30/12 Club Ride - David Shows His Tracking Skills

Anyone Seen David?

Arise Sir Wiggins

With everyone still on their Xmas holidays and with such good weather it wasn't surprising that we had such a great turnout today of ten riders. This included Andy foster on his first ever club ride. Chris P was leading us on another trek out to one of our favourite cafe stops, the 'lake Side' at Horam, but took us out  by yet another new devious route. We were all concerned at the state of the roads passing through Crowhurst as there were pot holes and broken surfaces everywhere, Jon S said maybe we should call this the Horam Cyclecross route as bikes and riders were getting such a hammering (Lord knows what they will be like once we get some frost!) Chris pushed out a faster than usual pace today and with myself and Steve D recovering from too much alcohol we spent much of the first part of the ride near the back of the bunch. Newbie, Andy F had no such trouble keeping up despite having done two hours yesterday on his turbo . As the ride went on our hangovers receded and it became a little easier for us, it was now David's turn to be the lantern rouge. At one point we completely lost sight of the others but Chris had waited at a junction for us. He asked if myself and Steve were the back markers, I told him that David was behind us and I thought (wrongly) that Dan had held back for him. Chris knew Dan was up ahead and so assumed that David was up there with him. It wasn't until we eventually caught up with the others that we realised we had left David behind and in the last 4 miles or so we had taken a number of turns. I didn't think there was anyway David would find us but perhaps he would make his own way to Horam? Much to my surprise David soon appeared , he had found us by tracking (grey owl style) our tyre marks on the road! Following our usual bacon sarnies at the cafe we headed south along Gun hill and towards Hailsham. Here there is that annoying bit where you have to cross the main dual carriage way (frogger style) , having safely crossed the road Jon S had a low speed slip on some muddy leaves, he didn't think anything of it but unfortunately about 3 miles up the road he realised his mobile was missing and must have slipped out of his pocket when he fell over, so had to abandon us and go back to get it. Once we got to Stonecross we had a fast return all the way home with the South Westerly wind behind us.
Thanks to Chris for mapping out another excellent route to Horam. Hopefully we will get some more good numbers on the club ride again.
Distance 50 miles
Ascent 835 m

27 Dec- Upon the world dim darkness doth display

Darkness Descends!

Six riders met today for another early bird. We had planned to do a 40 miler but as the weather forecast said heavy rain we decided to do the 'jack frost 30 miler' which is a good choice for wet conditions. I was surprised to see Ivan out again as I know he doesn't like cold and wet weather. When we started there was no rain and there was even some blue sky but as we got nearer to Rye the sky started to cloud over. Suddenly everything went really dark as if it was late evening. We pulled over to throw on our water proofs but Ivan decided to throw in the towel and head for home rather than get a soaking.The rest of us pressed on up the long five mile draggy route up to Beckley. John, Andy and Steve B really gave it some welly and soon dropped me, I in turn dropped Derek so we became very spread out but regrouped at Beckley. From here it became a little easier for a while but Derek again got dropped and decided to make his own way home. John has been really pushing Andy in his training and for someone so new to cycling, Andy has come a long way very fast as is significantly faster than the last time he came on an early bird ride. As the only one heading back to Hastings I had to do the last 6 miles on my own up the hilly climb from Sedlescombe past the vineyard and up to three Oaks, it was quite surreal with the cold wet and darkness but I soon got back to reality on arrival at the back of B and Q.
The wet weather must have taken its toll on us as last time we did this route we averaged 15.8 mph so we were almost 1 mph slower!
Distance 29.2 miles
Average 14.9 mph

Early Bird- Boxing Day Ride

These Used To Be Fields!

A brief dry weather window for our boxing day ride. Present were myself, Ivan, Steve D, Derek and Duncan. Weather was quite blustery but also quite mild. This was a new short early bird ride, the 'Hankham Hailsham 34 Miler'. With it being Boxing Day, we had the roads mostly to ourselves although we did pass a few cyclists including our very own Simon N and Doug. The first part of the ride through Ninfield and Bodle Street was quite hilly. Myself and Derek were a bit off the pace as I was recovering from the Nora virus a few days before while Derek had not done enough training in the last few weeks. Duncan was determined to push himself hard as he has been too busy to get out much with his new job, Steve was in good shape having still managed to keep up his weekly training mileage despite the wet weather. On arriving at Cowbeech Duncan had our one and only puncture which gave me plenty of time to admire the newly formed lakes all around (used to be fields). From here it was fast riding and I seemed to get a second wind, the last 15 miles flying past easily. This was another good winter route which I will repeat again before the end of the season.

Thumbs Up For Boxing Day!

