Well, that was fun. On the way up to CSS I popped around my mates house, Chris to pick him up. Last time he came out with us we dropped him on the drag out of CSS as he had a puncture and we did not realise. As we left Lingfield there was a big bang. Oh no, Chris got a puncture. He then realised he had no tube and no pump, great, so I dutifully gave up one of mine and sorted his tyre. This now meant we were going to be late to CSS, so when we got to Merstham phoned up Keith and before long a tidy group came pootling down to Merstham to meet us.
Into the lanes and then all of a sudden out of nowhere Hal pops up, he was very out of breath, had chased the group from CSS. First climb was the Church climb which we got up very tidily. I was worried about my mate Chris as he is not as quick as most of the group so I was trying to look after him. The pace was reasonable, but now and then you could almost see the red mist descending with Stu and Keith duking it out a bit on the flats and Rob W flying up the hills with Stu. We got joined by a couple of London Dynamo riders, but then Rob W punctured. This gave me a chance to try to fix my front mech which was misaligned, I did a pretty bad job but it was better than what it was.
Sylv was keeping his powder dry for tomorrows time trial although once we reached Turners Hill he was looking decidedly dodgy and indicated he was not feeling too good. So we decided to up the pace a bit.
Nice descent from Turners Hill to the bottom of Vowels Lane, which is closed at the moment, but we climbed up it anyway and bunny hopped the 3 foot hole in the middle of the road. This is where we lost Sylv, he decided to turn back. Into West Hoathly and Hal turned off to go for a solo ride to Brighton. We descended down to Weirwood Reservoir and the weather was now brightening up. Then a long climb up to the top of the forest to get to Wych Cross. Unfortunately I punctured here and took me another 10 mins to fix. That was both my tubes gone then.
Then the fast long descent from Wych Cross to the bottom of Kidds Hill (the Wall). Stu got up first with Rob W in hot pursuit. Keith was next and Chris and I duked it out a bit, but I managed to just about pip him. We were greeted at the top by a fantastic view of the Forest, the heather is in yellow bloom at the moment and looks great. Into Hartfield where Rob W was worried about hitting some Pooh, then we cycled over to Edenbridge with another few draggy climbs which were fun. Tried to duke it out with Stu on one of them but could not get rid of the blighter.
Chris and I then re-grouped as the pace had got a bit hot along the Edenbridge road and we cycled back to Lingfield with Keith and the others heading over to Hurst Green. Got home with 100.5km on the clock. Really enjoyed the ride as had been expecting lots of rain considering it was peeing it down when I left at 8am his morning.
Will defo try to do more of these types of rides when I am not racing as the scenery and terrain is sooooo much better than doing the standard club run route.
Cheers
Marek....
). He has what would appear to be some sub-standard running gear, began with a "C" and ended with an "o", with some swirly writing inbetween 
.
there goes that idea.
