26/12 Boxing day Improver's Ride- Beachy Loop

A solid turnout of seven riders arrived to burn up some Xmas calories on our Boxing day Improver's ride to follow a  good safe winter route plotted by JV. Much to my pleasant  surprise Chris Chapman was there. Chris emigrated to Portugal a couple of years ago but comes back to over winter in the UK so we don't get to see him that often

Ivan tuned up on a 29er hard tail with knobbly tyres. Only Ivan could ride one of these and still do much of the leading at the front.

Good to have both Derek and Ivan out on an Improver's Ride

Our first real climb was Netherfield hill.Chris is a bit out of condition since breaking his collar bone  , so Chris together with Derek got dropped on the climb. This gave me a few minutes to shed two layers in the unseasonally warm weather but by the time I had untangled my jersey everyone was long gone and some effort was needed to catch the group up.

The roads were reasonably dry (unlike those in the north of England) as we pressed on over easy undulating terrain past Rushlake green, Cowbeech and past Hellingly. Here we were joined by Pete Baker who had been navigating to our position by following Patrick's iphone with a tracker app (impressive use of techonology!).Chris left us about the same time, while the rest of us took a short trip along part of the cuckoo trail and into Polegate. Being too lazy to fit a new chain I was still riding one that was several links to short. This was fine as long as I remembered to avoid the big ring with anything more than a 25 tooth rear sprocket. Unfortunately for the third time this month I forgot this rule and the chain locked up but with Steve's help I managed to free it by dropping out the back wheel. Steve tells me having such a tight chain is wearing out my chainrings so I really must get this sorted out.

Regroup At Friston

The easy riding was over for a while. We now had the  undulating four mile climb up to Friston forest, and with the south westerly wind it was tougher than usual. The others decided to race each other to the end with Patrick claiming honours over Steve and Ivan . I arrived some time later with Derek some way behind me. While we were faffing around Derek came past us to get a hard start as our next climb would be Beachy itself.

The short sharp descent on the main road towards East Dean was thrilling on our road bikes as we all swooped past Ivan who was hampered by the drag on all that knobbly rubber.

Thrilling descent towards EastDean

The climb to the top of Beachy Head was kind to us today as the south westerly was at our backs and before long we were all back together again. I told everyone I wanted to lead the charge down the Beachy Head switchbacks that lead down into Eastbourne. My plan was was to get some exciting footage of riders coming past me on my nervous descent.This plan failed as my descending skills must have improved as only Patrick was able to get past me.

Riding through Eastbourne with the wind at our backs meant we were moving faster than the traffic. Myself and Zack are not as brave cutting through traffic as the others, so we soon lost sight of them and only caught up with them at Norman's Bay

Steve told me he was feeling knackered. He hadn't expected the Improver's ride to be so hard and was worried that he would be too knackered to do JV's harrow club ride in the morning. His body was running out of fuel and we lost him on Bexhill road, only finding out later that he had felt sick with the bonk and so pulled into the Esso garage to stuff down some sweets.

Unfortunately it was too late for Ivan to stop for beer in the old town but that didn't stop myself Patrick and Derek from quaffing three very enjoyable pints rather quickly in The Standard before heading home.

Thanks to all who came out on the ride, a great day out!
Steve C