Distance 35.2 miles
Av speed 14.5 mph

Swampy- Bacon Butty Ride 22 December

Having had to cancel the 'early bird' ride due to the wet weather I decided that I would join Chris Parker for his 'bacon buttie ride 'instead. No one else was masochistic enough to ride in such heavy rain but myself and Chris decided we would simply do the weds chaingang to get a few miles without risking sliding over on a twisty route. It was quite exciting looking at all the flooding on the Norman's bay road to Pevensey, Chris said he had never seen it so flooded. There was so much water on the road I suffered a blow out where I hit a pothole hidden by deep water . We pulled into the bottom of spooky hill to fix it. The flooding was particularly bad here and we enjoyed watching all the cars ploughing through the deep water, watching it spray all over their windscreens. By the time we got to Pevensey, we were both too wet and soggy to contemplate going in a cafe stop and headed straight for home. On the way back Chris also got a sudden puncture which took a while to fix as the rims on Chris's wheel are extra thick for strength.

These Tyres Are A Tight Fit!

Deep water On Approach To 'Spooky Hill'

Tuesday training -18 December

Ivan punctures, a chance for me to get ahead!

Owing to the terrible weather of late, myself and Ivan decided we would squeeze in an extra Broad Oak night ride on a Tuesday when the weather forecast was excellent. John V and Nathan decided to join us. As the forecast promised, it was a nice still evening, the temperature was chilly but safely above freezing point. Ivan got a sudden puncture while heading out along the rye harbour road. I used this as a chance to get ahead but as usual it wasn't long before the other all fitter riders came past me on the long haul up to Broad Oak. On reaching the top I could see all the others waiting for me but rather than stop I decided to make another break for it to try to get ahead, so shouted a 'catch me up' as I rode past. With gravity now on my side it wasn't until the approach to Westfield that Nathan caught me up. On the rough road up to Stonestile the mist had descended which slowed Nathan down and we road together to the base of stonestile with no sign of John or Ivan. The fog lifted and Nathan soon shot off up the hill. before long I heard the heavy breathing of another rider behind me  , it was John on his first ever ascent of stone stile. Once, John had gone past me I expected to see Ivan but I just managed to get to the top of the climb before he caught me up. Ivan said he was still not quite up to full fitness and had had to walk at the first and steepest part of the climb.

John's first ascent of stonestile

High And Over 16 December

The Turning For Rickney

Some good mild winter weather for this morning's club ride. Good to see Andy again, he doesnt come out with us very often but he is preparing to do the Lands End to John O Groates next year so we may well see more of him. Rather than head straight down to Bexhill road to pick up the GPX route we decided to  head through Battle,along the North Trade road, Boreham Street  and Wartling. The sustrans route through Rickney was fine but Ivan and Simon warned us that further to the west is was so muddy you would need to us an mtb to get through so we used the B2104 to take us straight into Hailsham instead. Having been out on Saturday Andy was struggling to keep up and knew that it would only get worse once we passed through Alfriston so we had to leave him to follow the route on his own. 'Hi And Over' didn't seem too bad today but for Ivan on a fixed wheel it proved a bit too much and he had to walk the last few meters. The glorious descent down to the coast followed, then up the long drag alongside Friston Forest before the ascent of Beachy head. It felt like summer climbing through the switchbacks there, as the wind had dropped, the sun was really bright and we were all nicely warmed up. Myself, Ivan and Steve B stopped at the cafe in Pevensey Bay. They used to do fantastic cheese on toast back in the day when it was called the Sandwich inn, now its called the Bay cafe and the cheese on toast is nothing to write home about. I  struggled with a sore back today on my SCR so had a quick go on steve's SCR. Now that he has fitted a shorter stem if felt a better fit with less of a drop between saddle and hoods so I will have to start looking on eBay again for an SCR 2 in large rather than medium.

Steepest Climb Of The Day

Ascent 981m
Distance 58 miles
Av speed 15.9 mph

Hi,

I don't know if you are aware, but there is a new Bike Shop in Town.

Handsome Bikes Ltd are located at 1 Harold Place right opposite Jempsons Cafe and residing in the building which was previously used by Velocity. A shop nothing to do with Bikes but selling furniture.

The shop sells Trek and Genesis bikes, and hope to add further stock from Upgrade and Brompton.

A well appointed shop, with quality spares and accessories, together with a large workshop at the rear. The shop is open 7 days a week 9 to 5.30 with slightly different opening times at weekend.

The website located at www.handsomebicycles.com should be up and running next week.

The shop is run by Rowan and Mike who have 15 years cycling sales experience (Evans Cycles) and would appear that there are trying to offer suitable kit and equipment for the club cyclist.

Contact the shop on:

Tel: 01424 722815

or

Email: sales@handsomebicycles.com or workshop@handsomebicycles.com

 .

 

'There and back again' Wednesday chaingang Dec 5

 illustration by Eric Fraser

One degree above freezing brought twelve riders - notes were compared on winter gear- always a compromise for me of being too hot under effort or being too cold when waiting at stops - average speed out 21, back 22. We met a group of five or so new faces en route, well one I think we met at the club hillclimb the other day, why not meet us at the start next week and say hello. Got news from Barney about his Elite, 1s and 2s race at Hillingdon last weekend.  Later on I thought we'd blown him away, but he explained later he'd felt his back wheel go away from him  and stopped to see if tyre was soft, in fact it was some icing on the road - of course we believe him.   Malc, Nathan, Stuart and Svawek did most of the pulling on front as far as I could see. As Dave H-H pointed out pace is down a bit from the race pace of early September - suits me as I can now bring the fixed winter bike and leave the racer tucked up at home, also on  fixed Malc wisely  rode a traditional low winter gear of 46 x 18 to save the knees and improve spinning power and I had 48x17- which is fine for chaingang but a bit high for longer hilly rides. Watch out for nasty little pothole coming down the hill heading towards Pevensey, nobody saw it and I hit it square on, the air turned blue maybe causing some paint to blister on nearby frames but no serious mechanical harm was done.

