25/5 HSLCC Friday Night Ride- Easy rider

Still Just About Light At Doleham Hill!

Just five of us were up for the Friday night ride this week, perhaps the earlier rain had put riders off? Good to see Nick there again, Nick has definitely got the bug for the Friday night ride and despite his epic charity ride last week was determined to get in some more exercise. Apart from Malcolm who disappeared off at the front before waiting for us to catch up, none of the rest of us were in the mood for pushing hard and it was nice steady riding all the way up to broad oak. I am glad to report no incidence with any dangerous car drivers this week and once we reached the top of Doleham lane it was still just about light. The light had gone by the time we reached the foot of Stonestile lane which was a little bit slippery due to the earlier weather but this didn't stop Nick who managed to pull off a new PR for Stonestile , up to a creditable 29th best of all time.

23/4 HSLCC Chaingang- The Hastings Express!

A change in the weather and back to more 'traditional' chain gang conditions - 17 riders set out into a south-westerly breeze that was carrying some light rain. We moaned about it; how quickly some good weather spoils us! Kie and I thought we were in for a cold soaking as we had stubbornly dressed for a dry ride, but the rain never really came to anything and it stayed quite warm.

I ended up leading out with Joe Kingsman again (no, I don't know why) but I felt crap. I think some shouts came my way, encouraging me to up the pace, but I didn't have the gas to increase speed. Too much food eaten in the afternoon? Not enough rest? Just a bit rubbish? Frustrating, whatever the cause.

The fast group did their thing, sweeping by and steaming off. The level crossing didn't hold them this week, so no cheeky overtakes were possible. A small group formed including Simon, John and eventually Kie. It was pointed out to me that I should've eased the pace slightly when taking the lead, allowing the next rider a chance to overtake, so I think I made things a bit uncomfortable for the group. I caused further distress when I got carried away on Spooky Hill, skipping past two riders and ending up three abreast. I was soon told the error of my ways! Oh dear, really not a great ride to this point. Two of the group broke away on the west slope, so the three of us rotated the lead to the roundabout without further drama or breaches of group etiquette.

The return leg was quick, with some wind assistance. I rode hard, the breeze helping me feel lighter and faster, just hanging on to the tail of the 'Hastings Express' until past the Star Inn when the speed went up a notch. I was soon riding alone, head down and trying to stay clear of a small group creeping up behind me on Herbrand Walk, and then along Cooden Drive. I didn't want to be caught but inevitably I was, so I tagged on the back, riding again with Simon, John and another.

The group gave me some respite and we made a big effort towards the end of the park, building up a good speed with more in the tank. This was spoilt by car pulling out in front of us, even though the two occupants must've seen us. Still, it's as well to expect the unexpected on the roads and whilst no harm was done, I felt it was one of those nights when nothing was going to go quite right. Simon said 'I bet you were pleased we caught you' and though I had wanted to stay ahead of them, he was right. I should've used my head earlier and waited for them. The one silver lining of the evening for me was an unexpected PR on the west-east slope of Spooky Hill, largely due to being in the group's slipstream.

It was good to see a new rider turn out, and a lady rider at that - welcome Jo. Seems Jo really enjoyed the chain gang 'buzz', so it's a shame that the last ride (until autumn) is next week. I hope we have a good turnout!



Regards, Neil

Nick And others Complete 900 mile Epic!

Myself and 35 riders, support trucks and drivers have just arrived back from a 900 mile ride in 3.5 days visiting the twin towns of Hastings and 5 countries to raise money for a super local charity www.charityforkids.com

We managed this by splitting into 3 teams and riding constantly day and night.

Day 1, We all met outside the Hastings town hall where we met the Mayor and had photographs taken. After that we all took off cycled to Dover where we caught the ferry to Calais. On arrival at Calais one team rode to the first twin town in France to Bethune to meet the Mayor whilst the remaining riders drove/slept.

