Broad Oak Club TT Aug 19

PB For Kerri!

It was a bit of a miserable evening as it stared to rain a little as we were signing on.  But it did not get really wet and there were some PBs.

Chris P

22/8 Off Road To Brighton- Some Don't Like It Hot!

Finally We can Escape cafe On The beach!

Cycling over to 'cafe on the beach' to meet the others for 10;30, the weather was incredible, the skies were a perfect blue , it was pleasantly warm and there was a light easterly wind, perfect, this was going to be our easiest ever off road ride to Brighton, or so I thought!

Most of us ordered bacon sandwiches but half an hour later the food had still not arrived. On enquiring where our food was, we were told that it had already been delivered to us. Once we convinced the proprietor that 'no we most definitely  had not eaten the sandwiches', we then had another half hour wait while they cooked some more (it turned out that one of the young girls at the cafe had delivered them by mistake to someone else- bet they couldn't believe their luck!)

Easy Cycle Path Riding!

Finally, an hour late we set off for Brighton. As usual Colin was on a road bike as he detests riding off road, he would arrive well before us but saw this as extra drinking opportunity.Sticking to the cycle paths as far as possible and working as a peleton many strava segment PBs were being bested..

Reality kicked in as soon as we reached the SDW at Paradise way! The angle abruptly shifted upwards and instead of smooth tarmac we were now mostly on grass. The usual endless slog took us up to the Butt's Brow only to have to lose all that painfully gained height on the rocky descent back down to Jevington. I was glad to have a fellow hard tail rider with me for company (Mark) , we let the full suspension boys go shooting off with whoops of joy while we hung on for dear life being thrown all over the place. I was riding some new rotors and disc pads so my breaking was superb, unfortunately they were also incredibly noisy , with a terribly high pitched squealing disturbing the peace of the countryside. 

Pausing at Jevington church for more water we now had the  long climb up to the top of the Long man  . On reaching the top, the full suss crew took a short cut down straight off the long man's head while myself and Mark took the standard rocky but less steep SDW route. Mark was saying he was getting quite beaten up by the track but I told him worse was to come as I knew we had to get down the terribly eroded track from 'High and Over' to Alfriston  . This track is in a terribly eroded state, Malc D always tells me I should have faith in my 29er wheels and just go for it but I find this track quite terrifying and would rather descend at a bumpier but safer speed. The recent rain seems to have eroded it even more and for the first and hopefully last time I actually had to do a 'drop off' , landing safely on the other side, the sudden jolt did something to my neck and I would have a stiff upper back for the rest of the ride! 

Flat Riding At The Foot Of The Downs!

As we were doing the 'hard' route to Brighton we took the incredibly tough Borstal Hill climb rather than the far easier drovers track. By now the sun was at its zenith, the temperature was about 28 degrees, there was almost no wind and we were generating an incredible amount of body heat as we struggled up the 1.5 mile rough climb. At this point Mark was suffering with the heat  more than I was . He declared this one of the hardest hills he had ever climbed in his life and at one point he had to stop and give his legs a chance to get rid of the lactic acid and try to cool down. 

A Full Length Zip Was A Big Advantage

Easier rolling hills now stretched ahead of us in the direction of Firle. Normally I would love this section but I was now paying the price for the ascent of Borstal hill. My face was bright red, I was overheating and feeling increasingly weak . Perhaps the long sweeping descent of Itford hill would cool me down?

Reaching the YHA cafe at the bottom, I was feeling weak and dizzy with the heat and exertion. I also realised that I had picked up a slow puncture on the back wheel . While the others tucked into cake and coffee I had to sort this out but at least re-inflating the tyre was easy as they have a a big chunky stirrup pump screwed to the concrete outside. 

Keep Going Steve, Keep Going!

Mark seemed to have recovered from his earlier overheating but I still felt really weak, just as if I had already ridden 90 miles off road. I could barely keep the bike moving up the concrete farmers track above kingston. With hindsight I can see why I was overheating more than the others: firstly I was carrying  more insulating blubber than anyone else, secondly the jersey I picked out had only a 3cm zip to let in cool air, my rear pockets were stuffed with various heat insulating items  and  instead of simple shorts I was wearing bib shorts. Releasing the sweat sodden straps of my bib shorts made an immediate improvement and things became a little easier from here on. 

Malc and Ivan wanted to change the route and head to a pub in  Rottingdean before taking the 'under cliff' cycle route into Brighton. Normally they expect me to be unhappy about deviating from the route but this time I was delighted as this would be far easier than crossing over the golf course above Brighton .