1/12- Nathan Joins The Not So Early Birds

Early Birds Assemble

Dan Is Impressed With Nathan's Speedy Puncture Repair

With temperatures forecast just above zero, the early birds (including Nathan on his first ever early bird) met at 9:00 instead of 8:00. This was just as well because the temperature was colder than forecast and the ice had only just started to melt. I had mapped out a new route over Rye, Peasmarsh and Westfield that kept to main roads. This made a big change as most early bird rides are on small lanes with lots of hills. Derek was worried about traffic on some of the roads but even on the A268 there was very little, and free from the attention needed to safely negotiate hills and blind corners were were really able to get into the 'zone' and just push on through the miles. It didn't take long before we arrived at Sedlescombe where we had some climbing to do to get to Westfield and then Three Oaks.There was still quite a lot of icy mush on the road  so it was a good job we hadn't ridden round in the opposite direction. Despite starting at 9:00 we were all done by 11:10.
Av Speed 15.8 mph
Distance 29 miles
Ascent 605 m

Weds Chaingang - 28 Nov

It was getting cold, as predicted, and on the way back we were splatted by two gritting lorries but it was not that cold as all 22 riders will testify.  Glorious full moon plus a day or so.

Nick G's First Chaingang

It was only a few months ago that Alan H came out on a bacon butty run, soon followed by a nifty Broad Oak TT time and now a debut on the chain gang.  Nathan F (not R!) hesitantly came out on a bacon butty run some two years go, not sure why since he was a second cat roadman not that long ago with Newark Castle CC.  See their web site which advertises a winter 12-14 mph chain gang on their home page, clearly not a ride Nathan would have been on, or is it megga hilly unlike our pancake flat 20-25 mph ride in the fast group ……….  Nathan brought along Nick G for a first outing with the club, not the best of first rides when recently off colour so hopefully he was not put off, it was good that Nathan rode with him since the Wednesday chain gang generally does not hang around for anyone, that is for all other club rides.Good also to see Dave HH out with us despite having had treatment last week for his heart ablation (heart rhythm) , Dave will have to take it easy for a couple of weeks but is feeling good.

Alan Masters The Weds Chaingang On His First Attempt

At the turn (please can riders move on to the concrete and please keep off the public highway ……) we thought one of the Trinity House lighthouses had come adrift and was being towed back westwards along the road.  As it happens it was not.  It was someone with a top end front light of 100 Giga lumens set to illuminate the stars.  Apparently it was bolted in place tightly and could not be adjusted en route.  We had to delay our return ride for 5 minutes as everyone waited to get back a bit of night vision.  Waiting by the Bexhill lights, almost breaking in to carols under the Christmas lights, we were almost blinded again as someone came in with a 100 Mega lumens front light set a bit high.
A few weeks back just after coming down off Spooky Hill towards Pevensey a car failed to dip its lights.  I was riding solo between groups and was blinded.  Despite holding my hand outstretched in front to block out the worst of the light there was nothing on the side of the road, fence or hedge, to pick out where it was.  I was drifting to the centre of the road set for a head on collision before the driver slowed down, still not dipping lights, before I could work out where to ride and find my side of the road.  I am wondering if the driver had been dazzled by the lights of the front groups so was getting their own back by blinding the tail end riders? But some cars even on dip have far too bright lights, possibly being set wrongly but possibly being unnecessarily powerful.  This can apply to certain bike lights too.

Dave HH taking It Easy Tonight

It was not that bad, our front lights, really but please set your front lights to illuminate the road not too far in front of you (we were not off road in dark woods on a moonless night) otherwise you will fail any proposed bike MoT, as cars do their MoT.

Chris Parker

Club Ride 25/11- The Night Rider

The Prince Of Darkness!!!

A bit blustery this morning for the Horam satchel (bonk bag) ride but much better weather than the day before which consisted of 24 hours of rain. Good to see Simon G out on a Sunday club ride, he doesn't do them very often. Surprisingly Steve Denny was there . Surprising because at midnight on Friday he joined the 'Friday Night Ride To The Coast Club
http://fnrttc.blogspot.co.uk/
This meant riding 50 miles from London to Brighton, arriving at Brighton for an early morning breakfast before getting the train back home. So Steve was a bit sleep deprived.