Day 2, This was my teams turn to ride to Schoten and take in some very famous cobbled hill climbs. This was an interesting day with 4 crashes, first Luca trying to negotiate an unmade path hit a hole and went over the handle bars, luckily he was ok except a grazed face and bruising. One of the riders ahead (Phil) decided to turn back and see if everyone was ok, he drew up along side Luca laying in the dirt and forgot to unclip and promptly disappeared down into a ditch beyond sight.  We all rushed over to see if he was ok and saw him lying on his back, in a mud filled ditch with his bike on top on him, we all erupted in fits of laughter for ages, that was number two crash!

The cobbled hill climbs were very testing with very little or no grip if you got out of the seat, this is where Gary went over, thankfully no damage. Finally yours truly had an off!

Gaining speed down a hill, I didn't see a lorry coming up the lane as I was picking my line round the corner. Upon meeting the beast head on I had 3 choices, hit it head on, try to get by on its left hand side or go right into a field.  Right it was and off I came without damage thankfully.

When we arrived at Schoten  another team took over and headed of to Nijmegon and then another onto Schwerte while we took in food and slept before driving support/campers to Schwerte.

At all the twin towns our mayor met his counterpart for photos and food ETC.

Day 3. My team again and we had to ride to Mol. Only one crash today! Luca again! The old fella put his front wheel in a tram track doing 20+ and came off very badly. After a few minutes he managed to get back on and carried onwards cut, bruised and hurting but managed to complete the whole ride.

Upon reaching Mol we were able to rest/sleep and eat while the other teams rode to Kortemark and then Calais.

We all rode back from Dover to a fantastic reception in Hastings, met by family, friends, supporters and of course the mayor.

We had so far raised over £20,000!!!!!!

What a ride and experience, ITS NOT TO LATE TO STILL DONATE log onto the website.


Nick (no punctures, but a broken front wheel thanks to the cobbles) Sargant

21/4 HSLCC Early Bird- Heathfield 50

new Slimline david!

Steel Is Real baby!

After the disappointment of wimping out of the 'Tour Of The Weald' due to rain, I was determined to get out for a decent ride on the bank holiday Monday which had a forecast of sunny weather. As Ivan said he had to be back early, I quickly mapped out a simple 'up across and down' fifty mile loop to Heathfield and back.The spreadsheet calculated a 'medium' hill density ride, so  I expected it to be quite an easy ride (this was a mistake as almost all the ascent was crammed into the first 35 miles). Ivan couldn't make it in the end as he felt ill (self inflicted?) but as well as Malcolm and Lee, I was joined by John V on his brand new 'Genesis Crois De Fer' as well as a rare appearance from David ( looking slimmer than last time I rode with him). Things got off to a tough start with pretty much non stop climbing through Crowhurst and up to Brightling. Despite being in a happy mood with all the sunshine, my legs felt quite stodgy and were slow to really get going, so as usual I ended up falling a little way back from the group as we continued the relentless roller-coaster of poorly maintained roads leading up to Burwash. The countryside in this area is fantastic and this early on a bank holiday, traffic was very sparse. Our furthest point north was Mayfield (maybe I should have called it the Mayfield 50?). From here I knew that geographically there had to be more down than up but we still had some tough climbs as we dropped down into the Burwash valley only to have to climb out again. At least by now my muscles were fully warmed up and I was really enjoying this ride, this simple route had turned out to be an excellent one only marred by some terrible road maintenance. Eventually we reached sea level and it was a fast easy ride home with enough time for a quick bacon butty at Pevenesey. John's verdict on the genesis is that its a super comfy bike that feels well planted on the road. Next weekend John intends giving it a real workout as him and Nigel are tackling a 300K audax (crazy fools).

20/4 Only Two HSLCC Riders Complete Tour Of The Weald This year Due To Weather Forecast!

Despite the forecast I  made the  right choice and did tour of Weald  today. Although it was raining when left Hastings it was dry at Staplehurst as the rain had not got there. numbers down due to the rain and i thought only me and Nick B from cycle club, but I see from strava that James Cornford also did it with a good time.
We had no rain for the first hour then a shower . After that some rain but not enough to worry about and felt comfortable whole way.

Derek And Pals Chance the Wet Weather!

