Club TT Results - Ninfield 29 July

Please see the attached table of times for the short course and earlier times.  I will try and check the course length and “normalise the times” – we think they were pretty fast but average speeds were higher since the short course cuts out the climb and long drags back to Ninfield.

Chris P

Malc C Is Raising Money For 'Children with cancer'Please Support Malc In His Fund raising efforts

Hi all

A few of you know that I am riding the Prudential Ride London this year.
Being unsuccessful in the ballot I was successful in getting a Charity place.

Please Support Malc In His Fund Raising Efforts

After deliberation I decided to ride for Children with Cancer. UK. I felt that who could be more deserving than young people facing such a difficult illness in such a vulnerable stage of their lives.
Please find the link to my charity page.

http:uk.virginmoneygiving.com/malcolmcarr1


All donations, large and small gratefully received. It helps the charity tax wise if you can gift aid it by adding your residential address.
If you are unhappy with electronic payments, please email me and I can see you with a hard copy sponsorship form the following w/end, 7th or 8th August.
Kind Regards

Malcolm C

Part Deux : Pre BBR and BBR-"Do ya think I'm sexy?

' Did you know I'm doing the Ride London next week?',  said Peter B

'Oh, you were lucky then? ', I said

'No,  I got one of the club places from the' 'Colonel'

' How did you wangle that then? '

'I was 'nice' to him! '

' Well I'm always nice to him and I didn't get one! ', I protested.

' Well maybe you wasn't 'nice' enough', he said.

I decided that I wouldn't delve any deeper and just let the matter drop.

It was just the two of us for the Pre BBR and it gave us the opportunity to have a' catch up. Patrick had texted me last night to say he couldn't make it because he had three punctures in the torrential rain of last night and needed to check his tyres. On the way back I asked Peter if I could just 'sit on his wheel' as I wanted to save energy for the BBR, and although he was quite obliging he did point out that his ride home was no cinch.

We were the first back to De Paolos, followed shortly afterwards by Chris, on his mountain bike, and Pippa. Then Neil arrived, Tom F, Ian Fabian, Mal C, Steve and his friend Steve Sherwood, Ivan,  Mal D - quite a turnout. We sat in the bright morning sunshine and savoured our coffees.

Neil Shows Off His manly Chest!

We got onto the subject of cycling kit, and Peter B asked Neil if he found his Gabba top a bit warm. Neil said he was pleased with his. They then started to get all 'girly' and he wanted to know what size Neil's top was; he said  that he is also a  fan of Castelli. As I was explaining to Peter that despite the 'rave reviews'  I had resisted the urge to join the Castelli club on the grounds of their omnipresence ( I did admire and  consider buying the skinsuit that Matt Schubert wears, but: '58 year old man in skintight lycra,  mmm?') I looked across at Neil and was shocked to see that he had stripped to the waist! I had mentioned in a previous blog that arm warmers had a strong 'S and M'  look, and this was confirmed by the sight of Neil - he just  needed a leather cap and spiked necklace to compliment the look. He claimed he was trying to find the size, but I wasn't convinced.

Fully refreshed and recovered we set off in two groups : Chris had said that we shouldn't wait for him and Pippa and that we would meet them at Chilley Farm.

All Smiles but A few Minutes later two Riders were Down!

The ride was quite uneventful until we passed windmill hill . I was at the front of the group chasing Neil, Ivan and Mal when a car pulled in front of, braked hard and indicated 'right'! I slammed my brakes on so hard that as I did so it seemed to suck the air out of me and I didn't managed to yell out a warning.  Ian crashed into me and I looked around to see him lying on the road with other riders in various stages of forced and voluntary dismounting.  Ian was the main casualty with blood running down his shin. Steve's friend, Steve Sherwood
took control of the situation and said:

Steve S Comes To the Rescue!

