Jack And Jill East

Past Endless Poppies

A Well Deserved Breather Near Kingston

Just three of us were up for this new off road ride. The ride started from the excellent free car part at Clayton windmills (Jack and Jill). From here we headed down the fast familiar tracks leading to the Southern turn-off at Black cap farm. Three miles of steady decent took us down and across the A27 before climbing up Bullock hill. This led onto the highlight of the ride , the two mile sweeping twisted descent down the edge of an escarpment  known locally as 'the snake'. What goes down must go up and unfortunately the uphill section following this was badly overgrown so we had to walk up most of it. Before too long some tracks I had never used before brought us back up to Kingston and then to the familiar climb past Lewes prison. Although we still had nine miles to go, I felt like we were home and dry as once past the prison all we had to do was ride in a straight line over the undulating downs back to the start. This turned out to be a great ride and definitely one to repeat next year. Looking west from the car park we could see lots of tracks heading west and an   awesome hill in front of us.We decided that our next ride would be to head west and investigate what's out there. On getting home I did some research and found out the hill is called Wolstonbury Hill (site of a bronze age fort) and managed to map out another circular passing over it, so that will be our next ride.

Hastings Rye Hastings Classic TT Wednesday 26 June

The last HRH classic of 2013 had a field of 14 riders on an evening that was not as good as the float evening of last week when there would actually have been 11/12 PBs and not 10/12 PBs had Steve Curtis not dropped a light on the way out and stopped to cross the road and retrieve it on the way back. Quite why new full time pro Greg Blackwell was the only one to miss out on PB is a mystery!  The first timers all set very good times which some went on to better this week.

Ready For The Off Captain Mainwaring 

Stuart Hodd (47:28) becomes another club member to add to those who have a 12 pointer to their name. His winning PB pipped Malcolm (48:56) in to second place. However Malcolm decided to undertake a brief field trip to study the flora and fauna in a nettle patch on the way back .........

Our only remaining 100% record of starts came to an end courtesy of Southern Trains. Ollie Chapman had been to Plumpton College and phoned me from Lewes Station to say there were delays on the train "service".

A very big thank you to Tim Miles who had turned up hoping to ride but ended up doing marshalling duties at Rye for a third week in the absence of any other offers. Marshals are mandatory for certain events.  Events will have to be cancelled if no marshal turns up since the CTT public liability insurance may well be invalidated if a mandatory marshal is not present if an accident occurs.

Also it was almost a self starter TT…….. A very big thank you to John Vidler who was tired after a tough training session earlier in the week in the glorious setting of Ashburnham Place (triathlons on Sat 6 and Sun 7 July) who turned up to chat and had a quick course in the fine art of pushing off followed by practical implementation whilst the lesson was still fresh in his mind.

There were four PBs:
Barney Willard 45:59 by one second
Stuart Hodd 47:28 by 40 seconds
Steve Butcher 50:33 by 11 seconds proving again that he is not only a megga mile eating Audaxer but a sound tester
Andy Foster 51:22 by 37 seconds
All bettering PB times they set on the float evening last week.



CLUB EVENTS:
Sign on for the Pevensey 10 is in the lane by the west wall of Pevensey Castle: High Street, Westham, BN24 5LL.  Please sign on ASAP and no later than 15 minutes before first off.  The course is basically Pevensey roundabout to Little Common roundabout and back.  We usually rehydrate afterwards in the Royal Oak and Castle.

Wed     03 July Pevensey 10    G10/83           Meet 7.00 first rider off 7.30 late
Wed     10 July Pevensey 10    G10/83           Meet 7.00 first rider off 7.30 late
Wed.    17 July Ninfield 14                             Meet 6.30 first rider off 7.00
Wed.    24 July Ninfield 14                             Meet 6.30 first rider off 7.00
Wed.    31 July Ninfield 14                             Meet 6.30 first rider off 7.0

21/6- Friday Chaingang

Only three met for this weeks Friday chaingang, Simon “wobbly” Grogan, Steve “long distance” Butcher and myself.

