Secret training methods of the Chaingang

Seems like everyone's been training super hard lately,  going out nearly every day over the last week -- Meanwhile I've been compounding  my meager winter  base mileage  with a couple of late night sessions - on the lash - mainly red wine,  gin & tonic, whisky, ale, lager, pizza, apple pie and custard  by night  mixed up with watching cartoons (I recommend Wreck It Ralph) driving family to half term activities by day - so no cycling at all,  bar Sunday afternoon on the cuckoo trail with missus and littlun in which we cycled five miles, and had a pub lunch. 

Contrast this with our own tip top form Matt R and Stuart H targetting and bagging KOMs over the week, Stu D lost three in one night!  East Rover John C, who's cunning  strategy of "just popping out for an hour" each evening after the kids are in bed and ferociously ascending his cyclocross bike up ten  thousand feet of frozen mud is also paying dividends. Will Matt R and Stuart H enter the  ESCA Hardriders TT next month and score HSTLCC's highest places? I hope so. Can escape artist Matt beat John C who led our bunch so well  - time will tell!  WilI I tie on time with John C like I did last year, or was it the year before?  Bet against it dear reader, bet against it. 

I counted sixteen  riders backed by a swift Northwesterly. Our own Matt R jumped away early on with Simon N in tow. I tried to drag everyone else across and was closing - and tiring - when the John C train rolled to the front, let us catch onto his wheel, then steamed up and closed Matt down. Matt got away again a few times and John brought him back for us. Simon rode agressively  - well on  a big fixed gear you need to sprint up hills to be fair - and a pack of usual suspects sat in and were able to finish strongly on - relatively -  fresh legs. But riding straight into the teeth of the Northwesterly Matt and John showed that little bit stronger than all the rest of us who tried so hard tonight. Still we have plenty new riders with lots of potential, keep up the good work. I hope all of you will enter the Hardriders TT, one of the first and most fun of the local race events - just like in Strava, your first time trial is a personal best. 

Dont forget, annual club do tomorrow at Cinque Ports Pub, All Saints St, bring £5 for buffet, have a beer and a chat with us  and see the glorious club trophies get handed out, cheers.

Steve Curtis writes: Tonights chaingang was the first one for Trevor Deeble . Trevor has been on a few bacon butty rides, he then came out on the club ride with Malcolm and Chris C. All he had was a vintage 1950s bike, despite this Malc and Chris were impressed how fast he rode. Trevor has just bought a secondhand modern bike with Ultegra and this was literally his first ever ride on it. He got it twenty mins before setting off on the chaingang. Malcolm predicts  he will be one of our fastest riders soon as his average speed from Strava was 18.6 on his first ever chaingang, which says it all really, huge potential!

Andalacia MTB Stage race-Day 4

Day 4

Disaster!!

My team mate Jeremy was changing his front break pad just before the start as it was also down to the metal. The allen key head rounded itself so we could not get the pads changed before the start. We could not risk riding in these mountains without a front break, so we made the decision for Jeremy to ride with my bike and I would have a days rest as Jeremy is much fitter than me anyway. I will get his bike sorted during the day and we will continue on Thursday and Friday no longer being included in the overall rankings.

David

Andalacia MTB Stage race-Day 3

Day 3

What a difference a day makes

Today despite 300m more climbing than yesterday, all the climbs went up big wide tracks, very similar to riding on the SDW. There were however still plenty of tricky bits. We went through a field that made the mud in Friston Forest seem like nothing. I came to a stop in one big patch and fell sideways into a big puddle. We got to the top of the first big climb which was nearly half distance after less than 2.5 hours so we thought we were in for an easy day. we finished in 7.09 so it goes to show.

We had lots of tricky, rocky single tracks, there was a very tricky rocky descent with lots of steps which is similar to "Devil's Staircase" in Derbyshire.

I managed to crash twice on the last final descent and got stopped by very prickly Olive tree bushes. I am covered in small scratches now from them but thank god they were there.

