HSLCC Chaingang- Dec 4

Up at 06:00, out to London for meetings, back home for Doctors appointment, log back on to work laptop, phone calls, emails, papers, hassle, deadline of 17:30 met, prepare evening meal for wife and kids, bung it in oven, wash up last nights dishes - aargh!  Can I go now please?

A manic day; we all have them.  It's tempting to flop on the sofa and watch the telly, or grab a four-pack of beers, but I know that I'll feel a million times better after a hard ride in the cold, sharp, night air.  So, tyres are pumped, lights charged and clothing decisions made.  It's going to be a chilly ride, just 2 degrees C, but there is very little wind and the roads have been gritted.

'Team Raleigh' Reunited

Crackle and pop went my tyres as I flick off the pavement and cut across the salt, heading through the evening traffic to the chain gang rendezvous.  There are already two or three riders waiting and 19 eventually make it out across the marshes.  It was suggested that it was too cold for some of the Eastbourne-based riders to come out, otherwise we could've had a higher number.  There was at least one honourable exception (nice one Tom).

It was a starry night, the roads were largely dry and the lead riders set a good pace.  It was great to be out, although a motorist seems displeased with our presence as we turn off South Cliff onto Cooden Drive.  It was hard to fathom what the problem was as all he does is lean dramatically on his horn.  Jealousy?  Anyhow, the lead group stretches away at this point.  By Herbrand Walk, those of us who ride more steadily watched the rear lights grow smaller as the group make the right hand bend at the wood yard and cross the rails.

I fall into a group with some familiar faces and we rode in a small but perfectly formed peloton and picked up a straggler or two from the front group, before breaking up and making for the turn point.  The pause at Pevensey brings home how cold it is but we were soon on the return leg across the marshes.  This time, I managed to stay with the front group until Spooky Hill, but did stay ahead of the smaller rear group, riding solo along Herbrand and Cooden Drive, with Jupiter shining in the East to mark the route back.

No personal records broken tonight, I was just too frazzled to really push hard, but I felt a 1,000 times better than I had all day.  By the way, I met some bloke who said he was Stuart, but he didn't look anything like the bloke I met last week - he had loads of freckles.  He seemed harmless enough though.  I rode back along the front, keeping Tom company as far as the Cooden Beach Hotel, before heading home and logging back on to the work laptop again.

Neil Smith