12/1 HSLCC Club Ride- Benenden Buster

Andy back from a shoulder op!

Good to see Jamie again after such a long time!

With good dry weather it was third time lucky for us to try out the new 'Benenden Buster' route supplied by Mark. Our numbers were boosted by the return of several riders. lee and Marcus were back from their Xmas holidays, Jamie was there to get back in shape for TT season, Andy F was back from his shoulder injury and Baxter was just back from his usual post mtb season lay-off. This made a total of twelve riders. I was very pleased to see that about half the riders now have garmins and most had downloaded the route, this greatly takes the pressure off me for navigation. Mark was meeting us at Rye harbour so we rode down through Pett village and down  into the reserve where sure enough he was waiting for us. The route took us on some lovely quiet roads skirting the edge of the marsh before heading west towards Benenden itself. the first half of the route was mainly flat so  most of the climbing lay in front of us at this point. Baxter was generally the slowest today having lost a lot of fitness over his sabbatical but Mark was also suffering, with this being his third ride in three days, the mileage and lack of energy were catching up with him. With so many riders it was hard to keep checking where everyone was and at some point we managed to lose Malcolm C (sorry about that Malcolm).Andy was worried about the mileage and despite finding the last 15 miles tough, did well to keep up with everyone, his shoulder seemed to be holding up well. On nearing home riders started peeling off which left just myself, kie, Marcus,Nigel and Baxter to complete the last part of the route up some stiff hills through Sedlescombe and past the Carr Taylor vineyards.The sun had long since disappeared behind the clouds and the air temperature had taken a real dip. We were all suffering by now and seeing a sign for a cafe in the vineyard decided to pull over and try it out. It was rather basic but the tea and cake was just what we needed to complete this excellent route.

Baxter and Marcus back from their respective breaks!