By the time we got to the pub I was suffering with the 'shakes' but a pint of full sugar coke with extra ice cubes got me more or less back to normal . After  a pleasant hour at the pub we joined the 'undercliff' route. Every time in the past that I have ridden this, various parts have been closed for repair but at the moment the whole route is open and this was a lovely and easy way to get to the cycle path at Mediera Drive. Mediera Drive is normally a joy to cycle along but this time it was chock-a-block with people wandering all over the place and lots of careful twists and turns were needed to get round all the people out enjoying the weather.

Roadie Rendezvous At Clock -Tower!

Finally we got to our rendezvous pub in Brighton. The wonderful 'Clocktower' by Evans cycle shop. As well as Colin we were joined by steve D who had also cycled over after completing his train driving shift in the morning. The beers went down very nicely and Duncan's girlfriend came down to join us for a drink . After a single drink Mark had to set off as the last train for Rye was only around 8:00.

Half an hour later mark reappeared in an anxious sate. There was signal failure between Brighton and Lewes and no trains were running! Having had a good number of beers by now , the rest of us were strangely unconcerned by this.There were a number of options open to us for consideration.

1. Carry on drinking and then crash out in Ivan's uncles garden

2. Have less to drink and then cycle all the way home

3. Take up Tatty's offer of crashing out at her place in kemp town

4. Cycle to lewes and pick up a train from there

5. keep checking the web site and hope that they would fix the signal failure before the last train

Ivan Makes It To the Train With Four Minutes To Spare!

All these options were discussed while we sat in a curry house over in Hove. In the end we decided on option 4 , but while we were about to get served Steve's phone app informed us the signals were fixed! Trouble was that by now there was only one Hastings train left! This shouldn't have been a problem as we had about 60 minutes to eat our food, pay the bill and then cycle to the station. However, from past experience  I know that things often go pear shaped . With just 25 minutes left, myself and mark urged everyone to get back on the bikes and head for the station. Colin and Ivan didn't want to move at this point so we had to leave them there. 

I soon lost sight of the others as we rode rapidly back towards the station. Five minutes later I was surprised to see Malc D riding very fast back towards the curry house, I assumed he had left something there?

Arriving at the station with ten minutes to spare I tried to buy a ticket but the the main desk was closed, the ticket machines would not take cash and there was a queue for the single ticket booth.

With just four minutes to spare, Colin and Ivan turned up but no Malc. Seeing the ticket barrier was open we headed directly to the waiting train . Malc had also arrived by now and we were all safely on board with about two minutes to spare.

Phew what a day. Quite stressful at times but as always good fun and a steep learning experience!

Tough Profile!

Steve C

Broad Oak Club TT last week- 12 August

New PB For Stu!

There were two more sub 20 minute rides in the first of the end of season Broad Oak circuit club TTs. Joe Kingsman (19.06) won the event with second claim Stuart Hodd (19.14) setting a PB by 24 seconds in a private TT.

I thought Joe's was a big PB but had forgotten he went sub 20 last year as a 17 year old. I had also forgotten that President Stuart had told me of his absolutely stunning ride of 18.27 back in May when I was away on holiday. Apart from Peter Tadros I can only readily recall Jon Sharples going sub 19 on the course, I must try and dust off the archives to check. Joe has put in some incredible 10 times this year in Rovers club 10s, what would he be able to do if he rides a few open 25s, how far under the hour could he go? A sub 54 must be within his reach on the right day and right course.

 Second and third were Trevor Deeble (20.50) and Malcolm Daly (21.45) whose time includes 30 seconds extra for turning up to the start line after he should have set off. Gareth Purves (24.28) also has a 20 seconds late start, as did Alex Smith (25 seconds) back on 6 May.

 The rules are that if you turn up too late for your allocated start time then the delay in reporting to the timekeeper is recorded and you set off at the end of the field, or in an open event set off on a DNS (Apologies) number with the late reporting time being added to the actual time, so Malcolm had tied with second claim Alex Smith (21.15) on actual. So if you know that you are not able to turn up for an open please try and send your apologies to the event secretary so the timekeeper can hopefully be informed of any DNS before the first ride off is sent off and can let those that miss their start know when there is a slot for them to have a delayed start.


Chris Parker

Tuesday training- Our First Wet One

All of the weather forecasts indicated a dry but cloudy evening so I was disappointed to feel light rain as I dragged my bike out of the cellar.

