Brighton Ride

[Robh]

Not the usual 5am start for me so no need for front light, rear light or the head torch. Left Crawley @ 7am and got in a couple of hours through the lanes before meeting up with the 17's @ 9am.

I offered the 17's an alternative route to Brighton which took us down to Holley, Bletchingly, Horne, Newchapel, Felbridge, East Grisnstead, Ashurst Wood, Forest Row,Wynch Cross, Chelwood Gate, Dane Hill, Sheffield Park, Chailey, Plumpton, Ditchling.

Arrived in Brighton around 12:40pm.

Return Journey home was back with Monty and co.

Total riding time 7hrs 52mins.

Thanks to everyone for an enjoyable day out.

Rob

[Andrew G]

[quote="John M"]As we slowed down, one of our group touched my back wheel and must have started to go down, their bike (handlebars I think) then got entangled in my back wheel.

Neither of us seemed to be injured (hope you are OK by the way), but my bike did not look very well at all. Several spokes were missing from the back wheel, and to my horror, my right seatstay was snapped in half!

The bike was only 3 weeks old and right now I just can't say how gutted I am about it, the frame at least is a write off.

[Robh]

The question should be asked does everyone who goes on the club run have third party liability insurance? I think the club stipulates this as a minimum?

[Andrew G]

It's requested as you say but short of asking to see everyone's paperwork there's no way to enforce it as a rule.

[quote="Andrew G"][quote="John M"]Warranty! There is no way a frame should fail like this if the impact was minor. I guess it wasn't too hard as you were both okay and it was bit of a run in the back. It should take a fair old impact to snap a seat stay, I'd contact the shop you got it from and get them to speak to the importer and ask for a replacement frame. The shop's only just taken all your cash so I'd be wanting them to do the dealing with, and chasing, of the importer too.

[Marky Mark]

John M your bike snapping was gutting.
I could see it in your face, I'm glad you were not hurt and managed to get home ok.

Half way through the ride we were down to 6 riders, Monty had to ring ahead and change the booking to a table for 4 just in case another 2 didn't make it.

Few pics of the day.

[img]http://i28.tinypic.com/28888rr.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/1ihixf.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/azcbp.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i30.tinypic.com/2qdpdo5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i27.tinypic.com/ofvkfl.jpg[/img]
Don't know the name of the man in blue, but it was a pleasure to ride with you. You realed me in and done me like a kipper, well done Sir.
[img]http://i29.tinypic.com/2rfx9j5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i28.tinypic.com/rlmlbt.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/2v17rwm.jpg[/img]
Hands up if you SMELL!
[img]http://i29.tinypic.com/2w5q5qs.jpg[/img]

I had a lovely day, great bunch of agreeables.

[Dombo]

Great ride out and back ably led by Nick. Knees still a bit achey after ascending Ditchling on my 39x25 - passed by Sylv, legs twirling like a flywheel.
Sylv, were you on a compact, or just a lot stronger,fitter, younger (I fear I know the answer!).
Superb fish and chips and a pleasant ride back until the roundabout at Faygate where my mini-peloton abandoned me to the traffic. Arrived home around 5, spent Sunday resting.
Thanks for organising an excellent day out.

[Sylv]

39 x 23 (don't really want to shift into the 25t until I replace my slightly bent mech hanger as the mech sometimes ends up brushing the spokes - I got the replacement hanger this week). We had a nice little tailwind going up Ditchling didn't you notice .

Had a good ride too. The six of us kept a steady but decent pace all the way to Ditchling, where Alan made the most of the winding streets and traffic to unleash a coward attack on the group . We let him go and with perfect timing caught the first of the other groups at the bottom of the climb. I really needed and was just about to stop for a pee but managed to hold it till the top so as to how many I could catch on the way up. The last one to pass was Dan who was having his own little fight with Mark and I almost fell off my bike when I saw him. Left the top of Ditchling a minute or so late and got onto chasing the front group, with Dan making me work very hard. Enjoyed as usual the final kilometres into Brighton with Marky Mark mixing it up with us in the final town sprints for the best seats at the restaurant.

The ride back turned into a bit of an epic for me - despite a big bowl of seafood spag and a banana I almost immediately felt fairly empty again. Legs felt wooden on the climbs out of Brighton after the hour-long stop but soon felt better again. During most of the ride I felt like I was about to bonk a few miles later though, it was weird. Should have taken more to eat, I always get it wrong on this Brighton ride - we did stop somewhere with about 25 miles to go and I had a Snickers which was heavenly. Dan was going like a train and the more it went the more I was eager to get home as early as possible and collapse on the floor so I was pushing hard as well, on the chaingang route we were through and off-ing with everyone taking turns. The last few miles were just Dan and me trying to kill each other, it was awesome in a twisted way - Dan said he'd missed that for too long . I was tired like I haven't been in a long time, not a very nice tiredness I have to say, I slept for an hour and bit that afternoon. Total 149km @ 31.2km/h. Thanks for organising.

[Alan M]

[quote="Dombo"]Great ride out and back ably led by Nick. Knees still a bit achey after ascending Ditchling on my 39x25 - passed by Sylv, legs twirling like a flywheel.
Sylv, were you on a compact, or just a lot stronger,fitter, younger (I fear I know the answer!).
Superb fish and chips and a pleasant ride back until the roundabout at Faygate where my mini-peloton abandoned me to the traffic. Arrived home around 5, spent Sunday resting.
Thanks for organising an excellent day out.

[Alan M]

[quote="Sylv"]The six of us kept a steady but decent pace all the way to Ditchling, where Alan made the most of the winding streets and traffic to unleash a coward attack on the group . We let him go and with perfect timing caught the first of the other groups at the bottom of the climb.

[quote="Alan M"][quote="Dombo"]Great ride out and back ably led by Nick. Knees still a bit achey after ascending Ditchling on my 39x25 - passed by Sylv, legs twirling like a flywheel.
Sylv, were you on a compact, or just a lot stronger,fitter, younger (I fear I know the answer!).
Superb fish and chips and a pleasant ride back until the roundabout at Faygate where my mini-peloton abandoned me to the traffic. Arrived home around 5, spent Sunday resting.
Thanks for organising an excellent day out.