My useless garmin did not lock on till east peckham so did not record whole route . Course same as last year with the testing hill at 3 miles with several getting off on that .
Funny moment when Nicks rear drailieur locked going up hill and he stopped dead , someone was on his wheel and had nowhere to go so fell in the hedge.
There was six of us from the tri club and we stayed together till about half way then stronger riders pulled away. I took up my usual position at the back .
Everyone tried the timed hill sprint which is at about 58 miles and is a good way to deal with that last climb as its all downhill after that
Derek M

18/4 HSLCC Fri Night Ride- Cold Blip

Jon Wrapped Up Against The Cold!

The lovely warm spell was well and truly over as we stood waiting for the 7:35 start in a cold easterly wind. Despite the imperfect weather we had a solid turnout of seven riders including a rare appearance from Barney, his partner Susan and son Cameron. As usual I allowed myself to get dropped down Battery Hill but soon managed to catch up with the others along the sea defences. The nature reserve is now completely free of pebbles except for the right angled turn where some care is needed. Feeling stronger than normal I got my second fastest Strava time on the long drag to Broadoak. With Barney's guidance young Cameron rode really well up this never ending stretch catching me up on the  steeper sections only losing me on my gravity assisted downhill sections. I was surprised to see Mark at  Broad Oak as I hadn't noticed that he had tagged on at Rye to ride up with Malcolm on the front. It was too cold for much chat and we set off down the hill. Some complete t**t in a fast car shot past us at a great speed leaving only a couple of feet between the riders and total catastrophe, trying not to think about it, we rode on , only letting off a few expletives once we reached the top of Doleham Hill. Dodging all the Stonestile potholes has become something of a pastime before we made it to  the climb itself.  I made a concious effort to remain seated for longer than normal and found the hill relatively easily with Simon commenting that he couldn't remember me cycling up there so quickly before (although Starva says otherwise). I put this down to my Mavic Asium rear wheel which is so much stiffer than my old 36 spoke hand built 105 plus my wonderful new carbon specialised shoes.

Rare Appearance From Barney And Family!

16/4 HSLCC Chaingang- A Beautiful Day!

Another beautiful spring day and another swift and smooth-running chain gang, ridden in near perfect conditions. As in previous weeks, 20 riders set off, picking up speed towards the end of Bexhill 'prom' and riding hard up South Cliff. Nippy Joe Kingsman set the early pace with me tucked in just behind. That wasn't because I'm as fast as him...

Joe and the other strong riders soon sped ahead, leaving a straggle of smaller groups, but same as last week they were held at the Cooden level crossing. The timing worked just right for Tom and myself to steal a cheeky lead, without having to slow. The natural order was, of course, soon restored as the larger group ripped up Spooky Hill and on to Pevensey. Tom, I and one other rotated the lead and I was pleased to find I'd set a PR on the outward leg and for the overall chain gang route.

With the large, dark orange sun just ducking below the horizon, we began the return leg into a light east wind. I tucked in behind the fast boys as they whizzed through the reed-lined marsh lanes, hanging on until the descent from Spooky Hill. I settled into uneasy cooperation with a larger rider, then Kie joined us and we worked our way along Cooden Drive until they pressed on from the bump and dropped me.

It was such a pleasant evening that I decided to keep riding - east to Galley Hill, then west as far as the Cooden Beach Hotel, finally back and forth around Collington before dodging home. I got off the bike really buzzing from a great evening ride, but I also felt strangely dissatisfied. I'd hoped for, well, revenge frankly, for last week's mountain bike humiliation. But I was denied the opportunity as Paul didn't show. It would be nice to imagine that was because he knew I'd catch him this week, but in reality it probably saved me from double-humiliation!

It's been lovely riding in shorts again, but my feet have got cold in the cool morning and evening air without overshoes. Last night I rode with toe covers and they were perfect - toes nicely insulated but without the foot overheating. Recommended. As previously reported, my Giant wheels and tyres are proving very good, with the tyres in particular providing excellent comfort, grip & speed. And no punctures yet!

Remember, there are just two Wednesday chain gang rides left; the last one is on 30th April.

Neil Smith

HSLCC Early Bird- Hell Of Ashdown

Our largest Ever Turnout For The Hell Of Ashdown!

