19/4 Fri Chaingang- Night Of The Tumbling PBs

Good Turnout For a Friday

Despite some Friday regulars saving themselves for the ESCA time trial on Sat/Sun we had a good turn out of riders. Good to see both Derek and Ivan back again after long absence. Now we have full light , going down  Battery Hill is much safer and Trevor managed to make a new (shared) KOM for its descent. On coming into the nature reserve we were stopped by two young women on dog scooters pulled by huskies. They weren't sure how far the nature reserve  trail went so we told them but had to laugh as when we asked  'your not local then' they replied 'no we're from Hastings', and then when we suggested a good place to take the Huskies would be the south downs, they hadn't a clue what we were talking about, talk about Hastings folk being insular! One thing they did get right though was to warn us that the path was blocked further on. Sure enough, the very section where I had come out last Sunday to clear away the dumped pebbles that caused Steve D to fall off had all been dug up , presumably for resurfacing. Perhaps this is because the nature reserve path is now part of Sustrans? If so, this is good news, as hopefully the path will be maintained to a higher standard.A little detour around the barriers soon had us back on good tarmac. On the subject of tarmac, the entire route from Rye to Broad Oak is now lovely and smooth, helping both myself and Trevor to get personal bests on this segment. On nearing Westfield, I suggested to Trevor that this would be a good night for a PB on stonestile but he wasn't so sure as it could be a bit damp causing back wheel spin. Everyone took it easy on the approach to stonestile, I was just behind Trevor and Chris W. I knew the pair would soon be racing to the top. Who would get there first, would it be the younger smaller framed Trevor or would it be the more experienced more powerful Chris W. In the end, Trevor arrived first with Chris 40 seconds behind, but both had achieved personal bests, to give Trevor 4th fastest ascent of all time and Chris W the 10th.

let's Hope This Is repaired For Next Friday!

 . Despite my legs feeling tired and my crappy gator skin rear tyre slipping several times (as Trevor feared) , I also managed a PB and closed the gap on Dave HH.