Hack Bike Ride- December 29

Yesterday was our second hack bike ride of the season. Pete had planned a hilly ride going us far as the 'Three Cups Inn' before looping back via the hard riders route.The weather forecast was a bit dodgy with showers forecast and heavy rain later. Despite this there was a good turnout (see photo) including Dave HH on his first ever hack bike ride. We were disappointed not to see Malcolm but need not have worried as he caught up with us at Winchelsea. At Winchelsea we headed up 'Dumb woman's lane' which took us onto the road up to Broadoak (well known from the friday chaingang) .From here we headed up towards Watlington. At this point it was raining quite hard and there was another 15 minutes before our first pub stop at battle.We decided to have an extra pub stop at the 'White heart' pub at Cribb's Corner'. This was a good call as by the time we came out the skies had cleared and we proceeded to our pre arranged pub at battle with no rain. At this point Colin announced that he had had enough of the cold and didn't like having a wet bum.Despite our protests he refused to budge from the pub and said he would meet us later. We proceeded up the long climb of Netherfield hill. At the crest of the hill it started raining quite heavily and the sky was completely grey with rain clouds. I was all for cutting the ride short but was (thankfully) outvoted by the others who wanted to press on to the the 'Three Cups'. Fortunately the rain did reduce soewhat. It was starting to get dark by the time we reached 'The Swan' pub at Woods corner.Pete had forgotten that this pub existed and had never been in there before, so we decided to abandon the last bit of the ride to the 'Three Cups' and make this our furthest point. This was a great pub and we all get rather too settled there. By the time we left it was pitch black and with no moonlight I was finding it difficult to see in the dark and with the wet roads the long (mainly downhill) road to 'The North Trade Road' was pretty scary.To make matters worse my chain came off and got tangled around the chainring, much to my suprise I managed to untangle it before proceeding gingerly down the route with Derek beside me who was also struggling to see in the dark due to his light. Eventually we met up with the others. All that was left was the big climb up 'standard hill' , this proved to be extremely easy as we had a strong tail wind behind us. After one last pub stop at a friendly pub in Ninfield we headed straight down to the 'bay spice' where we met up with the freshly showered Colin for a well deserved curry. thanks to Pete for organising the day and all those who came along S.C

Early Bird - Reverse Beachy 27/Dec

Great to have Matt, Mike and Alex joining us on this morning's early bird ride,this pushed our number up to 11 which I think is a record for an early bird. The weather was incredibly mild for the time of year, long may it continue.The ride proceeded without incident and we got back to Hastings in plenty of time for a witherspoon breakfast.
S.C

Xmas Day Ride 2011

Myself, Ivan, Paul and Duncan just had to get out on Xmas day morning to avoid a dose of cabin fever.Riding at this time is great because the roads are almost deserted, it reminds me of that film 'I am legend'. After a short 25 mile route over rye, Winchelsea Icklesham area we were well up for a Xmas drink or at least a coffee. Unfortunately none of the pubs were open and we could find a cafe serving either. We expected the rail station to be open (it has a vending machine) but even that was closed, sob!
Distance 25.4 miles Av speed 14.7 mph

Chaingang Weds 21- Welcome to Anthony

A warm welcome to Athony who joined us for the first time on the chaingang having got in contact with us through the blog. Adrian was riding a brand new Pinnacle cross bike with disc brakes. It also had some cross tyres,we old timers 'tut tutted' at this as we knew it would slow the bike down.Apart from John none of the Eastbourne contingent were present so it was a bit like the old days, despite this there were still twelve of us including a guest appearance from Pete Tadros. On the way out the group split into a fast group (Simon N, Simon G, Ivan, Pete, john) and a slow group (me, Adrian, Tim, Jay) with Joe and Duncan in no man's land.As the other day on the Friday chaingang I felt stronger than normal and did much of the work leading out the slow group (it turned out to be my best average time of the year at 19.0 mph), so by the time we had reached Pevensey we had managed to reign back in Joe and Duncan. Also going strongly was Ivan, Pete was paying the price for all the junk food he has eaten lately and had to bury himself twice in order to beat Ivan on the way out. Adrian did brilliantly despite the cross bike tyres and was only a little slower than myself, with proper road tyres he will be one of the front riders before too long, he really enjoyed it so I think we have another regular there.
S.C

Fri Chaingang 16 Dec

Just three of us on the Friday chaingang- myself, Simon G and Derek. Excellent conditions with a low temperature but almost no wind. I felt stronger than usual having had a nice easy sit down day at work. Stonestile lane never felt so easy!
S.C

Riders on the Storm - Chaingang Dec 14

At what point is it wise to abandon a ride - drizzle, heavy rain, hail, snow? Well, so long as we're out here, might as well continue a bit further and see if gets better, or worse . . .

