A Perfect Saturday Ride

London is enjoying an unusual spell of actual nice, warm, sunny, predictable weather. We don't know how long it will last but we'll try to get in all the rides we can while it's here! Looking at last weekend's forecast called for a ride to the beach. It just had to be done! But how to get to a beach on one of the nicest days of the year, without encountering tons of  traffic on the roads and on the trains back to London? We decided to turn to a new book on cycling Southern England, Lost Lanes, for inspiration.

Lost Lanes is written by Jack Thurston who hosts a bike radio show / podcast that we're fans of. We agreed to test ride a ride for him back in December so were sent a free copy of the book when it was recently published. The book is an absolute joy to read and Jack's love of cycling shines through. As often happens with cycling books aimed at a broad audience, many of the rides are shorter than we would consider a full day's ride, but Jack makes them sound so enticing that we want to try them out anyway.

We selected ride number 9, Turf and Surf, which would take us from Chichester to the Blue Flag awarded West Wittering beach. In order to put a few kms into our legs (and get cheaper train tickets!) we decided catch a train to Horsham and then plot a route from Horsham to Chichester where we would pick up Jack's route.

Quiet lanes, South Downs in the distance

It was a great day to ride a bike. We enjoyed quiet lanes out of Horsham and even got some off-roading in over the South Downs via the Slindon Estate. We had taken our Long Haul Truckers specicifically for that purpose, but still destroyed our arms on the off-road descent with no front suspension!

Great trail conditions on the descent, suspension would have been useful!

The off-roading (and the need to reapply sunscreen a few times!) meant that it took us a bit longer than planned to get to Chichester. We stopped there to pick up some picnic food from Marks and Spencers and then picked up Jack's route out of town. Because there was a ferry on the route that only ran til 6pm, we opted to ride Jack's route backwards, so as to put the ferry on the first half of the trip.

It was a great, quiet route and we saw many other cyclists. We passed Barreg Cycles in Fishbourne (just as Jack promised we would) and stopped to admire their unusual collection. Next it was on to Bosham, which has a road which floods twice a day, every day at high tide (we had checked to make sure this wouldnt be an issue for us on the ride!).

View of Bosham from the road that floods with the tides

We caught the Itchenor Ferry with our bicycles and ten minutes later we were on the other side of the harbour, picking up the Salterns Way cycle route and heading towards the beach!

Alberto's bike being loaded onto the ferry

On the ferry

The traffic only picked up when we joined the main road a kilometer or two from the beach, so all in all  I think we did pretty well. The beach was packed, but it was such an expansive beach, and with no commercialisation along the seafront, that it really didn't matter. We set up our blankets on a small dune overlooking the beach, changed into our swimsuits and ate our picnic. I went for a swim and Alberto had a nap, and then we traded places.

West Wittering Beach

We weren't the only people to have brought their bikes to the beach by a long shot - but we may have been the only ones to bring bikes worth more than two months' rent! - so we had to babysit them. It was certainly one of the best beaches I've been to in the UK, and when it came time to leave, neither of us were ready.

Getting ready to leave (I'm applying sunscreen!)

We decided not to follow Jack's route back to Chichester and instead take the shortcut of the main road for a bit and then sought out some quiet roads that run parallel to it. This gave us longer at the beach, but Jack's description of the other part of the route is so evocative that I definitely feel we have unfinished business with it. We made it to Chichester just in time for our train back to London, rounding out a perfect Saturday ride and probably one of my top days on the bike in a long while.

Our own "The Hell of the Ashdown"

 As some of you may already know, Lucy and I are not big fan of sportives, that is, rides that you pay (usually lots!) for in exchange of a pre-determined route and occasionally some feeds.

But, they do have their advantages, granted. The routes they usually take are well thought out, and involve going through scenic bits of this island. The Hell of the Ashdown is one such sportive that I've been wanting to ride for quite a while, just not with hundreds more of other cyclists (and without paying the hefty fee!).

March continues to be a cold month, much more than last year, where we were already cycling in shorts on a number of days. The forecast was not too bad though, just above freezing, but no rain and even some sun towards the end of the day. After a bit of fiddling with the official 2013 route, we took a train that dropped us to the south of Orpington, near the North Downs.

This ride promised to be on the hilly side of things, yet nothing too challenging nor Pyrinean, we hoped. With just over 1900 m of climb it would just be rolling terrain throughout.

