Saturday club run- 8/4/06.

[Ian A4size]

Sorry for the delay in the write up as the forum has been a bit iffy for me down here and also apologies for not replying to personal messages for the same reason.
Well.. a small but perfectly formed group decided to do something a little different this week so we set off into deepest Kent in search of coffee and cake. 9 riders in total so it was easy to keep together and communication was easy. Out over farthing downs and straight into a headwind- conversation seemed to drop at this point- even Peter (parp) Munden had to dig in- he had not been well earlier in the week after suffering a hellish dose of the Brads. We headed out to caterham, intending (well i was) to go up the nice 12%er at woldingham then out to westerham-crockham hill- four elms- penshurst, when suddenly my hand was wrenched from the helm by "elbows" and he took us on a slight detour -very nice it was too , beautiful valley views, long slow incline- same old headwind. Luckily for "parp" there was plenty of cover. Anyway.. i said to Mark (elbows) does this bring us out on the route? Yes he said, when we get to the top you will know where you are ( i didn't)- down the hill we flew over some road surfaces that made the paris -roubaix look like a velodrome, not surprisingly Paul had a puncture as we finally descended into godstone??!!
Slightly off of my route- i navigated us thru lingfield -crowhurst- staffhurstwood- and finally to the bottom of crockham hill, the roads we went along were just like the tour of flanders, it seemed like the roads were closed as there were no cars at all, it was really sunny and it looked like spring had finally arrived. Out thru four elms and onto Penshurst where we stopped for coffee and cake, no matter what direction we took it always seemed to be into the wind.Excellent coffee for a change and even the addiscombe coffee critic had two cups at least ( David Lom).
Off we go again but a puncture allows us more recovery time as David fixed a torn tyre. The home journey was against the wind all the way and there were a few tired legs- poor old parp by this time was desparate for food and water and even talked of avoiding hills on the way home which is most unlike him, i gave him an energy bar and the rest of my drink bottle when we got within 10 miles of home (for me). The croydon contingent went home via white hill road 16% and Paul and I went our respective ways.
A really enjoyable ride for me as i have not been out much of late. 65 hilly miles on the clock and great company as well.

[Gavin]

White Hill is quite bad at the end of a long ride.

Good ride was very tired when I got home then went to the dogs in the evening. Unsuprisingly I did nothing on sunday.

[David Lombari]

Saturday Clubrun

We set off from CSS having been promised a scenic 3½ hour ride to Penshurst and back by Mr M and we were not disappointed.

Went out to Penshurst on quiet, lumpy roads, some lumpier than others, and I had a good chinwag with whoever was in earshot. I almost lost the group when I stopped for a nature break. I put my head down and went for it (no, not the nature break, trying to catch them afterwards!) only to come to a screeching halt at the gates of a school! The only other ?road? was a steep dirt track to the right. Surely this was not a day for ?Colle de Finistere? type ascents? I ploughed on through the school and, after trying a couple of other roads, finally saw the remnants of the main bunch ascending a steady climb.

After a confusing discussion over whether or not the café garden was open, excellent refreshments served by two unsmiling teenagers and a brief puncture repair (thanks Conner), we set off on the return leg. The wind was pretty strong but most riders took to the front at some point to keep the pace comparatively high. Unfortunately some were struggling and we were down to seven by the time we got back to civilisation (within the M25) but we only had White Hill to get up and it was all over bar a tricky descent into Croydon.

The sun shone pretty much all through a lovely mild spring day (the day that the Sunderland-Fulham match was abandoned due to heavy snow!!) and I felt really good when I got home. 80 miles on the clock in 4 hours 50 mins which, considering the terrain, the wind and the traffic, I was happy with. Thanks to everyone who was there for a great ride.

Went out for a two hour leg spinner on Sunday morning through Nash Lane and going up Bug Hill to complete a hilly-ish weekend. The build-up to the Polkadot Challenge has started!

David.

[adrian]

Not much to add to the already-posted, except to concur that it was a thoroughly decent ride. Simpática company, glorious weather for the most part, fabulous scenery and a route through lanes reminiscent of those of my uncomplicated youth.

Still don't know what the problem in the tea garden was, but it worked out well in the end. My memory is of nice cake and elaborate nail design.

On the homeward stretch, Conor and I broke off from the rest of the group before they got to Lingfield. This afforded us a second pop at Crockham Hill. Not the most fearless descender at the best of times, I went into a worrying shimmy on the other side but somehow stayed upright and lived to enjoy the swing back through Edenbridge, Westerham, Biggin Hill, West Wickham, and then, having seen Conor safely home ( ) made a successful assault on Anerley hill, from where it was plain sailing.

Yep, a fine day indeed. 75 worthy miles clocked. Thanks to Ian and everyone in the group. Let's do it again some time.