It was time for our annual trip to Ashdown forest to complete a modified version of the Hell Of The Downs sportive. They run the sportive in the frozen month of February whereas we do it in April when hopefully the weather will be on our side. So it was today, with the sun shining and the wind almost non existent ,  a slightly chilly air temperature was my only complaint. With ten riders this was our largest turnout so it took a flotilla of three vehicles to get us all there but Nigel who had developed a taste for epic mileages (apprentice mile muncher!) decided to cycle and meet us at the start. Impressively he turned up just one minute behind  the appointed meet time. Starting at the highest point meant we had easy riding for the first 18 miles. As we descended the steep hill parallel to Kid's hill (aka the wall) I reflected on the fact that next time we came back we would be climbing up this steep gradient rather than free wheeling down. With the increasing temperatures we had to stop and remove tights, vests, windproofs etc. Derek took this opportunity to carry on expecting us to catch up with him before too long.Our first test was Bailey's Hill, a lovely ramp like hill which then levels off through the lovely Goathurst Common. Unfortunately Mark sustained a puncture about a third of the way up. I stayed with him to lend support. Like me mark has discovered the joy of CO2 cylinders but there was something wrong with the gas adapter and  half the gas was spraying out the side rather than into the tube. Despite this it was up to a reasonable pressure for a front wheel so we set off after the others, only to have to stop when Mark fortunately noticed

Well Deserved R & R before The Wall!

the beading was popping out.By now Ivan had come back down the hill to lend support (this was to be a repeated pattern during the day) . Test number two was an equally impressive climb up the long drag of Hog Trough hill . Malcolm C was struggling a little today, not due to lack of fitness but not having a big enough rear sprocket to spin up the ascents.Up the hill he was getting dropped further and further back but this turned out to be a slow rear puncture. I stopped to give him a hand fixing it and looking at the worn out state of the rubber was amazed that he had got further than a mile without it deflating. Despite its age, this tyre was a pig to get off the rim. Fortunately Ivan had set off back down the hill again to lend assistance with his Ivan powered fingers. I left them to it and continued up the hill to inform the others.Test number three was Toy's hill .This famous hill has the greatest height of just over 800 feet but has a nice steady gradient so never seems too tough.I was impressed by the number of families with  children that were cycling up this hill, parents encouraging their kids to keep going, this is not something you ever see around Hastings where kids wouldn't dream of cycling up any hills. About half way up it was my turn to puncture. Mark stayed to give me assistance but with the aid of my brand new CO2 adapter I had the tyre up in no time and  got back up to the others waiting at the top,just in time to stop Ivan once again riding all the way down to lend assistance (I think he enjoyed the roll of puncture mechanic)  The descent down Toy's Hill is steeper than the ascent and a fabulous vista of endless countryside with heathland and forests opened out before us, unfortunately it was a not a good idea to lose concentration as constant pressure of pads on rims was needed to keep the speed down to a safe level. I found myself having to pull on the cables harder and harder as the rims started to heat up. Steve D found himself going too fast and couldn't stop at the bottom and overshot the junction to the other side, fortunately no vehicle was coming at the time. All day I had been impressed with all the pothole patching on the roads, unlike in our area all the patches were really well done and feather beaded into the tarmac. On the next section however there was some awful broken potholed surface on the left so myself and Kie had to ride in the middle of the road to avoid it, a car came around a bend and we had only a split second to decide to either stay in the middle and hope the car moved over tot he left or to take our chances with the potholes. Sensibly we chose the latter and clenched our jaws hoping for the best as we bashed our alloy bikes on through he broken tarmac. I fully expected to damage my nice new Asium rear wheel but hats off to Mavic as it emerged completely unscathed. After another long climb up to Hindleap Warren we rewarded ourselves with a well deserved pint and half hour rest. Just 10 miles remained. Most of these 10 miles were fast slightly down hill riding , finally with 4 miles left to go we arrived at Kidd's hill (aka the wall) . With our wide spread of ability we became very spread out  with myself and Malcolm C at the back. This hill is not as bad as its reputation and before long we arrived in the bright sunlight on Kings standing where the familiar figure of Derek had been waiting for us wondering why we had not managed to catch him up. A short blast to the car park and 'The Hell Of Ashdown' was over for another year. This wasn't enough for the intrepid Nigel who despite the tempting offer of a lift home decided to ride all the way back!! This gave him a total mileage of 124 miles after which he crashed out and slept for a solid 12 hours, lol.
We will be back in 2015!