'There's a post office over there, I'll see if they've got anything that might help '

He disappeared for a few moments and returned waving a book of second class postage stamps and said :

' All they had was this, I thought we could use them as little sticking plasters !  '

(only joking) He had a couple of rolls of kitchen towels and set about cleaning up Ian's
leg. It wasn't long before a ' good samaritan' in a van stopped and offered us his first aid box which enabled Steve S to do a proper job. 'Good samaritans' are like buses, you wait ages for one to turn up and then two turn up together. A very nice lady in a car pulled alongside and also offered help, and then the lady from the PO arrived with a bottle of surgical spirit:

'Is this any help? ', she said .

By this time, Ian's leg was wrapped up quite nicely, so we thanked her but declined her offering.

Shaken and bruised we continued onto Chilley Farm. Mal D and Ivan had been waiting patiently at the junction just past the garden centre.

Chainring gash For Ian

Swollen Knee For Malc C

We were quite spread out on the way there, and when I arrived I saw Neil sipping his coffee;  he seemed a little sheepish having just found out what had happened. Of course I was quite keen to 'milk' the situation :

'As long as your OK, that's the main thing!'

'Oh, yes, I'm fine  thank you for asking ', he replied.

All Together At Chilley Harm  And More Or Less In One Piece!

I do love the social side of the BBR, the banter and convivial atmosphere makes a great end to the ride.

I seized the opportunity to have a
chat with Ivan before Setting off home as I haven't seen him since the French trip. He was in the full throes of explaining the benefits,  or otherwise, of full suspension over hardtail  when he suddenly 'let rip' with a real 'corker'.

'Oh, pardon me, too much red wine last night! '

I had seen him ' perform' in France so I knew he could be quite 'gaseous' and so I wasn't too shocked, just grateful that I wasn't 'downwind' of him.

I collected two pieces of carrot and orange cake to take back for Vicki and headed off with the others for the final leg home. Another great BBR!

The Post BBR 'Standard Rush' For Ivan Et Al

Peter Buss

28/7 Tubby Tuesday- Record Turnout

Record 'Tubby' Turnout!

When myself and Gareth decided to start  'Tubby Tuesday Training' as a way of us losing a few pounds we had no idea it would be so popular. last night there were seven riders out including first timers ,Duncan H, Mark, Paul C and Dave .

Tubby Training Is Paying off For Gareth! 

The surface of Battery Hill continues to deteriorate but with a largish size group I felt more confident about riding in the relatively smooth centre of the road. On the way down we saw the familiar figure of Paul B cycling up. Paul had mistimed his arrival but with good descending skills, turned around and caught up with us before we reached the bottom.

With the strong tail wind behind them Duncan and Gareth got a little carried away on the Winchelsea road and some frantic shouts were needed to slow things down and get everyone back together before we met the main Rye road.

Having had a very lazy day at home I had plenty of energy for the broad Oak drag and rode near Dave for most of the way up. Steve Sherwood was having the opposite problem. After two days of working 10 hours a day lifting and breaking up paving slabs he was knackered before the drag even started and so suffered badly on the way up.

Paul Nails Stonestile!

We had a good safe descent towards Westfield before the Stonestile approach. Even on the flat Steve was now struggling  so I had to hang back for a while to make sure he went the correct way. I could see the others rapidly disappearing in the distance but having told Steve which way to go I put the hammer down and managed to catch everyone up before the climb itself.

Mark has not ridden Stonestile for some time so was having to use a 'tacking technique' to make it up there. Paul C was riding normally (first ever ride on Stonestile) but his heavy breathing revealed that he to was struggling. I still felt good and was disappointed not to get any Strava achievements.

Not surprisingly, Steve S arrived some time after the rest of us and had to admit to getting off at one point so unfortunately no Stonestile victory photo for Steve.

Steve C

Ninfield Club TT Times

Please see the attached table of times for the first week of the Club Ninfield Club Time Trial.