On leaving home tonight rain began spotting the pavement, by the end of the street it was getting heavy, but I was determined to ride - so I turned back and grabbed a rain jacket, extra layer and a woolly hat to cover my ears. I reached the meeting place late, and no one was there. What the heck, I'll roll on a bit further and maybe see if anyone else is out or if I'm the only one taking a gamble on it clearing up. With the extra layer I soon began feeling a bit too warm, better than too cold as sheet lightning flashed in the storm clouds, and a 20mph gale blasted icy drizzle into my face. No tail-lamps could be seen on horizon, come this far, might as well continue. After seven miles or so the misty drizzle suddenly turned to handfuls of nails flung in the face - a hailstorm, eighth of an inch ball bearings of ice drifting on the ground like snow! I jumped off the bike turning my back on the flying hailstones to try and find shelter, it lasted about a minute then I set off again, reasoning if I turned back now then I'd be riding inside the storm all the way home, might as well go a bit further and see what happens next. Leaving Bexhill my spirits lifted and I hummed what else but "break on thru' to the other side" of course, as patches of clear sky appeared and the wind dropped.

Along Herbrand Walk the road was all but covered in pebbles washed off the beach, bar two narrow tyre tracks. The Star Inn looked deserted. A night train passed, showers of yellow sparks flew from its wheels and more sheet lightning flashed out over the Downs in the west . If I get struck by lightning out here on the flat marshes - will my thin rubber tyres save me? Halfway between Spooky Hill and Pevensey I saw some likely bike lamps approaching. Was pleased to turn round and catch up with Simon Grogan, Joe Jenner and Simon Newell. They told me John & Swavek had rode out with them as well then continued on home towards Eastbourne. The five of them had kept going right into the teeth of the hailstorm without stopping , proper hard riders!

A good run back to Hastings assisted by a tailwind, waved hello to Stuart Crabbe as we passed and finally Simon N and Joe had some jump left at Bexhill. Felt great to steal a ride on a stormy night, feet were cold by the end despite warm socks and winter overshoes

Lots of Police cars out patrolling and doing spot checks what with works do's and whatnot, even saw a silver unmarked Audi A4 patrol car pull a foolish red light jumper by the Carlisle, was a big 3 litre with flash boy racer alloys. Ride safe.

Club Ride 11 Dec- Gone With The Wind

Just five of us braved the damp start to the club ride (me, Chris P, Ivan, Joe and Malc). It was quite windy so we were not sure whether to do our planned 60 mile marsh road or to do a more inland route. in the end we decided to do the marsh as we were a bit worried about the slippery conditions on the road. After descending gingerly down chick hill ( Ivan on his fixed) we had a nice tail wind blowing us along the road to Appledore (over 20 mph without really trying). Conditions were not great with a cold wind and damp legs from the road spray so we decided to keep things simple and just ride to Tenterden and back rather than the do the planned loop over the marsh. Chris is still recovering from his torn calf muscle but managed to keep with us until Tenterden , at this point his leg started playing up so he decided to twiddle back on his own. The rest of us headed for home via the 'Heidi' route. We were now heading into a headwind but as we were away from the coast it didn't seem too bad. It was when we got to Rye that the headwind really hit us and its speed had picked up by then. For the next 8 miles it was head down as myself, Joe and Malc struggled into the wind at about 11 mph. Ivan didn't seem to be so badly effected and despite slowing down for us a few times he soon disappeared into the distance. Actually climbing up battery hill was a relief as we were out of the cold wind.

Distance- 48 miles Av speed-15.9 mph

S.C

Fri Chaingang Dec 9- True Grit

Our first sighting of a gritter lorry which spread grit all down battery hill just before we set off for the descent. Malcolm was worried about his tyres as last time this happened the grit cut both his front and rear tyres, so we descended very gingerly down the hill. Fortunately the temperature stayed just above freezing and without much wind it didn't feel as cold as it really was. Just five of us braved the cold (me, Ivan, Malc, Derek and Simon). This week we were all well aware where the large pothole was on the road up to Broadoak (disappointing to see the council have not fixed it despite me reporting it last week), all of us successfully navigated around it. Derek fell off (no harm done) on the climb up stonestile lane when his back wheel skidded, guess those duraskins are no good in the damp!

