1/12- Nathan Joins The Not So Early Birds

Early Birds Assemble

Dan Is Impressed With Nathan's Speedy Puncture Repair

With temperatures forecast just above zero, the early birds (including Nathan on his first ever early bird) met at 9:00 instead of 8:00. This was just as well because the temperature was colder than forecast and the ice had only just started to melt. I had mapped out a new route over Rye, Peasmarsh and Westfield that kept to main roads. This made a big change as most early bird rides are on small lanes with lots of hills. Derek was worried about traffic on some of the roads but even on the A268 there was very little, and free from the attention needed to safely negotiate hills and blind corners were were really able to get into the 'zone' and just push on through the miles. It didn't take long before we arrived at Sedlescombe where we had some climbing to do to get to Westfield and then Three Oaks.There was still quite a lot of icy mush on the road  so it was a good job we hadn't ridden round in the opposite direction. Despite starting at 9:00 we were all done by 11:10.
Av Speed 15.8 mph
Distance 29 miles
Ascent 605 m