Hack Bike Ride- December 29

Yesterday was our second hack bike ride of the season. Pete had planned a hilly ride going us far as the 'Three Cups Inn' before looping back via the hard riders route.The weather forecast was a bit dodgy with showers forecast and heavy rain later. Despite this there was a good turnout (see photo) including Dave HH on his first ever hack bike ride. We were disappointed not to see Malcolm but need not have worried as he caught up with us at Winchelsea. At Winchelsea we headed up 'Dumb woman's lane' which took us onto the road up to Broadoak (well known from the friday chaingang) .From here we headed up towards Watlington. At this point it was raining quite hard and there was another 15 minutes before our first pub stop at battle.We decided to have an extra pub stop at the 'White heart' pub at Cribb's Corner'. This was a good call as by the time we came out the skies had cleared and we proceeded to our pre arranged pub at battle with no rain. At this point Colin announced that he had had enough of the cold and didn't like having a wet bum.Despite our protests he refused to budge from the pub and said he would meet us later. We proceeded up the long climb of Netherfield hill. At the crest of the hill it started raining quite heavily and the sky was completely grey with rain clouds. I was all for cutting the ride short but was (thankfully) outvoted by the others who wanted to press on to the the 'Three Cups'. Fortunately the rain did reduce soewhat. It was starting to get dark by the time we reached 'The Swan' pub at Woods corner.Pete had forgotten that this pub existed and had never been in there before, so we decided to abandon the last bit of the ride to the 'Three Cups' and make this our furthest point. This was a great pub and we all get rather too settled there. By the time we left it was pitch black and with no moonlight I was finding it difficult to see in the dark and with the wet roads the long (mainly downhill) road to 'The North Trade Road' was pretty scary.To make matters worse my chain came off and got tangled around the chainring, much to my suprise I managed to untangle it before proceeding gingerly down the route with Derek beside me who was also struggling to see in the dark due to his light. Eventually we met up with the others. All that was left was the big climb up 'standard hill' , this proved to be extremely easy as we had a strong tail wind behind us. After one last pub stop at a friendly pub in Ninfield we headed straight down to the 'bay spice' where we met up with the freshly showered Colin for a well deserved curry. thanks to Pete for organising the day and all those who came along S.C

Early Bird - Reverse Beachy 27/Dec

Great to have Matt, Mike and Alex joining us on this morning's early bird ride,this pushed our number up to 11 which I think is a record for an early bird. The weather was incredibly mild for the time of year, long may it continue.The ride proceeded without incident and we got back to Hastings in plenty of time for a witherspoon breakfast.
S.C

Xmas Day Ride 2011

Myself, Ivan, Paul and Duncan just had to get out on Xmas day morning to avoid a dose of cabin fever.Riding at this time is great because the roads are almost deserted, it reminds me of that film 'I am legend'. After a short 25 mile route over rye, Winchelsea Icklesham area we were well up for a Xmas drink or at least a coffee. Unfortunately none of the pubs were open and we could find a cafe serving either. We expected the rail station to be open (it has a vending machine) but even that was closed, sob!
Distance 25.4 miles Av speed 14.7 mph

Chaingang Weds 21- Welcome to Anthony

A warm welcome to Athony who joined us for the first time on the chaingang having got in contact with us through the blog. Adrian was riding a brand new Pinnacle cross bike with disc brakes. It also had some cross tyres,we old timers 'tut tutted' at this as we knew it would slow the bike down.Apart from John none of the Eastbourne contingent were present so it was a bit like the old days, despite this there were still twelve of us including a guest appearance from Pete Tadros. On the way out the group split into a fast group (Simon N, Simon G, Ivan, Pete, john) and a slow group (me, Adrian, Tim, Jay) with Joe and Duncan in no man's land.As the other day on the Friday chaingang I felt stronger than normal and did much of the work leading out the slow group (it turned out to be my best average time of the year at 19.0 mph), so by the time we had reached Pevensey we had managed to reign back in Joe and Duncan. Also going strongly was Ivan, Pete was paying the price for all the junk food he has eaten lately and had to bury himself twice in order to beat Ivan on the way out. Adrian did brilliantly despite the cross bike tyres and was only a little slower than myself, with proper road tyres he will be one of the front riders before too long, he really enjoyed it so I think we have another regular there.
S.C

Fri Chaingang 16 Dec

Just three of us on the Friday chaingang- myself, Simon G and Derek. Excellent conditions with a low temperature but almost no wind. I felt stronger than usual having had a nice easy sit down day at work. Stonestile lane never felt so easy!
S.C

Riders on the Storm - Chaingang Dec 14

At what point is it wise to abandon a ride - drizzle, heavy rain, hail, snow? Well, so long as we're out here, might as well continue a bit further and see if gets better, or worse . . .

On leaving home tonight rain began spotting the pavement, by the end of the street it was getting heavy, but I was determined to ride - so I turned back and grabbed a rain jacket, extra layer and a woolly hat to cover my ears. I reached the meeting place late, and no one was there. What the heck, I'll roll on a bit further and maybe see if anyone else is out or if I'm the only one taking a gamble on it clearing up. With the extra layer I soon began feeling a bit too warm, better than too cold as sheet lightning flashed in the storm clouds, and a 20mph gale blasted icy drizzle into my face. No tail-lamps could be seen on horizon, come this far, might as well continue. After seven miles or so the misty drizzle suddenly turned to handfuls of nails flung in the face - a hailstorm, eighth of an inch ball bearings of ice drifting on the ground like snow! I jumped off the bike turning my back on the flying hailstones to try and find shelter, it lasted about a minute then I set off again, reasoning if I turned back now then I'd be riding inside the storm all the way home, might as well go a bit further and see what happens next. Leaving Bexhill my spirits lifted and I hummed what else but "break on thru' to the other side" of course, as patches of clear sky appeared and the wind dropped.