Part Deux - Pre BBR Brighton Special

"Baked Beans, Bonks and Bonhomie"

Slumped over the bars, whilst crawling up Beachy Head via 'The Backdoor' (Seven Sisters), I had time to consider whether the double sausage, double egg, congealed beans and two slices of toast was the best way of fueling a long ride -   I don't expect Chris Froome's musette contains a sausage sarnie or a pork pie - although I'm sure he would enjoy it.. I cast a downward look at my orange spotted white socks, "King of The Mountain? - I don't t think so, not today anyway". Mal C was the last person to overtake me and he offered me a cheery:

 'Hi Pete, you o.k?'

'Yes I'm fine thank you', I replied.

Actually I felt like sh*t, but what's the point of spoiling someone's schadenfreude moment.  This is one of my most favourite words and I have used it in blogs before - and even encouraged Neil Smith to use it one of his. For those who have forgotten, or who have not heard it before it is a German word meaning: getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune (it was a word that probably arose in the 1970s when lounging on their sunbeds they were able to look around and see us Brits settling for the shady part of the pool area because we didn't get up at 5am to lay out out towels! - as far as I know we don't have any German members of the club, but please correct me if I'm wrong.)  None of us in the club are horrible people, in fact I think we are all jolly nice, but lets face it we all like to 'score points' on a ride.  It feels great to ease past someone on a mega climb, and hear their laboured breathing, or cursing. This is often accompanied, in my case anyway, by thoughts like 'I may be a slow, sad old, b*stard , but I'm obviously in just a little bit better shape than you today!'

I pushed on whilst trying to decide between swigging the last few millimeters of warm orange squash in my bottle or having it by way of celebration after finishing the p*xy climb.  Eventually I reached the toilets at the top and spotted the 'roach coach' (ice cream van).  I could have joined the others in the pub, but as I was 'needed' back home I was short on time.

"I'll have a can of coke please, is it cold?" (silly question really.)

"Not really - that's £1:40 please"

Thought bubble:  "£1:40 for a warm coke?, well you can shove that up your a*se then"

Actual reply: "Thanks"

I immediately decanter-ed it into my bottle and took a long, deep, 'slug'. Wow, it tasted great!.  It was probably one of the nicest drinks I can remember - apart from the cup of instant tea that we brewed at the top of Scarfel whilst attempting the 'Three Peaks Challenge' -  twenty three years ago:


Lake District - June 1992

'Is it much further to the top, Matt, I'm hurting now", I asked

I was leaning with my back and head pressed against a rock and my arms dangling limply at my side.

He was squinting at a map using a red head lamp.

"I've got some good news and some bad news, chaps, which do you want first", he said.

Matt is one of those RAF chappies - stiff upper lip and all that, and is the only remaining friend from my I.T. days.  He came to Scott Limited for a 'few months' before joining the RAF to fly jets, and somehow never left.

"I'll have the good news first", I said

It was 3 am and our second night without sleep and I wasn't sure I could handle bad news.

"We're nearly at the summit", he said, without much cheerfulness.

"Great, what's the bad news?"

"This is the wrong mountain, this is Scarfell, unfortunately that's Scarfell Pike over there"

He pointed to the peak of the 'correct' mountain; it's top clearly visible in the moonlight across Mickeldore Col - the valley that separates the two.  Only 47 feet higher than Scafell but the one you must climb as part of the Three Peaks Challenge - not its slightly shorter neighbour.

"Well, we could keep quiet about it,  I suggested, who's going to know?"

"It's not really 'cricket' is it?, I tell you what, I'll make us all a nice cup of tea, that'll cheer us all up."

With that he pulled a primus stove and a jar of instant tea from his rucksack and set about the task.  One tin mug between two, but it was so reviving and really lifted our spirits.  I surveyed the scene in front of me: the moon was reflected in the lakes with the mountains silhouetted behind and beyond that the Irish sea sparkled. A scene I will never forget.

 I digress....forgive my self-indulgence.