Duncan Chris And Simon Nr Brightling

Due to the wind Chris P modified the route as far as Brightling with a more inland route which avoided the worst of the wind. The ride to Horam was hilly and against the wind. After about 25 miles the effects of Steve's night ride  started to catch up with him but he was able to hang on until we arrived at the lakeside Cafe at Horam, this establishment has rapidly  become one of our favourite feeding stops. As usual the food did not disappoint, everything they make is top notch. The rock cakes went down very well with a nice cup of tea and the bacon sarnies almost melted in the mouth. We arrived just in time to avoid some very heavy showers outside but these were all over by the time we had had our fill. Suitably refuelled Steve got his second wind and the last 25 miles were a lot easier as we had the strong wind at our backs. Cycling on the prom Malcolm was admiring the choppy state of the sea, perfect windsurfing weather! Thanks to Chris for leading the ride and making this version of the Horam satchel (bonk bag) even better.
Ascent 897m (original version was only 768m)
distance 50 miles

Av speed 15.5 mph

ESCA Reliabilty Trial Results

See below the overall results for the different clubs that took part in the ESCA reliabilty trial. Note that several riders unreliably finished early, unlike many who hung around outside the Kings Head killing time before they could finish reliably. Between back, spokes and punctures we were only 50% reliable. May be we can improve next year when the RT is liable to start and finish in Groombridge. But six of us were 100% reliable in the longer Kent CA RT a few weeks ago.

A Glorious Day

A glorious day for a ride and sounds as though the injured Rover is on the mend, a salutary lesson in making sure you do not go too fast down hill when a sharp left hand bend is coming up and a reminder that those that know the lanes or roads need to shout clear warnings loudly for the safety of others. I overlooked that same corner a month or so ago and had I been unlucky to have a vehicle coming the other way I would have been in trouble since I have very, very seldom ridden the lane going north and had forgotten how tight the corner is at speed. I always remember the dangerous corner further up the lane coming south from Cade Street and now have two other corners firmly fixed in my mind as being potentially hazardous, yes there is another one near by that I also overlooked on my ride a month or so ago.


Chris P

Friday Night Ride 23/11- Derek Turns 60

Nathan F's First Friday Night Ride

Happy Birthday Derek

Joining us for the first time on a Friday night rides was Nathan Fletcher . Nathan lives at Fairlight so for him this was a very local ride. Also present was Derek who has missed the Fridays for one reason or another over the last six weeks. This was Derek's last ride where he could say that he was in his fifties as he turned sixty at midnight (happy birthday Derek). Myself, Ivan, Simon G and Malcolm made up the rest of the field. There had been warnings about fog but fortunately Battery hill was clear. I rode down the hill even slower than normal as I had put a more upright stem on my SCR but discovered it made the handling too unstable (so the more horizontal one will have to go on). Malcolm had a puncture on entering Rye, so myself and Derek went ahead while the others waited. I was hoping to get to the top before them and get a few action shots of them arriving at Broad Oak but was hopelessly optimistic as the four of them came past us like a train about half way up the long drag. I did beat Derek up to the top and just about had time to take a snap of him arriving. The approach to Stonestile was interesting with some quite thick fog and with all the light reflecting off the mist it was hard to see where the edges and pot holes were. Despite living locally Nathan had never done Stonestile before, I hope he enjoyed that little treat.

Weds Chaingang 21/11- John Vidler Joins Us

John Vidler's First Chaingang

After standing on the pedals riding in to very strong gusty winds at walking pace along the sea front (what's new about you being so slow I hear ....) returning home from lunch I was not looking forward to this week's chain gang outward leg. Miraculously the wind died down and the sky cleared for a high and bright first quarter moon for the ride. Dan H (big Dan H, not Dan H of Comic - Cycling Weekly - coaching articles fame, who has been on one gang so far this winter) was off the mark first but soon Ivan was towing everyone out to Pevensey. Later on Ivan was complaining that his elbow is getting sore from repeatedly flicking it to encourage others to come through and do a turn on the front. Perhaps we ought to have whip round and get one of those bands of flashing LEDs for him to put round his elbow since everyone seems to be having trouble seeing his signal in the dark? Although several of the fast guys who do turns and can stretch and break the leading sub-gang were missing this week.

Meanwhile the tail end gang were working well with John V on his Wednesday debut sharing most the work with Duncan. John has been out with Dan H 3 and his Battle based riding mates, making his TT debut a few weeks back on Battery Hill having come from a running background.

All 15 riders kept together on the way back until the stronger riders broke clear on Spooky Hill. With a bit of a tail wind Malcolm,  Dan H, Barny and Paul F did some turns on the front without Ivan having to strain his elbow too much. Any claim Ivan may make against the club for causing elbow RSI will be strongly contested, even if he starts wearing elbow LEDs and others are still reluctant to do their fair share of the pace setting. Has anyone come across any sports science studies on cyclist's elbow RSI and can get a copy for Ivan?

