CBC - 17th July

[mlocke]

Good ride down to Brighton today, fast (for me) and long (for me). About 92 miles and now i'm knackered.

Looking forward to going again next Saturday .......... is there another route you can take that cuts out Dichlin Beacon

Thanks everyone good mornings ride

[Andrew G]

Going over Ditchling Beacon is compulsory Mark.

Great ride today, 12 met up at CSS, but no Stu - in Tutu, high heels or anything else. Maybe Steve's comment scared him off.

Top work today by Graham O and Aodan who dragged us along nearly all day, at a ridiculous pace on some of the drags and small hills. Aodan is always strong, but Graham's riding like MrPVT mk2 at the moment.

We steamed along at a quick pace all the way, occaisionally with a mini peleton hanging on at the back, but they were soon dropped .

Mark got slightly detached at one point but we thought he might have hooked up with the 2 official Agreeable riders. But, oh no at the top of Ditchling (the only wet bit of the ride as the mist and light drizzle descended on the hill) while Aodan was looking at his broken gear shifter (erm, Shimano - meant he only had 2 gears on each chainring to use from now on), Mark appeared swearing heartily about the climb so hadn't been far behind. No danger of getting lost anyway with all the other riders and excellent BHF organisation. I've sent a donation as I felt guilty taking benefit of all their hard work for free.

A nice roll and coffee on the front before we set off for the ride back. We had a couple of others join us as they were heading back to London, so asked if they could take advantage of a tow to Croydon.

Only a couple of "woops that was the turning we wanted" moments on the rolling (well actually downright hilly in places) return run. One brief stop to top up on sugar while Aodan fixed a puncture. We grabbed the A23 at the thru and off point for a quicker finish. I did a long turn up front from here as I was finally feeling okay, and having made me suffer on the hills didn't want to give the climbers any respite now we hit my flatlander territory. Steve also riding strong along here helping to make a few skinny folk suffer a bit.

This and the drag up to Redhill caused a bit of rider scattering, so we stopped for a regroup at the CR church point. Final assault on the drag now and ride home for everyone, I suspect feeling tired but happy, and still home in time for lunch . (Still quite a lot of riders passing through Merstham at this stage )

Ride down was a bit shorter that the normal MrPVT routes as total distance was only 98.5 miles, previously been around 110. All knocked off in 5h15 and 18.5 average door to door for me, probably just over 19s CBC part of the run once you take out my pootling to and from home.

Cheers everyone, great group out today.

Andrew.

[Stu Merckx Man]

sorry i didnt make it guys!!

my sister took my alarm out my room so i didnt wake up in time

i still had a nice little ride. i joined on at how lane, on chipstead valley at 7.50.

most of the normal cyclists were about which meant slow progress at first through the lanes.

as it widened out i new i had to hammer it for a good 20 miles or so to get passed the crowds of slow people

after about 10 miles i was joined by a national new zealand Time trialist (he was on holiday) who had also left later than he had wanted and we absoltely cained it to turners hill...by we i mean he took most of the lead and i was just hanging on before turners hill he turned off and i carried on alone. thankfully our efforts had taken us beyond the big crouds and i noticed more and more people in lycra and on road bikes, which was good news!

i thought i might as well continue pretty hard seeming as it was mostly clear. eventually i was joined by 4 other cyclists belonging to some cycling club in brighton. we all took turns all the way to ditchling. at the bottom they asked me how someone in trakies and a t-shirt could keep up with them... then i told them i was in the A team ...and proceeded to beat all bar 1 of them to the top of ditchling

then i took it a bit easier into brighton. i took a right turn over the golf course before the real good down hill bit, and arrived at my grannys for tea and scones only 2 hours after leaving home luuurvly!

stu

[Robh]

I did the official ride with work colleagues but left them straight from the start.

The first hour was frustrating ver slow and this shows when I look at my powertap file. The average was 13mph. The next 2 hours the road was less congested and recorded 20.2mph for that segment.

Rode back home and showed 2 guys the way to Crawley station. At the top of Handcross Hill I could see the yellow colour of Addiscombe stopped at the shop. I stopped and said hello.

Rob

[Paul Blackburn]

A good ride at the advertised 19 mph in spite of all the lumpy bits. Quote of the day from Graham O at the refuelling stop at Handcross "The ride seems a bit hard on the way back. Some people keep going to the front and upping the pace ........" ...Pots, kettles etc.............

I also made an online donation to BHF after taking the benefit of the marshalling and semi-closed roads and the cheers of support from the marshalls and helpers.

[Graham O]

Cheers for the ride guys. I think that there were quite a few people on good form today. I felt good when I didn't have cramp.

Had a good couple of tussles with Steve on a few of the Climbs. He and a few others well and truly whipped me up ditchling though. I either need to work on my climbing or save more energy...

Well its time for the Dragon next week. Hopefully the cramp will stay away and that I pace myself correctly.