Three Men

Knackered Wobbly

It was a typically British summers evening, cold, misty and damp at the Fairlight meeting point where the three of us gathered. We set of at just after 7.30 and headed down battery hill out of the gloom and cold taking it steady as the roads were a little damp. With a brisk westerly Steve “long distance” and I jumped on the gas for the levels dash and left Simon “wobbly” behind a bit but we joined up again at the gate where “wobbly” got a move on and dropped me and “long distance” on the way to Rye.
We decided to stay together for a while on the Rye - Broad oak  section which was back into the wind and we all took our turn on the front. With a couple of miles to go “Wobbly” eased of and “Long distance” and I pushed for Broad Oak at a decent pace considering the wind.
Steve “long distance” left us at Brede and so we were down to two for the final leg to Stonestile.
We both managed to make a decent job of this poxy hill!

We Love It

This again was a great little ride and it would be even better if we could get more to come along so we will look forward to seeing loads of you next week! Friday 19.30 fairlight (depart at 7;35 prompt)

Bewl Water 21/6- Speechless

Setting Off For Lap One

John S On His New MTB

Having had a severe throat infection that left it almost impossible to talk, I thought I would still go to Bewl water but only do one lap. On arriving and meeting up with the others a rider came past as I unloaded my bike, it was Paul Baxter who only had chance to shout out that he had already done two laps and was setting off on his third! Riding with him was John Gumble .last to arrive was John S on his new mtb that he had slowly accumulated bits for over the winter, its quite an unusual bike with an rare frame and long 150mm forks(John was made up with how it rode). I went off a minute before the others to take an action shot of the group and by the time I had put away my camera, the others had flown. I managed to catch up with Derek and  was glad to see that the others were all waiting for us part way up the nasty road section. We rode in formation with Ian at the front all the way back to the start. All the way around the circuit I was looking forward to finish, putting away the bike and head home early but feeling guilty at only doing one lap and knowing I would not be riding at the weekend, I decided I just had to do another. Joseph, John and Duncan were all up for lap two. We rode together for about a third of the circuit but on the steep road section hill, Joseph shot passed us like a demon ascender on the superfast and light carbon 29er he had borrowed from work and Duncan ground away from myself and John up the incline. For much of the way back I was pleased to be able to follow John but he slowly got away from me, leaving a solitary, tired but satisfied arrival back at the start.

H&StL CC HRH classic times- 19th June

Lots of Hastings-Rye-Hastings PBs on the warmest day of the year

What a contrast from last week's miserable conditions for the club's Wednesday evening classic. Riders that missed out should be kicking themselves. Of the twelve riders that had ridden the course before ten produced PBs, that must be something of a record in itself?!!!!?

Joe K, Fastest Junior That Night

Malcolm Daly's winning time of 46:28 was a seven second improvement on PB. Stuart Hodd's first ride on the course of 48:08 gave him second place. After missing many week's 16 year old Joe Kingsman (48:44) was 2:54 quicker than last year to take third place and to come in just 11 seconds ahead of 17 year old Joe Jenner (48:55) who had a PB by 1:12. Biggest improvement in PB was over 20 minutes by 15 year old Ollie Chapman (53:32) but most riders would been a DNF last week if they had come off their bike in foul conditions.

The other times were:
50:44  Steve Butcher, first time on this course - getting the miles in for London-Edinburgh-London at the end of July
50:44  Jozef Mager, PB  by 1:13
51:13  Dan Hanlon, PB  by 1:25
51:59  Andy Foster, first time on this course
52:40  John Vidler, PB  by 2:52
53:52  Tom Norris, PB  by 2:02 (his time last week was 55:45 and not 59:45)
55:40  Greg Blackman, a few seconds off his PB
55:45  Steve Denny, PB  by 1:08
56:58  Steve Curtis, a few seconds off his PB

Fastest time of the night was a private time trial by In Gear's Barney Willard 45:50, a PB by 2.21

Visual pleasure of cycling.

Whilst keeping an eye on my Strava times, the simple visual pleasure of cycling never ceases to surprise me. This beautiful tunnel leads down to Ghosty Dip and then up to the top of Brede Hill. 

This morning's commute along the path that stretches along Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was populated by  beautiful birds. Terns swept through the sea mist. A startled heron, grebe, nesting oystercatchers, lapwing, wandering avocets and a solitary kestrel hovering above the yellow sea poppies on the shingle. I'm looking forward to the ride home.  

