26/2- HSLCC Chaingang- Bad Tumble!

Joe Back From Winter Hibernation!

I've missed a few Wednesday night chain gangs of late, so I was very much looking forward to tonight's ride in light and dry winds. And so it seems were lots of others! I think in all that 30 riders set off and at a fair clip, with a fast group emerging on Western Parade, then ripping ahead up South Cliff.

But they didn't get far. A chaos of lights and cries broke out within 100m of the turn and it was soon clear we had a rider down. Thankfully, he had not hit his head but he was clearly in pain and an ambulance was called as we didn't like the look of his right arm.

With plenty of riders in attendance, the rest of us continued the ride, slightly subdued. But it was a beautiful starry night, fresh enough to encourage a warming effort. A dozen or so riders assembled at Pevensey and began the return leg, meeting the riders who had stayed with the casualty, part-way across the marshes.

We pressed on - it's not often that Tom, Kie and myself find ourselves in the lead group (well, ok, never). Malcolm had done a cheeky turnaround and led us home, dashing across the marshes, down Herbrand Walk and along Cooden Drive. He and someone else made it back first, Kie came in third, followed by me and Tom. A new world order! Where was the marvellous Stuart Hodd and Co tonight? Languishing in the rear! Ok, I guess we had a head start...

Well, Stuart and the others eventually rolled in and the chat was inevitably about the poor crash victim. Definite broken arm, it seems, with the crash caused perhaps by a touch of wheels. Whilst we chatted the ambulance carrying him pulled up alongside. The crew opened the door and invited us to say hello, which we duly did. I don't know the name of our injured comrade, but it goes without saying that we all wish you a speedy and full recovery. And let's hope we have good weather again next week!

Neil Smith

21/2 HSLCC Fri Night Ride- Pebble Dash

Just Tell Yourself You Are Enjoying This Malc!

After fine Friday weather during the day I was looking forward to a dry  night ride. However, as the sun set the wind picked up and the forecast had deteriorated to light rain around 9:00. Oh well, hopefully we would get back before it started raining. Just four of us were up for the ride including Malcolm D who is still having trouble with his leg/hip despite taking a month off cycling. With the wind behind us it was easy riding into the reserve but we soon found ourselves having to dodge an increasing number of pebbles until we came across one section that was almost completely covered. Until this is cleared we will have to switch back to the road as these could easily throw a rider off in the dark. Reaching the end of the reserve and taking a right angled turn we were met with the full force of the westerly wind and suddenly the wind was joined with cold heavy rain lashing our exposed faces. Within a few minutes my windproof was soaked, a quick stop at the public loos to put on our water proofs was needed. Simon tried to organise a peleton up the broad oak drag , mainly to aid Malcolm , but despite riding on three cylinders Malcolm was still stronger than myself and soon dropped me, although on reaching the flatter or slightly downhill sections gravity came to my aid and I was able to claw him back and overtake everyone.Luckily the earlier rain had stopped and we had a windy but dry ascent of Stonestile. Malcolm and myself retired to the pub, looking forward to warming up by a radiator while drinking a few beers. Unfortunately the pub's heating system had failed and it was barely any warmer than outside. By the time we left the rain had returned with a vengeance and the wind had reached near gale force. We were absolutely frozen and our teeth were chattering. It was a relief to ride up the hill into Ore where some useful body heat was generated. This was the coldest I have been this winter!

19/2- HSLCC Chaingang- View From The Back

Expected a large turnout for chaingang as first reasonable evening for weeks . Mild little wind and appeared no rain .
Had been looking at blog and reports from those who had turned out in horrendous weather in last few weeks. The banter was along the lines of what bad weather !! .
We gradually built up to eleven ( I think ) riders and as each turned up I was thinking of how long they would have to wait for me at Pevensey. I decided to set off early . Malcolm and  Tom  also left early a bit after me . Tom passed me at cooden and pulled me and Malcolm along , Malcolm has an injury that has kept him out for some time.
It was raining ( again ) by time got to Star our little train had a near miss with a car on the bridge as  due to rain did not see car but think car got the bigger shock .
Tom (sporting his new derailleur ) pulled us to pevensey in the drizzle, but 500 metres from end the train of the other riders came flying past and that is first time I have seen how fast they go.
The return journey was on my own as Malcolm had got his body working a bit better .
Derek

19/2- HSLCC Early Bird- 1066

First Of The Three Punctures!