Chris Parker

18 Nov- Nasty Accident At ESCA Reliability Trial

Ready For Our 9:00 Start

The weather was superb (cold, no wind and full sunshine) for this mornings ESCA reliability trial. The route started from the sport pavilion and was a 50 mile route in a figure of eight. A large number of cyclists were there including Sean Yates riding for InGear. Hastings were represented with six riders: myself, Derek, Ivan, Malcolm, Chris P, Joe, Steve D and Tom.When we arrived we saw the familiar figure of Dave HH who said he would be riding in our group along with a few others from other clubs. We were allowed to ride off at 9:00 and had to be back between 12:20 and 12;30 in order to be classified as reliable. The group worked very well together with different riders taking turns at the front. Steve Denny seemed to be going particularly well. Chris had earlier complained of a pain in his back but was also riding well. Myself and Steve were the only ones in the group with a GPS but many people in the group seemed to know where to go although there was one place where I had to shout out  and get everyone back because they had missed a left turn towards Piltdown. Steve was the first one of the group to get a puncture, I stayed with him to make sure it was fixed while the rest of the group rode on. having fixed the puncture we set off at a brisk pace determined to catch up with the others but after a mile there was a loud ping from my bike. I have heard this sound several times before and knew that yet again I had broken a rear spoke and with the ridiculously small tyre clearance on the frame, my ride was over. Fortunately we were only 2 miles from headquarters so the bike managed to limp there. Derek was there at headquarters waiting from us to catch up. Chris was also there but had decided to abandon with a trapped nerve in his back.

I told you not to buy cheap tyres....

Myself and Chris had resigned ourselves to a long wait before everyone would be back at HQ  when a phone call came through saying that one of the Eastbourne rovers had come off and was being taken away in an ambulance, could someone go over to the scene of the accident and pick up his bike which was being looked after by a friend in the club. We got over there as soon as we could, the ambulance was still there and the police officer said that it looked like a broken pelvis which was not good news (this happened to our own Chris W a few years back while descending Castle Hill). Having handed the bike over to another Eastborne rovers cyclist  at HQ, we saw Derek and Steve D arriving, unfortunately unlike the rest of the team finishers they were outside the allotted time and so must be declared 'not reliable'.

Chaingang 14th Nov - man up

Last week we had 21 riders but this week . . . 24! But better than that,  the return of big Dan Harwood, the very man who told me about the chain gang back in 2006 after a pure chance meeting at ante-natal class. I was a clueless dad-to be who hadn't been near any kind of sport or bike club for 20 years -  him one of the old guard of off roading lads and an early adopter of fixed gear.  So I owe Dan a tip of the hat, for introducing me to cycling again,  a place to find some new fun and adventures to replace some of the old kinds that are put away when one becomes a parent.

I've left the fixed at home tonight, finding the pace has increased from previous years, no doubt when we get deep into the proper salty rainy muck season I'll trot it out once more to save the good bike. Way out was pretty fast, with about an 8 mph tail wind, speeds were around 25 at front, a handful of the fast lads changing at the front, some more hangers on, two of whom didn't come near the front till thirty yards from the Pevensey roundabout, but  they couldn't catch Shaun, and I'd already sat up, so there -  Malcolm Elliot & Cav, eat your heart out. Way back I was feeling like three out of ten after the previous efforts and missing a week and was caught chatting plus the  headwind meant I didn't even join  the bunch till the gates went down on the level crossing,  Matt dragged four of us into the wind all the way to Bexhill where a crowd who'd beat the train waited. Shameless plug - if your in a newsagent tomorrow check out 2 drawings I did for Cycling Weekly on "Pain, when to man up, & when to man down" ;-)

Early Bird 10 Nov- Even More Rain!

Andy

John Vidler

Stubb's lane Is such Fun In The Wet!

The weather forecast said light rain initially followed by heavy rain all morning. In previous seasons this would have been enough for me to cancel the ride but this year having had so much rain exposure there has been plenty of time to evolve flippers and gills so even heavy rain was not going to put me off. Arriving at the cemetery at 8:00  I wasn't surprised to see Doug arrive a few minutes later. With only a few minutes to go before setting off we thought it quite likely no one else would be crazy enough to come out in the rain. Much to our surprise a whole clutch of riders suddenly appeared (the Westfield/Broad Oak/ battle contingent) including two early bird newbies John Vidler and Andy. We set off on the Appledore 34 miler which is a good route for wet conditions. It does however involve the steep descent of chick hill which john felt particularly  nervous descending  having come off there last year which cost him several months off riding. This time we all made it down safely and for the next 15 miles it was flat riding all the way towards Appledore. The ride got a lot hillier once we turned west for Wittersham Iden and Brede. At some point Steve B who was at the front got separated from us, I think he was too busy following the route on his GPS  and we didn't see him again until we got to Westfield. From here we all split up and it was left to myself and Doug to complete the route with a nice wet ascent of Stonestile. As this was the second time I had ridden it in less than 12 hours, my stiff legs were relieved to reach the top. Maybe we will be lucky and have a dry early bird sometime?
Distance 33 miles
Av speed 15.1 mph
Ascent 752m

