Fantastic weather for this morning's early bird ride. Solid turnout with 7 riders including the welcome return of Doug who we haven't seen for quite a while. Steve Denny turned up last with tyres that were almost flat, this wasn't due to punctures but simply that he hadn't pumped them up for so long having been doing mainly off road recently. Once Steve had pumped up the tyres we proceeded up Harley Chute on our 30 mile route. Steve kept getting dropped but when he finally caught up with us at Catsfield we found out why, his tyres were still soft. Once we had put a decent pressure of air into them we proceeded up to battle, watlington and broadoak. Riding down the long road from Broadoak towards Rye instead of grovelling up it was great, it felt like we were getting our revenge back on the hill. From Winchelsea we had quite a long stretch on the road before turning off for Three oaks at Guesting. Derek was suffering a bit by now having down both chaingangs this week, and peeled off on his own hoping to find an easier way home. I am not sure that this was a good idea as I reckon Rocks lane is the easiest way back , LOL. We finished the ride off with a large 'Witherspoons' breakfast (bargain at £4)
Distance 30.5 miles Av speed 14.9mph
SAT 7TH JAN
ReplyDeletesecond run took place also on Saturday with the late crowd meeting at 10 o’clock. Four of us (Chris Parker, Chris Chapman, new guy Edwin and myself) rode out via Sidley to Westham before coming back through Pevensey. Edwin unfortunately dropped his chain on a climb and then punctured but looked pretty mean on the hills and is certainly one to watch. Chris P, Edwin and me stopped off at Pevensey for a bit of late breakfast before making it back via the beach road to Normans Bays and then taking in the new cycle path after Galley Hill which is really better suited to mountain bikes.
Excellent weather and a very enjoyable 37 miles also at 14.5mph.
Tim M