Along Herbrand Walk the road was all but covered in pebbles washed off the beach, bar two narrow tyre tracks. The Star Inn looked deserted. A night train passed, showers of yellow sparks flew from its wheels and more sheet lightning flashed out over the Downs in the west . If I get struck by lightning out here on the flat marshes - will my thin rubber tyres save me? Halfway between Spooky Hill and Pevensey I saw some likely bike lamps approaching. Was pleased to turn round and catch up with Simon Grogan, Joe Jenner and Simon Newell. They told me John & Swavek had rode out with them as well then continued on home towards Eastbourne. The five of them had kept going right into the teeth of the hailstorm without stopping , proper hard riders!

A good run back to Hastings assisted by a tailwind, waved hello to Stuart Crabbe as we passed and finally Simon N and Joe had some jump left at Bexhill. Felt great to steal a ride on a stormy night, feet were cold by the end despite warm socks and winter overshoes

Lots of Police cars out patrolling and doing spot checks what with works do's and whatnot, even saw a silver unmarked Audi A4 patrol car pull a foolish red light jumper by the Carlisle, was a big 3 litre with flash boy racer alloys. Ride safe.

Club Ride 11 Dec- Gone With The Wind

Just five of us braved the damp start to the club ride (me, Chris P, Ivan, Joe and Malc). It was quite windy so we were not sure whether to do our planned 60 mile marsh road or to do a more inland route. in the end we decided to do the marsh as we were a bit worried about the slippery conditions on the road. After descending gingerly down chick hill ( Ivan on his fixed) we had a nice tail wind blowing us along the road to Appledore (over 20 mph without really trying). Conditions were not great with a cold wind and damp legs from the road spray so we decided to keep things simple and just ride to Tenterden and back rather than the do the planned loop over the marsh. Chris is still recovering from his torn calf muscle but managed to keep with us until Tenterden , at this point his leg started playing up so he decided to twiddle back on his own. The rest of us headed for home via the 'Heidi' route. We were now heading into a headwind but as we were away from the coast it didn't seem too bad. It was when we got to Rye that the headwind really hit us and its speed had picked up by then. For the next 8 miles it was head down as myself, Joe and Malc struggled into the wind at about 11 mph. Ivan didn't seem to be so badly effected and despite slowing down for us a few times he soon disappeared into the distance. Actually climbing up battery hill was a relief as we were out of the cold wind.

Distance- 48 miles Av speed-15.9 mph

S.C

Fri Chaingang Dec 9- True Grit

Our first sighting of a gritter lorry which spread grit all down battery hill just before we set off for the descent. Malcolm was worried about his tyres as last time this happened the grit cut both his front and rear tyres, so we descended very gingerly down the hill. Fortunately the temperature stayed just above freezing and without much wind it didn't feel as cold as it really was. Just five of us braved the cold (me, Ivan, Malc, Derek and Simon). This week we were all well aware where the large pothole was on the road up to Broadoak (disappointing to see the council have not fixed it despite me reporting it last week), all of us successfully navigated around it. Derek fell off (no harm done) on the climb up stonestile lane when his back wheel skidded, guess those duraskins are no good in the damp!

Stars and Cars and Trains - Chaingang 8th Dec

About 14 riders, nice to see Tim Miles and his immaculately tuned road bike. Simon's ribs are still hurting a bit from last week. Bunch broke into 2 groups over Galley Hill, Ivan did the most work on the way out into the wind with Simon N, John, Shaun, Malc and I taking a spell too.
Bit of a sticky moment meeting a car on the narrow bridge at the Star Inn. Please try and remember to shout "Car up!" if your at the front and try not to brake hard until following riders have been warned to avoid a pile up, not always easy to do when gut reaction is to instantly brake but this time it was OK. Malc locked up his back wheel and did well to control a skid.
In the chute up to the roundabout I followed Shaun's wheel, had a dig, then John & Swavek came round with explosive efforts, strong lads!

The western contingent all headed back towards Eastbourne, so it was just like old times with a smaller bunch heading back to Hastings. Sky was clear as a bell with stars out and we could feel the promise of future ice lurking as we roll on into the depths of winter. Dave picked up the pace over Spooky Hill and led the bunch going strong in his bones top & nifty Ti bike. We stopped at the level crossing to let a fast rattler pass and later on Ivan, Malc, Simon N and I got our own little fixed gear train rolling sweetly.

As winter rollers around again

I'm hoping the Rollapaluza indoor racing series stops near us again next year, last January the Tri-Store hosted one in Eastbourne - lots of familiar names and faces in the photos here:
http://www.rollapaluza.com/eastbourne-national-series-qualifier/

Big Westerly Chaingang Nov 30th

Round 1:

About 20 riders battled into a big Westerly* wind,

Simon of Phoenix Cycles went down hard on the corner of Cafe on the Beach, striking a pedal on the footer of a temporary fence support - watch out for these lying in the path by the tunnel. Simon picked himself up and continued, hope it was nothing worse than some bruised ribs!