I arrived home feeling a lot better, so much so that I even called into the bakery in Pevensey Bay and picked up a couple of cream slices.

"How did it go then, sweetie?", said Vicki.

"Well, O.K , but I must admit I've just had a 'bonk'"

"I beg your pardon - you had a 'bonk?' - bearing in mind that we're getting married soon you'd better explain yourself!"

"Oh, no, don't worry, it's just a cycling term meaning you've run out of fuel"

"Well, that's a bit silly, didn't you haven't anything to eat then?"

"Oh, yes, double sausage, double egg, congealed beans and two slices of toast"

"Well I hardly think you ran out of fuel then, it sounds like dehydration", said Vicki; who knows a lot more things than I do.

It all made sense: the fierce thirst, the cloudy pee, no energy.  I settled down onto the sun longer, with my cream slice for an afternoons serious sunbathing and reflected on the day's events.

Normans Bay Border Crossing 08:00

"I'm doing a hundred mile ride today and if you don't let me across to meet up with those guys over there I'm going to miss it"

The barrier wasn't working and I was pleading with engineer to let me hop over the barrier (a common practice before the crossing became automated). I always think it pays to exaggerate but he wasn't having any of it. Mal C appeared at the other side of the crossing.

"Why don't you go via Pevensey?", he said

"Oh, O.K, I'll meet you at the roundabout", I replied

It was another good turnout - ten of us, I think; It was great to see some 'faces' I hadn't seen for a while - Paul, I concluded' must have gone AWOL from his domestic duties as I haven't seem him on a Saturday for quite a while.. After only about five minutes, just after Chilley farm, I took a tumble.

"What happened?" said Patrick with a concerned look.

"I'm not really sure, I think I hit a branch - but it definitely wasn't 'rider error'", I replied.

A few more of the group rallied around.

"I saw it happen", said Duncan

"Oh, in that case you'll know it wasn't 'rider error', I think there was something in my way"

The assembled group looked back up the road for signs of an object that could have brought me down. There was nothing apparent, but they were all too polite to question my supposition. It is a great comfort to know that when riding in a group there are always people to help out when you get into difficulties.  The rear gear cable had slipped off its housing and several tools were proffered.  Steve D set about fixing the problem with some assistance from the others. We set off again at quite a lively pace and as there isn't much in the way of climbing until Ditchling Beacon we were all able to have a bit of a chat among ourselves for a lot of the way.  I hadn't seen Steve B for a while and it was interesting to have a chat with him about his forthcoming PBP:

"You do realise it's quite a long way Steve, don't you?"

"I've done London Edinburgh London, so it's not too bad"

"Are you doing it on that bike?", I pointed at his Giant Defy

"I might do it on a 'fixie'"

It was at this point that I realised he was totally 'barking'.

"I've just seen someone I know Steve, see you later"

There is a moment of deja vu on these pre BBR Brighton specials and it when we are just about to start down the 'Cookoo Trail': Steve C without fail wants to go right instead of left and then always asks me which is the correct way.  I find this immensely satisfying because it confirms to me that when his navigational aids let him down he is as 'geolexic' as me (well, almost!.)

For some reason I spent a lot of the ride being distracted by Steve D's Heinz Beanz jersey - subtle it ain't, but I sort of admire him for wearing it - and it did have the effect of getting me in the mood for some beans.  People were starting to raise the question of breakfast and at a place not from from Ditchling (the name escapes me) we pulled over at a tea room. My heart sunk at the prospect because it was unlikely that I would get any beans here let alone any eggs or bacon.


I let Steve know of my concerns and he decided to put it to a vote: Brighton University, for a fry-up, or here for a bit of carrot cake.  Unsurprisingly, the vote went in favour of the Uni and we pushed on.

