6/9 Hastings To Brighton Off Road

A great turnout of  HSLCC offroaders for our annual off road ride to Brighton. Unfortunately Steve D had misread the email and thought we were riding on the road so had turned up on his road bike meaning he would have to ride over on his own and meet us later. To get to the SDW we had to ride on the road all the way to Eastbourne, something that is not very pleasant on 29 inch knobbly tyres with only 30 psi. Having met up with Dave HH at the Congress theatre we headed for Paradise Drive and the start of the SDW.

Our Ride began At 'Cafe On The Beach'!

Ivan gains A Stone In weight!

This early section is totally brutal being very steep and grassy. Dave was carrying an enormous backpack containing : three water bottles, wet weather gear, casual clothes, mobile phone and other items. It weighed around a stone and with this on his back Dave was totally  dropped on the climb. Dave did have enough energy to shout a message to Ivan asking if he could carry the backpack. Luckily for Dave , Ivan agreed and indeed would carry it for Dave all the way into Brighton. Eventually we reached the top of the climb, I wanted to continue up towards Butt's Brow so that we could take the smooth grassy descent down to Jevington but all the others wanted to head straight down the rocky descent.Unfortunately I had made two changes to my 29er that were detrimentous to its already questionable handling. I had raised the fork pressure to the manufacturers recommendation but found that this made the front end a bit higher and more twitchy, plus I had dropped the pressure down from 40 to 30psi (in a bid to gain more grip) which made the tyres seem all squirmy. This combination caused my bike to handle like a pig and it was all I could do to hang on and get down this rocky descent safely. Ivan was also finding the descent more difficult than normal, the extra stone he was carrying had raised his centre of gravity and made the tyres too squishy, for the first time he started to realise what life can be like for us less svelte riders!It was a relief to get to Alfriston where we stopped for a break and Cornish pasties before  heading up the steep climb out of the village and up tot the top of the SDW.

Dave Is Happy To get Rid Of That Back Pack!

Easy Riding Towards Firle!

Once on the top it was enjoyable rolling terrain to Firle Beacon before the steep descent down Itford hill followed by the steep climbing needed to get up to Kingston.Our group was divided into two camps: the fast riders being Ivan, Malc,Duncanand Paul while myself , Dave and Derek were the slow struggling ones. To keep themselves entertained Ivan and Malc were competing with each other to see who could get ahead to the next gate most quickly, hold it open and then rush ahead overtaking everyone to get to the next one. This was great for us slow ones as we were able to enjoy an  uninterrupted ride.

At last, Brighton Approaches!

Derek was completely done in by the climb up to Kingston but fortunately the ride was now as good as over with lots of descending down towards Brighton. I was looking forward to riding along Mediera Drive but unfortunately it was closed  for drag racing so we had to risk life and limb dicing with he traffic as we headed up to the town centre. Ivan wanted to buy a new inner tube at Evans Cycle store, so we sat down for a drink at the pub next door(the quadrant) for a pint while waiting but that pint went down so well we ended up drinking three pints very quickly and were soon all quite drunk and in need of food.Steve D had met up with us by now having got there on the road in less than half the time it took us on our mtbs.

We All Got Merry Very Quickly!

Dave HH found an excellent oriental restaurant using trip advisor on his mobile which was perfect as it was just down the road and a couple of hours later we tumbled out a bit worse for wear deciding to head up to the pub just down from the station.Steve D had checked the times and informed us that the last train was cancelled due to engineering work,we would mean we either had to catch the 9:30 or the 10:30. Unsure as to how many bikes would be allowed on one train, everyone caught the first train while Ivan, Malc and Steve D stayed back for the 10;30. At the last moment I decided to stay back for the later train as I could see Ivan and Malc were getting more drunk. Myself and Steve were relatively sober and we kept giving Ivan and Malc reminders about the time so were horrified when they were back at the bar ordering another two pints with just 15 minutes before the train would depart. Despite our best efforts to persuade them to leave the drinks behind and come with us they would not budge and told us to go ahead and handing over money told me to go ahead and book a group ticket. When I got to the station the booking office was shut and having no ticket meant I couldn't get through the barriers. Fortunately being a train driver, Steve flashed his membership card and someone let us through . With only five minutes before the train was due to depart there would be nothing for it except to leave Ivan and Malc behind to their own fate.Just as we were giving up hope they appeared at the barriers and were waved through with just two minutes to spare, phew. As always this was a good fun day out, thanks to everyone for coming.

Malc And Ivan Cut It Fine!