28/April- On Yer Bike Castle Ride

Paul B Comfortably kept Up With Us On His 29er ,Very Impressive!

Today was the annual 'On Yer Bike' charity ride in aid of the local hospice and Hastings lifeboat. last year the weather was appalling but this year it was chilly but wonderfully sunny with only a light wind. A group of us set out together as a 'team', this included Paul Baxter who was riding his brand new 29er mtb. I never thought for a moment that he would keep up, expecting him to be dropped after a few miles. Also with us for the first time was Matt's next door neighbour Steve,this was also going to be the longest ride he had ever attempted. We set a fast 20 mph + pace on the way out. Despite this, Paul B was keeping up without any problems as was new rider Steve. On the way out we passed a guy riding a Specialized Allez with trainers, only for him to come roaring back at us at a tremendous pace. We had a brief breather at Pevenesey castle where I had a quick chat with the allez rider only to find out that when I looked round, the others had gone without me. Never mind, I am used to riding on my own and it was a glorious day. I couldn't be bothered to pull over and stop at the next two check point whereas the others did, this gave me the chance to catch up with them on Magham Down. Our pace remained pretty relentless across the marsh, finally Steve got dropped a little, so Matt had to wait up for him while the rest of us pressed on. Mike and Alex broke for home at Bexhill leaving just myself, Paul Baxter and Paul Fuller for the final leg along the chaingang route and down to the old town at Hastings. Finally the pace became a little easier and with the wind behind us we had an easier ride over the last 10 miles. Matt and Steve caught up with us as we arrived back at the lifeboat, so Steve had done exceptionally well for his first 'club ' ride.