Nigel's Diet Is Going Well!

On Lee's suggestion I decided to organise a mid week early bird ride and was delighted that Nigel, Ivan and Mick were also able to join us. Chris Parker also rode with us a little while but soon bade us farewell as he was saving his legs for the evening's chaingang which was sure to be well attended. The route was one of the first ones that I had ever mapped out, long before garmins were even a glint in some technician's eye. This is a tough route being graded in hills as very hard, so I was glad to have a breather when Nigel got a puncture just outside of Robertsbridge. Passing through Bodium I was looking forward to seeing the flooded plains around the castle but amazingly most of this water had disappeared and all that was left were a few large puddles, what a difference a fortnight makes.!Steep hills around Beckley put paid to any light conversation, dropping a little back from the others and climbing out of the saddle I noticed my front tyre was flat. Ivan kindly found a couple of bits of flint embedded in the rubber and we were on our way towards the familiar Broad Oak junction where Mick left us to head directly home. Swooping down the hill my instincts wanted me to continue on the Friday night route but the '1066' had a more devious and taxing course in stall which first involved descending down Steep Hill Lane towards Sedlescombe. This lane was in such shocking condition that even the Hailsham audax would be impressed. Shouting warnings to the others I descended as safely as I could trying to avoid mud , patches of gravel and numerous potholes. Regrettably I clipped the edge of one of the smaller craters which was sufficient to give me a rapid pinch puncture but fortunately this was near the bottom of the lane so I was able to steer the rapidly mishandling bike to the side. We were now only twelve miles from home but these were very tough miles as we peddled past Pestalozzi, Westfield and Rock lane. I had not eaten very well the last few days owing to a stomach bug and Nigel was
on a reduced calorie diet so we were both riding on empty by now. Still, salvation was at hand, all downhill through Ore and down to an old town cafe. lee and myself arrived there first, and we waited for Ivan and Nigel who were just behind us, but after ten minutes there was no sign of them. A phone call from Nigel informed us that Ivan's chain had come off and they were on their way. I didn't think much of us until they duly arrived and told us how on the steep descent of 'Old London road , the loss of the chain had caused Ivan's back wheel to lock up and throw him off. This left Ivan sprawled across half the carriage way still attached to this pedals. Fortuitously the vehicle behind them was an ambulance which pulled over to check that Ivan was OK . Ivan was fine and the only damage was a small hole in the backside of his lycra.

16/2 HSLCC Club Ride- 'Coastguard'

First HSLCC ride for Chris!

Steve Shows His best Side!

Almost perfect weather for a change with blue skies, light wind and glorious sunshine. This brought out an excellent turnout of eleven riders which included Chris Barret on his first ever HSLCC club run. last to turn up was Paul Baxter on a gleaming brand new giant TCR composite 105 equipped steed.This was to be Paul's first ever ride on this new steed. We set off at a steady pace along the ridge through Pett and off to Rye and then Appledore. Riding without the wind felt great and after all the head wind riding we have donerecently the riding seemed effortless. On reaching Appledore I thought we would have a quick breather and a bite to eat at the bridge. It was only then that I found out that apparently Paul had had to go back to the Harrow to retrieve his water bottles so that was the end of his club ride,this was a shame as I would love to know what Paul thought about his new bike as its one I am considering purchasing one day . Heading off the military road and into the quiet flat roads of the Walland Marsh was glorious with the sun shining off all the flooded fields and streams. Unfortunately (apart from Steve D who was struggling a bit today) I was the only one with the route on their garmin so all the navigation stress fell on me, fortunately I was feeling good so was able to lead from the front most of the time. Halfway between Old Romney and Mary in the Marsh we came to a halt . Ahead of us a river had burst its banks and there was water right across the road! How deep was it, could we get through? I cycled  in first, trying to reach a compromise between enough momentum to get through and not too fast in case I hit a pot hole. The further we travelled , the deeper it got and the harder it was to keep moving. Suddenly I felt the front wheel sinking into a pot hole, all forward movement was lost, I had to put my feet down so my shoes immediately filled