I also had to change my rear break pad near the bottom of the last big descent as it was down to the metal which took about 15 minutes, which is a shame as otherwise we would have been under 7 hours


Dave HH

Andalacia MTB Stage race-Day 2

Picture Taken from The Hotel Window-Dave Is Down There Somewhere!

We rode a shorter stage today than yesterday but it was much, much tougher. There was 300m more climbing but it was difficult technical terrain. We pushed or carried our bikes over so many unrideable sections both up and sometimes down that we lost count. I have never ridden such a demanding course in my life.

We spent half an hour this morning, drying our shoes with the hotel room hair dryer and the first river/forge came after about 2 miles-LOL. I think we went through 30 rivers today.

Still the skies were blue and we rode in shorts and short sleeves. We got back after 7.16 which was 1 1/2 hours longer than yesterday. I have so many aches I can hardly move. Tomorrow is supposedly even tougher but the real tough days come on Wednesday and Thursday with over 3500m of climbing on both days.

David

Sunday Club Ride- 24 Feb

Chris Chapman writes:
'Three hardy souls left the Harrow at 9 on Sunday with the mercury pushing minus 2. Chris Parker having claimed the benefit of manflu, Malcolm, Peter Hayward and Chris Chapman headed up the A28 towards Brede. Then through a network of potholed lanes to Beckley.
From Beckley through Northiam a right a couple of miles straight on brought us back to....Beckley. Nevermind it was now a balmy minus 1.5. From there we headed via Wittersham to Appledore - from where Malcolm had promised us a tailwind home. And lo! after toiling into a bitter headwind, there it was a tailwind to blow us home. A quick stop in the cafe at Rye, where the temptation of a train ride home was overcome with some reluctance. It was bitterly cold getting started again as Malcolm forced the pace along through Winchelsea beach. Chick Hill proved to be a welcome warmer. Despite the cold no ice. Overall about 47 miles, ave spd 15.1, ave temperature 0.'

Andalacia MTB Stage race-Day 1

Our very own Dave HH is taking part in the Andalacia MTB Stage race.
He is keeping us abreast of his progress through the 6 stages
Dave writes:

Hi Steve I have just ridden the 1st stage (Of 6 days) of the Andalucia MTB stage race.
We started under sunny skies and about 13 C. We climbed a long way after the  start. It was just unbelievable to see such big crowds by the technical up and down bits. I never thought I would ever have spectators patting me on the back and pushing me as I went by.   My team mate Jeremy (The race is teams of 2.) punctured on a downhill bit which was through a very rocky river. He was the only one trying to ride, everyone else was walking. We lost nearly an hour as it was a side wall puncture and just did not want to mend.
It was so nice to ride in short sleeves and shorts after the weather we have had at home.
Our time was 5.45 which had us very near the back of the field after the most amazing decent back to Cordoba.
My legs and all over basically is/are aching like anything.  It will be interesting to see how the legs go tomorrow.

Matt escapes from the Chaingang, Feb 20

Barney and Sue

Nathan R

Seventeen riders zipping along with a great easterly at our backs, Sue strung out the bunch with a fierce spell along Bexhill, then Matt R broke away on first climb and might have stayed away too if not for the Hastings train holding him up at the level crossing, better luck next time. Cold meant we didn't hang about long and some were caught on the hop, tightening loose bolts, mending spokes or pulling on gloves as the bunch rolled back east into the teeth of a cruel wind, I think I saw some stray snowflakes . . . maybe a sign of what's in the post for us this weekend?

For many of us the ESCA Hardriders marks the end of winter and the beginning of the racing season, and a chance to catch up with old pals from our sister clubs.  Aero bikes not essential as it's a   "sporting" course - think hilly back lanes - around Bodle Street Green and Wood's Corner, with  a couple of tough little climbs, one with it's own prize,  and an exhilharating long downhill swoop to the finish. Chris Parker writes

"East Sussex Hard Riders 15 mile Sporting TT on Sunday 17 March. First rider set off at 10 am from Bodle Street Green a few miles from Battle.
This is an event we always have a very good turn out for: the East Sussex Hard Riders 15 mile Sporting TT on Sunday 17 March.