The Geres Granfondo- Chris Chapman

The Geres Granfondo, in the Peneda-Geres National Park in Northern
Portugal, takes place in a territory inhabited by Europe’s largest
predator, the magical and elusive Iberian or grey wolf. So stragglers
had better beware! A choice of a 146km granfondo or a 100km
mediofondo saw me plump for the easier option. Not that this was an
easy choice, far from it: a hundred kilometres with 2000 metres of
vertical ascent including the 22 km ascent of Alto Pedro Cardoso, a
couple of 3rd and 4th Category climbs and numerous cobbled sections to
boot.
I’d dined on roasted kid the evening before the event hoping that it
would bestow upon me the climbing characteristics of a mountain goat
but I suspect that this may have been the rare lowland variety. The
morning dawned clear and bright and after breakfast and warm up had
got to the start line early for a good position. There were about 800
starters: 300 in my event and 500 in the granfondo. Looking around I
noticed that I was about a foot taller and about three stone heavier
than most of the people around me. Oh dear.
An email had informed me that the event would start promptly at
8.30am, so at about 8.45 3-2-1, a cheer, a mighty bang and a shower of
confetti from the gantry above the start line and we were off. It
was shoulder to shoulder stuff and the organisers had sensibly decided
that the first 6k would be neutralised. I noticed that some of the
sparkly confetti had lodged itself between the optical insert lens and
the tinted lens of my sunglasses. Hmmm.
Led by a couple of lead cars and accompanied by motorcycle Police and
bikers from the Porto motorcycle club, the descent was sinewy and
nervous, squeals of brakes at every turn, someone ahead dropped a
bottle that spun around as we swerved to avoid it. A motorbike kept
getting in my way and I realised that it was a Portugal TV bike
complete with cameraman sat facing backwards like in the Tour. I
later found out that the whole thing was being televised live.
A mile or so of flat after the end of the neutralised section saw me
sitting comfortably in the first 50 or so. Then we were into the
first climb of the day, a category 4 up to Valdosende. This saw me
slide down through the bunch as my heart rate raced to near my max. A
descent saw me tack onto a group of around 50 riders and I pushed my
way into the middle. The parcours continued on a slightly downhill
grade with a few lumps to give your bum a rest.
Traffic was pushed well to the side as we had a Police motorcycle
escort. The small town of Amares after 31kms was reached in well
under an hour. Then we hit a long cobbled section of a couple of
miles, as we bounced along crowds of people shouted encouragement and
applauded. The town had a feira (festival) and music blarred out from
loudspeakers as children played on rides. We were soon back into open
countryside, the roads were flanked by granite stone walls and vines.
This was vinho verde country. The road was narrow and twisty. We
crossed an old granite bridge and followed a stream for a few miles.
I was in the big ring spinning 50x14 and feeling fine.
Groups of locals offered great encouragement – some had been bussed in
from nearby towns and villages to see the ‘race’ and they cheered and
clapped as we sped past. At Pico de Regalados there was a sharp left
hand bend. The crowds were standing 2 or 3 deep and as we rounded it
there were two guys who had fallen. They were getting back on their
bikes as I sprinted out of the corner. This was the low point of the
route at 70 metres and the first 50k had gone by in a bit of a blur in
just over an hour and thirty.
The climb of Alto Pedro Cardoso began gradually and again I began to
slip back. Initially, I yo-yoed getting shelled out the back of my
group on the steeper sections only to catch back up as the road
flattened. Predictably, the elastic snapped. After climbing for
5k, the granfondo and mediofondo routes split, with the mediofondo
turning sharply right. The road reared up in front of me and a sign
said 17kms to the summit at 5%. The houses soon dropped away as I
climbed onwards, a couple of guys caught me up and we rode together
for a mile or so. A sign for a fojo da lobo (an ancient stone wolf
trap) reminded me that this was not my natural territory.
One of the Police motorcyclists came up to keep me company and asked
how far I’d gone. Unable to remember the Portuguese for 59