Stars and Cars and Trains - Chaingang 8th Dec

About 14 riders, nice to see Tim Miles and his immaculately tuned road bike. Simon's ribs are still hurting a bit from last week. Bunch broke into 2 groups over Galley Hill, Ivan did the most work on the way out into the wind with Simon N, John, Shaun, Malc and I taking a spell too.
Bit of a sticky moment meeting a car on the narrow bridge at the Star Inn. Please try and remember to shout "Car up!" if your at the front and try not to brake hard until following riders have been warned to avoid a pile up, not always easy to do when gut reaction is to instantly brake but this time it was OK. Malc locked up his back wheel and did well to control a skid.
In the chute up to the roundabout I followed Shaun's wheel, had a dig, then John & Swavek came round with explosive efforts, strong lads!

The western contingent all headed back towards Eastbourne, so it was just like old times with a smaller bunch heading back to Hastings. Sky was clear as a bell with stars out and we could feel the promise of future ice lurking as we roll on into the depths of winter. Dave picked up the pace over Spooky Hill and led the bunch going strong in his bones top & nifty Ti bike. We stopped at the level crossing to let a fast rattler pass and later on Ivan, Malc, Simon N and I got our own little fixed gear train rolling sweetly.

As winter rollers around again

I'm hoping the Rollapaluza indoor racing series stops near us again next year, last January the Tri-Store hosted one in Eastbourne - lots of familiar names and faces in the photos here:
http://www.rollapaluza.com/eastbourne-national-series-qualifier/

Big Westerly Chaingang Nov 30th

Round 1:

About 20 riders battled into a big Westerly* wind,

Simon of Phoenix Cycles went down hard on the corner of Cafe on the Beach, striking a pedal on the footer of a temporary fence support - watch out for these lying in the path by the tunnel. Simon picked himself up and continued, hope it was nothing worse than some bruised ribs!

About six of us took turns plugging into the wind, dragging the bunch thru' Bexhill, by the next climb the front group was down to eight, where Shaun & John opened a gap.

From back of bunch where I'd had a short rest I could see gap was up to 50 yards or so, with hindsight I should have wound it up a bit more gently and tried to take all six of us across but as it happened I dug in afraid of losing touch and bridged quicker than expected, but unfortunately nobody came with me. Sat in until the level crossing and then did share of spells to the end. John slid back climbing Spooky hill, but manned up and got back on . Shaun declared he was taking it easy for the home stretch so John & I punched for the roundabout.

Round 2.

Shaun packed and turned back for home at top of Spooky hill, saving himself a longer ride home into that fierce wind.
Ivan the TT engine rode from the front to take Chairman Stuart's Checkerboard, I did a spell, then John made a move on the next hill and opened a gap, which Ivan then took us across for a little wind-up before the rest stop, where we all had a good natter for some minutes.

Malc stealthily broke away over Galley Hill and kept us in the distance all the way to Bridge café. We chased hard as we could but didn't quite catch him in time. Malc confessed to some blue-rinse drafting, but he was so far ahead at the good spot for joining the flow that we never saw him "taking pace" at all.

*A westerly wind means that the atmosphere is moving faster than the Earth spins. wiki-answers

Friday Chaingang Dec2- Derek Conquers Stonestile

An eventful night for the Friday chaingang. Conditions were quite cold but dry as we set off from the fairlight lodge. On the long drag from Rye myself and Derek had been dropped by the others. About half way up I suddenly saw Paul pulled over at the side of the road. As I looked up to see what was going on I rode straight into a large pothole . Somehow i managed to stay on but the tube in my front wheel suffered a major blow out. It turned out that I was the second victim of this pothole as Malcolm had hit it the previous week. Having fixed the punctures we carried on and eventually caught up with the others at the front. By this time it had started raining so we considered mainroading up to the ridge instead of ascending Stonestile. Fortunately the rain eased off and we were able to do Stonestile. Derek was on his brand new Corratec ultegra equipped bike and found the ascent of Stonestile easier than the previous week when he conquered it for the very first time. By this time it was raining again but as we were going to the pub we didn't mind. Paul had yet another puncture on the way to the pub and so we had to use up our last inner tube . After 3 pints in the pub we emerged to find that the rain had got worse and get soaked through as we had to cycle back to Hastings into a strong headwind. Moral of this story is always carry 2 spare inner tubes rather than one and report potholes to

http://194.238.70.74/faultreport/faultlocation.aspx?TypeId=0014002

S.C