Four Gnarly Ice-meisters - Chaingang 8th Feb 2012

Simon Grogan writes:

"I nearly turned back home, no blog-meister and Charlie had gloves on, yes it was that cold. Just the 4 of us fancied it last night, Charlie, a new chain-ganger Nathan from Nottingham and a brace of gnarly old Simons.We thought stick together and observe sub-zero riding conditions, if your fingers are turning black you don't have to do a turn on the front and kept  it steady on the main roads to Pevensey rdbt. a good pace with all doin turns, roads dry(with icy edges)and a good ride. Simon N and I were given some inside info on Charlie's impressive improvement "I ride once a week and I've got a lot of stairs in my house"  Sports science eat your heart out ! Hope to see you next week, Simon."

Stuff Cyclists Say

The Handsling: Sh*t Cyclists Say: This has been doing the rounds on Twitter and various websites. How many of these things have you said or heard others say everyday? Americans maybe more talkative than our typical Brit roadie but still plenty commonground here . . .

Ten below zero. Chaingang 1st Feb

The water in my dogs dish was a solid block of ice outside the back door at seven o' clock tonight, but the roads looked nice and dry so on with the winter gear and down the hill to see if the gang were out. Cursed and prayed safely across a slushy bit of water run off from a leaky drain coming down the steep bit of Castle Hill Road.  Other than that roads were dry, if a little crunchy - with salt. I find starting off from a warm house and pedalling briskly keeps one warm enough - of course wearing suitable gear, winter socks, hats, overshoes, gloves and three layers on top.

Ten riders out tonight - Charlie Bell's caused a stir turning up in his usual shorts, no gloves or overshoes - but  that's a rugby player for you, all weather tough. Good to see Paul Baxter out once more also. Anthony discovered he'd  broken a cleat from a crash last week but rode anyway. Eastbourne  John was first man to the roundabout, with a strong ride, soloing from the railway crossing. I could bluff you that my fixed iron was undergeared for a tailwind and after spinning at 120rpm for a couple of miles it was a sweet & merciful  relief to let him go when he got out of the saddle and attacked over the railway crossing, but John explained it was in fact his wife's pasta that made him so swift.  So please can we all have some of your pasta next week Mrs John, molto grazie!

Next home was Charlie, then Simon N,  then Simon G, and soon everyone was there except Paul B,  lagging somewhat but he'll soon be on pace if we know him of old.  Turning for home we felt the savage bite of the North Easterly wind, howling across the North Sea from deep in the Russian Steppes or something. Temp at nine o clock was minus one ! Will we get out on our bikes next week? Will it be turbos - or  jogging thru' the slush?

27 January - The 'ghost' of riders past!

A record equalling turnout for the Friday chaingang with eight riders. Also there was Paul Baxter who hadn't turned up for a ride but had tuned up for a chat and to see what was going on. When asked why he hasn't ridden since the summer he admitted it was pure laziness. he claims he will be at the Wednesday chaingang, but we will see? Jon was there as well on his first Friday chaingang. On the way down battery hill there was a large hissing sound as Jon suffered a large blowout having hit a pothole. As myself, Jon and Anthony were at the back the others were unaware of this. Having fixed the puncture we caught back up with them at Rye harbour. Despite living at Westfield Jon was determined to do the ascent of stonestile but unfortunately his new light started flashing a low power warning so he had to save his first ascent for another day. Another impressive effort from Derek who pulled out all the stops to get past myself and Anthony on stonestile

S.C

And then we sever. Chaingang 25th jan

"When I heard the sound of sixteen pairs of SPDs clipping in, that's when I knew. It was going to be fast"
Welcome new rider Gavin - sorry I should  have mentioned clip-in shoes and racing kit is the norm, well done for going so well wearing jeans & trainers, not to mention bulky anorak and rucksack.  Gavin enjoyed the ride nevertheless and promised to be back next week with some sportier kit. With the running training he's doing I'm sure he'll be on the pace, no probs.  Jay Miles is down to his racing weight already -  himself and Gavin are training for Hastings half marathon, any more runners in the pack?

Incidentally this might be a good time to point out to  riders new to riding in a bunch that our Wednesday Chaingang is very different to a traditional Club run.  A Club run  - which we do at weekends - everyone generally keeps together in a tight bunch and don't try to break away or attack, except perhaps at agreed points like an important climb or a "30" sign approaching home and  regrouping soon afterwards.