kilometres, I replied more or less halfway. He seemed satisfied,
wished me good luck and sped off.
The countryside changed as I climbed, gone was the gentle landscape of
vines, quaint bridges and trickling streams, replaced by rugged
moorland strewn with huge granite boulders, not unlike Dartmoor. The
temperature had dropped too and low cloud hid some of the view. I
hoped it wouldn’t rain.
The route passed through a couple of tiny hamlets – austere granite
houses and everytime the road passed through some habitation there was
a cobbled section. Most of the locals had come out of their houses
to cheer the riders on: these roads see very little traffic. I
noticed a woman with a huge bunch of enormous cabbage leaves – enough
to feed about 15 for a week. Another woman was carrying a sack of
fertiliser on her head. Some goats ran to higher ground as I went
past. The road continued upwards with varying degrees of steepness,
sometimes only 2 or 3% and in places up to 15%.
At a remote village called Posto Maior, the cobbles were huge, whereas
in other stretches they had been small setts about 2-3 inches square,
these were bigger than my hand and very rough, uneven and
uncomfortable! It was slow going but it had some rewards. The
village was having a feira and as I rode past caught mouthwatering
wafts of chicken and pork being barbequed on huge barbeques, a
Portuguese speciality. The cheering and crowds were all the louder as
they were wine and beer fuelled despite it being before 11.00 in the
morning! At the end of the village a stage was set up and folkloric
country dancing dressed in traditional dress was being performed to
high-pitched bagpipe music. I stopped and took a short video and a
couple of pictures.
The road flattened and I was soon at the high point and feed station.
This was at 780m having climbed up from 70m. To put it into context,
in about the same distance of the Ninfield circuit, I’d climbed the
equivalent of 7 Battery Hills. At the feedstation, I grabbed a drink
and some orange. I became aware of a folk group dressed in tradition
dress complete with hurdy-gurdy who were serenading the riders.
I knew from the route card that I had a huge descent to make but what
I had failed to notice is a number of quite steep corrugations up and
down of about 20%, one over a cobbled section. I was glad that I had
my 34x32 bottom gear as I needed it. Across the top it was quite
chilly and I had to slow on one of the descents as an unexpected
hazard in the shape of wild ‘garrano’ horses and a foal were blocking
the road.
At Brufe, the descent started in earnest I had joined a group of 3
Portuguese riders who had caught me on the way up. My extra weight
meant that I soon dropped them and sped away. The road was narrow and
the edges dropped away steeply. I crossed a dam with less than 30
kms to go. The road began to climb again, another category 3 climb
and 2 of the 3 riders came past and left me. At the summit was a
junction and a left turn across the traffic, the Policeman at the
junction stopped a couple of cars and waved me across.
It was beginning to get grippy as I’d set myself a target of 4 hours
and I still had 20k to go, including a Category 3 climb up to the
finish and I only had about 35 minutes left. Thankfully there was a
fast descent from Campo do Geres down to Sao Bento the start of the
final climb and overtaking a couple of cars on the way down gave me a
second wind.
I had a few riders in front of me on the final climb of 5k up to the
finish and as it was not very steep was able to reel them in, I kept
an eye on the time and the marker boards counted down the kilometres.
I finally caught a rider I’d been pursuing for about a kilometre as we
entered the barriers with 400m to go, he tried to jump me but I was
not going to let him beat me. The crowds gave us a good cheer as we
crossed the line.
This was a truly great experience, wonderful landscapes, enthusiastic
support, a really well organised event with Police outriders and
plenty of marshals. For the record, I managed to break 4 hours
achieving the gold standard in 3:56:03, I’d finished 63rd overall and
25th for my age group. But I didn’t see a wolf and I was pretty
knackered at the end.
We don’t have many events in Portugal and the next one is only an hour
from me on 12 October 2013
http://www.skyroad-grandfondo.com/index.php/en/ How about arranging a
Hastings and St Leonards team? I’ve got plenty of space.

