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.