25/10 HSLCC Fri Ride- Rolling Stones

It was another warm and windy October evening for the weekly Hastings Friday night ride. When I arrived at Fairlight Lodge, Malcom, John Stainsby in his amazing super-reflective Castelli gear, Trevor, John Vidler and Marcus were all chatting. A few moments later Simon Grogan arrived on his Giant, John Stainsby called time and we set off down Battery Hill. Unlike last week, tonight the wind was pushing us firmly in the direction of Rye, and the 7 of us had to descend carefully down to Pett Level. I think it was Trevor, Marcus and John Vidler who made the first break, enjoying the crazy speeds possible with the tailwind, arriving at the gate for the nature reserve road before the rest of us. Much to my surprise Nigel had joined the group, having just missed us leaving but chasing on down Battery Hill after seeing the trail of red lights. Not easy! We were chatting while riding along the narrow nature reserve road when there was a big shout of “Stones!” out front. The shingle had spread across the right-hand side of the road, and with us riding two-a-breast, the rider on the right didn’t have much choice but to ride over it, bouncing and slipping over the pebbles, and hoping for the best. Luckily no one came off, but it was pretty treacherous in patches all the way to the left-hander taking you out of the nature reserve.

On the hill going up to the Udimore Road the pace of the climbing was brutally quick, despite the strong winds. After losing John Vidler’s wheel, I tried to stay with John Stainsby, who was sixth man, but I couldn’t hang on. By the time the road levelled out myself and Simon were left at the back. The wind was ferocious in sections, and we took it in turns to shield each other all the way to Broad Oak, which made it far, far easier. It’s a shame the road resurfacing work hasn’t actually improved the road at all here - there were at least two or three pot holes that were difficult to avoid, and the surface is ridiculously rough.

On the way down to Westfield we split again. Malcolm, Trevor and John Vidler were ahead and were first up Stonestile. John Stainsby peeled off homeward bound. I rode up the hill with Marcus, managing to stay on his wheel until the flatter section where he really piled on the speed. With the summit in sight Simon caught and passed me with some serious momentum, standing up and powering his way to the top. When I arrived the recent finishers looked to be in agony, hunched over the bars and gasping for air. I pulled up and involuntarily did the same. A few moments later Nigel arrived, we all agreed it was a good ride, said some hasty goodbyes and headed home. It was another really good Friday night ride. I’ll certainly be trying to make it whenever I can.

Metin

27/10 KCA 100K Reliability Trial

Assembled At Claygate!

Waking up to strong winds and heavy rain  my first thoughts were, 'why did I commit myself to going on the reliability trial'. I wasn't the only one with such thoughts as Chris woke up with a bit of a hangover having over indulged on a mixture of drinks the night before and Derek's text asking me if I was still going showed he was also thinking the same. I just hoped that the forecasters were right and that it was going to improve. Chris had given us very detailed instructions of where to meet ,so all of us assembled together on

Chris Doesn't Need A GPS To Lead The Route!

time at the White Heart pub at Claygate.Taking part were myself, Chris P, Derek, Metin, Steve D, Malc and making an extremely rare appearance Nick Bridger. Nick is into iron man events which he manages to do with relatively little training. Having done little lately except short sunday rides (followed by full English breakfast!) he was up for a longer ride and so had decided to come with us. We set off at a gentle club pace but this was too slow for Steve D who soon dropped us and disappeared into the distance following the route on his gps. I was the only other one with the route on gps but Chris has such an incredible route recall that he led for much of the time only asking me once if it was straight on or turn right. The weather was holding up, the rain had gone and the wind had dropped from storm force to strong wind force. The route was mainly flat having only around 2,000 feet of climbing despite its length of over 60 miles. At forty miles there was one section that did have a couple of hills. Having made a few adjustments to the head tube spacers on my Giant Defy the day before I was feeling really comfortable on the bike having reached that perfect spot between comfort, handling and wind position, sofeeling better on the bike than I have for a long time I was able to get ahead of everyone and photograph a few action shots. Once everyone caught up, it soon became apparent that Derek was in quite a bad way. Rather than bring out his carbon bike he had brought out his lower geared but heavier alloy specialised bike and at the last minute had had to change the rear tyre to an armadillo that was ok for a turbo trainer but terrible for riding any sort of distance . The combination of firm aluminium frame and rigid tyre meant he was feeling every slight bump in the road and his back was suffering, it was only by slowing down to stretch every few minutes that he was able to keep going. Nick was also feeling it a bit, not having done any long rides for a while. We decided it would be best for Derek and Nick to take a short cut back to the headquarters while the rest of us completed the route. While I was digging out a paper copy of the route to give to Nick (useless because he couldn't read it without his glasses), Chris and the others had left, thinking I was there behind them.Despite feeling fit, I couldn't  catch up with them but to be honest I was really enjoying riding along on my own for the last 23 miles just following the little black line on my Garmin. This last 23 miles was into a headwind almost all the way but I barely noticed as I kept plodding on, passing one suffering rider after another.About 6 miles from the end, on a slight rise, I spotted a rider up ahead dressed all in black standing by his bike.