About six of us took turns plugging into the wind, dragging the bunch thru' Bexhill, by the next climb the front group was down to eight, where Shaun & John opened a gap.

From back of bunch where I'd had a short rest I could see gap was up to 50 yards or so, with hindsight I should have wound it up a bit more gently and tried to take all six of us across but as it happened I dug in afraid of losing touch and bridged quicker than expected, but unfortunately nobody came with me. Sat in until the level crossing and then did share of spells to the end. John slid back climbing Spooky hill, but manned up and got back on . Shaun declared he was taking it easy for the home stretch so John & I punched for the roundabout.

Round 2.

Shaun packed and turned back for home at top of Spooky hill, saving himself a longer ride home into that fierce wind.
Ivan the TT engine rode from the front to take Chairman Stuart's Checkerboard, I did a spell, then John made a move on the next hill and opened a gap, which Ivan then took us across for a little wind-up before the rest stop, where we all had a good natter for some minutes.

Malc stealthily broke away over Galley Hill and kept us in the distance all the way to Bridge café. We chased hard as we could but didn't quite catch him in time. Malc confessed to some blue-rinse drafting, but he was so far ahead at the good spot for joining the flow that we never saw him "taking pace" at all.

*A westerly wind means that the atmosphere is moving faster than the Earth spins. wiki-answers

Friday Chaingang Dec2- Derek Conquers Stonestile

An eventful night for the Friday chaingang. Conditions were quite cold but dry as we set off from the fairlight lodge. On the long drag from Rye myself and Derek had been dropped by the others. About half way up I suddenly saw Paul pulled over at the side of the road. As I looked up to see what was going on I rode straight into a large pothole . Somehow i managed to stay on but the tube in my front wheel suffered a major blow out. It turned out that I was the second victim of this pothole as Malcolm had hit it the previous week. Having fixed the punctures we carried on and eventually caught up with the others at the front. By this time it had started raining so we considered mainroading up to the ridge instead of ascending Stonestile. Fortunately the rain eased off and we were able to do Stonestile. Derek was on his brand new Corratec ultegra equipped bike and found the ascent of Stonestile easier than the previous week when he conquered it for the very first time. By this time it was raining again but as we were going to the pub we didn't mind. Paul had yet another puncture on the way to the pub and so we had to use up our last inner tube . After 3 pints in the pub we emerged to find that the rain had got worse and get soaked through as we had to cycle back to Hastings into a strong headwind. Moral of this story is always carry 2 spare inner tubes rather than one and report potholes to

http://194.238.70.74/faultreport/faultlocation.aspx?TypeId=0014002

S.C

Eastbourne GP Cat 3 road race May 22nd 2011

Just found this fun youtube clip from Handsling's Cam of the Eastbourne road race I did back in May with Pete Hooper (Fuga) and Dan Henchy (PB Science) I'm number 26 in the red Hastings jersey. You can see us all smiling on the start line, and several times later on - not so smiley! We raced 10 laps of the seafront with a sharp little climb each lap and then 2 laps of Beachy Head. I stayed near the front till the top of the big climb out of town where I watched the lead group open a gap into a really nasty headwind then hung onto the chasing group till I dropped my chain downshifting for Beachy. Did the others stop and wait for me to get the chain back on - sporting fashion? No, they're off like Contador! Mighty Mike Coyle of the Mitre won - here's a proper race report from the sharp end . . . since fitted a chain catcher.

Club Ride To Newhaven

Today was an unusual club ride as our mission was to get to Newhaven to buy tickets for the French trip next year. Chris P was there at the start to see us off, his calf is not yet up to a hard ride, although he did manage to do a 'bacon butty ride' the day before. With us on his first club ride was Jon Stainsby. Dave HH was due to meet us on route somewhere. We main roaded all the way to Newhaven via battle, Hailsham , Hi and Over and Seaford. At first the weather was grim with grey skies, light rain and a head wind. Fortunately the rain cleared and the sun slowly came out. We didn't mind the head wind as we knew we would have a fast return along the coast. I kept wondering where we would see Dave HH on route. On arrival at the ferry check in, as if by magic there was both Chris P and Dave HH (Dave had a cold and had decided to drive there). After buying our tickets for an incredibly cheap price of just £35 we headed back along the coast. This was fantastic as we had a strong tail wind all the way back home, Beachy Head had never been so easy. We stopped for fuel at a cafe in Pevensey bay. This used to be called 'The Sandwich Inn' but is now called the 'Bay Diner'. they have tarted the old cafe up a bit , it seems to be under new management but the food and prices were just a good as ever.

Total distance 60 miles

Average speed 15.3 mph

New Blood - Chaingang 23rd Nov

19 riders & good to see Chris Parker back out on the bike recovering from his running injury. This week we were proud to be honoured with some new blood in the shape of Todd and Josh, one rides for a team in Flanders and the other is a top triathlete. Welcome and hope to see you again next week lads. In fact Matt warned me we were going to get **** ****d and as we rolled out to Galley Hill the excuses began to drop thick and fast - "Actually -I've got a really bad cold", "I missed last week", "I've got a broken leg", "me too" and the rest.