Brighton Uni cafeteria is ideally placed at the end of the downhill section following Ditchling and I find this quite motivating.  On the way to the big climb we started to spread out a bit and on arriving at the foot of it we realised there was no sign of Patrick, Steve C and Mal C. - It turned out that Steve C had a puncture and the others had assisted him.  We set off as a group and Steve C was giving some advice to Steve B about what was ahead:

"It's just like a big helter skelter and it's great fun!" he then seemed to get a bit over excited: "weeeee, weeeee look at me go!."

Our First Major Climb! (Ditchling Beacon)

I wouldn't describe any climb as fun, most of them hurt and as someone once said (might have been Tim Moore) "Anyone one who rides a bike up a mountain is a hero".  We spread out and Steve B, Patrick and Gary led the way (as far as I could tell - apologies if I've got that wrong.)  I arrived a bit ahead of Steve C and Mal B and totally knackered.  At the top we picked up a 'klingon'.  A guy asked me the best way to Lewis, I of course just smiled and pointed him towards Steve C who told him to 'tag along'.  He stayed with us until the university and then bad us farewell.  On the way in I remembered that Patrick was the only person brave enough to have the beans last time we were here

"I just sort of got stuck in", he said

The Food Of Champions!

I had decided that I was having them however disgusting they looked and I was quite surprised that when we sat down outside with our trays I noted that the only other person having them was Steve D!

We Love Brighton Uni Cafeteria

After a good 'scoff' we headed off towards home which meant a bit more serious climbing.  Patrick, Steve B and Gary, again, led the way with Duncan sort of in the middle, followed by me and the others all a bit spread out.  Someone said to me, I think it was Steve C ,whilst we were attempting to cross a very busy road (probably the A27 - I have no sense of direction or awareness of where I am, so it might not have been - it wasn't the M1 anyway)

"This is all very Dad's Army"

"Yes, I agree; with a touch of 'Last of The Summer Wine', thrown in for good measure'

What a shambles!. Some of us went one way, others went another way, some waited for the lights to turn green other just went anyway.  A lycra clad, bunch of misfits if ever I've seen one.

Quick breather And Reassembly Before Beachy!

We carried on in roughly the same configuration of riders until meeting up again at Newhaven. At the first of the climbs - Cuckmere I think, Steve C and I felt quite strong and teamed up - just a bit ahead of Mal C and Steve D.  We met up with the others and the top and then Steve C said:

 "Let's all go at our own pace and see who gets to the pub at the top of Beachy first."



It was shortly after this that I 'bonked' and crawled up Beachy at a snail's pace.

As usual, a great social ride,with just the right amount of challenge - well done to Steve C for organising it.

Peter Buss

21/7 Tuesday Training Welcomes Steve Ferguson

This was only the second of the 'Tubbies' (Gareth and Steve's), occasional Tuesday training sessions. The ride follows the good old 24 mile Rye Broad Oak route finishing with the rather lovely Stonestile Lane. This ride is ideal for 'improvers' i.e newbies who have done a few BBR or time trial rides, and want to improve their fitness for the Friday night ride, club ride etc.

Taking up this opportunity was new rider, Steve Ferguson ( maybe the club should be named Steve Cycling, as we now have: Steve C, Steve B, Steve D, Steve S and Steve F) . Steve has only had a road bike for a couple of months, having done a few BBRs and time trials he was ready to tackle the 24 mile Friday night ride route.

Also out with us were the familiar (and svelte) figures of Patrick and Steve B

The road surface of battery Hill seems to get worse every week and I found it a jarring descent that left me relieved to get onto the flat section past the sea defences.

Steve F and Paul B, Glad to Arrive At Broad Oak!

All of a sudden the familiar shape of Paul Baxter road up alongside me.Paul lives at Fairlight so it was not  a complete  surprise to see him, but it was surprising to see him out on his 29er full suspension mtb. Having done the South downs Way in one day on Saturday I thought he would be glad to have a break from his mtb, but it turned out his Giant TCR was in the repair shop so he really had no choice.