Malcolm Riding Strongly As Ever!

Nick's Been Tangoed!

Thinking he may need some assistance I decided to pull over and see if he was OK and was surprised to see it was Steve D. Steve's chronic groin problem had flared up again and he had had to stop, there was noting that could be done and I had to leave him to limp back to headquarters on his own. Meanwhile Chris, Metin and Malc were making  good time as Malcolm lead into the wind all the way back with Chris (also feeling good) just behind him and Metin (feeling tired) at the back of the peleton. I arrived back at the start ten minutes behind them with only eight minutes to spare to be declared reliable . Our enjoyment of the beer and peanuts in the pub was dampened slightly with our concern for Derek especially when we got some garbled voice messages due to the terrible network signal strength in the area. Fortunately we needed have worried because just as we were packing up our bikes in the car park Derek and Nick appeared, I don't think Derek wil ever ride on that armadillo tyre ever again, LOL. Thanks to Chris P for getting us all organised and enrolled in this wonderful event, this is one I look forward to doing again next year.

Bacon Butty Ride 26 Oct

Eight of us met at bridge café. Set off against a strong SW wind which got lighter as we turned inland. Regrouped a couple of times. It was pleasing to see that some of the worst sections of the lane across Pevensey Levels have been resurfaced however one of the group suffered a puncture. Had a longer stop at Chilly Farm shop to regroup. Wind behind us towards coast, I couldn't keep up with the stronger riders along coast road. Said cheerio at Coogan Bay and went our own ways. Malcolm C.

East Sussex Hill Climb on Firle Beacon

Ollie Chapman had made a great start to hill climbing the day before in Saturday morning's East Sussex Cycling Association hill climb up to Firle Beacon. The early riders benefitted from dry conditions but steady rain and a rising gusting wind made it harder for the back end of the field. Chapman really impressed as he smoothly approached the chequer board with a quick time of 5:18 to take 18th place, excellent after puncturing just before he started and then having problems with his cycling shoes.  Joe Jenner (5:50) also picked up ESCA team points for Hastings.  The second oldest rider in the field Chris Parker posting the slowest time of 7:43 coming in one place behind the oldest rider (7:29). Joe Kingsman's weekend did not start well with a puncture before the start and technical problems that lead to him being a DNF. Even In Gear's Peter Tadros had problems, with a puncture on his bespoke fixed hill climb bike forcing a rushed bike change to a geared set up and a time of 4:17, well off his course record of 3:42, for second place to Lewes Wanderer Patrick Hough (4:10). Tadros was one of only two vets in the top ten, both only recently having joined the veteran ranks, again proving that hill climbs are more suited to the youngsters.

Battery Hill 2013 Inter Club Hill Climb between Hastings & St. Leonards CC and Rye & District Wheelers

Although time trial fields are dominated by vets it is the younger riders that are best suited to the explosive effort and rigour of hill climbing. In the first official interclub hill climb between Hastings and Rye on Sunday morning it was the Hastings juniors that determined the result. The fastest up Battery Hill was Rye's Nick Wilson (4:44 PB) with Stuart Hodd (4:58) winning the Grimpeur's Trophy for the fastest Hastings rider in his first ever hill climb.

