Wednesday Chain Gang - Fashionably Late

'The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.' Franklin P Jones

'The trouble with being punctual is that the buggers ride off early.' Neil D Smith

I rode past the beach shelter and whipped up and down Galley Hill, expecting to join the group in good time. I arrived back at the shelter to find they had already gone! Was I late, or did the marvellous and mischievous Hoddster see me and wave the group off? I believe I was on time! Whatever the truth, I now faced a solo ride into the westerly wind to catch them up, light rain spitting and spinning around, but not enough to make me wet.

Part-way to the De La Warr, I saw a flashing red light - a back-marker to chase and catch! I reeled him in on Bexhill front, shouted 'hi Steve!' and then realised it was Keri. He was going too slowly for us to work together, so I pressed on, peering as far ahead to see the back of the group, but there was no sign of them at all. Ugh! I resigned myself to making the ride alone to Pevensey. The breeze was quite stiff, but not terrible, and I averaged 26kph on the outward leg. That's a long way off my best of 36.8kph, and further still from the KoM speed of 42.6kph!

The rain was light, as I have said, but there was considerable standing water on the marsh lanes with large puddles spread across the tarmac, with gravel and stones lying about. I was glad of my mudguards, but my feet still got a soaking. Everywhere was water and wind, and nowhere in sight was another cyclist. I rode on, dodging the deeper puddles, flying effortlessly up up Spooky Hill (er, maybe), and water-skiing down the western slope into the sodden marshes. I arrived at the roundabout to find 14 other riders and received a fair amount of abuse for being 'late' to the start. Ok, I confess, it was indeed a school-boy error and on a windier night I would have paid a higher price.

But as it was, it went ok and we were soon spinning back to Bexhill. I was hanging just off the back of the ultras, with Malc D, before we dropped off slightly on Spooky. Malc recovered more quickly than me and sped off, reaching another solo rider that he then rode with as a pair to the lights. I had another solo ride. I think the universe is telling me something, like 'ride faster'.

I'm still enjoying the Cannondale 'cannonball' CAADX. The ride quality is superb and, generally, the extra weight is only a problem on longer hills. It's so nice to ride that I can live with its limitations. The cyclocross gearing (46/36T chain set with a 9-speed 11/28 cassette) is plenty. I have spun out in the 46T maybe once or twice on the steepest of hills, and I realise that I could ride just on that chain ring most of the time. A wider spread at the back for hills (a 32T) would cover most situations, but of course the trade off would be bigger steps between the gears. Again, not sure how big a deal that is really. For the chain gang, I slip some Giant P-SL1 wheels onto the bike with 25mm Four Season tyres, taking a kilo off the weight of the bike and, more importantly, greatly reducing the rotating mass and consequent effort. I guess I could save weight elsewhere by swapping out the seat post, saddle, stem and bars, but there is nothing I can do about the weight of the frame, although I think it's only about 1.6kg (the CAAD12 alu frame is 1.15kg). It makes a great bad weather and training bike that you could tour on, if you wanted. I like metal bikes and my experience with the cannonball has made me think that a CAAD10 or 12 would be a good buy, given the level of kit you get compared to a similarly priced carbon-framed bike.

As is my habit, I turned around at the lights for a second ride of the chain gang route, escorting Stewart B to Cooden and Peter B to Normans Bay. I am not sure why, but Peter seemed incapable of properly hearing anything I said, our conversations going something like:

'How did it go tonight?'
'Fine Peter, a good return leg with the wind'.
'Eh?'
'I said it was a good return leg with the WIND'.
'Wha..?'
'I said IT WAS A GOOD RETURN LEG! FAST!! YES? HELLO? Oh, FFS, you deaf old bastard'.
'Don't you call me Jeff'.

And so on, much to the amusement of Stewart who wanted to know at what age he too would become a useless old fart. I said 'at the same age as Peter' which, of course, he did not hear. I give up. I don't think I'd be too good at caring for the elderly, not enough patience.

Not much else to report really folks - I dropped Peter at the 'Normans Bay Home for the Bewildered' and rode on the the roundabout, turned around and splashed my way home. Steve 'Gadget' Ferguson did not accompany me this week as his battery-pack was running low. I offered to recharge it on the third rail at Herbrand, but he was not keen, muttering something about 'surge protection' and 'delicate electronics'.

I wonder if he could fit Peter with bionic ears? Just a thought.

Ride safely, Neil