For Open Time Trials a CTT entry form needs to be filled in and posted with the entry fee (£8 cheque payable to East Sussex CA) to arrive with the organiser at the latest on the Tuesday 11 days before the event.  After the successful (third) test system for electronic entries last year even more events can alternatively be entered on line, including the ESCA Hard Riders. You can download Entry Form here:  www.ctt.org.uk  scroll down for pdf or word versions. For people who want to use snail mail to send off their form for the hard riders, they need to send their form and cheque to
Peter Moon
73 Wannock Lane
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN20 9SG
or online entry here
https://evententry.ctt.org.uk/https://evententry.ctt.org.uk/

And a plug for our annual social -  Hastings CC prize giving evening with buffet and beers on Thursday 28th at Cinque Ports Arms, All Saints Street, Old Town. Partners welcome, filling up fast so email daniel.hanlon@live.co.uk to book your places.

16/2 Early Bird Ride-Metin Goes Missing

Derek Back On Form

Goodbye To Andy's Alloy Villier

An unusually large turnout for our full length Early Bird' ride with ten riders meeting at the Harrow on a dull but windless day with temperatures at last back up to the seasonal average.This encouraged John V to turn up with bare legs, the first sign of spring? Our chosen winter route was 'high and over' which has a good mix of safe wide roads and lots of climbing in the second half. On the road to battle I once again suffered a puncture on my front tyre, was the rim tape the cause of all these punctures? Fortunately Malcolm was at hand and he had his reading specs with him so was able to give the tyre close scrutiny. The rim tape was OK but Malcolm managed to pick out lots of little bits of stone that had got into the rubber and finally managed to find the one that had worked its way through the kevlar fibres, the cause of all my recent puncture problems. Once fixed we proceeded without incident through battle, up Boreham street before the sharp turn south down to Wartling. From here we picked up the sustrans route through Rickney. Although perfectly passable the road is getting in a terrible state and at one point about a third of the width of the road had completely collapsed to give the 'mother' of all potholes.Andy wanted to stop for a pee but being such cultured cyclists we ignored distress calls from our bladders so that we could use the excellent public loos at Alfriston. Andy was riding his trusty alloy Villier for the last time as that afternoon he was picking up a brand new shiny carbon steed (looks like ally alloy is going the way of the dodo)

'Hi And Over', What A Pushover!

From Alfriston, the ride gets really interesting. About half the group had never ridden 'high and over ' before and didn't know what to expect. As it turned out, for some reason we all found it surprisingly easy today  and arrived at the top wondering what all the fuss was about. Good to see Derek is back to his old self and was only a little way behind me on the climb. From this point its the fabulous descent down towards towards Exceat. Here we came across lots of road signs declaring the road leading up Friston hill to be closed for resurfacing. There were barriers up and lots of workmen around but we decided to push our luck and cycle between the barriers. I think we all expected the workmen to tell us off but they didn't seem to care, so we carried on. The steep climb up Friston hill had been newly resurfaced and with no traffic on it, it was a fabulous ride, we felt like we were on an alpine stage of the tour de france with closed roads and billiard table smooth surfaces. Unfortunately, as the hill levelled off we reached the point were the resurfacing was still going on and the workers were scraping the old surfaces off in sections. We managed to get though by switching from one side of the road to the other. It was around this point we realised that Metin wasn't with us, the whole group was very spread out by now and with all the heavy machinery around we just had to press on before regrouping at the junction for the road to Jevington. Metin never arrived and without his mobile number there wasn't much we could do so we had to set off without him (Metin emailed me later and did get home safely- lesson to be learnt here is that everyone needs to give me their mobile number). Next up was the hardest part of the route, the climb up to the top of Beachy Head. Here the difference between abilities of the riders was really apparent and we became very stretched out along its length. With myself and Derek at the back I caught the occasional glimpse of some of the middle ability cyclists moving through the switchbacks but eventually we regrouped at the top and admired the clear view of the bay with Hastings appearing so far off in the distance. The decent down this side of Beachy is like a mini Alpe D'Huez and Malc made the most of it with his normal fast descending skills. Some of us stopped into the cafe at Pevensey for refreshment, arriving just in time to catch Chris P with some of the bacon butty boys.