Dry Sunny And Well Maintained lanes, lovely!

right up with cold water. John narrowly missed falling in when he lifted up his feet to keep his shoes dry only to find it a struggle to clip back in, almost losing balance. Having successfully crossed the flood, I nearly caused a bad accident when having missed a turn I called everyone to a halt and road right in front of John who fortunately managed to stop in time (apologies!). Ivan was really getting into his stride now while I was beginning to feel a little tired. I couldn't quite keep up with Ivan and his little group of followers and unfortunately Ivan missed a right turn. Lee shouted out to them to come back but after waiting a few minutes we realised no one had heard. No one was answering their phone so we decided to carry on the way they had gone expecting them to be waiting for us up ahead. On reaching Appledore there was no sign of them. Andy and Dave didn't want to go home the lumpy way, so myself lee, Steve and Malcolm were now riding as a group of  four. Malcolm and Steve were  struggling by now and suddenly disappeared. I knew Steve had the route on his garmin so wasn't too concerned. That left just myself and Lee, the last two survivors of the original eleven. The terrain now began to change as it started to get more lumpy heading towards Wittesrsham. Much to our surprise we saw Steve up ahead, he had taken a crafty short cut but there was no sign of Malcolm who had decided to go a different way . Steve was plodding on in 'survival' mode, putting his tiredness down to a late shift at work. Lee and myself had to leave him behind but a few minutes later we were delighted to see the familiar shapes of Ivan and his entourage. They had correctly guessed which way the route went, so except for Steve, Andy, Dave and Malcolm we were all back together.Riding through Peasmarsh was so different to the marsh with lots of running water and mud on the road. This contributed to Ivan getting a puncture which gave Steve  chance to catch up with us and get ahead. On arriving at Broad Oak nobody was willing to join me on the official route which would have meant going up Doleham lane. Lee and Chris headed for battle while the rest of us decide to stick to the main Westfield road, part of me was relieved as I was feeling pretty tired by then and the dodgy nerve in my foot was beginning to play up. On arriving home I had covered 72 miles which is not too shabby.

12/2 HSLCC Chaingang- Riders On The Storm

As I set out for the Wednesday chain gang I knew it was going to be an interesting ride as half an hour earlier there had been a proper storm! I knew this because it had all the right ingredient for a storm. Thunder, lightning and hail! Unlike all the other 'storms' we have been getting which are really just wind and rain. Anyway, the proper storm or just wind and rain argument can wait for another day... I have a ride to review.
I set of from my 'gaff' near Ore and took the route along the ridge, down Harrow lane to Bulverhythe to try to avoid some of the wind and then over Galley hill. On some sections of this route I think I must have reached at least 4... maybe 5 mph!
At the bus stop waiting were four other nutters, sorry riders in the shape of Slawek the great, Tom, Barney (baldrick) Willard and the whippet Trevor. That was it so we set of at what can only be described as slow. This continued for the rest of the ride out with Slaw, Barney and the whippet pushing ahead while I stayed with Tom as to leave a man behind on a night like that was bad form and with the strong wind he may have tried to get to the Pevensey roundabout but ended up in Westfield instead Mary Poppins style!
At the roundabout we said goodbye to Slawek the great and Mary Poppins and myself Baldrick and the whippet set of back towards Bexhill.
 With the whippet on the front and Zephyros behind us the speed rose dramatically! 25, 27, 30! Spooky hill was like a mere bump in the road and while there we could see the English channel lit by lightning as a 'proper storm' raged above it.
It was 30 mph all the way to Cooden where after the turn and with the whippet back on the front and the Greek god of wind at our heels this soon went up to 35! at the Cooden incline Barney flicked his elbow for me to pass which took me a good 200m  as I was already flat out! This aloud the feather like whippet to be whisked from us by Zephyros and his insane fitness! I gave the briliant baldrick a lead out and he unleashed his sprint in a vain attempt to catch the magnificent whippet, this was all he had left so I continued at pace to earn myself a nice little KOM (sorry Slawek) to the lights. (the whippet is not on Strava... thankfully!)
We rode home at a decent pace, said fairwell to the whippet as he peeled away at the Azur to leave Barney and I to be blown along the seafront and up the hill towards home. After a quick summit meeting and debrief outside Barney’s I made my way home after a ride that I wasn’t looking forward to turning into one of the classic Hastings and St Leonards cc chain gangs!

