9/6 HSLCC Fri Night Ride- First Workout For Caad 8

First Proper Outing For Caad 8!

It had been very blustery all day and I was tempted to give the Friday night ride a miss but with decent temperatures and dry conditions, myself and seven others were there for the start of the Friday night ride. It was good to see Josef making a rare appearance but sad that we wont see Friday night regular Diego for a while as he is recovering from a dislocated knee (mtb accident). I was riding yet another 'ebay special' that I had recently purchased. This one is a Cannondale Caad 8 from 2010 with just 400 miles on the clock. This was to be its first proper outing! First impressions of this bike was its rock steady handling and  super comfy alloy frame. Unlike my Giant Defy it has a traditional geometry so suffers with less problems of rear end bounce (something that was only solved on the defy with a stiff factory made asium wheel). As usual I got dropped down battery hill but Kie kindly waited for me along the sea defences and helped shepherd me back to the main group. With the strong wind at our backs it was ridiculously easy riding through the nature reserve but once we took the 'dogs leg' at the end the full force of the wind hit us side on. Fortunately most of the ride from here was sheltered by hills so the wind never really bothered us from this point. I found the Caad 8 to be a bit slower than the defy at climbing the long drag up to broadoak, I put this down to the heavy stock wheels and the schwalbe rigid tyres which have more drag than most tyres but are too good in terms of grip and ride comfort to justify changing them. Two thirds of the way up I spotted a rider ahead, this was Steve B who had a rear puncture. Pulling over to lend assistance Steve told me to go on as he only lived at Broadoak anyway so could always phone the missus if he couldn't fix it. The descent from Broadoak again showed the stability of the Caad 8  making me feel confident enough to keep up everyone almost all the way down to the turn-off for Doleham halt . Navigating the potholes along Stonestile lane was easier than usual as there was still some light. Earlier in the week I had reported the numerous potholes on the council web site (using the new google maps supported system ) and was delighted to discover that they had marked the potholes with yellow paint so hopefully there will be some major repairs down there before next Friday?
http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/contactus/reportaproblem/map.aspx
On the ascent of Stonestile everyone stormed past me but I think Steve D had overcooked it as he blew up part way up the climb and had to get off for a while while I just rode at a steady tempo missing  the slightly lower gear on my Defy. Another really enjoyable Friday night ride completed, I am really going to miss these rides once I switch to riding Bewl water in the sumer.