I rode down with what we deemed the 16/17 mph group: Nigel, Christine, Serena, Damion, Mark L, Marky M, John, and very tall Peter. we left about 8.45 and headed up Farthing down and met Clive who was intending to do a normal CR thinking that the brighton run was next week . he joined us and then a few minutes later we met Duncan heading for the CR, he also joined us and we were now eleven in number.
Climbed up to Bletchingly and rolled down into Smallfields where Mark L bailed out, Marky M left us at Outwood, we picked up Lindsay at Turners hill and Peter eventually left us to ride via Ardingly to home to do a few household chores. so we were down to nine.
Christine and Nigel did some big, big pulls on the front and got us to the Beacon in really good time. Chris powered up the climb and was soon out of sight, Duncan crested second, Nigel third along side me in fourth, Serena was next despite an Andy Schleck moment when she shed her chain just as she got to the top. Photo by the sign, said goodbye to Duncan who had to get home (he'd only come out for a CR), and we were off again just as Monty appeared having presumably left the rest of his 15 mph group for dead.
Very fast descent and then realised we'd lost Lindsay, we couldn't remember if he'd got to the top with us or where we last saw him but given his propensity to swap groups we guessed that's what happened. Arrived at the Embassy at 11.50 to find we were the first there. Seaford spagetti for four of us, no food but a pint and a half of lager for Clive (one advantage of catching the train back!!), met up with Justin who had ridden down the A23 on his own!!, serena had avocado and prawns - anything else makes her sick, Damion had bolognaise. Half hour later the other groups started to roll in and the restaurant started to turn yellow. Lovely day, sitting in the sunshine, absolutely glorious I was tempted to have a beer and take the train myself but I'm made of sterner stuff. We paid - and avoided the usual long, long queue - unpicked our bikes and we were off and heading for home.