We got a little chain going at the front, then Matt broke away at Bexhill with Todd in his wheel. I was unwilling to drag a strong bunch up to another Hastings jersey, so I marked Josh ready to follow a move. Malc had a go at closing the gap, then I tried to bridge alone but couldn't shake the others, sorry Matt! By the Star Inn we'd regrouped. Todd made a big dig up Spooky Hill, others countered but no-one was strong enough to stay clear for long. Matt kindly offered to lead me out to the roundabout where out of the pack came Eastbourne John with a strong late finish.

Wayback was swift again with Ivan and Malc doing lots of work on the front, Simon Grogan and Simon Newell going well too, I had a stealthy wee dig for the checkerboard outside chairman Stuart's house. Matt came through to open a good gap for a while, but I was too tired to help him so it came down to a bunch finish at the 30 sign. Matt opened a large gap again on way home, big thanks to Malc and Ivan for sharing work to bring him and his immaculately clean bike back.

Any more ideas or votes for the club social/ prizegiving in February? Stephen from Eat@the Stade has offered us same sort of deal as last year in his new venue, also Nick at St. Clements next to Horse & Groom, St. Leonard's has offered us the whole room and a 2 or 3 course menu.

Friday chaingang as usual, Fairlight Lodge 7.30
Text Chris Parker for the Saturday morning bacon butty ride.
Sunday run Harrow, 9.30

Early Bird ride 19 Nov- Puncture Pandemonium

Fantastic weather for our early bird ride this morning. We were following an extended version of the 'Hard Riders TT course'. At Rushlake Green Paul suddenly lost control of his steering, his stem had come loose . Fortunately we were going up hill at the time (a few minutes before we had been moving at speed down hill). After sending for the Calvary (Malcolm) were were on our way again. Mike had our first puncture on the long narrow road across the marshes towards Chile farm. After fixing it we set out again only for Paul to have a puncture one minute later. We duly fixed Paul's puncture as well but just four minutes later Paul lost control going round a bend and came off. luckily he landed on a muddy verge and no harm was done to man or machine. It turned out the reason he came off was that he had had another puncture due to a piece of embedded flint. On closer inspection we could see his tyres were knackered and new rubber was called for (I would recommend Continetal four seasons). After fixing this last puncture we proceeded without incident to the excellent Chile Farm. It was nice and sunny by then and felt more like late September rather than November. The rest of the ride proceeded without incident. We had a chat to three cyclists on the cycle path back to Hastings and told them about the blog; new recruits?

Distance 39 miles

Av speed 15.2 mph

S.C

Friday Chaingang 18 Nov

A great night for the Friday chaingang. All the old regulars were there apart from Simon G. Paul lost part of his rear light down battery hill when he hit a bump, which is a shame as it was an expensive one. Derek continues to get stronger following his knee op and intends to climb 'stonestile lane ' next week. Steve D was on his new raleigh, I had a go and it seems really comfortable (bargain for £550 ).Unbelievably dry for this time of year- apparently we are on target for the driest Autumn ever recorded! So different to last year !!

Distance 22.5 miles

Av speed 16.7 mph

S.C

Chaingang 16 November

It felt like a proper November evening for once with temperatures around normal for the time of year . A lot of the regulars (Chris W, Ivan, Max, Matt, Chris P, jay etc) were absent but with most of the Eastbourne crew there, numbers were still qite high at 19 . Someone warned us that there would be a lot of congestion around the Glyn gap area due to the arrival at Ravenside of the famous coca-cola truck from the adverts, so we took it easy and stayed together as one group to galley hill before everyone went at their own pace . Steve Denny was on his new Raleigh Airlite 105 which he bought brand new for just £550 pounds. He definately seemed to be going faster than normal as this was the first time ever that he beat me on the way out to Pevensey. On the way back some of the riders decided to check out the free cokes that were being given out from the coca-cola truck. They came back very unimpressed, complaining of queues and half size coke tins. Good to see Dan (the legend) Harwood was there, he has become one of the regulars again!

SC

Brighton Hack Bike Ride Nov 2011

Our best ever turnout for a Hack bike ride (see photo).This included four hack bike newbies: Ben Corbishley, Steve Standen, Mike Crane and Steve Denny (finally riding clipless). Also joining us was Dan (the legend) Harwood who last came on a Hack bike ride about 5 years ago. We set off at 1:10 for our first stop at Loughton. The riding seemed easy as we had the wind behind us. After this was some fast very flat riding to Lewes where we decided to go down to pub in the centre of town by the river. It was exceptionally mild for the time of year (very different to conditions last year) so we were happy to drink outside. On the way to our next destination of the half-moon pub at Ditchling we were very lucky not to have a major pile up. Colin called out to turn left but some people (the two pints might have had something to do with it) didn’t hear, so there were some cyclists crossing left in front of others and to make it worse there was a van on the right. Miraculously we all made the turn (time seemed to slow down for a while). Ivan and Malcolm decided at this point that they wanted to ride back home rather than continue on to Brighton . The rest of us pressed on to the highlight of the route, the climb up Ditchling beacon. After Pete led us to the bottom it was every man for himself. Unfortunately on the way up it proved too much for Duncan’s chain and one of the links snapped. Ben was worried about the climb but needed have been as he rode it comfortably only a little behind me. Steve S also did very well and actually beat me up the climb despite his lack of training. Once Pete had managed to reconnect Duncan’s chain with a ‘missing link’ provided by Paul we proceeded to make the rapid decent down into Brighton. Myself and Colin were really looking forward to this decent but as so often happens on this hill, our glasses were completely misted up with the fog and all we could make out on the road were the central markings, so we had to take it easy. At Brighton we met up with Chris parker who had to come by train as he is still hobbling with his injured calf. This was followed by a very large curry and more beer before catching the train home. For some reason Pete decided it would be a good idea to buy a bottle of vodka for the train journey home. As most of us didn’t want any, this meant he got more and more drunk the closer we got to home. Thanks to all who came on the ride. We hope to organise a local one sometime between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. See pictures on the slideshow.