Fri Night Ride- 9 November

Simon G, Malcolm And Paul B Ready To Set Off From The Lodge

Weather forecast said there was going to be heavy rain at 9:00 and as we gathered at the Fairlight lodge there were already a few spots of rain, so we decided not to hang about that night. Good to see Paul Baxter out again, so far he has managed to keep the winter training going. All the usual suspects except Ivan were there. Paul seems to be obsessed with lighting the way, as not only did he have his top of the range exposure light he also had his old style top of the range gas bulb type front light as well. His lights were so bright we could have managed with no front lights of our own at all. On the way up to Broad Oak I hit a pothole which very nearly took me out, it jolted my elbow which was still sore the next day but surprisingly my xero front wheel stayed in true despite only having 16 spokes. There is another much worse pot hole right at the top of the broad oak junction which Jon kindly pointed out to myself and Paul (both I and Jon will report it to the council)
Simon set off down the hill but as Jon pushed off he discovered his chain had jammed. It took some assistance from Malcolm before we were able to set off in pursuit of Simon. The promised heavy rain failed to materialise and we finished with a relatively dry ascent of Stonestile

Early Bird 3 Nov- Wet Yet Again!

Doug Loves The Rain!

The weather forecast said some light rain so I had prepared a new wet weather route that avoided too many twisty lanes. The weather forecast turned out to be a bit optimistic as the rain turned out to be heavy rather than light so Metin and his friend Scott pulled out due to the rain. This meant there were only three starters: myself, Doug and Derek. By now we are used to riding in the pouring rain and were well prepared with the appropriate clothes. The route took us literally through Collington station with us having to cycle over the footbridge to get to the other side of the platform (I need to re map that bit). We headed north towards powdermill . For a while the rain stopped and the sun came out so myself and Derek took off our sweaty waterproofs only to have to put them on again when the rain started up in earnest 15 minutes later. As we hit the main road from battle Derek started to lag behind and in the end had to abandon the ride as he didn't feel too good. Doug and I carried on enjoying the quiet roads through Three Oaks and Panel lane into Winchelsea. Eventually only Battery Hill stood between us and the end of the ride. Doug really hates this hill and reckons it is worse than Stonestile or even Ditchling Beacon. I always find it really tough but must admit to having soft spot for the hill having climbed it hundreds of times over the last 20 years. With aching thighs we made it to the top thankful that neither of us would be racing up it on Sunday for the annual HSCC hill climb.
Distance- 31 miles
Av speed- 13.5 mph
Ascent-717m

Nov 2- Friday Night ride- Josef returns

Josef- First Friday Night ride This Season

Jon S With Moon behind

Good turnout for a Friday Broad Oak with seven riders at the Fairlight lodge, this included Josef who we haven't see for quite a while. Just as we were heading off down the hill the familiar figure of Paul B appeared, this made it a record equalling eight riders. We took it easy down Battery hill as the road was still wet from all the rain during the day. Weather was cold but there was little wind and there was plenty of moonlight to help see the road. Paul had a puncture halfway across the nature reserve, giving me time to take a picture of Jon with the moon behind him. The rest of the ride proceeded as normal with myself and Josef last to arrive at Broad Oak, Josef has done little cycling lately and has lost some fitness, hopefully he will become a regular again? On finishing the ride, myself, Ivan and Josef retired to the White heart for a well deserved couple of drinks. By the time we left the temperature had dropped right down to just above freezing and our teeth were chattering for the ride back down into Ore.

Halloween Chaingang no. 10, Malc makes it stick

Sixteen riders - on a fresh windy All Hallow's Eve.  Echelons formed  to battle a strong southwesterly wind. At the front the stronger lads made the pace, rest of us struggled to find some shelter and hang on. A group of seven led to the roundabout. On return leg Malc flew up Spooky Hill like a jet engined broomstick, Eastbourne Rover Stuart Davis  hopped onto his wheel and hung on until President Crabb's place. Half a dozen led chase with Nathan spinning a rapid cadence on fixed. Malc was justifiably pleased that his break succeded and he'd stayed away till Bexhill. I was dropped by the chasing group on Herbrand Walk but rejoined at the roadworks traffic lights, average speed 18mph.  Good to see Martyn and Jack our two newest juniors out, if Steve had been out with his camera we would have a picture here of the next Wiggo and Froome.
Nice BLOG report of the ESCA hill climb Peter, best wishes to Joe. It's probably my favourite open event of the year. I sent my apologies to Club Sec Chris Parker and the ESCA hill climb organisers on Saturday as a surfeit of illustration work has landed on my shoulders and I've been working weekends and evenings to meet several short deadlines. Here's one  I did recently for Cycle Sport's review of the year, see you at the club hill climb this Sunday, please sign on promptly at 9:00am inthe public car park nearest Fairlight church.

ESCA Hill Climb - Firle Beacon - 21/10/12

As no one has posted a Blog about this recent event I thought I would have a go at putting something down.

The morning started with fog, mist and a cold wind and the top of the Beacon was not a pretty sight. In fact you could not even see the top. The Road appeared to just stop in the sky.

 
However, a week in cycling is a long time and the weekend before was a completely different picture as the next photo shows as seen from Edwards camera phone.