Leg breaker Profile!

HSLCC Club Kit Makes First Appearance In Portugal

After flying in to Lisbon and meeting up with Chris Chapman a group of six toured via rolling countryside with virtually no traffic and overnight stops in several fortified towns, to act as a defence against the Spanish through the ages, before arriving at the Hastings mountain top training camp run by Chris and Jane Chapman.  Although in the clouds for much of the winter, spring arrived just in time for the party to help get the outdoor furniture and gas BBQ out of winter storage.  It was too early for the swimming pool to be uncovered and brought in to use, with glorious views down the valley and across to a distinctive rocky outcrop some eight miles on the eastern horizon.  After two days of brutal climbs and long sweeping descents with some stretches on gravel tracks the camp is about to end.  It will be a long days ride to pick up a train back to Lisbon.  The new club kit has been featured in a mountain photo shoot with photographs to be downloaded on return to Blighty.  Some snaps were taken on an iPhone to be going on with

Chris Parker

9/4 HSLCC Chaingang- Mountain Bike Humiliation

Good, if not quite perfect, conditions prevailed for the chain gang - warm enough, a bit of south westerly wind and dry roads. 19 riders started out at a steady pace, and headed west towards a smudged orange sunset over the Downs. We numbered 22 by the turn at Pevensey as late arrivals joined in. There was the usual diverse collection of steel, aluminium and carbon bikes of varying vintages, with some pessimistic souls still sporting mudguards.

Newbie Carl On His First Ever Chaingang!

There was also a madman on a 29er mountain bike with 2.3 inch knobbly tyres and front suspension. Surely this substantial machine should be powered by a 400cc two-stroke engine, and not two legs? Good, I thought, I won't be slowest tonight. But I know that when I make an assumption, life loves to prove me wrong. I'd better make sure I'm faster than him, I thought; shouldn't be hard. Ha!

Strangely, I led the group away from the shelter, at a steadily increasing pace, until I was overtaken at the end of Western Parade. I tried to overtake the excellent but poorly Stuart Hodd, but couldn't. And then as we climbed up South Cliff, I was overtaken by more riders, including the gentleman on the mountain bike... This cannot be happening, I thought, but it surely was. I laughed inwardly at my arrogance and then swore revenge. I swore again as I failed to catch him or the faster group.

I did manage to hang on to the on tail of the group, gasping heavily perhaps 20 metres away from the nearest rider, but the gap stretched to 50m by end of Cooden Drive. No-one else was close to help me reel them in, but then at the turn for Herbrand Walk Tom appeared, running late because of a puncture. We paired up and rotated the lead in steady pursuit. We gained a little ground and then level crossing closed. This was our chance! But alas, they pulled away again, that mountain bike firmly in their midst. We continued rotating the lead all across the marsh, to the turn, where we found the club members and another group, also on mountain bikes. Was I missing something?

The return leg soon rattled off, led by Steve Curtis, with what wind there was at our right shoulders. The fast boys swept by, with 'Mountain Man' powering through the tarmac rather than over it. At Spooky Hill, I caught him as he fell behind the lead group. I approached with caution - was he hungry? Either way, I was sure I'd get past him and away, but I was tricked! He was waiting for some hapless fool to break the wind for him and now I was trapped.

Richard On Only His second Chaingang!

I pressed forward, trying to use the incline as a slingshot along the straight stretch to the Star Inn. I accelerated - did I have him beaten? A low rumbling noise grew, like the sound of land rover tyres on a concrete motorway. The noise thrummed in my ears as he drew closer. Would I be mashed beneath his wheels? Would he even notice - what a beast! Legs like the stone pillars in the Temple of Dagon, pumping down like the pistons of a large steam engine. I could've sworn there was a blast of warm air and a whiff of diesel as he ripped by, stone chips flying off his tyres and sheep scattering in the fields.

