by Andrew G » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:11 pm
Well I made it until 9 before going to bed, and slept straight through 'til the alarm went off at 6.30 this morning. Needless to say I didn't cycle to work today.
Right here goes...
Those present and correct at CSS were Polish Andrew (don't know surname), Adrian, Jonathan, Chris Kay, me, and our host Paul Tunnell. Sorry we missed you Brian.
My route details are sketchy but then Paul does offer a tenner if anyone can retrace the route (no GPS allowed) so it's not the easiest to remember! We set off behind the Tunnelling machine at the usual blistering pace, starting on the club run route. We then headed out and past the HQ for both last weeks sporting TTs which made me think Paul had left something behind he needed to collect.
By Loxwood I think we'd hardly dipped below 20mph, occaisionally dropping to a pedestrian 18 up the drags! It seemed this wasn't going to be a stroll to the seaside.
After Loxwood the only other place name I can remember is Ellens Green because of the comically huge village sign. Adrian remarked "Proud of their village, then" as we rolled in. At first it didn't look like it was going to live up to its signage, but then we went past a vast sprawling pile with a little wooden sign by the gate simply saying "Ellens". Ellen is no relation that I'm aware of so cycling past will be the closest I get.
Shortly outside Bognor we wiggled through some bollards on a cut through, but unfortunately Adrian clipped one and came down. He says he thought it was the lesser of two evils as he'd had his eye on a bus coming round the corner, perhaps not as it turned out.
His finger had a nasty cut and was dripping red stuff in fairly sizeable quantities. Paul and Chris nipped in a shop for a bandage while I administered first aid by squeezing water on it. (Adrian had lemon in his bidon which might have made him scream a bit.)
Finger swathed in bandage and tied to the one next to it and we set off again. Unfortunately as the injured digit was his index finger, and very painful, gear changes and braking were extremely difficult eliciting a howl on a couple of occaisions.
Paul's intended drop in to Bognor had been up a big hill and straight down the other side. As this would have meant quite a steep drop, and heavy braking, we made a slight detour. We still had to climb the hill, which wasn't overly steep but was a fair length, and I failed to get any rhythm at the bottom so had to grapple over the thing. The descent in to Bognor was then less bumpy, smoother, gradual, and more finger friendly.
Down to the seafront for coffee, bacon rolls, chips and a gaze out to sea. I was keen for us all to get in a childs teacup ride and have our photo taken spinning round in full ACC lycra, but sadly the others were less keen.
Unfortunately there was no way Adrian could cycle back, his finger was looking a bit fatter and blood was seeping through the bandage, so we despatched him to the station and made our getaway before he found out there weren't any trains. (Only joking, I've spoken since and he got a train back to Clapham quite quickly).
Everyone had been going well and strongly on the way down, but we knew the wind would be bad on the way back. It was horrendous. Paul towed us along for most of the time, Chris did a share, and I tried to hide from the gale blaming a lack of route knowledge for my disgraceful shirking.
We headed along the coast towards Brighton, turning up just before to head back inland. T'other Andrew did a long stint on the front through some countryside, Chris was always there or thereabouts, and I even managed to get involved from time to time, but Paul had done nearly all the towing in to the galeforce headwind along the front.
Jonathan was starting to struggle with a sore leg and was dropping back on the hills. We eased up at the top to let him back on but unfortunately I think he was struggling to put much power down and keep up a high pace.
Jonathan finally dropped off the back permanantly at Horsham, so was close enough to home, but sadly we hadn't noticed until a few corners later so weren't sure exactly where we'd lost him. Hope you got back okay.
We then picked up the club run at Rusper and came back the reverse of the CRs out leg. I was going through a bad patch and had been shovelling an energy bar down for the last few miles. From Rusper Chris and Paul were towing us along but then started playing half wheeling games and tearing off up the road. I could hold the wheel 'til 25mph but then my legs were saying no. I'd carry on head down to catch back up when they eased off, but then they were off again. Andrew was suffering even more than me by now and was just hanging on my wheel.
At Leigh Paul and Chris eased up on the "blue-arsed-fly" cycling and my energy bar had kicked in so I could stay with them and even start to do some work. Sadly Andrew could take no more and slid off at Leigh. It was a bit dambusterish by now "we've lost another one chaps!" but I was determined to hang in as if I dropped off the group I knew it would take forever to get home.
Through Reigate Paul had a bad spell and while Chris nipped up the Merstham drag, and I spun up quite well now re-energised, Paul dropped right back paying for all that work in to the gale.
A re-group at the top of the drag and then a nice spin back home.
It has to be said that all day Chris was amazingly strong, just powered along on the big ring all day. Only used the inner ring for the bigclimb and another steep one, everything else was just cruised over! When we waved good bye at Coulsdon he still looked fresh, like he'd just been for a normal CR.
Fantastic day even if it was hard work. Thanks to the gang for the company, and Paul as ever for his Ordanace Survey-esque knowledge of the south east.
Cheers,
Andrew.
.
Too true.