5/4 Mayfield Mayhem- Spring Special

Super Turnout For The First Spring Special!

We had surprisingly good turnout of riders for the first of the 'Spring Specials'. These specials are deliberately mapped to be as hilly as possible and involve riding out of our usual area so that we get a chance to ride some unusual lanes and hills.This one was a new one that I had partly based on a sportive I had found, would it live up to the standard of the others?

The ride officially began at Robertsbridge rail station but some of the fitter riders such as JV and Simon G deciding to ride out to the start . I was very impressed with their pacing as at exactly 8:00  all ten of us were assembled and ready to go.

The pace was a little faster than I was used to and left me hanging off the back of the group. Determined not to let the others down I pushed myself a bit harder than normal (which gave me a headache) but was confident that my stamina would see me through.

Of all the rides in my collection, this one has the second  highest ascent per mile (106 leg breaker ) being beaten only by the Mad Jack Audax. The sequenced of named hills kept coming straight away, so that within 9 miles we had gone from near 90 feet to 500 feet of altitude. One early hill that particularly stood out was Blackdon hill with its 0.7 mile climb and constant 7% gradient. Around this time Simon picked up a puncture, Simon G and John M went to his assistance and told the rest of us to press on as they would now be breaking away to get back home to Bexhill.

You Are never Too Hard Core To refuse Icecream!

Now that our group size had shrunk somewhat, the pace seemed to ease a little and for a while the riding was bit easier as we rode on across the undulating landscape, gradually losing height as we headed into Ashdown forest. Looking at the hill profile on my Garmin I knew we were approaching the biggest hill of all, the one which would take us up to 'Kings Standing' . This is the highest point of Ashdown forest and we normally reach it via Kid's hill (known locally as 'the wall') this time we would get there by the gentler Chuck' hatch road.This turned out to be a wonderful 2.4 mile climb at a steady 4% gradient. The road surface was smooth and we were bathed in sunshine all the way up. Despite being the  last man to arrive at the top, I congratulated myself for not being too far behind and treated myself to a Mr Wippy to celebrate.

What goes up must come down and with gravity on my side the next few miles were exhilarating as  we descended mile after mile of fine roads before once again reaching more undulating terrain around Fairwrap. I felt much the same as I had at the start of the ride but was no longer the lantern rouge  as Hight began to struggle on the hills.

The riders were getting peckish but I had not planned out any cafe stops, and JV had to get home by 2:00, so the only food break we had was at the lovely village of Mayfield where a local store provided a few Mars bars to replenish blood sugars. This gave me a chance to check my phone and see if there were any messages from Nigel who was attempting to intercept us somewhere on route (fresh from a two up TT). Unfortunately it looked like he was only at Fairwrap so it was unlikely he would managed to catch us up before the end.

leaving Mayfield only one last obstacle remained, a large climb between Burwash and Brightling. Following a bout of digging the day before, John S had had trouble with back pain all day but he was now really suffering and had lost all strength in his legs. Somehow he managed to keep going but only just made it up to the top of Brightling. From here the profile looked like it would be downhill all the way back to Robertbridge.Many times in the past we have said this only to find one or two nasty hills we had forgotten about, but this time it really was true and we gracefully flew all the way down the last three miles back to the start.

John's back was so bad he gratefully accepted my offer of a lift in my mpv back home rather than ride back with JV and the other mile munchers. While newbie member Patrick decided to do the opposite. Despite riding the Friday night ride, the pre BBR and the BBR , Patrick decided a few extra miles would be good and so would ride back with JV. Looks like the mile munchers have gained another acolyte!

Everyone agreed, this route deserved its status as a Spring Special as the landscape was really interesting on excellent super quiet roads.

The next Spring Special will be the 'Hell Of Ashdown on Sunday May 3rd.

Steve C