Checking back on the last two years Rye's teams of five riders were quicker on aggregate time (and in 2010 I think) but this year Hastings shaded it with a team time of 26:39 for Hodd, 15 year old Ollie Chapman (5:07) the quickest junior of the day, 16 year old Joe Kingsman (5:29) who lost time when stopping after his chain came off within sight of the finish, Malcolm Daly (5:30) and 17 year old Joe Jenner (5:35).  Rye's team of five included one junior, 14 year old James Fosbery (6:04) close on the heals of his Dad (5:52) in their aggregate time of 27:19, a close run thing.

Rye's Rebecca Wilson has ridden the event for four years now, setting a PB on every ride with this year's time of 6:31 pretty close to Eastbourne Rover Emma Faulkner's 6:16.

There were a number of other private time trials including the quickest time of the day by Sam Stean (3:55) from Eastbourne, the third rider since 1999 to break four minutes, only Peter Tadros (3:45) has gone quicker since a young Mark Markowski set the event record of 3:42 for Hastings in 1985. Former Rye Hill climb champion Alan Thynne (4:33) now with PMR and former Hastings short distance trophy winner Rover Marc Townsend (4:34) recorded the second and third quickest times of the day. Rover's 17 year old Sam Houghton recorded 5:24.

Chaily Audax

Chaily Audax
Things started off badly for me on this one. I could not download the entry form so sent in a cheque. After a fews days I got a note from martin the organiser telling me I had put a 1p stamp on the envelope and he had to pay £1.68 to get my letter !
I had persuaded my mate Roy Beeley the chaiman of our local tri club to come . he had entered online as he had a pay pal account.
i had not realised that there was 2 courses ,a hilly and a hillier , you guessed it he had entered the hllier and i had entered the hilly. We were the first to arrive so Roy changed from hillier to hilly as organiser happy to do that. John V and Dan H arrived then Tom N who of course had arranged the ride . Last but not least Steve D.  No rainman of course.
So the debate was do we ride together or in seperate groups , then discovered more inconsistancies with entries to hilly or hillier. Tom knew the route for the hillier but not the hilly but all of us with Steves GPX had the hilly programmed . In the end we went off as one group on the hilly
It had been spitting gently as we gathered for the start and then the heavens opened . It was however quite warm . first hill was at about 500 metres from start. several more hills but not to bad. I was already getting left behind, but others waited for me . We passed a couple of old chaps but then we see stopped several times as although we had 4 sat navs between us Tom was leading following the route from a bit of paper attached to his handlebars( a true audaxer).Anyway the old chaps would come past then we would pass them again and so on ( they had obviously done this route many times and knew it by heart.
I fell behind on Cobbs hill , we have done this before I think on haywards heath sportive , it is not long but horrendously steep. this is followed shortly afterwards by another short but steep hill.
We got split up but shortly after is the food stop. When I arrived others were tucking into hot dogs with fried onions and tea, thats a first for any ride I have been on . By time I arrived they had only veggie hotdogs left but they were really good. steve D had shot off from the start but he was still at the stop.
27 miles left and terrain was more rolling than hills and if it had not been for the rain would have been really good. We split again with Tom Dan and John pulling away. We followed on
Tom had said if you want to do a bit more can go up ditchling beacon. We decided not to do that and we got back to find others not arrived. Yes they had decided to do ditchling beacon.
Back at the parish hall there was teas and coffee for 50p and you could have a lunch for £1 including a tin of rice pudding
Would you believe as we left the hall the sun came out!!
I do not know how they do this for £5 but I shall do another
Derek M

