29/12 HSLCC Club Ride- Ice Is Not Nice

David Earle Comes Out Of Retirement!

Steve Perseveres despite being In Pain!

Having had terrible wet and windy weather all week, many of us were looking forward to getting out on Sunday's club ride where the weather was forecast to be dry and sunny with light winds. What none of us had considered was the possibility of ice! First warning that all was not well was when Ivan sent me a text stating he was not coming because of ice, then a few minutes later Simon G rung me up telling me that there was ice all over Turkey road and that he wouldn't be coming either. To avoid the ice I decided that instead of heading inland we would have to do a coastal route instead so chose 'Reverse Beachy' . Only a few of us turned up at the Harrow but surprisingly David Earle was there, having come out of 'cycling retirement'. Along Bexhill road there was no sign of ice except on the bonnets of the cars. I was a bit apprehensive about Herbrand walk as I know it does get icy along there and would have chosen the marsh road to Pevenesy instead. The others thought it would be OK as long as we took it easy. Steve D had gone off ahead and out of sight. As we carefully negotiated the tight bend into Herbrand walk we were shocked to see Steve sprawled out in the middle of the road. He had lost his front wheel (presumably on ice) and had gone down hard on his side. Being made of hardy stuff Steve continued the ride with the rest of us. I don't think we have ever ridden the back road past the star and on to Pevenesy so slowly, we were all scared of coming off. Our wheels were churning up what looked like light snow but was in fact melting ice. It was a good job we hadn't come along this road an hour earlier! From Pevenesy onwards there was no sign of ice and as the light brightened it became an easy pleasant flat ride. Once we reached Jevington the terrain started to rise upwards as we rode at our own pace before regrouping at Friston. Steve was in quite a lot of pain by now with his ribs hurting every time he breathed in. This indicated a strong possibility that he had cracked one or two ribs?. He wasn't up to climbing Beachy head and so headed off through the centre of Eastbourne leaving the rest of us to enjoy what was a fabulous ascent of Beachy in glorious sunshine that was so strong I could feel it burning my pasty white flesh. Despite only recently returning to cycling Dave was climbing well and overtook me on the long drag. On the way through Pevensey most of us stopped for a very enjoyable breakfast at the cafe before a gentle ride home.