Chris Chapman

June 16th - Birling Gap Off Road

Warming Up At Last

As we arrived at Birling Gap car park all our thoughts were, "where was the summer". Looking around at everyone with vests, long sleeved tops and wind proofs it was more like a scene from March rather than June. We were all freezing and anxious to get going. The gradual climb up to Butt's Brow soon had us warmed up and ready for the filling loosening decent down into Jevington where the vibrations shook off my chain . Rather than take the normal climb up to the 'long Man' via Folkington, I chose a new path running parallel which was in much better condition. Post Alfriston we were back right at the top of the Downs and ready for the fantastic 5 mile decent down to the Golden Galleon pub. Only one climb was left, the ride up through Friston forest parallel to the road. last year this route was fine but this time it was muddy and over grown. We were covered in scratches and at one point as I was falling off, I had a moment to decide; land on the wheel or land in the bed of nettles? I chose the latter and spent the rest of the ride down to Birling Gap with my left side all lumpy and tingling (I have remapped this section to avoid it- next time we do the family track instead)!. A few miles before the end we swapped bikes with Duncan, which gave me and Paul a chance to ride a 26er again. We were both shocked at how horrible it was, no one is ever going to persuade us to give up our 29ers and go back to 26ers, LOL

Time For A Breather!

14/6 Bewl Water Reunion

I was a little worried about how muddy Bewl Water would be after all the rain we had on Wednesday, but as Friday night's weather was the warmest and sunniest of a miserable week, I thought it would be a crime not to go. Also going for the first time this season was Derek and Paul. David Earl was there again with his work mate Ian Davies . David introduced us all but Paul recognised Ian straight away as it turned out they had both ridden the 'South Downs Randonnee' many years ago and Paul even remembered what bike Ian was riding (he is very obsessive about mtbs) . There was to be no easy first lap as Paul, Ian, Dave and Duncan set off at a pace that soon left myself and Derek behind. About half way round we caught up with Dave and Ian as Ian had had to stop with a puncture. I forgot just how hard it is riding this route compared to the road, it took me ages to really get the old muscles working well in the first lap. Normally I find the second lap easier but that night I just got more and more tired. I did have a bit of a temperature and a sore throat so I will put my poor performance down to that. Still an enjoyable workout though.No Ivan last night as he phoned to say he had twisted his ankle, lets hope he is OK to ride with us off road on Sunday?

Hello Ian

More Fun Than Time Trials!

What a disgusting evening for the first Hastings-Rye-Hastings Classic

Arriving early (18:40) to park the car in the vicinity of the start line, to keep it clear for us, it was dry and surprisingly warm with a moderate prevailing wind but rather grey skies. By the time people started to sign on it was spotting and by the time the field was being set at 19:15 rain had set in. It was looking like the start and finish would have to be adjusted due to a number of cars parked on and around the start line but some runners returned and drove off of leave it clear for us. So seven hardy souls set off in the rain. The longer I waited, sat wet through in the car chatting to Barny who had pumped his tyres up then looked out of the window and decided to leave his bike behind and drive up to the start to see if anyone was there, as the evening closed in and the rain continued to fall with strengthening winds the more I thought that if Stuart had been signing up starters he would have pressed for the event to be cancelled! Finally Trevor (48:52) loomed up out of the murky evening to be first across the line with Malcolm (47:58) close behind to take the win by a smaller margin than had been predicted. John Vidler (55:32), Tom Norris (59:54), Steve Denny (59:13) and Greg Blackwell (61:33) all rolled in OK then there was a wait for Ollie Chapman. I belatedly found out that Ollie had ridden the course on several occasions in preparation and had managed to come off his bike overcooking corners more than once! Tim and Romana had returned from marshalling duties in Rye, very many thanks to both of them, and reported that Ollie was still riding but looking as though he was finding it hard work. So Malcolm set off in his van to see if he was OK. Within minutes Malcolm had returned and Ollie was not far behind coming up the final hill and over the finish line. Everyone was keen to get away to get home to dry out or to the White Hart to get warm, Ollie being the hard case that he is having come off his bike and got back on to finish declined a lift to Hastings station to catch the train back to Robertsbridge. You do not get many youngsters like Ollie so it is great to see there are some youths around that can take a bit of character building hardship. But quite a few of our oldies were not up for a character building ride, given the small field! Of course with a small field there is an opportunity to pick up more points. Malcolm and Trevor further consolidated the top two positions in the points table with the other riders all moving up several places. We are now down to only two riders that have started all seven Wednesday evenings: Trevor and Ollie. Very well done to both of them, Malcolm just missing out after turning up to ride one week and getting a puncture just before he was going to sign on.

Butts Brow Bash - June 8th

Safely Back At 'Butts Brow'

