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).