S.C

Dave learns some roadcraft, Chaingang Nov 9th

Simon and I were having a nice chat spinning along Bexhill seafront when some hooligan in a Fiat top and killer whale leggings jumps out and attacks, with big Mike, I mean big Shaun hot on his wheel.

I've done my turn on front - so I sit up and let them go. Three or four more flash by to give chase. Wait to see if anymore? No - OK - now its time to dig in hard as the gap is getting too big. Here we go again, busting a gut to get back on, survival of the suffering-est.

After Cooden Beach I was hanging onto just Matt and Shaun, in fact Matt lost ground at Herbrand Walk and had to chase hard to get back on. They were strong, I felt like I was going to blow up but somehow hung on. Finally Shaun went clear, just rode away from us, then stopped to wait at the Star pub. Mercy? No, a dim headlight and " I get bored riding on my own, I like to be sociable" Maybe mercy then, or a cat toying with an injured mouse before the inevitable kill.

Matt did the rest of the hard work till the end, where Shaun feigned a jump to get 2nd wheel, then actually went, I jumped after and hung on some more until he tired, then came round in the last yard, feeling cheap. "Poachers!" shouted Matt as he rolled up in third place. "Dave isn't it?" Shaun says to me. "No, Chris" I say. "You really should do some road" says Shaun.

Return leg - bunch left early while I was still chatting to Ivan and Malc who had a mechanical with his cleat, I excused myself swiftly and had to chase like a dog for 2 or 3 miles to get back on, just as the bunch reached Spooky Hill where a move often goes. No blood left in my brain by this point so rest is a blank until closing on Matt and Shaun again as we approach Bexhill.

Matt is doing the work again, Shaun sitting on 2nd wheel, and I'm hiding behind Barry, I mean Shaun. This time Barry slows a smidgeon, just gently eases me out the back, then stands up and crunches the pedals to sprint, later he'll generously explain that this is a bit of tactical roadcraft to use against an opponent, but at the moment I'm in such a zombie state I don't really notice, just follow the wheel, the wheel!

Shaun's gears slip on the second stroke and he bangs his knee hard on the frame, I'm thinking S***! last two times I did that I went right over the bars and my elbows and knees were well bloodied up. And I'm right on his wheel! But its OK this time - he keeps it going, then gets tired and then thats when I make my move and come round, after the efforts done, in the last yard, feeling . . . well, you get the picture,

don't you, Dave?

23 riders. Average speed out : 21.7mph with a bit of a tailwind.

Back: 21.5mph and for sure a headwind.

Through and off - youtube clip

good little vid of a chaingang

Derek Joins The Friday Chaingang (Nov 4)

Following on from completing his first early bird ride last week Derek decided to give the Friday chaingang a go. Despite having to take it easy following his knee op, Derek was only a little way behind me on the long drag up to Broadoak. He did decide that it would be prudent to avoid 'Stonestile lane' which he described as being 'evil' so we parted company soon after Broadoak. Hopefully Derek will now become another regular (he seemed to enjoy the ride). Also present were myself, Ivan, Simon G, Malcolm and Josef (first one of the season)

S.C

The Pevensey Pothole and Joe Goes. Chaingang November 2nd

About a dozen riders on a wet and windy night, half of whom had already faced a strong headwind battling over from points west. A strong tailwind lifted us along with various digs going up the road but no breaks sticking. Lead group of 6 or so stayed together till last bend where we had a short "interval" session to the stop, I got a gap early and managed to hold it.

On return trip into that tough headwind, a combination of sheltering close to roadside from sidewind, with all eyes on lights from an oncoming car, caused three of us to ride into a nasty pothole, half a mile before the level crossing on the inside. Swavek came off and punctured both tyres (!) luckily no serious harm appeared to be done, just a sore wrist. Malc and Dan punctured their fronts as well. Once everyone was fixed up, it was getting late so the westerners turned back and seven of us continued to Bexhill. Joe Jenner launched a nicely judged uphill move going clear. Dan, Simon and I then bridged over to Joe, keeping it rolling and Joe delivered a textbook Cav finish, nice!

Chris Parker has torn a muscle playing hockey so any volunteers to lead the club run from Harrow, this Sunday at 9am?

Reverse Beachy- Early bird 29 Oct

More excellent mild weather for today's early bird. Joining us for the first time on an 'early bird' was Derek who was worried about keeping up because he is recovering from key hole surgery on his knee. Also present was myself, Paul K, Duncan, Tony, Ade and Joe. After reaching Polegate via the sustans route its uphill past Jevington followed by Beachy Head (Tony left us at this point to view some used cars on Lottbridge Drive). Beachy head felt easier than normal as we had a little tail wind behind us. From this point it was fast flat riding all the way to 'Cafe on the beach' for bacon sandwiches. When we got there there were police officers and 'scenes of crime' officers cordoning off the beach. Apparently someone was viciously attacked there last night and it is possible they may die from their injuries, so this could turn into a murder enquiry.