18/10 HSLCC Fri Ride- Double First

Mark Ready To 'Defy' Stonestile

With some riders planning on doing the Chailey Audax and with other riders saving their legs for the hill climbs on Saturday and Sunday, I wasn't surprised that by 7:30 there was only myself and Jon S ready for the ride, but in the last five minutes four more riders appeared including Metin who was doing the Friday ride with us for the first time and Mark who was doing the complete route with us.This goes to show what a good bank of riders we have now for the Friday ride, we seem to have a different combination every week. It was a full moon but unfortunately there was thick cloud cover so we didn't get the benefit of the extra light down Battery hill. Having successfully made the decent I could feel my bikes rear end going all squidgy, yet again (third time in a month) I had picked up a puncture.I ended up having to do the job twice as the first (patched tube) I put in wouldn't hold any air. I am a bit disappointed in these schwalbe Durano tyres as they are not as puncture resistant as the Continental 4 seasons. I think I will keep the Schwalbe for the front only and go back to a 4 seasons on the back, they almost never puncture even when the tread is badly worn.On reaching the sea defences we were hit by a strong gusty south westerly wind. This seemed to get worse as we entered the reserve, we were all leaning to the right in order to stay up right and despite riding as a group we were down to around 15 mph. For once we weren't the only people on the reserve as the husky dog sleigh teams were also out there with lights just as bright as ours. Getting through the reserve seemed to take ages, it felt like we were on a different route to normal but once we changed direction we had a strong wind up our backs. This was going to push us all the way up to Broad Oak and helped mark to get a PB for the important Rye to Broad Oak segment moving up to 17th place overall. There was no such chance of a PB for me as my little pump had only managed to pump the tyre up to about 60 psi and with my 14 stone plus on the back end, the handling was terrible. Despite this being a low mileage week I felt done in by the time we all reassembled at the top of Stonestile in time to take the traditional first ascent picture of Metin and Mark.

First HSLCC Fri Night Ascents For Metin And Mark

The Skyroad Granfondo – Aldeias do Xisto

Fuelled on baked potatoes, pasta and barbecued pork chops, three brave souls from Hastings and St Leonards CC set off to tackle the Skyroad Granfondo in central Portugal.  Simon Grogan gave Jon Molton and Chris Chapman a short talk on Orion’s belt that was clearly visible in the night sky as we left early before dawn to get to the start in Lousa.  All three of us had squeezed ourselves and our bikes into the back of the hired Renault Clio estate, fortunately we had noticed that the nut on the end of the quick release skewer had fallen off and was lying on the ground as we loaded Simon’s bike.
We signed on just after 6.15 am and still had plenty of time before the start at 8.  We sat in the car chatting and trying to keep warm.  A hunt for a toilet followed, seemingly only one for the thousand entrants.   Time slipped-by and we had to scramble to get our bikes assembled and make the startline only a couple of minutes before 8.  We were well down the pack as the event started promptly.
The peloton wound its way on the flat roads through Lousa.  Lousa was low at only 200 metres above sea-level.  A small remote controlled helicopter with video camera flew overhead as we passed.  After 5 or 6 kilometres, the road became lumpy as we climbed up to Gois at 400m.  A climb of 200m over 16 kilometres wasn’t considered sufficient to be classified.  A sharp, twisty and cobbled descent at Gois saw us cross a roman bridge.  Soon after, Chris caught up with a Portuguese friend Luis, who lives in the next village to him.  Luis told Chris that he had been having some heart problems and had been advised not to do the ride.  Chris though it wise to stay with him to make sure he was OK.  The road climbed and fell along a river valley headed the first feeding station at Colmeal.  There we were serenaded by a local folk group in traditional dress as we wolfed down sliced oranges, bananas and ham and cheese sandwiches and refilled our bottles.
Simon had been forced to stop as the cobbles had worked the bolts on his bottle cage loose.
 Fortunately, he had found someone with an allen key and was able to tighten it up.  Disaster averted.  However, what he had not accounted for was the TV interview that he was forced to make.  Where are you from?  Do you like it?  Etc etc
From the feed station, we made the ascent of the first categorised climb, the Serra Acor.  With a vertical ascent of over 600m over 12 kilometres with a average gradient of 5%, with sections of 12% at the bottom, this was the first real test.  After the steep section, Chris and Luis stopped for a pee, another rider also stopped and repeated the Portuguese saying ‘if one stops (for a pee), three stop’.  We ground out the climb, through shist villages, and clear mountain streams.  Luis pointed out a popular but cold bathing spot.  The weather was cool, only 9 or 10 degrees and we were glad of our armwarmers.  As we climbed above the clouds which filled the valleys beneath.
At the top of the climb we were bathed in sunshine, Simon who had obviously made a quick ascent joined us as we rode across the tops of the mountains for 20 odd kilometres.  Simon was beginning to suffer but we had only covered 50 kilometres and still had over a hundred left.  He momentarily slid off the back of a small group that was forming but was towed back up by one of the following cars.  It was fairly windy across the tops and Luis, who is a wind turbine engineer, kept excitedly pointing out wind farms as we rode past.
Somewhere we refilled our bottles from a tap connected to water tanker that was parked by the side of the road.  We then began a great descent past a dam.   On the descent you could look across and see an incredibly steep climb with figures toiling up it.  The climb of the barragem santa luzia 1.6k at an average of 12% didn’t really do it justice as it included two sections of 21%.  Simon and Chris stuck it into 34x32 and were forced out of the saddle on a couple of occasions.  Echoing round the valley was the sound of massive bass drums being struck at the top by a local group.  It felt like going to war.
Chris wanted to wait to see how Jon who only had a 27 sprocket on the back, suffered up the climb, but we pressed on.  A long and winding descent brought us to the next feeding station at Pampilhosa da Serra.  We stuffed our faces with oranges and sandwiches and drank orange squash.  We weren’t quite at the halfway point but our legs were beginning to tire.
Nothing could have prepared us for what came next.  The cobbled climb out of Pampilhosa was both steep and long.  We weren’t able to look for our names on the gold stars that hung like bunting (each competitor had their name written on a different gold star) were above the town street that we followed.  Then when the cobbles ended, the tarmac road just got steeper.  At the top a cow and a monkey shouted ‘encouragement’ and jumped around like lunatics.  

