Retreat from Firle- Sunday 29 July

I had been looking forward to getting onto the Downs for almost two months. At last everything looked good, all the weather forecasts said there would be no significant rain until the early afternoon. As we were arriving at Firle just after 8:00 we thought we would be OK but having started to get our bikes out it stared to rain. "It must be a passing shower we thought". Unfortunately this proved to be more than just a light shower , as it proceeded to rain heavily for the next half hour. Knowing how dangerous the chalky descents are on the Downs we decided to give up and drive to Chile farm for a(not well deserved) bacon sarnie and coffee. By this time the sun was coming out , Derek and Duncan had a brainwave- go to Bedgebury and do the technical trail as this is rideable even when muddy! Ivan decided to call it a day but the rest of us drove to bedgebury and parked on the lay by on the main road to avoid the £8 parking fee. This sort of technical riding is not my cup of tea but I was desperate for some exercise and felt more confident ont he 29er. Duncan and Derek were correct, the route was totally rideable but we did get well plastered in mud and came off gently a few times when we couldn't unclip fast enough (this was a particular problem for me as I have to ride with old look delta cleats!) A lot of effort has gone into this trail and there are distinct areas with different types of riding, each area having an amusing name such as 'gloomy woods or fibre glass trees'
This was another good test for the 29er hard tail and although it did perform well, i did feel a little more give in the rear would have been beneficial, i.e I would still choose a 26 full suss over a 29er hard tail.
S.C

Bewl water- Battle Of the Hard Tails (27 July)

Just three of us at Bewl this week (myself, Duncan and Ivan). Duncan had kindly brought along Dave HH's (thanks to Dave for letting me try it) hard tail 29er. I was keen to test it and see how it stacked up against an old 26 hard tail. For once Ivan's, "Ivan power" had deserted him and he was complaining of feeling tired before we had even started. On the first lap I used the 29er. First impressions were what a fantastic fit it was, I felt like I had ridden it for years. With the larger wheels and the lovely modern plush suspension it was more comfy that my Marin even though the Marin has got a suspension seat post fitted. On the first lap (and for probably the only time ever)I managed to drop Ivan without really trying. The first lap seemed to fly by really quickly.
lap two and away went the 29er and out came my old faithful Marin from 1997. Getting back on it I realised just how aggressive the ride position is with my head in a much lower position due to the shorter head tube and shorter travel forks. My legs felt nicely warmed up from the first lap and so I was able to push harder. I still enjoyed throwing the old Marin around the corners although I was getting more bashed about than I did on the 29er. Despite pushing harder, Ivan now longer had trouble keeping up with me and dropped me about two thirds of the way round (even though he said he felt even more tired on the second lap)
So what is the conclusion to this test? First of all I would say a 29er hard tail is far better than a 26 hard tail. It is more comfortable, handles just as well and is significantly faster for the same level of effort.So if you are buying a new hard tail, it a no brainer what to buy. The only remaining question is " is a 29er hard tail better than a 26 full suspension?"

South Downs Randone- 21 July

Malcolm checked the weather forecast, and the four of us (Malcolm, Ivan, Baxter and Duncan) were on our way to enter the off road British Heart Foundation South Downs Way Randonee, starting at Winchester and finishing on Eastbourne seafront, nearly 100 miles later.


We left Eastbourne by train at 4pm Friday, and all seemed well until we changed trains at Brighton. We had all hoped to get on one train, but this large train is limited to just 2 cycles, and we were lucky that there were no other cyclists trying to get on the train. Two of us, Ivan and Paul, got on this train, and Malcolm and I had to catch a different train, getting us into Winchester half an hour behind the others. All we had to do now was find the B&B, but this was no problem for Malcolm who seems to have inbuilt GPS. Brilliant B&B for the SDW, and walking distance to the pub.