Derek said he felt done in but did well to complete the ride so soon after his knee op. Hopefully we will see him out again on an early bird or club ride.

Distance 42 miles Average speed 16.7 mph

Western Moves. Chaingang 26th October

23 riders, with 6 or 7 over from Eastbourne & Pevensey. Max and I had a nice chat on front - club run style until Bexhill, where Shaun launched the first attack of many. Small groups and lone riders broke away and reformed several times in a wild west scramble for Pevensey, John Eastbourne showing strong form. After Spooky Hill I was losing touch, and was grateful to Alex and Matt coming thru to close the gap. Finally a half dozen or so regrouped for a lineout to the roundabout.

Matt's first ride on fixed, grumbling about too low a gear, 46x17 or something - I recently changed mine up to 48x15 from 46x15 with a 17 on flip. Nevertheless we were all impressed by Matt's new flashing seatpost.

Swift ride back to Cooden where Matt went clear on the rise with Shaun & Shaun's mate chasing, I thought I was in for a free bus ride back up to Matt who'd now solved his gear problem - spinning off over the horizon, when my bus suddenly stopped and turned back West. Swavek came along in a minute and we had all but closed on Matt by the lights, Stuart from Eastbourne nipping thru to arrive first.

CW

Battery Hill Time Trial Oct 23 2011

Hello Folks

There was a great turn out sunday on Battery Hill. Thanks to all riders plus many supporters who turned up to encourage riders up the hill and have a good chat before and after the event.

I aim to write it up a bit and dig out the table of times from previous years ………

The table below may collapse on e-mailing but the attached document has the times.

Hill climbs are rounded up to the nearest tenth of a second (some provisional results have been rounded up) and for the paper I generally round up again to the nearest second which works for all placings except Joe's coming in just 0.1 seconds ahead of Malcolm Daly.

Thanks to all the Rye riders and Rye supporters, more people out makes it more fun.

I have not looked up the start sheet for next week's CTT National Hill climb in Derbyshire near Buxton but Pete Tadros is on it and will be all out to se if he can better the 7th place he took last year. We wish Pete another great ride and may be even the team gold for In Gear with Hutchinson riding????

Any photos to me and Steve Curtis please.

Seven of us had a lovely ride straight after - what a glorious weekend it was.

How about a good turn out for an autumn club run at 9.00am Sunday 30 October at the Harrow after an extra lie in with the clocks change ? Hope to see lots of you there.

At the bottom of the post is a video that Steve made of the event (the lyrics of the track fit rather well!)

Photos of the day can be obtained from the slide show on the right (thanks to Simon T, and Karin for additional photos)

C.P and S.C

Placing			Time	Club
01	Pete	Tadros	3.46	In Gear
02	Alan	Thynne	4.24	Rye 1
03	Chris	Watson	4.40	H&StL CC 1
04	Steve	Gooch	4.45	R2
05	Nick	Wilson	4.47	R3
06	Bronwen	Ewing	5.02	R4
07	Barry	Goodsell	5.05	R5
08	Simon	Grogan	5.10	H2
09	Monty	Wilson	5.10	R6 1st junior
10	Ivan	Johnson	5.10	H3
11	Joe	Jenner	5.15	H4 2nd junior
12	Malcolm	Daly	5.15	H5
13	Mark	Brittle	5.39	H6
14	Nigel	Fox	5.46	R7
15	Rebecca	Wilson	7.01	R8
16	John	Kelly	7.19	R9
17	Richard	Holtby	7.21	H7

Starry Starry Night

A nice clear evening for the Friday chaingang. While we were waiting for the others, Simon pointed out some objects that could be seen in the night sky. As we were looking up we could see a satellite passing over head. Present were: myself, Simon, Malcolm, Ivan, Duncan and Steve Denny. On the way out Steve's light switched to emergency reserve, he had forgotten to charge it! I thought the reserve might last for an hour but I was wrong as it packed up about a mile from Broadoak. As Steve was at the back of the group at this point no one was aware of his plight, so Steve had to do the last mile up to the meet point in the pitch black! Fortunately I have two of the same lights as Steve and lent him one of them for the final third of the route. Just as well as there were some louts in a car coming down Stonestile lane who left little room for us and shouted some abuse just for good measure.

Distance 22.5 miles Av speed 17.1 mph

Through and off, Chaingang 19th Oct

Great to see another big turnout of 27 riders, on the coldest night of the season so far, tho' hardy Joe Jenner still wore shorts. Experienced 1st Cat road racer Shaun Reed coached us in some through and off riding, also known as a chaingang, two lines, or in USA , a paceline s'il vous plait. It's standard on chaingang training rides like ours, a great way to ride fast in a group sharing the work and saving energy, teams in Tour De France do it to catch breakaways and so on.