We had heeded the advice from other riders about the increasing problem of broken mussel shells along the Harbour natural reserve path . In previous summers this was not a problem but this year, the seagulls seemed to have had a brain wave and discovered that if they bash the mussels down onto the hard path, the shells will break open to reveal lots of lovely fresh mussel meat. Unfortunately the bits of shell are as sharp as razors and the chance of you getting a puncture if you cycle through the reserve is about 33%. Not liking these odds we stuck to the main road and tried to ignore the aggressive car drivers shooting past us.

It was a relief to reach the turning for the broad oak drag. I told Steve B, Gareth and Patrick to push on ahead and that I would help shepherd Steve F up the drag.

Despite Trainers And Flats, Steve Beats Stonestile!

I have to admire Steve F's determination, as for the first mile he set a pace that I could not match and I felt rather silly offering to guide him up the climb. However, this was not  a pace he could maintain for long, neither could Paul who was at a massive disadvantage on his mtb.  Seeing that Paul and steve Were about the same pace, I decided I could be relieved on shepherding duties and road ahead of them both at my own speed.

On arriving at Broad Oak I was impressed to see that steve was only about  a minute behind. This is despite the handicap of riding with flats and ordinary trainers.

However, the next test is to get up Stonestile without putting a a foot down. Not everyone makes this the first time they try and without clipless pedals , I wasn't sure if Steve could do it?

I should have had more faith in Steve's determination because he did indeed succeed and totally deserved the obligatory photo at the top.

Weather permitting we intend to have another Tuesday training session next week (Fairlight lodge at 6:05 pm depart)

Steve C

Times for the last Pevensey 10 TTs on 15 July – More PBs – it was a quick evening!

It was a warm evening with moderate winds for the last of three HCC 10 miles TTs on the Pevensey course and it turned out to be a quick evening with at least 6 PBs, some do not know what their PBs are and I cannot keep track of all rides over the decades!!!!


Eighteen year old Joe Kingsman (21.36) won the club event with another fantastic sub 22, possibly a PB after several other rides with similar times in Rovers club events which have usually been  long 21s?

Trevor Deeble  (22.59) came in under 23 minutes for the first time improving his a PB set two weeks ago by 10 seconds.  If you wanted to see a good example of someone striving their utmost to come in just a second quicker you needed to have seen Trevor cross the line! When asked what he thought his time was he thought he had just missed out, but rounded up his time was a 59!  Malcom Daly (24.14) was third and Jon Molton (24.34) fourth with what I think is a PB in a Hastings 10 at Pevensey but possibly not an all time PB?


The next three came in with PBs: Stewart Buckland (24.41) a PB by 31s, Tom Norris (24.55) PB by 36s and Neil Smith (26.49 PB) by 15s but would have been quicker had he not been the only rider to lose a lot of time at Little Common roundabout, as confirmed by marshal John Vidler!


Fabien Large (27.13) qualified to represent the 13 year old age group in September’s National GHS 10 miles TT Championships on Saturday and is another example of someone who gives it everything in the final push for the line. Calvin Hatter (27.58) set a  PB by 31s.


The quickest time was by Rover Marc Townsend (20.31) who thinks his PB is 20.20 and is aiming to go sub 20 minutes (30mph) this year and with his fantastic form may well do so.


PB Coaching’s Stuart Hodd (21.49) set PB by 24s as he went under 22 minutes for the first time.

Chris P

Times for the second of three Pevensey 10 TTs (1, 8 and 15 July)

Both riders that missed the first Wednesday ended up with PBs, but it was not as quick as last week.

The club event was won again by Trevor Deeble  (23.14) five seconds down on last week. Malcolm Daly (24.13) had a puncture in his tub and was running on a soft foam filled tyre  but was not far off 25 mph and Stewart Buckland (25.28) was 26 seconds down on last week.  Tom Norris (25.31) set a PB by well over a minute and Neil Smith (27.04) set a PB by 24 seconds. The quickest time was by PB Coaching’s Stuart Hodd (22.14) just one second off his PB set last week. See the attached table of times.