‘That was the hardest ride I’ve ever done’ 

The start of the 10k climb at Picha coincided with the 100k mark.  Only 70 to go!  A quick stop at the feeding station at Pedrogao saw us refuel and stretch our legs and backs.  Over the top and down the otherside of another unclassified climb saw us arrive at the final feeding station at Castanheira de Pera.  We rode past a large river beach which in the season has a wave machine.  Luis said that there was only a final climb which wasn’t too steep and then an 18 kilometre descent to the finish.  The road climbed very gradually – 13k at 4% - up to 1,000m again.
We rode through silent chestnut woods and only two other riders all the way up.  At the top a sign of a broken hammer indicated that we had cracked it:  all downhill now.  Someone thoughtfully handed out newspapers to all the riders as it was cold at the top and had started to spit in the low cloud.  Simon rode to the front on the tricky twisty and technical descent and stayed there: leading a small peloton of 8 riders.  Luis had warned us that it was a poor road surface and an old road but in fact it was better than most roads in Sussex.    The roads dried as we descended, losing 800m over the space of 18 kilometres.
Simon just edged Chris in the hard fought sprint for 388th place in 7 hours 42 minutes and 49 seconds.  Jon, largely on his own, finished in 8 hours 32 minutes and 36 seconds for 457th place.
‘That was the hardest ride I’ve ever done’ agreed Simon and Jon.  The stats speak for themselves 169 kilometres and 6,826m of climbing.  As Simon drove us back home, he still had the energy to pioneer a new technique for driving over speed humps  - hitting them at 60 mph and treating them as launch pads.  

Chris Chapman
 

 


     
     

Ride report: Winchelsea Tea & Cakes 100K Audax

“It’s not fun; it’s training”

Ride report: Winchelsea Tea & Cakes 100K Audax Sun 13/10/2013

As usual Dave Hudson, known in Audax circles as “El Supremo” due to the magnificence of his catering, had organised a killer route, starting and finishing at Hailsham.  First a quick run along the coast (via Weds chaingang) to a generous lay-by luncheon in Winchelsea – hot drinks provided under Dave’s gazebo, self-service buffet of sandwiches, cakes, jam doughnuts, flapjacks, boiled eggs, tomatoes.  Then a second leg inland to Heathfield.  This means hilly and any geologist will tell you this is because you are traversing the weathered remnants of the Weald-Artois anticline, topping out at Brightling where the most ancient layer of rock rises to the surface and gypsum is mined 50m underground from the dried up remains of a Jurassic sea.

