teams in the recent Round the Harbours Bike ride. 

We even had our own send off by the Mayor of Gosport.  Team Waring featuring, (from left to right) - Puncture Pete, The Mayor, Big Bad Brian and Queen of the Hills Bryant. (I was taking the picture - honest).

This 32 mile bike ride takes the riders from Gosport across the ferry to Portsmouth, along the Portsmouth seafront and across another ferry to Hayling Island (or via a longer road trip to Havant) and then up “heart break hill” more commonly know as Portsdown Hill before heading through Fareham and into Gosport.

An annual event put together by the British Heart Foundation to raise money for heart research.  Some 1000 riders took part and they raised in excess of £30,000 on the day, so a very worthwhile effort.

The day was hot and sunny but this did not stop us heading off at a blistering pace.  I took the lead on the first leg and thought I’d see if the old boys could keep up.  “Puncture” Pete and Bad Boy Brian easily kept on my rear wheel as we headed off on the first couple of stages.

As we cycled along the sea front in Southsea, we looked out at the totally flat sea and I was wishing we were on a boat diving not peddling away in the sun.  But the breeze kept us going, it was just unfortunate that it was in our face all the time and not helping to push us along.

At Havant, the old boys who were in the know were fueling up on high energy gels in readiness for the long climb up Portsdown Hill.  I was passed a gel pack and greedily ate it all.

At the bottom of the hill, Jen “Queen of the Mountains” Bryant slipped down a few gears and raced off as if she had done this her whole life.  I tried to keep up but with this being my first outing on my new Felt bike, was not too sure of the gearing and I slipped back soon after the start to climb at my own pace.

“Queen of the Mountains” - Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower in the background.

Not disheartend by the 75 year old guy who passed me on his old Butchers bike, I made it to the top for a well earned 5 minute pit stop.  The rest of the team were already there and getting ready for the 40 mph downhill blast into Fareham.

Team Waring “on top of the hill”. 

Going 40 miles an hour on a bike with tyres that are as wide as a credit card is slim is quite nerve racking - well for me anyway.  But at least it gave the tired legs a little bit of a rest.

From here it was all flat riding to the finish about 10 miles away.

All in all fantastic day finished off with a couple of beers at the local pub. 

Roll on next year for some extra fun and frolics when we compete with Team Waring in the London to Brighton Bike ride