Man on front rides smoothly for 20 seconds, then moves steadily over and eases up by 1 mph to allow next man through, like a big chain. Line coming forward rides 1mph quicker than the line going back so you get a rest after your 20 second spell. Line going back can be on the left or right depending on wind direction, but for us on narrow roads at night I think its safer and makes sense for us to have slower lane on the right (outside) of bunch. It was working well along Bexhill until someone sprinted off the front instead of doing their spell and broke it up, tho' we got it back together later.

here's some more info on the subject:

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/02/rolling-turns-pacelining-echeloning/
http://pdxcyclingonline.com/paceline-riding-tips-00194/
http://bianchista.blogspot.com/2011/01/chaingang-noob.html

Averages - out 21.5 mph, back 22.5mph. From a front group of about 8 riders, Shaun reached roundabout first and also Bexhill lights, the rest of us hanging onto his wheel. Stuart had the chequered board outside his house for an intermediate prime after Cooden which I sneaked off to get, Shaun said Malcolm boxed him in and praised his skilful team tactics , ta Malc!
C.W.

Quick reminder that we meet 9.00am sharp in the public car park near Fairlight church to sign on for the climb of Battery Hill, Rye Wheelers and Pete Tadros will be competing.We usually have a good crowd of people come along to chat at the sign on, watch in the lay bay half way up the hill, then come back to the car park for another chat then some of us will go for a short club run looping back to Hastings no doubt.
C.P.

Hill Hunter (early bird report 16 Oct)

What fantastic weather we had today! As the weather was so good and the weather so dry we decided to do one our hilliest routes'The Ticehurst circular', this twisty route is normally only done in the summer. Present were myself, Paul, Ivan, Ade, Duncan and Tony. There are very few straight sections on this route which prompted Tony to call give me a new name of 'Hill Hunter' which I quite enjoyed. Having not ridden hard since Wednesday I must say it was nice not riding with stiff legs for once and none of the hills bothered me, not even the long drag (4 miles) up Witherenden Hill (Stonegate to Burwash). Tony coped much better with the hills today, these sort of rides are just what he needs to improve his climbing, although he was completely done in at the end. We had a few mechanicals on our journey: the cables on Paul's dérailleur kept seizing up, Duncan had a puncture, I toppled over on some gravel and broke the little cap on top of one of my shifters.

Total distance 49.4 miles, average speed 13.6 mph

S.C

Simon Tyler at the Marmotte

just got this email from chain-ganger Simon Tyler, get the full story and photos at saltedmackerel.cc

"Hi Chris,

Work and small child have conspired to make chaingangs and similar tricky to fit around other commitments, but will hopefully get out a bit more regularly next year.

Catching up on the recent blog posts - I reckon I did a noteworthy number of Alpine hills this summer!

Glandon / Telegraph / Galibier / Alpe d'Huez in a day

The Glandon was psychologically tough being the first of four. When I got to the base of the Telegraph I felt much happier about it all, and span my way past a good few hundred riders, and the same on the Galibier.

On the descent of the Galibier one of my contact lenses fell out just as I was entering the first big and very dark tunnel. I stuck my sunglasses back on to stop the other one falling out too (quite dry eyes by that point) - the sensation of hurtling through a pitch black road tunnel with the blur of headlights coming towards you and a distant light at the other end being the only things giving you any idea where to steer was not very pleasant.

The Alpe was a b****** too, for obviously reasons. I actually think it's a pretty ugly and uninspiring climb - the only reason it's featured so much in racing is the infrastructure at the top which means it works well as a race finish.

Ventoux - Classic route from Bedoin, then again from Sault the following day.

Ventoux was tough too, but the experience made up for that many times over.

Aravis from Flumet, then

Colombiere / Croix Fry / Aravis / Saisies the next day.

Not bad at all.

Next year I want to try the Ventoux triple (or Cingles) - Ventoux from all three routes (Bedoin / Malaucene / Sault) in a day.

Also working on a Zurich - Venice tour, via Fluela Pass / Stelvio / Gavia / Monte Grappa, etc. Quite a tough week that might turn out to be.

Simon"

C.W.

Chaingang report weds 12 oct

A fantastic turnout for the weds chaingang tonight with 27 riders which equals our previous best. Present on his first chaingang of the season was our best rider 'Pete Tadros'. Pete was on his new carbon fixed wheeled bike so was expected to be even faster than normal. Max was worried that with so many riders we could come a cropper racing up Galley hill, so the word was passed round that we should stick together until we got to the De la Warr Pavillion. Predictably, although some people did try to follow Max's advice, others started fanning out as soon as we got to galley hill which caused others to do their own thing etc. Pete led out the fast riders on the way to Pevenesey with Sean following his wheel. At one point a landrover decided to pull out in front of the leading group, only Pete and Sean managed to get in front of it, the others had to wait behind it. Despite a valiant chase led by Ivan and others, no one could close the gap between Pete and Sean. On the return leg Pete went off at the front and no one was able to keep with him (not even Sean) leaving the others to follow some way back. Weather wise it was a perfect evening with a mild temperature and light winds. For me it was the fastest chaingang of the season so the weather must have been good

S.C

Rollapaluza Dave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhct3Wb3jFQ

This link is the Rollapaluza in Eastbourne in January this year--I worked out I was doing over 200rpm. and ended up 5th in the competition--not bad for 54

David H-H

Early Bird Report Oct 8

We decided to repeat the Doleham 30 miler from two weeks ago. Present were early bird regulars: myself, Paul K, Doug, Adrian and Duncan. We were also pleasantly surprised when Matt, Alex and Mike turned up. Sadly, Matt's group only stayed with us for the first 5 miles to Battle while the rest of us continued the route. This route has got some great climbs including the climb up Doleham hill, The climb from Sedlescombe to Westfield and ends with the climb up Battery Hill.Having ridden the Friday chaingang I found that my legs were completely done in by the time I reached the start of the climb up battery hill, so had to grovel my way up there. Looking forward to a complete day off the bike on Sunday.