Chainganging on the rivet Feb 13

Good turnout of fifteen for another cold and windy chaingang. Our local road clubs well  repped with  Nick W. over from Rye, plus the usual mighty puncheurs from Hastings CC,  the Rovers, and Ingear, not forgetting Stravanauts. Only Malc and I on fixed this week,  I thought Malc's  34 x12  could prove a usueful hill climb iron with a 17 or bigger on the back.  A tough pace of near enough 22 mph out and back without much wind help either way had everyone on their limit.  Nathan, Barney and Nick feeling strong at Cooden also Stu and Malc on form -  but what about  John C tearing it up with powerful spells on front on an old faithful steel bike? I'll let you into a secret - for any given speed, the rider with  the heaviest bike in the group is getting the most training benefit, say no more ;-)

Cycles of Radical Will at the DelaWarr Pavilion Bexhill

Thought this is worth putting out there. Shaun Gladwells Cycles of Radical Will is worth an hour of anyones time whatever their age.The short film of the bmx er filmed between the turrets outside the DeLaWarr Pavilion is ballet on a bike, its in the gallery beside the cafe. 
Down-stairs Jack-in -the-Green alternating between scooter and motorbike on roads around Winchelsea is interesting,the state of the roads he's on is very familiar to all of us at the moment!
 There are also some street-dancing videos and some bmx/skateboard ramps on the roof. Well done the DLWP! Go have a look, cheers Simon Grogan   

"Great ride, good fun & a great bunch of lads" - 6 feb chaingang

Plugging up Galley Hill on my way to the meeting  I was joined by my old  2-up TT partner Matt Reynolds, also on fixed. We knew we were running late  and from the summit we spotted the red and white lights of the bunch  flashing in the distance, but a minute later  we arrived at an empty hut with  nary a tail lamp  in sight. Cue an ad hoc re-run of our stomach churning 2-up ESCA TT effort of the other season. Changing lead every minute or so we caught  the tail end group leaving Bexhill, soaked up some stragglers in no mans land, some of whom tailed along with us for a bit. Tantalizingly out of reach in distance we could see the leading bunch of a dozen strung out in single file. A fierce northerly boxed our ears loudly from the side, and unable to talk with the effort we somehow breathlessly communicated that when bridged the gap we'd silently join the back of the group, sit in and try to recover a bit before the last mile, Matt got on first at summit of Spooky Hill and I flagging on  too big a gear at this point - rejoined on the descent.  At that very moment the front of group picked up the pace a little more and split off towards the meeting stop! No chance of a rest as we had to accelearte again just to hang on the back but we felt really chuffed anyway to finish in the bunch as just two of us working together smoothly had caught a bunch of eleven,  holding at least two or three riders stronger than us and as many equals, sandbagging it till the end!   Two vs eleven . . . on fixed. We both felt a bit sick, but enjoyed it really, as did everyone else who all seemed to be in good spirits and enthusiastically replaying their  best and worst bits to their fellows. Simon Newell had a troublesome puncture and a few solid club companions remained with him as first some slower riders then the majority who were begining to feel the cold set off, about twenty riders altogether. Sorry for miscalling the junction at Cooden, and thanks to Stuart Hodd for this weeks title lifted form his own Strava feed.