Anyway, 33 hardy soles had entered in advance for this event but on the morning seven did not start for one reason or another. Two of which were Hastings riders namely Chris Watson and Joe Jenner. Not sure why Chris wasn't there but Joe wasn't feeling very well and it transpired that he had a urine infection so we will let him off. However, five Hastings riders lined up and because there were only 26 riders everyone managed to secure points for the club. Participating was:

Malcolm Daly              5:21.2
Simon Grogan             5:53.8
Mark Boorman           6:57.5
Edward Jenner            7:20.1
Chris Parker               7:29.6

Overall winner was Pete Tadros of Ingear with 3:49.0. Well done and congratulations to Pete

I'm afraid I only took a photo of Ed coming up as I didn't realise I was going to write up this entry otherwise I would have taken some more. As you can see there was a good crowd near the top to cheer on all the riders.

What is not widely known is what happened on the Beacon the weekend before. Both Edward and Joseph wanted to know why my Brompton was in the back of the car when I took them over to reacquaint themselves with the climb. The answer was that I was going to have a go as well on my Brompton. I was told I was mad and would not be able to do it 'on that thing'. Ignoring the laughter I descended the Beacon at a somewhat reasonable pace (as the Bromptons steering can be a bit twitchy at times) and I did not want to loose it. Anyway whilst the two young guns attacked the hill at a great rate of knots (with carbon fibre, lycra etc) I went for a warm up.

Then dressed in suitable Brompton attire (black shoes, jeans, shirt and Jacket) I started to climb the hill. The gears on the Brompton are of a good range and at my own pace I continued the climb. Must admit towards the end the breathing got somewhat heavy but the little wheels kept turning. And, much to the boys surprise I made it (just). Big smile on my face (after I got my breathe back) and my Bromptons street cred went up a notch or two. Photographic evidence below. The time of 13 mins was nowhere near Mr. Tadros but who cares, the little bike had an adventure and has now gone back to it's day job of commuting. I don't want the bike to worry too much but I haven't told it yet that I may ask it to try and get me up Battery Hill at some stage.

Club Ride 28/10- Even Ivan Power Has LimitsI

Ivan On His Ancient MTB

With many club members out on the Kent reliability trial there were just four of us out on the club run: myself, Ivan, Dan and Steve B. Weather was perfect for a late Autumn ride with low temperatures but plenty of sunshine and best of all almost no wind. Ivan had to use his old and very heavy mtb with road tyres. He has not had chance yet to replace the rear wheel on his fixie since the rim split (due to brake wear) last week. At first this did not seem to hamper him as we set off on the very hilly 1066 ride, with Ivan often setting the pace at the front. This is one of Ivan's favourite routes and is the one he chose to do two week ago when he led the club run. However after 30 miles, as we headed south up the steep hills passing through Beckley woods, his legs went and he had more and more trouble keeping up. Once we got to Brede he decided to abandon the route and to head for home on the main road while we completed the last very hilly ten miles in a big loop that took in Sedlescombe, Westfield and Three Oaks.
40 miles
Ascent 1,200m
Av speed 14.1

Weds Chaingang 24/10- Indian Summer

Derek, Tom And Dave C

Another great turn out of some 24 riders on a warm moonlight night, just five days short of full moon but there was a hint of mist across the sea. Good job it was warm, some hardy souls have yet to find their winter gear and cover their legs……. After a gentle start the pace soon wound up and several groups formed. The back markers were caught by the barriers coming down at the level crossing so gave the faster groups even more time to chat as they waited just short of Pevensey roundabout. Everyone kept together until the pace lifted for Spooky Hill so smaller groups formed and riders soon started working together to set a fast pace.
We have had some 153 rides over the nine weeks so far, averaging 17 people a gang. 26 first claim and one second claim Hastings have ridden so far, with guest from Rovers and In Gear but it is only Kung Fu Panda Giant CC titanium knees (shorts and short sleeves, brrrrrrrrrr) Simon P that has been there every week

C.P

Club Ride 21/10- Team SCR

Puddles At Pett level

Steve B Bags An SCR

With continual rain forecast all morning, only myself and Steve B turned up at the Harrow for the Sunday Club Run. I had prepared for rain and came with my GPS preloaded with a simple 34 mile route over towards Appledore , looping back through Peasmarsh. Having told Steve how great Giant SCRs are for the money he had been scouring eBay regularly and had got lucky and bagged an SCR for just £260 which is an absolute bargain. This makes four of us in the club with SCRs, the ford escort of the bike world! Cycling down chick hill with the rain was a little scary, I always think of what happened to Colin some years ago,when he ploughed into the white picket fence at the bottom. From there it was flat riding over the marsh with some impressive puddles that needed skirting round. On the Appledore road we passed a white haired guy of about 60 on a fixie, we don't know who this guy was but he gave chase and latched onto our back wheels before overtaking us and taking a turn at the front.The three of us worked together as an efficient unit each rider taking turns at the front, pushing our speed up to around 17mph despite the headwind before we peeled off for Wittersham. Steve was made up with his new purchase and was particularly impressed with the comfort of the ride. Riding behind me ,Steve noticed that my hips were rolling and I told him that I have been suffering some hip/back ache lately so we lowered my post , this felt better and later I lowered it again which felt better still, so no wonder my bike has been giving me some aches and pains! Having now had two very wet weekend rides in a row, I feel that I have become used to wet riding and as long as the route is an open one without too many twisty descents, feel pretty safe. I will leave this one on my GPS as a wet weather back up ride as we both really enjoyed it.
34 miles
Av speed13.8

Rain Gang 8 - 18th October

 40% chance of rain it said on XC weather  . . .  at ten to seven the rain was bouncing off the deck in buckets - too heavy " No way I'm going out in that " but by seven o' clock the worst had passed over to the East.  So I quickly got ready and set off. The forecast obviously meant I  had a 60% chance of staying dry, I told myself rather optimistically.