Stuart Hodd

12/2 HSLCC Weds Chaingang: More Ways Of Brutal!

Even windier on the chaingang than last week!
Thankfully the shingle and water feature were gone from Harebrand Walk.
The Mad Bastards lined up again in Bexhill for one more heroic effort; me, Barney, Trevor, Swavek and Stuard Hodd.  Bianchi is being repaired after last weeks adventures so it was Cro-Moly for me.  No doubt (!) it was the extra weight that made it so difficult to hang on to that last wheel and I was dropped twice, St. Stuart of Hodd waited to shepherd me back to the flock the first time and the second time dropped back so we could ride together to the turn.   Blessings be upon him.
Swavek and I felt totally beat up after getting back to Eastbourne so judged it to be an excellent training ride.

Tom Norris

9/2 VTTA Reliability Trial

Another Chance To be Reliable!

When I woke up the weather didn't look too promising as the wind was howling and occasional heavy showers were lashing against the windows. Turning on the pc to check the weather forecast I could see that they were all claiming that the wind would die down and it would be mainly dry with some sunshine. After reassuring Derek about the forecast I loaded up the mpv , the rain had stopped but it was still pretty windy. Arriving at Bethersden HQ we all assembled with a good turn out nine riders. This included Mick and Malcolm C on their first ever reliability trial. Once the obligatory photo was taken , Chris P led us off at a surprisingly fast pace. Has Chris being doing secret training, I asked myself? I didn't think I could keep up this pace for 50 miles and was even less sure that Derek or Nick would be able to.Fortunately after ten miles or so Chris started to slow down while I was speeding up and getting into the 'zone'. This ride was so different to the recent audax that many of us did. Mostly flat B or C roads in decent condition and some very welcome sunshine, this was going to be an easy ride.We were following the gpx of the route but one section

Chris P Sets A fast Initial Pace!

of about 4 miles was closed off and so we had to follow a diversion onto a much rougher lane with a few ups and downs. One down section was badly weathered with so much washed up road gravel that there were heaps of it piled up in the middle and spreading out to the side. Much to Steve D's annoyance I had to break to scrub off some speed before trying to hit it in a perfect straight line, so as to avoid skidding and falling off r . By this point we had split into two groups with Chris, Derek and Nick in the slower group and the rest of us in the lead group. From here on the ride was back to easy B roads and we were making a good average speed of over 16 mph. We had signed on to do the ride in three and a half hours but this was looking wildly pessimistic. We even had time for a ten minute breather at Appledore which caused some confusion to other riders who kept slowly down to ask if this was a check point. Somehow the wind was never head on, it was either to the side or at our backs, so we arrived back at base in under three hours, more than half an hour early. Oh well unreliable
again!