Rare Appearance from Konrad!

I tucked in behind as we sped towards the level crossing and we settled into rotating the lead along Herbrand Walk, with the half-moon hanging high in the south sky. Around Cooden Corner and pushing hard along the Drive, we carried on rotating until Cooden Bump, when the Mountain Man, joined from nowhere by Malcolm, pushed on hard and dropped me. A cloud of other riders hustled by, but I managed to overtake a few of these before reaching the lights.

After catching my breath, I saw 'Mountain Man' standing by his steed, surrounded by a haze of diesel and burning rubber. I had to congratulate him on his awesome ride. My nemesis is Paul Fuller - hear the name and tremble. Paul, you've inspired me. If you can ride that fast on a small tractor, I can do better on my racer. I'm just not working hard enough!

And so ended an enjoyable ride and an even faster one than last weeks. I averaged a good 32kph, including over the extra 10km I add to the end of the ride. This was a good speed for me. Next week I'll try to better it and try also to avoid mountain bike humiliation. The shame!

Neil Smith

8/4 HSLCC Early Bird- Scotney Hilltastic

First HSLCC For James!

Just 15 miles to go!

Being on holiday I was able to arrange a week day early bird ride. the aim was  to try out a new 50 mile route  obtained from someone on Strava (cant remember who) called the 'Scotney Castle Hilltastic'. This would be excellent preparation for the 'Hell Of Ashdown' on Sunday as its hill density of  87 (feet per mile) is only a little lower than Ahdown's 95. Riding with us for the first time was James Cornford. James had reached a high standard of BMX riding and had only relatively recently switched to road riding. From his emails he seemed a little apprehensive about riding with us but being a young slim man on a shiny carbon bike surrounded by a clutch of mamils, I didn't think he would need to worry. As Colin exclaimed, '' good job you like his bike as you are going to be seeing a lot of the back of it"! We waited a good ten minutes for Nigel who had emailed me to say he was coming but couldn't delay any longer so set off west towards battle without him. This was my first ride with a new stiffer (mavic aksium) back wheel and some brand new carbon shoes. Unusually for me I hadn't fully tested them before the ride, just set them up and hoped for the best. Straight away I felt a big improvement  at the back end of my cheapo alloy Giant Defy, no longer was the back end bouncing around as though I had a puncture.It wasn't super stiff but the remaining springiness was probably a good idea to give me a comfortable ride. The carbon shoes felt made to measure and provided a superb platform for pushing down onto. With these improvements I definitely felt myself riding one or two mph faster up hill. For once, I wasn't the back marker, this joy was left to Steve D who was little slower than me all day. On ascending Netherfield hill my mobile went off and I checked to find a text from Nigel who was in hot pursuit of us, being able to follow the route on his Garmin.This being a new route, once or twice I misinterpreted  the line on my garmin and we had to double back for a missed turn, Colin gets annoyed by these errors and reckons I should get an edge 800 with full mapping but I am a big fan of the more basic bread crumb trail and see missing the occasional turn as part of the fun. However, when we got near Scotney castle the Garmin seemed to be directing us down the dual carriage way. This couldn't be right, so we went this way and that way and couldn't seem to get on the correct route. While faffing around, there was a shout and the familiar figure of Nigel appeared, after 22 miles he had finally caught up with us.
Nigel also had the route on his garmin, so myself and Nigel tried to sort out which way we should go. Eventually we found out that the route was actually down an access route into the castle itself! By now the others had decided to head up the main road to lamberhurst and Goudhurst so we abandoned our little historical excursion and joined them for what turned out to be a very fast and surprisingly enjoyable diversion along the A22 to Goudhurst. The rest of the route was on some of my favourite Kent roads through places such as Hartley and Sandhusrst before arriving at the familiar village of Staplehurst. Here my Garmin finally ran out of juice but we had all decided to head the direct route to our various homes , as most of us were feeling the 4,000 feet of ascent in our legs. Myself, Steve B and Nigel headed to Westfield for a nice cut of tea at Steve's lovely cottage that he finished renovating last year. I really enjoyed this new route and was overjoyed with my new carbon shoes, no nerve pain even after 55 miles, brilliant!

