Alfriston Double loop -26 aug

I told everyone that we would be back home by 12:00 as this was to be a short off road ride. We had a good turnout; myself, Paul B, Malc, Duncan, Ivan,Derek and Steve D. We had four vehicles between us so formed a convoy over to kings drive at Alfriston (bet the local love us!). Once Paul had attended to his toilet needs we set off for the warm up loop to the west of Alfriston, this meant starting up the long ascent to the top of the Downs. We then proceeded along the top of the downs before turning right and descending down towards the Drovers track, unfortunately at this point I thought the GPS was showing the wrong direction and we turned the wrong way which meant we continued to head further west and had to climb the steep road to Frirle beacon, this put an extra 7 miles on the route. It was apparent at this point that Steve D was struggling to keep up and so Steve decided he would abandon . Once back in Alfriston we began the main route proper with the stiff ascent past the long man followed by the descent to jevington. Having reduced the rebound on my rear shock to almost the minimum I was pleased with how it climbed (almost as good as a hard tail!) but not so impressed at how it handled downhill where I missed the feedback from the rear wheel ( I don't think I am cut out for full suss!). Another steep ascent took us up to the top of butts brow. Derek was finding the route hard going, this was his first south downs ride and the bike he was on is really heavy (he hopes to get a much lighter one next year) he was also worried about the time we would get back but there was nothing we could do as this was already the most direct route. Through Friston forest and up the stiff drag to the race course with Derek really stuggling . Ivan flew up this hill and then cycled back down to come back up with Derek, lending him some moral support. After passing through some terribly muddy and churned up paths, all that was left was the long descent down to alfriston. This is very tricky in parts as it is covered in white stones which move all over the place. Having already fallen off twice I was very wary and went down so slowly at some points that it was almost like I was standing still. Ivan had no such misgivings and thundered past without a care in the world (later he told me that he would have been scared on his old 26er but no such worries on the 29er). By the time we got back to the vehicles it was already 12:00 so Derek and Paul were both in trouble with their other halves for being so late (sorry about that guys!).

distance 25 miles