Andy Coulter

For new riders we might take the opportunity to explain our Wednesday ride doesn't always run like a chaingang in the classic roadie sense where the goal is for everyone to do short equal spells of ten seconds to a minute agreed on the spot as conditions allow, working together in manner of a team trial.  A flick of the elbow is the signal that a rider on front is tired when he eases up by one mile per hour to allow the next rider in line to come through. Its OK to do a shorter spell or ride at a slightly reduced pace if tired, but the next rider in line must come through smoothly as this keeps the "chain" circulating and allows everyone in the group to do their little bit  in the lead and a chance to recover as well .

We have a range of other club rides in the week, generally easier paced and staying in one group. Steve Curtis and Chris Parker lead most of them, if any new members would like to lead their own rides or step in when Steve and Chris can't make it speak up or come along to the social do and prizegiving at the end of the month and let us know what you think, cheers!

3/2 VTTA Kent Reliability Trial

About To Set Off

Peter Excels At His First Reliability Trial

With most of us having failed to become 'reliable' on the last reliability trial we thought we would try again at the VTTA Kent reliability trial. These reliability trials are such incredible value for money at only £2. This is an awful lot better than having to pay over £30 for an SRS sportive, the only difference is that the route is not signed (no problem with a gps) and you don't get any snack stops on the way round (carry your own food). Unfortunately none of the organisers could supply a gpx file for this route but myself and Peter worked together to map it out on trackslogs to turn the paper instructions into a gpx file we could follow. Peter was using one of those quite new gamin 500s, and this would be the first time he had used it to follow a gpx file course. Just like my old edge 205, it enables you to follow a 'bread crumb' path, unlike my 205 it has auto zoom which adjusts the scale of the path automatically. this worked really well and for much of the trial it was Peter at the front following the route with myself a bit further back making sure any stragglers did not miss the turn. This was Peter's first ever reliability trial and he rode very well with plenty of energy left at the end despite often being out on front with Nathan. As usual Paul Baxter has regained his fitness very quickly after his winter hibernation. Derek was cold at first but once he got going was pretty much back to his old self. Also with us was Mark on only his second reliability trial,riding by far the heaviest bike, Mark did find the last 10 miles a struggle but showed a lot of determination and kept going steadily to the end. He will find it all a lot easier on a better bike. Instead of taking out my SCR like I normally would , I was out on my Raleigh having discovered that much of the poor handling was not down to the frame but was down to a little bit of play in the headset. Having fixed that little problem and set the tyres to exactly 100 psi, it rode really well, so it has gained itself a reprieve.

Time To Refuel

Although not a very picturesque or interesting  route (quite a lot of major roads), the route was perfect for this time of year when a lot of a rider's energy is just being used to keep warm. The organisers were very friendly and asked if they could have a copy of the gpx files for next year.This time we were all classified as reliable coming in at the beginning of our predict time range. As soon as I know the date, I will add this to our google calender as we want to do this again next year.

Fri Night broad Oak Ride- Stonestile Sufferring

A UFO? No, A Knackered Cyclist!

Good weather for a change with almost no wind so despite a low temperature it didn't feel anywhere near as cold as last Friday. Simon was on his fixie so for once I had someone to ride behind on the way down Battery Hill but once we reached the levels I was soon dropped by the others. Having regrouped at Rye Harbour we set off up the long drag to Broad Oak. I was feeling feeling pretty good and found it much easier than last week. I didn't stop at the top and floated past telling the others to catch me up. Simon and Jon S didn't catch me until Doleham lane. Simon was a bit weary of going up Stonestile on his fixie, what sort of condition was it going to be in after the ice and rain? Jon S wasn't going as well as normal, probably a mixture of coming off a long shift and overdoing it on the weds chain. The tree lined approach to Stonestile has a special climate all to itself; gloomy, misty and the air smelled a bit rotten (probably lots of rotting vegetation behind the trees), it was a relief to leave the gloom behind and reach the more open road on the climb itself. Jon was really struggling on the hill and for once, I managed to get to the top before him and had time to get out the camera and record his suffering.