4/4 HSLCC Fri Night Ride- Friday The Thirteen!

New carbon For Diego!

The Welcome Return Of Josef And Simon N!

Our first Friday night ride after the clocks had gone forward, brought out a record number of cyclists . The only time we have had more than this was last year on the Friday night special to say farewell to the 'Bewl Water Boys'. Diego had brought along a brand new carbon Raleigh instead of his dependable alloy , this was to be its first ride, but even the short ride up to the lodge had shown how much better it was at absorbing the bumps. For the first time this season Simon N and

Nick Shows Off His Strength!

Josef were there.Also we had a Friday night virgin in the familiar form of Nick S who was brought out by the lovely sunny evening.This gave us a total of thirteen riders, so different to just a few cold wet weeks ago when there were just one or two riders like myself or the ever dependable Simon G keeping the flame alive.
  I made the mistake of being one of the first riders down Battery Hill and mentally winced every time a rider whizzed past me, trying not to think of the repercussions of a tyre blow out or fork failure. At least the large pothole had been really well fixed with a large patch. The nature reserve looked like it had been swept as there seemed to be less pebbles than usual and before long we were at the bottom of the long drag up to Broad Oak. With so many of us we split into two roughly even groups. No one seemed to be in much of a rush and for most of the drag I had the novelty of riders around me . On the fast decent at Brede, Nick's pump jumped off the frame and despite going back to get it, he had to give up trying to find it. Nick was a bit apprehensive about climbing Stonestile in the dark and we were the last ones to begin the ascent with Nick easily beating me to the top. A very enjoyable night for everyone, Nick really enjoyed it and after a few post ride beers declared that he would come more often.

2/4 HSLCC Chaingang-The Return Of The Sun!

Last week, 3 degrees, fleecy tights & overshoes; this week 16 degrees, mitts & bare (hairy) legs. We'd started in the dark, but this week in the light. Not quite such good news was the stiff easterly breeze, but the Strava devotees amongst us sensed a chance to smash some PRs on the outward leg.

Steve, Hoping For Some Wind Assistance!

Perhaps this worked against the good group discipline of recent rides, as this weeks 25 riders seemed more scattered. With Chris's dire warnings of invisible cars ringing in our ears, we set off at a good wind-assisted pace. Within 50 metres, the rider ahead of me slipped a cleat and went into a comedy wobble, just saving a crash at each extreme of the movement. All we could do from behind was watch and wait for the final loss of control, but the rider did well and avoided kissing the Tarmac. Hopefully, that would be the nearest we'd get to an accident!

As hoped, I later found I'd bagged some good PRs on the blast to Pevensey. This seems fair compensation for the times this winter that I've bashed along Cooden Drive and Herbrand Walk through a south-westerly gale. Lovely to have a warm following wind, but of course this also made everyone else faster, so whilst Spooky Hill was easier than usual for me, I still couldn't hang onto the small groupings ahead.

The return leg was hard work, but was helped by some cooperation; Malcolm, Simon and eventually Tom joined me in a group that rotated the lead nicely until Malcolm had got away from us down the Cooden Bump, pushing a big fixed gear. We caught him on the last stretch towards the lights - the group wins every time, just like the tour. Well, nearly every time.

What a novelty- A chaingang in the light!

All in all, it was a good ride. I achieved my highest average chain gang speed to date and had a ride with a bit of everything. Joe Kingsman proved himself a strong and fast young rider, and some bloke called Pete seemed to have given the swifter chaps a run for their money. The marvellous Stuart Hodd looked very fresh and relaxed at the lights, so I can only assume he'd taken a short-cut and then put his feet up.

Chris also announced that April is the last month for Wednesday chain gangs. I'm still in shock - you could've broken it to me more gently! I've been enjoying them so much. I suppose I'll have to give the time trials a go. A fresh challenge and new experiences await me.

Neil Smith