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| Marcus- Daemon Descender! |
I must have been mentally tired as well, despite having done this ride hundreds of time I arrived at the Lodge at 7:00 instead of 7;30, so spent a chilly thirty minutes waiting for the others.
With a dry still night, turnout was high with eight riders assembling at the lodge. We were hoping Simon G would be there as well, but after waiting until 7:35 there was no sign of him. I immediately regretted not taking this opportunity to set off five minutes ahead of the others as my almost non existent descending skills led me to getting completely dropped down Battery Hill and I would not see the others again until we entered the reserve.
Somewhere between the lodge and the reserve, our numbers had swelled to nine riders, with Alex joining us.
We had a very casual paced ride through the reserve before everyone opened the throttles for the Broad- Oak drag. Unsurprisingly I was dropped by the others so severely that there was not even a sign of their flashing rear LEDS as I struggled up the drag.
Not wanting to hold the others up any-more I sailed past the group at the top (Dan told me later they had actually been glad of the rest to catch their breath) . This worked rather well as the only riders to catch me before the end of the 'Doleham Lane Cut Through' were Alex and Marcus, whose descent of Brede valley was an incredible sight to behold (so graceful , smooth and fast).
Regrouping once more, we set off towards Westfield and Stonestile lane. Nigel told me he felt done in and wasn't looking forward to Stonestile. I thought he was exaggerating his tiredness but sure enough both Nigel and Dan were to pay the price of their fast pace up the Broad-Oak drag as I was able to convincingly drop them on the climb , restoring a little bit of pride at the end of the ride.
Special mention must go to both Alex and Peter Baker who stormed up Stonestile to achieve Strava PBs for the climb .
Steve C
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