30/4 Pre-BBR Ditchling Special - Such A Great Day

Discussing the Pre-BBR after the final chain-gang on Wednesday, the weather was looking grim. Sub 10 degrees and continual rain. The blouses were threatening to come out of the cupboard again especially for Steve C who had only just got over his fourth chest infection this winter.

No need for blouses with weather like this.

Miracles do happen and by Friday we had an email from Pre BBR aficionado , Neil, informing us we could all put our blouses away as the forecast had changed to dry and sunny, yes!!

Half of us rode from Hastings to meet the others at Normans bay border control. It was really cold and someone said their outdoor thermometer was only showing 2 degrees. As usual, last to arrive was the right honourable Baron Buss, although to be fair he did just make it within the 5 minute waiting time. We had a number of Pre BBR Special virgins including Shirley, Zac, Peter Breheme and Terry. They had picked the perfect day for their initiation. It was also only the second ride for Steve’s 2015 CAAD 8, a really nice bike for the money but with only a 28 tooth cassette, compared to his previous 32, how would he cope with the beacon?

Derek leads his own breakaway 

It has been a rare treat lately to ride in bright sunlight and slowly but surely the sun was warming us up. Before long, Steve’s pockets were bulging with all the layers he had removed and annoyingly kept getting stuck on the back of his saddle.

Our pace was steady as we rode without incident to the foothills of Ditchling beacon. Everyone was feeling good and most of us achieved a PB for at least some of the Ditchling beacon segments. This was Shirley’s first ever ride up the Beacon. With Patrick’s support she made it up without dismounting despite  still not having mastered riding out of the saddle.

Baron Buss scores a PB on Ditchling Beacon

We enjoyed breakfast at the University cafeteria. Its a bit basic there but there is always plenty of space and the sausages are really good. You have to clear your own tray here like MacDonald's . The staff were just about to put up a sign for no more cyclists but a quick apology saved us for the next visit. While some riders helped fix a slipping cable on Zac’s bike, Peter Breheme took the chance to ask everyone for advice about what high end electronic geared bike bike he should buy . The common consensus was that a Canyon gives the best bang per buck. After picking up his current (less than a year old ) steed we can well understand why he is in the market for a new steed, something tells me all his Strava PBs are going to trumble soon!

Its all downhill from here 

Heading out of the University there is an almost immediate steep hill. Very quickly our party fragmented into two groups. The slower group almost caught up with the faster group by the crossing over the A27 but this would be the last glimpse of them as they sped up the Kingston hill.

Terry enquired what the coastal road from Brighton was like. Our advice to avoid it due to the traffic was proved correct as once we got to Newhaven the roads were jammed with all manner of vehicles. Thankfully the lovely Newhaven cycle path cut out some of the traffic and things had eased a bit once we got back on the coast road.

The slower group had now disintegrated into a number of sub groups but we were all back together briefly at the Friston Forest  bus stop.

Derek is still riding hills really well but it was also great to see a big improvement in Malc C who seems to have overcome his allergy to hills following the Invicta audax last month. Shirley has also improved and declared this ascent of Beachy to be the easiest yet.

Some of us took time out for  a couple of beers and to sit in some warm sunshine in the garden of the Beachy head pub before  setting off for a nice casual ride home. When we reached Herbrand Walk the roads were very wet so we had missed a downpour so the extra stop at beachy head may well have saved us. We wondered if the non stop group got caught.

This was such a great day from start to finish.

Steve C/Derek