Some good tips on group riding here:


http://www.westlothianclarion.co.uk/westlothianclara.html

http://www.westlothianclarion.co.uk/westlothianclarb.html

http://www.westlothianclarion.co.uk/technique.html

Our chaingang is Devil tak' the hindmost, more or less,  but two or more riders working well together can beat a soloist, unless it's Pete . . .

A Southerly wind  against us on way out.  Pete T.  and Ivan led the way out at 21mph, until Pete attacked and broke away at South Cliff. Ivan and I chased - at times we appeared to be closing on Pete's blinking red taillight, then suddenly it danced round a bend and out of sight like some deceptive Will o' the Wisp - mocking our efforts fly thru' air like treacle.  Swavek, then Simon N then Malc rolled up having bravely battled the fierce wind alone to stay clear of the bunch.

Pete led us back, winding the pace up higher and higher along Cooden Drive until the elastic was well and truly severed. Not a lot we can do about that - unless Charlie Bell can be persuaded to motorpace us on his custom Derny one week - only joking.

Early bird 21 Jan- Jon returns, Dan takes a tumble

Good to see Jon back out again, he hasn't be able to ride with us since before Xmas so I was expecting Jon to be struggling at the back but in fact it was Jon together with Doug who were leading at the front with myself and Derek further back (with Duncan somewhere in the middle). We repeated the route that Pete mapped out for Xmas, although I modified the final 10 miles to cut out the main road back to Bexhill, although stupidly I forgot to put into the route the loop around Brightling so we ended up sticking on the mainroad to Woods' Corner. During the ride I was really looking forward to the long steady descent from Wood's corner to Ashburnam and was not disappointed with fast riding on a minor road with a good quality surface (much more fun than it was before in the dark)

Distance 40.3 miles Av Speed 15.3 mph

PS- Dan harwood sent me a text to ask what route we were going as he didn't know the meeting point and intended to meet us on route, near Winchelsea. Unfortunately, just like Colin a few years back, the curse of Chick Hill struck again and Dan ended up crashing into the fence at the bottom. Pete took him to A and E for a check up. Luckily Dan escaped with just bruising but his road bike is a right off with broken forks, cranks and chainset. Dan intends to use this as excuse to buy a brand new one on the ride to work scheme.

Great Chieftains of the Pudding Race - Chaingang wed 18 january

15 riders - good turnout for an otherwise unpromisingly dreich and misty night. Local ace Pete Tadros and Shaun Reed, the only rider from west of Pevensey set the pace, with Simon N. Paul and myself hanging on grimly like the witches chasing Tam O' Shanter's mare. The tail tore off painfully at South Cliff as two riders were shed. I clung on a bit longer, came to the front at the level crossing , but was spent by the Star Inn. Just after crossing the bridge Pete attacked like a pro, Shaun shouted "inside" meaning Shaun was chasing thru' on my inside in lee of the wind. Addle headed I thought he meant me to move to the inside accidentally boxing him in so Pete escaped over Spooky Hill into a westerly headwind like Auld Clootie hisself. Curses, thats what happens when we give him a rest!

Going home with the wind at our backs, fixed Pete undergeared now, & everyone spinning briskly and keeping more together. Had a wee dig at Cooden hotel, Stuart Crabbe was out supporting at the hotspot. Charlie Bell's Bikes had a dig up the South Cliff, whereupon Tadros countered, really trying and quickly opened up a gap, as he kindly pointed out later I only caught him up as he was undergeared and yes it took quite a long time to reach him and yes I was giving it everything. Needless to say on bridging I tucked in behind until he tired then showed him the old Malcolm Elliott at the last yard.

We stopped at Bexhill to regroup, Pete says he trains 10 hours a week, something like 200 miles - from his daily commute, our chaingang and a weekend ride - thats what it takes to win races! All I know is my sore legs would be glad of a rest after this "burns" night - (groan!) After our rest stop Malc and Pete zipped off over Galley Hill and we never caught them.

Steve Curtis says " I intend to do an early bird ride on sat 21 jan. This will be a modified version of the xmas ride that pete took us on. Distance is 40 miles with quite a lot of climbing
Meet opposite Hillcrest school, Rye road at 8:00am sharp, if forecast is dry"