5/3 HSLCC Nice And Steady

Following Todd's accident last week, it was a rather subdued chaingang that met up on a perfect evening for riding. All agreed that the front group needed to work together better as a group to reduce the chance of another accident. As the most experienced road riders Sean and Barney were willing to offer their guidance, acting as 'ride captains' in keeping the front group together as a safe working pack.To reduce accidents, any riders who chose to go off the front of the pack would not be chased down, there would be no overlapping of wheels and at choke points (eg road junctions) the pack would be single file. Sean expressed the wish to teach the front pack to ride as a true' through and off chain' but thought this was a target for the future. For now a safe working pack would suffice. With Sean and Barney leading; the entire field of twenty plus riders road together at warm-up pace. On reaching Cooden drive, Sean and Barney gradually increased the pace until the riders started to pull apart into two main groups. Unfortunately at this point Neil picked up a puncture and I stopped to give some assistance. Puncture repaired we set off to try to catch up. Neil is significantly stronger than myself so we worked together as a pair with myself slipstreaming. I was looking forward to seeing what the chaingang looked liked from an outsiders perspective on the opposite side of the road  . Before long we could see flashes of light in the distance and then we were dazzled by an impressive array of bright lights. The 'captains' had even managed to get 'through and off' working and apparently kept this going for about five miles. On turning around at Pevenesey we spotted two riders fixing a puncture at the side of the road. One of them turned out to be Richard on his first ever chaingang. This was bad luck, but Richard did not seem to be put off as his parting words were see you Friday! At the end of Herbrand walk another pair of riders were at the road side. This time it was John B and Sean. John's chain had snapped and  Sean was helping him rejoin it. Despite out best efforts, all the riders were gone by the time we got back to Bexhill but I finally caught up with many of them in the Anchor pub down the old town.Club secretary Chris Parker  came down later to join us , specifically to see how everything went. On hearing our tales he was delighted and greatly appreciates the contribution Barney and Sean are making to a safe chaingang.