70 people had booked to ride but only 36 turned up, presumably the weather was a factor: the forecast called for rain and rain was provided.  Some would counsel against riding in the rain but I cannot agree.  The only real issue is temperature control which is similar to riding in hot sun or mid winter, once you are soaked through the only way to cope is to make more heat so you have to work hard ensuring a fantastic workout. QED wet winter miles provide the best training opportunities.  And as Tim Krabbé said in The Rider “The greater the suffering, the greater the pleasure. That is nature’s payback to riders for the homage they pay her by suffering. Velvet pillows, safari parks, sunglasses; people have become woolly mice. They still have bodies that can walk for five days and four nights through a desert of snow, without food, but they accept praise for having taken a one-hour bicycle ride. ‘Good for you’. Instead of expressing their gratitude for the rain by getting wet, people walk around with umbrellas. Nature is an old lady with few friends these days, and those who wish to make use of her charms, she rewards passionately.”

At the end of the day the added challenge of riding in the wet will increase the amount of EPIC available on any given ride and that is, after all, the point, isn’t it?

That said I hope it doesn’t rain on the Mid Sussex Hilly next Saturday there is still time to book for this 100K Audax and join Steve and I (see Steve’s earlier emails), I’m sure Steve will ride whatever the weather.

Tom Norris

12/10 Opportunity Knocks

The Original 'Men In Black'

Having had to reluctantly cancel the extra long early bird ride due to a wet forecast it was an added bonus that the weather forecast improved enough in time for me to organise the much shorter 'Jack Frost ride' at a not so early bird time of 10:00. Great to see Nick out with us on only his second ever early bird and also great to see Paul K again who doesn't get much chance to ride with us at present due to all his commuting. With Steve D and myself this made up a compact group of just four riders. Very pleasing  to see that the top half of battery hill has now been properly resurfaced , hopefully they will do the bottom half as well? Weather was much colder than we have gotten used to but with the bright sunshine it felt good to be out. I really do love doing this ride as although the ride takes in some relatively major roads they are all very quiet which makes for fast yet  safe riding. On riding up the A268 we were joined by Mark Ingram who by coincidence had just set off from Home for a ride. Mark stayed with us all the way to Cribbs corner before branching away on his own. After lots of fast flat riding it was a bit of a leg burner having to do the long climb past Pestalozzi up to Westfield and beyond. Nick had been riding very strongly throughout the ride but lack of food energy caught him out on the climb up Rocks lane where he really suffered to get past me and arrive at the end not too far behind Paul.The whole route took just over two hours so this ride is ideal when time is short. With the newspaper headlines declaring " Britain about to face the worst winter in 100 years" and "heavy snowfall in November", it seems the next time we do this ride it really will be 'Jack Frost'.

HSCC Fri Night Ride-4/10 Marcus Meets Stonestile

Pete tadros Looking Impressively Thin!

A perfect weather night for the HSCC Friday Night Ride. When I arrived I was surprised to see local cycling legend, Pete Tadros there. For a moment I thought he was riding with us, but no, he had seen the group assembled and had just come over for a chat. Pete is looking even thinner than normal having beaten himself into the shape for the hill climb season.He told us he was looking forward to eating normally again and putting some flesh on his bones once the season was over. A tail wind was behind us all the way along the coast and through the reserve, giving me a strava PB without much effort. Despite feeling well, I seemed to be finding it tough on the long drag up to broad oak. This turned out to be due to a slow puncture rather than tired legs. I had almost made it up to the top before having to stop in the pitch black to sort it out. A friendly driver had informed the others that I had a puncture and I was touched that the whole group came back down the hill to give me some much needed light to fix it. This was my first puncture on the schwalbe durano tyres I have recently gone over to and the tyres were impressively easy to get off and back on. Fixing the puncture in good time we proceeded to stonestile without incident. Ivan was absolutely knackered and had to get off almost immediately on the ascent. last week Marcus missed out on the climb but this week he was there suffering with the others

No Wrong turns For Marcus This Week

 as he made it to the top in good time.