After five minutes trying to find my long forgotten waterproof I was running a little late  and so had to put the hammer down a little as I headed up the steep hills of Barley lane.

By the time I reached the Lodge I  was badly overheating in my sweaty waterproof  and came across Dave and Paul C sheltering under a tree. keri was also supposed to be with us but for the third time running he was running late and went on to miss the start!

Getting wet was preferable to getting cooked so the sweaty waterproof was stuffed into a back pocket.

By the time we headed down Battery Hill the rain had eased off to intermittent spots so hopefully our body heat would keep our jerseys dry . Sure enough with the light winds we soon reached a comfortable body temperature.

Fortunately The Rain Has Almost Stopped by Broad-Oak

Dave and I dropped Paul on the Broad-Oak drag and waited for him to catch up but Paul told us to go ahead at our own pace. Dave is a bit faster than me on the drag so he did most of the work as we stayed together all the way up to the top, Paul s climbing has definitely improved as he arrived at the top only a short time after us , although we did have to stop briefly to sort out my back light.



Another good performance from Paul gave him a possible PB for Stonestile.

As we enjoy this route so much and want to make the most of the light evenings before the darkness of autumn/winter descends, we have decided to extend the 'Tuesday Training' season until the end of September!

Steve C

Clayton West Off-Road

This summer is turning out to be  a great off road season as even though its not been a hot summer, it has been a very dry one so the trails are wonderfully ridable. Unfortunately lots of our off road pals have been indisposed so its sometimes been up to me and Ivan to keep the off road branch of HSLCC alive.Today we were delighted to have Duncan F riding with us, even though he had already completed a big off road ride from London the day before.

last week myself and Ivan had a great time following the  'Cissbury Stretch', this ride has caused us some navigational problems in the past but my gpx amendments has turned it into one of our best off road routes.

This time it was time to do Clayton west' which is already one of our trusted favourites

The free car park  Jack and Jill Windmills (Clayton) is a fantastic place to start as from, as here you get  one of the best views of the entire downs , which looks out over the impressive hills of Saddlescombe and Devil's dyke .

On The Western Loop!

Before we had even started Ivan had to fix yet another puncture on his front wheel. This is the third puncture from the same batch of cheapo ITS inner tubes I purchased for him last year ( I think Ivan's instructions were,' buy me the cheapest ones you can find'!) , on all three occasions the valve failed at the join with a sudden deflation. These were definitely not a good buy.

Another Blown Valve!

Enjoyable South Downs riding  soon took us to our furthest point west . From here we left the downs for an exciting bridleway decent all the way down towards Lancing college as we completed the western loop.

After a stretch of quiet road riding some pleasant road riding we were soon back on the south downs way  and struggling up Truleigh Hill.
The first part of this hill is one of my least favourite climbs as its narrow, overgrown and there is some rubble which lifts the front wheel. Having lost a few pounds over the summer has made  a big difference as this time I made it up without too much trouble, looks like all this off road training is paying off.

After crossing over the devil's Dyke we  dropped down to the fantastic 'Hikers Rest' at Saddlescombe farm (best carrot cake ever!). Just as we finished the steep decent there was  loud hiss and sudden deflation sound from Ivan's front wheel . Yet another ITS inner tube valve blown. If this had happened a few minutes earlier , the consequences for Ivan could have been serious! I offered to lend Ivan a replacement Continental tube but he decided to use his last remaining ITS tube, surely this would survive long enough to get back to Clayton?

ITS Stands For 'Its Totally Shit'!

All that was left was the Eastern loop. In the past we have sometimes been lazy and not bothered with this loop but as it was still early we decided to complete the ride fully. Unfortunately a few minutes into the loop there was the by now familiar hiss from Ivan's bike, this latest ITC tube had lasted all of half a mile! Ivan was just relieved to get rid of the last ITC tube and my continental soon got him moving again.

We were all glad we did as this final loop as it  made a nice change from following the  SDW as it has a great mix of  single track, fast gravel descents and long grassy drags

Another excellent off road ride completed, lets hope the dry weather continues so we can make maximum use of what's left of the summer off road season.

Steve C

Results from the last of three Ninfield Circuit 10 TTs on 5 August

Please see the attached table of times for the short course and earlier times.  I have kept the 14.0 / 13.7 mile normalisation factor for the short course to “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.  So those that rode the short course may appear higher that they might otherwise in the all comers table for the season!  There was a great turn out – at the Red Lion Hooe but not necessarily for the TT ……

Chris P

Malc C Completes 'Ride 100'

Hi all

 What a great day.

