Brutal Brighton
On 19 June, ACC had their first Captain’s Coastal ride to Brighton since 2019. 55 riders took part in various groups ranging from 16mph upwards. Captain Paul Hone led the “Training Group” with Ashley Nunn and his report is below:
A large Training Group (TG) left Coulsdon South station for the Brighton ride on Saturday.
At the start, the group was in mixed spirits with a slightly out of form George K who knew what was coming looking like he was about to go over the top at the Somme.
Whereas Kieran, new to the training group looking happy expecting a fun jolly to the coast.
From the start our group was formed into a paceline with each of us taking a 30 sec hard turn at the front and then rotating to the back. The group kept together until Nutfield with a small gap forming on the descent (even though at the front we took it easy). I understand Jon Pontin burnt some matches bringing it back together which is not ideal (for him) at the start of a long ride.
All was going well until Turners. I stopped the group at the top of Turners Hill for gapped riders to catch up but then had my good nature taken advantage of with riders thinking it was a rest stop and they could relax and take on food and drink.
After the longer than expected stop at Turners (and a talking to), on we went with more Paceline and through and off (T&O) until we got to Ditchling where we were still averaging over 23mph. Ashley danced off the front to get to the top first followed by the rest of us one by one. I think I was 4th over the top with Marek coming flying past me just before the top.
After a quick photo shoot, off we went to the Regency where I had my usual gourmet meal of bake beans on toast, pint of coke and two coffees. I was quite jealous of one of the other groups who were necking the beers (and hopefully catching the train home) but that wouldn’t pan out well for what was to come.
After a bit of a reluctant start, off we set to Devils Dyke with a relentless pace driven all the way to the top from the coast. The group was fragmenting over the top but came back together as we descended. A hard T&O pace was set through the lanes and I could see quite a few riders suffering with the small climbs and rough roads taking their toll. The group was just about to fall apart until conveniently Jon got a puncture so we all had to stop – did he purposely ride over that gravel? We will never know.
To be fair to the Pontins, they selected a not very aero setup with alloy box wheels with almost everybody else having deep sections and Marek our strongest rider going for an almost TT setup with 80mm wheels and a skinsuit. At the pace we go the aero advantage over 4 hours does make a significant difference.
Puncture fixed and off we set with 2 less riders. One decided to join the 19s group and another ringing up his wife begging for a lift as his legs refused to work anymore.
More T&O with less and less riders taking turns. After a careful descent down to Hammerwood Pond, the hammer went down going up obliterating the group leaving just 4 of us left with mainly Marek pulling us all the way to Rusper where we had our usual stop before the last leg.
Into the shop for a Bounty bar and a can of coke followed by relaxing outside watching the dropped TG riders trickle in before the final onslaught to Coulsdon. My relaxation was then broken by Lee perforating my ear drums with his excuse for bailing at Hammerwood and taking it easy to Rusper even though I’ve told him before that I have as much interest in excuses as I do in knitting.
The group was thinned out again with Marek, Nick & Chris turning off to East Grinstead but we still cracked on with a hard T&O pace until Pontasauras found some more gravel and got another puncture. Off we go again but quickly lost 2 more riders with one throwing up and taking the train home. Onto the Flanchford climb and a slight increase in pace saw the lights go out for all except Ashley, Excuses Lee and Myself.
The 3 of us stayed away to the end with Ashley & Myself averaging over 22mph and we are the only 2 riders I believe who have done a sub 4 hour Captain’s Coastal Brighton ride.
Admittedly, this isn’t a ride that everybody would enjoy but personally, it was the best ride of the year so far. See you on the next one.