Found some shelter behind a bus, but it was rather  slow antique one; Happy Harold  - so was late for start - again - but maybe no-one else has turned out? As icy drizzle pebble-dashed my South face I was comforted by the thought of all our fast racers summer fitness ebbing away on the sofa.  So when I got to the roundabout 12 miles later, surprised to find six strong cyclists waiting, was my happiness tempered with the tiniest drop of disappointment? Not at all, on the other side of a  heavy rain shower, I was glad of the company  and looking forward to the usual habble on the home run.
They told me seven riders had started out together but one had bailed, during the rain perhaps. Simon still had his shorts on " I dont feel the cold" he said, must have titanium knees. Once warmed up I don't mind the wet, it was still mild 12 or 13 degrees. Its only on stopping that the chill sets in.  An unruly Southerly with violent buffeting gusts helped us on the return leg - as Strava speed graph shows. Watch out for temporary traffic lights just over the brow of the hill on Cooden Drive approaching Bexhill.

With hindsight I realised what the forecast was actually trying to tell us was that it definitely would rain, for at least 40% of the ride, overshoes and mudguards kept feet dry for a while but by the time I got home I was certainly much more than 40% wet, having been out for nearly two hours, still as long as I  kept moving, I was quite comfortable and didn't feel too cold.

"A good effort and a good training ride" said Nathan.  Well done all seven or eight who braved  a rough night for an enjoyable run.

Oct 13 Early Bird- Here Comes the rain

Andy And Peter

John Heneke

Having checked the forecast Friday morning I was looking forward to a dry and sunny Saturday. I was going to take my Raleigh  but decided to go for the Giant SCR instead. At the last minute I thought I would stick a front light on it. Both these decisions turned out to be very fortunate. Not such a good idea was deciding not to bother taking out any food as it was 'only' a 30 miler. Good to see two new, slightly apprehensive faces first time early birders at STAMCO, Peter and John H. Also there were two riders that we haven't seen for about 6 months, Andy and Metin. Making up the rest of the crew were myself, Doug, Duncan,Derek,Steve D and Mike . Steve turned up with what looked like a chav Burberry jacket, which I took the p**s out of  at the time. We set off along Bexhill road and along Cooden Drive. Mike pointed out the dark clouds and said that his two mates who were also going to join him had cried off. I told him that there was no need to worry about rain as the forecast was sunny and dry, Steve D laughed at this and said I should have used the Shoreham airport forecast instead which said exactly the opposite. Sure enough by the time it got to Hooe it was raining hard and visability was poor, I was glad I had stuck my front light on, and also that I was on my Giant SCR rather than the more skittish Raleigh. Mike decided to abandon at Wartling but the rest of us pressed on towards Windmill Hill. At this point there was a tempting easy escape route down to Sidley but having already completed a third of the route we all pressed on. The rainfall got heavier and heavier with some of the worst downpours at Bodle street which is exactly where we suffered our first (and fortunately only ) puncture of the route. Despite the rain I did not feel at all cold, but Derek was feeling it a bit.Steve's chav jacket no longer looked silly, he was warm and toastie being the only one with a water proof. On we went, gaining altitude as we moved up towards Brightling, we welcomed the climbing as the heat our muscles generated helped to warm us up. There was no let up in the heavy rain and we had to take the corners with great caution.At Brightling the rain started to ease up, the worst appeared to be over but our bodies had wasted a lot of energy just keeping warm. By the time we had climbed up Darwell Hill I could feel my blood sugar level dropping and started to bonk , so diverted off the gps route to the little shop on the corner where one (very expensive) mars bar later I was fit and ready for the rest of the route. Unfortunately Derek had not seen us pull over and had ridden past. I phoned him but it turned out he didn't have his phone on him so did the rest of the ride on his own wondering why he never caught up with us. From this point out it was mainly exciting downhill riding and the wind started to dry us out again. At battle we split into two groups with peter, Steve D and Metin main roading it back home while the rest of us pressed on determined to complete the route.Now the heavens decided to open again and for the last 6 miles of the ride the rain was non stop.

Lovely weather For A Puncture!

                            Its very rare for me to ride in the rain as I always check the weather forecast first but I must admit I found this wet ride very enjoyable and exciting. Peter and John needed have worried as they both rode really well and are defiantly up to Early bird ride standard so hopefully we will see more of them.
Distance 32 miles
Av Speed 14.9mph
Ascent 944m