This was the first Off Road Downs  ride of the season. Just four of us went including on his first off road ride with us, Tom Norris.We parked the mpv at the top of Butts Brow where we had arranged to meet Tom but when we saw the cost of a days ticket we got back into the vehicle and drove down to the bottom where we were able to park on a side road. This meant we had to ride up Butts brow with cold legs. As this was the first ride I had done with knobbly tyres for 9 months and my seat was too low, this was a bit of a shock to the system, but thankfully I have a mega low gear that can climb up mount Everest if need be!As I rode up (slowly!) I kept thinking how much some of our best road climbers (Trevor, Stuart, Chris W etc) would enjoy a STRAVA on this segment because it really is  a magnificent climb being 1.3 miles long and reaching a gradient of 15.8% (such a shame its a dead end at the top- for roadies anyway). Having met up with Tom we all enjoyed the fabulous decent down to Friston followed by the equally fabulous climb back up to Jevington before the very bumpy decent down into Alfriston (my newly fitted thudbuster really came into its own here). The weather was sunny but with the strong winds on the Downs it was pretty cold. I was glad to have a vest and windproof on (not what you would expect for June) . Ivan was really feeling the cold and needed to keep moving just to stop hypothermia setting in! Dropping down from Black Cap farm into Bishopstone we arrived at a little road section. Every time we have been here we always go the wrong way (despite having a GPS) and this was to be no exception. Surprisingly Paul (who normally has a terrible sense of direction) realised where we had gone wrong and we were  soon back on track. Now began my favourite bit, which is the 5 mile steady climb back up tot he top of the Downs. I love this climb because its not too steep, is nice and straight and has a great views from the side of the escarpment. From the top it was easy riding along to Alfriston. From here the plan was to ride through Folkington. This was not a good idea as although it looked easy to find the path on the map, in reality there was no obvious path and we ended up following a 'sheep trail' which took us off course. To get back to any sort of trail we then had walk pushing the bikes over the sheer grassy slopes of Windover Hill. This was particularly difficult for me as I have to ride off road with look delta pedals and cleats (due to nerve damage in my left foot). Finally we were back on track but all this effort was not worth it as the bridleway through Folkington is in a shockingly eroded state. Having fitted a thudbuster suspension post to my On-one 29er, my knee and bum were loving it but as my weight was now further back the front end had become a bit too light so on this eroded section I was having trouble keeping the front wheel down and came off a couple of times (I can cure this by removing spacers and going back to straight bars- hopefully). having got past Folkington it was a relief to be on the long climb up the Eastern side of Butts brow. Great to have Tom riding with us , hopefully myself and Paul haven't put him off with all our moaning about equipment  (Tom,you will get used to this!) .

7/6 - Bewl Water Off To Record Start

Despite some of the 'Bewl Water' Off Road regulars such as Steve C, Derek and Paul not being there, there was still a record attendance of ten riders. This was partly because David Earle drove down from work in London and brought a couple of friends with him. Also on his first Bewl water ride with HSCC was John Moulton (weds chainganger). Ivan was feeling very energetic. The first lap is normally everyone together but Ivan says that he just rode along happy in his own world and that when he looked round expecting to see the others not too far behind , they were no where in sight. He decided to carry on and wait for everyone at the start of the second lap. After waiting for some time the first rider to appear was Malcolm but the others were still not to be seen. Malcolm and Ivan decided to push on for the second lap on their own. The conditions at Bewl are better than this time last year with just a bit of mud under the trees. Hopefully we will have a good dry ridable Bewl Water season this year.

Ivan/Steve C

7/6 Fri Chain.Thoroughly modern men. By Stuart Hodd

We had a good turnout of 8 riders for the Friday chain gang this week even though some went mountain biking at bewl.

When I arrived at fairlight Andy ( stretch ) foster and Dan H were already there and it wasn’t long before all had gathered including retro brothers Deeble and Watson and we were ready for the off. I held back for a change on the decent of battery hill so I could see what was happening. Retro brothers ( d and w ) went for it with Watson gaining Kom for having the biggest balls… don’t think this man can be beaten on a decent. Simon ( wobbly ) G had a massive moment too on the same decent hitting a bump and unclipping his left peddle which produced the mother of all tank slappers which incredibly he managed to hold and not end the evening in a and e!

1970, S.England

We continued across the levels at a decent pace considering the strong cross-headwind and soon arrived in Rye where the chatter gave way to some tactical maneuvering for the Rye to Broad Oak race…! We all stayed together up the first hill at a brisk pace with myself, the retro brothers, Dan H and John V heading this strong group of riders. At about the half-way point I noticed there was four of us ( myself, the retro’s and Dan H ) left with all of us putting in some good efforts at the front. Then for the last mile it was myself against the 1970,s attired Deeble and Watson. I found myself at the front on the last incline into Broad Oak which was somewhere I didn’t want to be and payed for this mistake as the 1970,s had recovered behind me enough to unleash their sprints on the final run in. Watson edged it in the end with Deeble half a bike length behind and me about 3 bike lengths from him.

It wasn’t long before the rest joined us and we set off again having said goodbye to one half of the retro brothers ( Deeble ) as he was playing a gig probably supporting the village people or Leo Sayer and had to ride to Ashford to meet his wife. On the approach to Stonestile I commented on how dark it was getting for a sunny summers evening when John and Simon ( wobbly ) G reminded me that I still had my dark sun glasses on! On taking these of I realized it was in fact still a sunny summers evening!

