Looking good for Brighton......

[jon avery]

It was a great day Marco, I rode down with Huw's group, which was a steady and enjoyable ride, Ditchling beacon never gets any easier, had a nice plate of spag bol wished down witha large glass of Pinot, then i started back again with Huw's grouap but this time i had trouble hanging on as they were going back a tad quicker than they did going down, Myself and another guy i think was called Goram, tried our best to get back on their wheels, but it just wasn't happening, we were fortunate a Redhill rider joined us who had ridden down on his own, as we didn't have a clue how to get back all was going well, then Tony (Redhill rider) hit the wall, we stopped at a garage where he topped up with mars bars and lucozade, off we went again but a tad slower as he and Goram were feeling it a bit, on entering Redhill Tony hit a pothall and had a double puntcure He had already had one in Brighton, so Goram gave him a spare tube (should of carried 3),I got back with 96 miles on the clock and a average of 17mph, I then met up with Steve w, Paul D, Dan and Huw wher we had a nice cold beer or two or...........

[Marcus]

Sam your top seems a tad small, think you could do with a new one

Misers this one....Hope to be on the next one....Seems like I missed a cracking day.

[AshleyN]

What a great day out.
Also rode down in Huw's group with Jon. Left a few turning back at Turners and had a short stop just before ditchling to adjust a seatpost and for a comfort break. This was my first run to Brighton so had never done the beacon before. It was longer than I thought with a few false endings but I got there in the end and was pleased to see a group of yellow and black clapping us all in at the top.
Great run down into Brighton for Pasta and large coke. Had a problem with bottle cage so missed my group back but hooked up with Nick, Bridget and Rich( I think, sorry) for the return leg. we left Bridget at Devils Dyke to pick up the next group and then picked up 2 more who had dropped off the group in front. Stop in Rusper for more coke and banana and run back to coulsdon.
Big thanks to Nick who did pretty much all of the work on the way back. I owe you..

Distance : 104.9m
Ave : 17.4mph
Max 46.5mph

[huw williams]

An incident free but nonetheless excellent day.

On previous Brighton rides I've discovered the ideal format (for me anyway) is a direct, steady ride down and a progressively harder tear up on the way back. So it was very disciplined, tight, two-abreast all the way, didn't have to shout at all for untidy riding. No instances of driver rage, punctures or anything. A couple of riders struggled with the pace but we were doing a clockwork 18mph all the way to Ditchling Beacon.

Nice lunch and natter by the sea, then that awful first climb from the sea-front to Devils Dyke with a belly-full of pasta

Through the lanes past Bolney and Slaugham and the first signs of cracks started to appear as gaps were opening and riders getting tailed off as those nasty drags kicked in. We were re-grouping at each of the crossroads which split the lanes up as far Hammer ponds and Faygate. At the water stop in Rusper the temperatures were soaring and so was the pace as it was anything goes on the reverse club-run route all the way back to Nona's for a fine spread of cakes.

Great ride and if everyone like the format will take a similar approach to the next one in 4 weeks

[jon avery]

Yer i'm up for that, and should be able to hang on the way back after our "epic ride"

[Alan M]

Yep, good ride out and back - I was hoping for a 19s group big enough to hide among but we were 6 then 5 mixed between 19s and TG. Thankfully they waited for me at tops of hills and when someone punctured just short of DB I pressed on to enjoy it at my own pace. On the hill I met Hal's and one other group and by the time I rolled into Brighton most were already sat and fed. Headed back with Huw et al. Comfortable but demanding pace and about 10 eventually reduced to 4 but I felt spurred by the familiarity of the club run route and got home just short of 100.

Here are the splits


Time
Distance
Avg Speed
Summary 05:38:40 99.77 17.7
1 home to Coulsdon 00:17:21 4.70 16.3
2 Couldon - puncture short of DB 01:33:45 31.41 20.1
3 Puncture to Brighton inc DB 00:46:02 12.75 16.6
4 Brighton to Coulsdon 02:39:31 46.62 17.5
5 Coulsdon to home 00:21:50 4.27 11.7
6 Random 00:00:09 0.02 8.2

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Alan M"]Yep, good ride out and back...I felt spurred by the familiarity of the club run route and got home just short of 100.

Here are the splits


Time
Distance
Avg Speed
Summary 05:38:40 99.77 17.7

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

I took the 16s and rode down with a small but perfectly formed really great bunch of people - Alan, Stephanie, Brian, Lindsay and Sam. I'd been coughing all week and had a sore throat (BTW I'm told it made me sound very sexy ) and I wasn't going to ride at all but I knew I'd feel worse if I didn't ride (you know what I mean... mentally: it really would seriously do my brain in to sit at home on a lovely sunny day when I could be heading Agreeably to the coast on the Bianchi).

I punctured (complete blow out front wheel) on a pot-hole on a fast downhill section before Haywards Heath - as I slowed I could hear Stephanie shouting in total panic "don't stop!!! don't stop!!!" as she nearly ploughed into the back of me at 40 mphs!! I kept going and she just manged to slide past me. Phew!!!

A slick, quick change of inner tube and we were on our way. We got 10 yds and I flatted again - this time problem with the valve - another slick, quick change and finally we got going but now well behind schedule. A slick, quick nature break at Ditchling (nice loos BTW) split the group as Steph, Alan and Lindsay decided to go on ahead so we didn't do the climb together. Sam flew up Ditchling Beacon as usual - I took it easy and tapped out a comfortable, if somewhat slow, rythmn. Getting up there is relatively easy - doing it at pace is another thing altogether.

We didn't stop at the top but kept going as soon as I got there. Lindsay, worried that there would be no food left, set the tempo at the front and drove on to Brighton. Lots of cars getting in the way rather spoiled that fast descent off the downs - pity as getting to 50 mph definitely is one of the highlights of the ride!!!

We were one of the last groups to arrive at the restaurant - Sam had finished his plate of pasta and then finished off Steph's (salt free) pasta before I'd been served!!!! My sardines looked good but tasted naff - I sound like Gordon Ramsey I know - but they weren't fresh and tasted like burnt socks!! No more bourgeois pretentions pour moi - next time it's working-class cod and chips.