7/2 HSLCC Fri Night Ride- Time To Remember

After all the recent wind and rain it was a treat riding home from Bexhill, almost no wind and mild dry weather. Checking the weather forecast it looked like the next storm would arrive sometime around 11:00 pm, two hours after the friday night ride finishes, so should be OK for the Friday night ride. I arrived early at the Fairlight lodge so wasn't surprised that no none was there but after 15 minutes of sitting down on a soggy wooden log it was obvious that this was going to be a Friday night ride of one. I guess a mixture of bodily ailments and the impending approach of the next storm had taken its toll. Being on my own it didn't seem safe to do the normal Broad Oak route so decided to do the slightly shorter 'Battery Hill Classic ' instead. As I rode solo across the increasingly windy sea defences and through the harbour I thought back to 1992 when I first mapped out this simple ride , tackling it on an mtb with semi road tyres. I remembered the faces of the many riders of the past who have done this ride with me over the last 22 years. Most of them have moved away or fallen out of love for cycling. Some have passed away and are no longer with us. Of the original gang of riders ('Battery Hill Climbers' as we called ourselves) only myself, Paul B and PeteT are still riding. Turning left after the harbour road I was met by a full on head wind. A few months ago this would have bothered me but we are all so used to wind by now that it hardly seemed to matter as I ploughed on the long straight empty road. A nice slow but easy ascent of Battery Hill finished the task. Another useful 22 miles to add to Strava and yet another completion of my first ever route. Weather permitting I intend to be there next week, hopefully not on my own, LOL.

5/2 HSLCC Chaingang- Brutal!

Brutal in all ways last night.

I was blown like a leaf from Eastbourne over to Bexhill  through deep water by the level crossing and shingle banks blown onto the road on Harebrand Walk.  Met up with Slawomir, then Barney and Trevor turned up having battled into the wind.  We set off promptly before getting too cold into a very stiff headwind, we quickly instigated a steady through and off which promised to make the slog back upwind less arduous and then suddenly I was grinding to a halt.  Turns out something had gone catastrophically awry with the drive chain and as per attached photo the chain had got wrapped around my derailleur and the momentous torque I was putting into it has ripped the hanger right off!   As Barney said at least it didn’t happen in a sprint.  On reflection I think the chain was beyond worn and one of the links came apart and the side plate has got itself caught in the jockey cage, there were strange noises and such going on prior to this which I realise now I ought to have investigated but just assumed at the time was the beginning of noise of a stretched chain skipping on a worn cassette.
Not only did I have to phone my wife to come out and rescue me in the howling wind but I am now looking at what I imagine will be an expensive repair (unless I can make a case for a new bike, there’s a way to turn a problem into a solution).

Tom Norris

1/2 HSLCC Early Bird- Horam Via Brightling

Hail At Brightling!

Today's 'early bird ride' was one of Chris Parker's three routes to Horam. This one is probably the easiest of the three and goes through Brightling. Following the storm on Friday night the wind was surprisingly light and there was some welcome sunshine. Joining us for the first time on an early bird was Mick . Tom was also joining us for the first time and had ridden all the way from Eastbourne  intending to peal off from the route at Hailsham. Tom had got up really early to be at the Harrow on time but was having some back trouble brought on by a stormy hard weds night chaingang riding an old steel bike along side Trevor and Barney. We headed off along the main road towards Battle and then the long climb up Netherfield hill. After getting dropped on the last early bird, Malcolm C had done some extra training and was definitely riding better on the hills. We carefully negotiated our way across the minor roads  and although there were some pot holes and mud, these roads were in pristine condition compared to some of those we 'enjoyed' riding at last weeks audax. On approaching Brightling the sky turned dark and for ten minutes we were bombarded with hailstones that turned the road white and made a satisfying crunch under our wheels. Now there was some fast riding on downhill or flat roads as we headed in the direction of Heathfield, this was only spoilt by some cold intermittent  heavy showers.Tom's bad back was slowing him down and he was falling back somewhat., so when he suffered a puncture and a failed inner tube nobody realised until it was to late. Not knowing exactly where he was we rung him up and arranged to see him at the lake side cafe. Poor Tom took so long to fix his puncture that he arrived at the cafe just as we were leaving but decided to forgo the cafe rather than hold us up. We ignored the 'road closed' sign at Michelham priory where the moat had flooded and water was pouring across the road, this proved difficult for cars but easy for us who were able to pass through on the right side of the road. The wind had now picked up but fortunately was blowing from the East so all the way back from Hailsham we had the wind behind us helping  break a good few personal  Starva segments on the way back to  Hastings

Mick Negotiates Flooding At Michelham  Priory!

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