Jill is an incredible writer, I have just read her book about the The great divide, this has inspired me to take up a few 'bikepacking' http://www.bikepacking.net/adventures next year , starting with the 250 mile off road route of the Wessex way which conveniently finishes at Beachy Head.
Brought back to reality by the arrival of Paul,Matt, Ivan , Pete and Nigel we were soon off on the much less adventurous but none the less wonderful course of the BBR. I was disappointed that Stewart wasn't there as I wanted to capture a daylight picture of his new 'stealth fighter', also disappointingly my regular pub partner Malc D was missing (legs completely knackered by too much riding during the week) so there would be no post BBR beers today!
Our bodies must have acclimatised to the sub 5 degree temperatures throughout last week ,because the 7 degree air temperature feel quite warm as we headed off towards little common.
I was again riding my new Giant Defy. The previous weekend I had suffered with a bad neck and shoulders due to being too stretched out. Following that ride I had put a stem two centimetres shorter which meant I could now wrap my hands around the hoods.The next problem I had to sort out was the awful seat post the bike came with. This was a cheap and nasty job which had one of those simple ratchets meaning I could not get my preferred saddle angle, it only gave me a choice of dead flat or aggressively pointing down. Fortunately the old stock seat post on my old defy was the same diameter and with the wonderful micro adjust system I was able to set up the optimal slightly downwards angle. At last I had the great long distance ride position of my old Giant defy but without the terrible rear end bounce the old model was afflicted by.
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| Ivan takes A break from Work To Do the BBR |
Arriving at the Pevensey cafe we were bathed in golden sunshine whose warming effect meant we could have eaten outside if we wanted to. Although a lady sat outside heard our conversation and pointed out some ominous black clouds in the distance.
Sure enough by the time we left the cafe, winter was back, the sun had gone back inside and it was spitting with rain, but at least there was no head wind to contend with
Pete assured us that the workers who are fixing up the railway crossing would let us through so we headed out along he Norman's bay route. Sure enough they did let us through even though on the ground there was a nasty looking giant blow torch shooting out twins flames just a few feet away from us .
The railway crossing that stopped the weds chaingang was now open as normal but I think a lot of car drivers assumed it was still closed as I don't recall seeing a single vehicle between Norman's bay and Bexhill, it felt like we were riding on 'closed roads'
We stopped at Stewart C's house on the way back so leaving Ivan to continue the fence panelling job he had started in the morning .
Next Saturday I wont be able to do the BBR as I am signed up for the 'Mad Jack' audax', Paul had made noises about doing the audax but had backed out, I made one more attempt to persuade him, telling him he was stronger than me so if I could do it, why doesn't he? Paul replied he would rather do the BBR instead so I guess the lure of the Bacon Butty ride is just too strong, the BBR has gained a new ardent supporter!
Getting back to Hastings, the realities of normal congested modern Britain returned, Bexhill road was grid locked, getting through the traffic required careful filtering. Not something that I was ever good at and now even worse after my filtering collision last year. Before long I had lost sight of Paul and Nigel but enjoyed the last five miles riding solo on my now sorted new steed.
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| Steve's Made Up With His Now Sorted Giant Defy! |
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