Many thanks both to Angela Chapman for marshalling.

Chris P

5/6 Club Ride- Wet Wittersham

Standing in for JV and Nick to lead the club ride,I had been warned  to expect very few riders due to people being on holiday, the off roaders training for the SDW randonee and some riders doing the Dunwhich Dynamo. With heavy rain forecast all morning and early afternoon I half expected to arrive and do a ride on my own so was pleased to have both Malc C and Marcus for company

Only Malc was equipped with a proper waterproof with which to fend off the rain. Marcus had an emergency transparent windcheater and I had had to borrow my son's windcheater in mock camouflage colours. The rain was already penetrating through to our jerseys and it felt colder  than the 20C air temperature would have led us to expect.

As we dropped down to Ore it was a relief to generate some body heat up the Rye road, only to cool down again as we gingerly descended Pett road and the super steep Chick hill.

We now had many miles of flat riding all the way to Appledore , the heat from our working muscles was just enough to compensate for the evaporative heat loss from our wet jerseys.

Even a short comfort break at Appledore was enough for the chill to set in and we would not stop again until the end.

The rain was coming down in spades as we followed the lumpy countryside towards Wittersham.

As usual I was following both my trusty old 205 Garmin as well as the more modern (but less reliable garmin touring). Unfortunately my old Garmin has a hole in the side where one of the buttons used to be. With the constant road spray some water must have made ingress to the sensitive electronics inside as the screen began flickering before turning a bright shade of blue (which should have been impossible for a black and white screen!) before going dead altogether. Oh dear that's the end of that  although I will put it somewhere warm at home just in case the poor old thing can come back to life?

We eventually came out on a more substantial road that both myself and Marcus thought was the long drag up to broad oak, but our minds were playing tricks with us, as a passing road sign revealed us to be heading towards Sedlescombe. That would mean we would have to do the steep climbs past the Pestalozzi.

By his own admission Malc suffers disproportionately on steep climbs and sure enough did get significantly

No Problems For Malc On His First Stonestile!

dropped by myself and Marcus as we neared Broad Oak . An evil plan hatched in my mind, rather than stick to the planned route we would lead Malc up Stonetsile for the first time and really make him suffer, lol. Much to my surprise Malc was only a little way behind me so my darstadley  plan was foiled and Malc fully desrved the traditional first ascent photo.

H&StLCC Pevensey 10 times 1 July

Those that did not ride on Wednesday missed a good evening with a raft of PBs being set!

The club event was won by Trevor Deeble  (23.09) in what I assume is a PB, but did not check so am not sure. Malcolm Daly (23.55) topped 25 mph and Stewart Buckland (25.12) must have been a PB some two minutes quicker than he did on the course last year.  Neil Smith would surely have beaten Stewart again, having been quicker than him these last three weeks in the HRH classics, but the trains could not cope with the heat and did not get him back from London in time to sign on.  Many thanks both to Neil for going to Little Common roundabout and to Andy Lancaster for marshalling there.  Many thanks to Rover Dave Cox for signage and marshalling at Pevensey roundabout. The next five Hastings riders all had PBs:

Iain        Webster               27.02

Gareth   Purves                  27.05

Fabien   Large     J13         27.11

Calvin    Hatter                  28.29

Steve     Ferguson             30.49


Very well done to up and coming Fabien Large who has shown great character and how resilient he is by coming back to racing and setting a new ten mile PB of 27.56 last Saturday at Horsham after recently breaking his collar bone and having to wear an arm sling for a month.  He knocked another 45 seconds of his PB, on a warm evening with good winds, a very impressive improvement just four days later. Thirteen year old Large is a keen down hill racer and had a nasty fall at Penshurst Off Road Club in the middle of May. With the GHS South East heats being held next Saturday to qualify for the National Under-17s ten mile TT final in September Fabien only had a week off his bike before getting on the turbo trainer in the garage.