HSLCC Chaingang- Shedding Those Xmas Pounds!

A good number of riders turned up for the Wednesday chain gang, perhaps 20 in all including three people trying the ride for the first time. Now, I don't know if this excellent turnout was due to the better-than-usual weather or a wider desire to shed the Xmas pounds, but it was great to see everyone and who cares what the motivation is - let's get out there! Steve was also on hand with promotional cards, so if you know others who might appreciate the superior experience that is the Hastings and St Leonard's Cycling Club, do your bit get them along to a ride.

And then we were off, or at least some of us were, as without warning a keen group decided it was time to go. The rest of us flapped our feet to find pedals and pelted after them, trying hard to bridge the gap (should we have a starting gun, or at least a warning shout before setting off)?

The southerly cross-wind was not much help but neither was it as strong as on the recent rides the more hard-core badass 'velominati' braved before Xmas. It tried to rain from time to time but by far the most water was under our wheels, as was the occasional patch of gravel, thrown across Herbrand Walk by the recent storms or flicked out of potholes by traffic. In daylight, you can see the seaweed and plastic rubbish caught in the fence bounding the railway line, so the waves have clearly been across the road.

Baxter happy To Be Back!

Into the dark marshy sections and our headlamps picked out the shiny inky-black puddles, in which lurk who-knows-what? Best to keep out of the road margins as a strategy to avoid potholes, but what do you do when the puddles span the road..? Thankfully, we know this road's main hazards, so disaster was averted.

I think the ride broke into three main groups. The lead group was largely out-of-sight of the middle group in which I found myself, although we caught the odd straggler. We were feeling sharp too, our bodies fuelled by two weeks of mince pies and Quality Street, our legs eager to be stretched and feel the lactic acid burn, after the weather-enforced recovery time brought about by endless gales and rain. Tom and I had a good competitive ride to the roundabout, which he won.

The return leg broke into four main groupings, but more closely spaced (there was no quick getaway this time). The middle two groups became one when we were caught at the Cooden level crossing. I hung back a bit to get a rolling start and then pushed on to lead the group down Herbrand, catching a smaller group at the Cooden Hotel corner and climb, managing to make the front on the way up. I got into a four-way scrap, the lead changing back and forth as we all pushed hard to make the lights first. I made my final spurt against my main rival but was pipped by a late-mover. This time, I beat Tom back, so overall honours were even. This was all done in a friendly spirit, with the main aim being to push ourselves and each other to perform better (well, I think that's what was happening...).

"Blimey, you lot were pushing it" said the marvellous Stuart Hodd. I don't think any of us could answer, other than with panting, snotting and coughing. But it felt good, really good, to go harder and faster than I've yet managed on a chain gang ride. I am finding that these sessions are excellent training and enjoyable. In the words of Jason Kind, "I've just been reminded the chain gang is fun & mighty hard." Spot on.


Neil Smith