Hare and Hounds Chaingang 21 March

Twenty five  riders, set off  with an easterly wind behind. Seasoned greyhounds Pete T and Shaun R followed by young hotshot Nathan R formed a fast break early on, your roving reporter tagged along.  By Cooden Beach I'd had enough of furiously spinning the 48x15 gear at 1200 rpm. Slowing down to lightspeed I let them power away.  Drifted alone in the blackness- no redlamps ahead and no whitelamps behind till the foot of Spooky Hill where  I thought I saw a distant light  behind, must be the Norman's Bay railway stop? - no,  a single headlamp appeared to be closing on me fast -  a motorbike - a minute later I saw it was Ivan J's diesel express.  Grateful for the lift I shared the work a couple of miles to the halt where the three pistoleros were waiting, grinning.  A short moment later we heard a shout and the bunch came round the corner with their elbows out - looked like fun I thought, "we should have waited for them" said Ivan.

Lively conversation flowed thru the crowd,  Steve snapped Paul B and Caroline for the blog.  The new season is upon us, big thanks to all who turned out for HSTLCC at the Hardriders on Mothering Sunday, and to all the helpers and volunteers from ESCA and the Sussex clubs.  Heading home, Pete got the jump and rapidly vanished into the night. With some effort I caught his wheel and sat in - Ivan, Nathan and the bunch worked hard to get across to us by Cooden, Shaun having sat in then bridged on his own before then.

Leaving Cooden  Pete flew up the climb, Shaun and I dug deep to follow and I think at this  point another chaser  brought up his dinner in extremis! Closing on Bexhill the two hangers on took turns to have a dig;  the demented spin drier first then the  big gear cruncher with  the hare on his tail, hardly wearied from leading most of the way. 

A day later and I've got wooden legs and a sniffling cold.  Wishing John Corder a swift recovery - and you all a good weekend at the racing, clubruns etc and hope to see you all next week, cheerio!