I really enjoyed riding on closed roads with thousands of likeminded people.

I looked out for two others from work and others from HCC but didn’t see anyone I knew.

This was not surprising as over 25k riding

The weather was a little colder at the start than I expected and didn’t take off my arm warmers until after Newlands Corner when I think the sun came out.

I don’t do Strava but I can give you a few stat’s from my Garmin for those that may be interested.

Distance ridden – 100.07 miles ( I forgot to turn it on at the start so probably an extra 0.5 or so miles)

Time – 5:18:02 ride time that is, excluding comfort breaks, you older guys know that us mature men need to stop one a more regular basis.

I would like to point out that I rode the full route and did not take a short cut as I have heard that another has done on a previous sportive.

Average speed – 18.88

Max speed – 44.68

Calories used – 7483

Shuffling start At Waterden Road!

Leith Hill was tough but don’t know what all the fuss is about Box Hill as that was not that difficult at all, I think that was due to all the training rides I have enjoyed with the club.

I kept a fairly good pace throughout the ride and passed many more people than passed me.

I upped my speed for the last 30 or so miles as it was very flat and I felt good, the cheering crowds obviously helped, this helped bring up my average time. The last few miles I tucked in with a local London cycle group “look mum no hands”, who were cruising along at a fair old lick. I have previously noticed an expensive café opposite my work place which has the same name so guess there must be a connection. Should go and say hello sometime soon.

I felt strong for the run in through central London so I could have pushed it a bit harder earlier on. Next year maybe.

At The Top Of Box Hill!

I must say I was very pleased with my time. Not bad for an old heavyweight. Having had a crash the w/end before I was unsure if I would be able to complete it at all as my knee was, and still is swollen and bruised but it gave me no great problems just a few twinges.

The ride ended with a massage and tasty snacks laid on by the charity.

I will definitely enter the ballot for next years ride

 Thanks to those of you that have already  sponsored me, the link is still open for those that would like to contribute to a very worthwhile cause.

Children with Cancer.

 http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/malcolmcarr1


Kind Regards

Malcolm C

4/8 Tuesday Training- Even more riders

Another lovely evening for  'Tuesday Training'.

Steve B turned up with his new kodak camcorder to try to record the ride for posterity although the plastic mount wasn't too clever and seemed to be shaking rather a lot. Unfortunately Steve was unable to record the whole ride as the memory ran out before the end so we might try again at a later time.

Steve F has followed my recommendations and bought some spd shoes and pedals. As expected he is made up with them and this has given him a massive boost in power.

The five starters set off down battery hill where as usual we saw the familiar figure of Paul B climbing up battery Hill before stopping and turning round to catch us up (I don't know why Paul doesn't just set off from home a little earlier and meet us at the start?)

This week we stayed together as a group all the way to the main Rye road with Steve B doing most of the work at the front. Turning round just to check we were all together I just caught sight of a rider with a fluorescent orange top which I couldn't recognise. was he one of us, I wondered?

Kerri And JV Catch Us Up At Broad-Oak!

Sweeping past the Rye chip shop for the start of the Broad Oak drag , I glanced behind to see if 'Day Glow Orange' guy was still with us but there was no sign of him. It was then that Steve F informed me it was Gareth's brother Keri! Feeling guilty that we may have dropped him, I told the others I would wait for him at the bottom.

After waiting for some minutes I decided to give up and did my best to try to catch up with the others but to no avail as they were all waiting for me at the top when I finally arrived.

There was a little time to catch my breath while Paul was fiddling with his brakes and then just as we were about to set off, kerri in his unmissable jersey appeared together with the unexpected figure of JV.

Successful First Ascent For kerri!

It turned out that JV had been running late. Despite putting in a furious pace he missed the start only to come across kerri on Rye road. The two of them decided on a more sociable pace up to broad Oak .

This gave us a record Tueday group size of eight riders.

We took it easy to Westfield just to make sure that kerri didn't get lost , we didn't want him to miss out on his first ever ride up Stonestile, lol.

Its incredible how quickly steve F's climbing has improved, especially now that he has gone clipless. Despite my best efforts, steve was ahead of me on Stonestile but at a crucial moment his chain jammed which gave me the chance to get and stay ahead.

There was a short delay while we awaited the arrival of Kerri, who successfully made the climb without getting off, so the obligatory photo had to follow!