S.C

New Record for The Friday Chaingang Oct 7

A new record for the Friday chaingang with 9 riders. This included newbie Charlie Carder. Charlie was on an old flat barred bike that he picked up for £40, despite this he managed to keep up with the group. Hopefully, he will become another regular.
S.C

lantern jawed heroes / brain on shuffle chaingang 5th October 2011

Sometimes when I'm plugging along on my own, a bit of music I've heard recently will drift into my head l and I'll replay it on a loop for a few minutes, to sustain a rhythm in a difficult spot, like last night grovelling overgeared into the dark against a strong headwind on my own, having missed the start and wondering if I'd ever catch up with the others, it was only the " I like it I'm not gonna crack" chorus from this that stopped me from turning round and quitting.
Its not all good tho', after a gluttonous xmas hols, out of shape from a months layup because of icy roads I couldnt get the bump and grind, ridiculous "La di da di da" chorus from this out of my head.
Then again one evening when I was feeling stronger and tearing it up I got some of this hypnotic stuff, ideal for a turbo.

One advantage of random imaginary music vs an ipod is I still get to hear all the fast cars and slow tractors approaching round the next bend, not to mention spokes snapping, tyres deflating and other more pleasant things.
so thats my first half, a couple of lads punctured, if anyone wants to email me more info I'll post it here.

At half way I was releived to see a bunch of riders sheltering from the rain under a tree.

Simon Newell and Max I think got an excellent 6th in the 2 up TT at weekend.

Number of riders- not sure less than 20 more than 12.

Speed out for front group - 16mph, Swavek and Joe punctured. I was overgeared for headwind of 14mph gusting 29mph, felt like grinding along at 10 mph. Rain threatened a bit and wet the road but never got heavy

Back avg 26mph, maxing at 29s and 32s for our lantern jawed heroes who'd braved the fierce gusts in the face to ride the wind back again like happy surfers.

Matt and Swavek shot clear at top of spooky hill like flaming rockets, Malc and Alex chasing, then me on me own, undergeared now . Adrian caught me before Bexhill with tribars & gears, friends. Duncan, Tony and others in hot pursuit.

By the way some handy info for fixed gearheads and insomniacs here, like "32 mph on 84inches is nearly 130 revs per minute" what larks.
Now thats fast for an old lag like me but check this guy, 247 rpm!

Plumpton Sportive

This was our second year of doing the Evans Plumpton Sportive. There were fewer of us this year with just myself, Paul K and Duncan doing it. The weather was fantastic with 27 degree heat, no wind and wall to wall sunlight.The start of this sportive (at Plumpton college) couldn't be more spectacular with the massive green hillside of Ditchling Beacon staring straight at you. Luckily we had about 5 miles of straight roads before the route took us up the beacon.The beacon is tough but never becomes over steep,to me if feels like you are going round and round a merry go round. After the climb comes the fantastic drop down towards Sussex university. The beacon turned out to be the only major hill of the whole route, with the rest of it, rolling hills (next time we ascend the beacon will be in November when we do the Brighton hack ride). For much of the 60 mile route we got to ride with the same group of riders, it was a shame that none of them were from our local area. This was Paul's third attempt to complete a sportive (first time his wheel broke up, second time we followed the wrong set of arrows) and he really enjoyed it, as did myself and Duncan. We all decided that we will try to increase the number of sportives we do, and will definitely be back for the Plumpton sportive next year.
S.C

old iron

old lightweight steel racing bikes make great training bikes/ winter / chaingang hacks -

here's a couple reasonably priced ones quite nearby - this first one actually has regular 700c wheels and maybe a 22 or 23 inch frame.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110752469000

14 speed nigel dean lightweight racing bike 20 inch frame & 25 inch wheels in Sporting Goods , Cycling , Bikes |eBay

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/1982-claud-butler-reynolds-531-touring-bicycle/88602347

C.W.

Car spotting - Chaingang 28th September

A perfect Indian summer evening brought the motorists out like flies and a big group of 25 this week, seemed like we were flagging a car up every 2 minutes, and welcome more new riders as several regulars didn't show! Average speed to roundabout 22.5 miles per hour. Some rotten poacher on a steel fixed nipped past big Shaun 30 yards from line, with Stuart M finishing hot on his wheel.

On way back Jay commended junior Joe Jenner's gutsy strong riding bridging a big gap. Club Chairman Stuart C had the checkered board outside his house, I think Simon Grogan took that prime, couldn't see as was having a breather at back after going for the 30 at Cooden. Had another dig at Bexhill, got a gap and sat up, then Max came past to take it. ESCA hill climb is 16th Oct at Firle Beacon, 9am start, £6 and entries on CTT form to Mark Winton asap! Swavek revealed John climbed the Aubisque and Tourmalet this summer, while the Miles's did Alpe d'Huez, anyone beat that?
CW (drawing by Prampolini)