2013 Cyclists

Lets get this straight, I hate Stonestile! But… it is a climb and has to be attacked. So attack I did! Passing even the lone retro brother Watson on the way up only for strava to go mad and put him faster up the hill than me. Think I was on for a pb too! We all ascended well though I did hear Andy ( stretch ) F swearing at his gears a couple of times.

We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I rode with Watson back down old London road where he set the most epic kom I have ever seen! The man IS THE DEMON DECENDER. ( note. All within the 30 mph limit ).

This was another great Friday chain gang which is run every week through the year now so lets keep the numbers up and the competition and fun alive!

Stuart

Stonestile warriors

The last of the four early season Ninfield circuit TTs

The last of the four early season Ninfield circuit TTs produced another good set of times on a warm bright and breezy evening. Fourteen of the 19 riders had ridden the circuit  already this season, with seven of them producing season (some personal) bests. It never seems to be that everyone has a quick evening on the same week and even slower evenings come up with some good times, the tip is to turn up every evening and give it your best since your best times may be on an evening you thought unlikely!

The top three riders all did PBs Malcolm (35.03) to win, Trevor (36.10) and Stuart (36.14) in second and third place. I have not looked up the times Dan Harwood (36.21) was doing five or so years ago but he will not be as quick, yet, and even more so Pete Byrne (39.34), a club 10 champion not too long ago, on his first race in years. Andy Foster (38.28) and Dan Hanlon (39.02) also set PBs. Biggest improvement in PB was almost two minutes by Metin (42.12). Fifteen year old Ollie Chapman (39.08) was only a few seconds off his superb PB set last week. Ollie has been getting guidance from his neighbour Neil Garrett who bravely got back on his TT bike having not ridden it for nearly ten years.

With six events completed positions in the points table are beginning to settle down.  The top five riders are going clear with last year's winner Malcolm at the top of the table (60 points) with 5 wins out of 5 (and a DNS puncture).  Trevor (52 from 6) is in second place but has one more ride than third placed Dan Harwood (49 from 5).  Remember it is only the best ten results that count over the 18 club events so there is a long way to go to sort out the top ten.  Turning up every week to ride helps, especially on miserable evenings when more points are up for grabs! Trevor, Stuart and Ollie are the only riders with 6 starts, Ollie having one DNF

First TT Ride This Season For John M

Fastest time was yet again a private TT by In Gear's Peter Tadros (29.50) who matched his course record last week and was only one second off it again this week. His team mate Barny Willard (34.11) matched Pete by also being one second off his PB, set last week!

Remember next week is a later sign on time of 1900 for the first of three Classic Hastings - Rye - Hastings TTs, as it will be for the Pevensey 10s. Sign on will revert to 1830 when we are back on the Ninfield circuit.

2 June -Eastbourne Cycling Festival

Tom Becomes 'Medallion Man!'

Podium For John

Excellent cycling festival today organised by 'TL Sports Events'. A number of us entered the 50 mile sportive.We set off together but as agreed it was each man for himself today so we only met up again at the end. Everyone really enjoyed the course which despite being only 50 miles had 5 large hills packed in, including: Firle beacon, High and Over, Exeat Ramp and Beachy Head. Myself Alexander and Derek were happy just to get round the course in a steady time whereas John V and Andy were really going for it and put in an impressive average time of 17.1 mph, too much for Paul and tom who did manage to stay with them for about 20 miles. After several cups of tea at the end we were lucky to witness Weds chaingang hard-men  John Cordner and Trevor Deeble receiving their awards for  coming second and fourth place respectively in the men's road race.

Fri Chaingang 31/5- Record Breaking Evening

Massive Turnout

The Four Friday Chaingang Newbies

A record breaking evening for the 'Friday Chaingang' . First of all we had 15 riders, smashing the previous record of 10 riders. Among the 15 were four Friday chaingang newbies: Pete Tadros, Pete Byrne, Dan Hanlon and Andy foster. With perfect summer evening weather and such a large group of cyclists there were many personal bests broken that night. Most notable of all was the fact that the top four places on the Rye to Broad Oak climb were all taken on the ride and Pete Tadros (in fantastic form- even for him) set an even better KOM for Stonestile Lane. Some of us will be switching to the Bewl Water off road circuit until September, so we are unlikely to get so many riders again for some time!

Top Four Places Claimed In One Evening