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| The Bianchi Bomber Arrives |
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| Good To See The Return Of Nathan! |
Now that the clocks have moved forward, the descent of battery Hill is far less daunting and I easily managed to keep up with most of the others gaining my second fastest ever Strava time for the descent .
Initial Steady riding past the sea defences was done to ensure all riders were together , this soon gave way into a brief through and off chain that spirited us along into the reserve.
While riding next to Patrick through the reserve I could hear a 'flapping' sound coming from his bike but we assumed it was a leaf or something that had got stuck between the frame and the tyre. Unfortunately by the time we had got to the harbour exit road, it soon became obvious by the slowly deflating tyre that something nasty had managed to embed itself in the rubber. Assisted by Nathan and with some frantic pumping of an old style pump, Patrick managed to get the tyre pressure up high enough to ride.
Off we all set again but unfortunately dead ahead of us was a small but deep little pothole. I didn't see it until it was too late, hitting it with a clunk but coming out unscathed but unfortunately Patrick who was right behind me did the same thing but ended up with punctures in both tyres!
Luckily between us all we had an impressive number of spare tubes (I always carry three these days) and with Nathan working on the front tyre and Patrick working on the rear it didn't take too long to fix although again the final pressure was not great. After this, Patrick is convinced of the benefits of gas cylinders, not least because they give you a good riding pressure.
Tom and Malc D were at the junction of the main road and rung me up wondering where we were. Having informed them of Patrick's puncture predicament we reassured them we would be there soon.
Regrouping at the junction, the rest of the ride up to Broad Oak proceeded without incident although Patrick had a lonely ride unable to hang onto the main group due to his squidgy tyres slowing him down.
Our decent through Brede towards Westfield was a little more careful than normal as we had noticed that the beeding on one of Patrick's tyres had become damaged so we advised him to take it easy on the fast descents
Nathan branched off at Doleham and John S branched off at Westfield while the rest of us turned off in the direction of the Stonestile approach.
We completed the Stonestile approach in a good time before hitting the initial slopes of the climb last time I did Stonestile I was able to keep Pete and Dan within sight, but they were both climbing the steep sections really well and soon left me on my own in the dark. It was then that I thought I could hear the occasional gasp somewhere in the distance, but twisting my head to look behind I could see nothing. Perhaps it was the ghost of Stonestile? The higher I got the louder the gasping became and eventually I caught a glimpse of light. This was no ghost. I then realised it must be Tom, he must have followed John by mistake and missed the turn! Sure enough on regrouping with the others at the top, everyone was asking where is Tom? Their questions were soon answered when a sweating gasping Tom came into view exclaiming 'this is bloody hard, lol!
Steve C
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| Despite Tonight's problems, Victory On Stonestile! |
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