Race morning, got up at 4.15am, had a light breakfast and off to the start, where we enrolled and started the event at 5.35am, with probably 60 other early risers. The plan was for all four of us to ride together to the first checkpoint at 20 miles and then split up to allow the fast ones to put in a good time. This didn't happen, with Malcolm and Ivan saying goodbye after less than 5 miles, and disappearing into the distance. Paul and Duncan took the leisurely approach and completed the distance in just over 13 hours having enjoyed the good weather. Ivan and Malcolm rode together for 60 miles, but Ivan seemed to get stronger and rode away from Malcolm just before Devils Dyke. Ivan must have really got in the groove because he finished 1 hour ahead of Malcolm in 10 hours 15 minutes, and thinks he eas the third finisher. Amazing result for a first time SDW.

A really good event with a good evening in Winchester, and ideal riding conditions.
DF

21 July- Mad Jack

Joining us today where two new riders, father and son, David and George Morris, brought along by Dan hanlon (on only his second ever early bird ride).The ride was a modified version of the 'mad jack fullers' reliability trial and was a new ride for all of us. The first half of the route had a an awful lot of climbing on small narrow country roads. It had rained heavily in the night and so we had to watch out for wet gravel and mud. At the bottom of Stonestile lane it was flooded with about 4 inches of water! I kept thinking how glad I was that I had declined the offer to do the South downs randonee with Malcolm and the others. George was rivalling konrad up the steep ascents and David was only a little way back with Steve Denny who had tired legs from too much running in the week.At one point Dan's tyre packed up with a large bulge in the sidewall, fortuitously he was carrying a spare trye with him, so we were up and running in no time. The ride was supposed to be 54 miles but we took a wrong tern at brightling missing off the western loop so the ride became 40 miles in the end. This was probably a good thing as George and David appeared to be flagging a little at the end but had done well to complete a tougher than average 'early bird'.
Distance 40 miles
Av speed 13.2 mph
S.C

13 July- Stonestile Substitution

After another week of frequent rain in our washout summer, we decided to abandon Bewl and go back to the Broad Oak chaingang route. With an evening of good dry weather it was a pleasure to be back on the road and to revisit our old 'friend' stonestile lane. Paul baxter is riding like a different rider from a few weeks ago, and should now be ready for the south downs Randonee next saturday. Malc and Simon G were as fit as ever. Myself and Derek were content to move at our own pace and arrive last at the top of Stonestile. Goodluck to Paul B, Malc, Ivan and Duncan as they do the South Downs randonee (100 miles offroad in a day!) next Saturday.
S.C

Bewl 6 July- Duncan Turns Pink

Following some earlier heavy rain I wasn't sure what Bewl water would be like to cycle round. When I arrived malc had already done one circuit and said that it was pretty muddy and that we needed to take it easy.I thought to myself "if Malc was saying take it easy it must be bad"! Duncan was there on another one of Dave HH's previous mounts another 29er hard tail in a fetching shade of pink, we all wondered how it would cope with the mud. The mud turned out to be as bad as expected, but we all got round safely slivering and sliding about, I have never seen it in this state before.Myself and Derek were relieved to get round in one piece so we all settled for just the one lap. Once again the 29er came up trumps with the extra tyre contact with the ground giving Duncan more grip than the rest of us old fashioned 26ers. lets hope its drier next week to give Bewl a chance to dry out!
S.C

Cuckoo Trail Soaking- July 1

Myself, Paul, B, Malc and Ivan were supposed to be doing a 20 mile Downs route from Alfriston but when we got there the heavens opened and it was soon clear that even if the rain stopped the trails would be too slippery to ride safely on. Not wanting any more broken bones, we decided that we would do the cuckoo trail instead (we haven't done it for years).We started the trail at the Sovereign harbour and despite some route finding problems made it to the trail proper at polegate. It wasn't long before the heavy showers started up again but after shelting under the tree for 5 mins we pressed on and almost made it to Heathfield where we got caught by more heavy showers. I was very relieved we had made the right decision and not gone onto the downs. The return was brilliant fun as it's slightly down hill all the way for 13 miles, we didnt care that it was still raining, and with the low friction on the freshly tarmacked trail (since we last came here the whole route has been tarmacked)we flew all the way back to the start, having a quick cup of coffee in 'Frankies and Beenies' before driving home. We were all really impressed with the work sustrans have done on this trail and intend to got here regularly during the winter months as a break from the road
Distance 30 miles
S.C