Cheers again...

[Yohan]

..Another great ACC day out, really enjoyed todays ride, and I thank everyone who came along today which made it an all round success!

..Although 'enjoyment' isn't the way I'd describe how I felt on the way back, got dropped several times, and this being only my 6th time on the bike this year was well an truly evident...a few miles after pulling off the A23 we encountered miles of just continous rolling hills, I suffered badly as i got spat out the back like a bad taste, it was a pleasure tho to see the familiar ACC yellow re-grouped at the top...phewww..got my breath back.

Big thumbs up to Graham and Aoden who pushed a relentless pace upfront, well done guys. And it was very pleasing to see many other acc riders really stepping up and performing excellent today, Andrew being one of them.

Got back home about 2pm, ate, then slept for a few hrs.....dam i'm still knackered now

Cheers guys
yohan

[Steve B]

Yep, another great ACC Coulsdon-Brighton-Coulsdon ride

Legs felt a bit tired after racing at Hilligdon yesterday, but came back to life half way down and I then managed to do my fair share of the work at the front, although Aoden and Graham did the majority of it between them. This was a great feeeling for me as it showed the improvements I have made this year through racing, and riding with the training group. Having said that, my legs fell off half way up Ditchling.
Things didn't look good once at the top, as it had started raining and the view into the distance was very dark and wet. Aoden had a mechanical, which took a few minutes to look at, and everyone seemed to be feeling pretty cold (well I was).

Shouldn't have worried cos by the time we got in to Brighton all the horrible stuff had gone and the sun came out
Roll and tea went down well, and we were back on the road and back in to a good pace. Lots of hills on the way back, and lots of times people wanted to race up them. This was ok until my legs fell off again, on the last one through the woods. Short stop for re-fuelling at Handcross?, which was very welcome.

Got on to the A23 and stayed on it all the way back, although a wrong turn at a roundabout left only 3 going the right way. The rest (including me) had to cross the road before heading in the right direction. The lead the 3 had was doubled by us getting caught at traffic lights and we were now at least a quarter of a mile behind with no sign of them letting up I then decided to go to the front and see if we could catch them. With a huuuge effort and help from Aoden, we caught them as we came in to Redhill That was one of the hardest 10mins of riding I've ever done

Regrouped at the church and then put everything left in to the ride up and over the merstham drag. By now I was totally spent, nothing left at all. When I got home my legs hurt for hours, more than any other ride, ever

Thanks to everyone for making it a good day!

Steve

[Brian Robinson]

Great ride yesterday down to Brighton. Last time I did CBC was 2 years ago and the wheels well and truly came off so I was tentative to say the least as this was only my second outing in 3 months.

On the way down Aodan and Graham did a great job of keeping the pace high (into a headwind) although I was worried that it was maybe a bit too spicy for me and that I would pay on the return leg.

Weather at top of Ditchling was miserable but we were all relieved to reach Brighton to find blue skies for a well and truly deserved rest.

Pace on the return was quick once more with Steve adding to the Aodan and Graham show. I was surprised to find that my legs were still attached on the rolling hills but once they steepened I had no reply (no amount of turbo work can prepare you for a nasty steep british climb). I was relieved that once the roads started to roll again my legs were reattached and the steep bits were just a temporary blip.

Coming through Crawley towards Redhill Andrew G suddenly found his legs and put in some long stints on the front. A wrong turn and I found myself in no mans land between a determined Paul B (& Rob?) who had found his legs in front and disoreintated bunch behind. I decided to chase them down but by the time I latched on I could feel cramp tickling my thighs and the rest of the bunch caught us just before Redhill.

Finally the wheels came off up the drag into Redhill but I managed to keep the legs turning at a respectable pace for the journey back.

Great day guys and certainly the best CBC I've been on .

Bri

[higg]

Great ride yesterday. I skipped the club ride on Saturday and spent the time fitting a new chain, wheels and back brake cable which was squeaking.

The new chain and wheels made everything feel fresh on Sunday when we started towards Brighton. But as it turned out I should have also changed the gear cables also because at the bottom of Ditchling beacon I shifted into gear one, when I got to the top I couldn't shift up again as the lever was jammed. Looking more closely the cable end was frayed in the shifter and now was probably jamming up the ratchet. Nothing for it but to disconnect the other end, set the derailleur in the middle of the cassette, tighten the cable and hope for the best.

As it turned out it wasn't too bad as the worst hill was already done. In fact, it wasn't the hills that caused the problem but the increase in pace once we hit the dual carraigeways around Gatwick. 53x19 doesn't work too well at those speeds.

PS
Does anybody know a way to get that shifter working again or do I just bin it ?

[Graham O]

Aadon,

Suggest a stack load of WD40. Just pull the break lever, and spray into the barrel thingy. This might loosen / clean them out....

Legs still hurt today !!

Ta,

Graham.