Departing from Chelsfield was uneventful and quiet, yet climbing up gently for the first 15 km or so. Not sure why, but I felt super weak here, started to overheat and feared something was wrong. Perhaps too much clothing? not enough breakfast? I never knew, but just kept on drinking a bit of water, taking it easy on the hills (even for Lucy, that is!).

We soon went over the M25 and into the North Downs, with its continuous up and downs to keep things a bit interesting. I began to feel ok again, and carried on towards the Ashdown Forest without delay. 

Kent - The garden of England (not surprisingly!)

Quiet roads

 We had seen plenty of cyclists up until now, a good number of them from London-based clubs. Despite the fact that it seems to be a popular area for cycling, Lucy remained the only woman on two wheels we saw that day. Perhaps there's a reason behind it?

Lucy's feet were feeling too cold, even colder than usual. Her combination of two pair of socks (thick merino plus waterproof sealskins) did not seem to be working that well. One explanation she came up with had to do with her circulation being somewhat restricted by the tightness of wearing two socks and the cycling shoes? Whatever it was, she was not feeling too comfortable, so we looked around for somewhere hot to stop for a few seconds.

In Ashdown Forest

Not many places appear on the road when you most need them, but a quick stop in an off-license seemed to do the trick - for a little while. We then pressed on to the end, enjoying the fine views from the Ashdown and further on back on to the North Downs. Light was fading at this point, which gave us an opportunity to snap a few pictures along the Bough Beach reservoir.

Bough Beach reservoir

The last few hills towards Orpington were the most notorious of the day, having me on my lowest cog and struggling a bit. I need to put in some good (hilly) miles before the big rides I have planned in April (Yr Elenidh and the Dorset Coast 200) and May (Bryan Chapman).

It had been a good route, with most sections with very little traffic, despite this being one of the busiest areas of the UK. We did not record the stats, but from memory, we just did under 20 km/h average, which for this  time of the year, the climb etc was not too bad.

Roll on March.

Ride report: The Cheese Toastie 200 Audax

On the weekend after our France and Belgium cycle tour I had another early alarm...5:30 am and I found myself trying to get out of bed and catch a 6:40 am train out to Crawley, near Gatwick airport.

I had entered the Cheese Toastie a few days earlier, kind of unexpectedly. No more entries were available for the Elenydd ride in Wales. Lucy was away on holidays, so I thought I would sign up for another 200 km event to keep my fitness levels up . This event was also organised by "El Supremo", so plenty of food and support were to be expected. And not a particularly hilly ride this was, in theory.

Got to the start just after 7:45 am, where a few other machacas were getting ready for the off. 11 of us had registered for this ride, although only 10 started it. The route Dave had planned for us was as follows, split in four different stages of 75, 55, 50 and 25 km each approximately.



With fresh legs, the first leg went by very quickly. I joined a couple of Bromley-based riders shortly after the start, and rode with them for the remaining of the ride. Incidentally, I had ridden with one of them in our Veteran Car run to Brighton, back in November. This was good, as I always enjoy riding in company especially on long rides. Also, I was not quite sure that I had plotted the route correctly on the gps from the routesheet, as it sometimes it is not obvious to follow it on the screen (although, it really is once on the road!)

With Mike and Steve, the London riders, we made good progress on our way to Pyecombe, where we would finish stage 1. Earlier on we had one Info control, which are strategically located points to make sure that you do not cheat and shortcut the route. After that, we sped up towards Pyemcobe, where, on top of serving as a control, Dave was turning out cheese toasties (thus the name of the ride!) on his portable gas-oven. Other British delicacies were on offer, such as cheese and onion fritters, pork pies, and saussages. Knowing that I have a sensitive stomach, I opted for the cheese toastie and other sweet stuff. It still surprises me how good value this rides are, for £7.5 you get plenty of drink/food at three feeds. And Dave gets up at 3 am to get all this food ready for us. Hats off to him. Having discovered audaxes, I doubt I will ever enter another type of organised ride unless it is not for profit.The atmosphere was great, with plenty of riders doing the 100 km also on the day.

Cheese toasties feed stop, 75 km into the ride

Audaxes are also good to spot some good bike-porn. This time I saw a very interesting bike that at first thought it was a Moulton, but which then, with the help of other rider, decided that it was home-made.

Is it a Moulton or is it not?

Fed and hydrated, we set off along the bottom of the South Downs. Here the roads were beautiful but rather bumpy. We went past two of the famous climbs in the area: Ditchling Deacon and Devil's Dyke, which for the first time ever, I did not climb on the day. After this, some bits of busy roads followed. This is one of the disadvantages of riding someone else's routes.

We made good progress here as well, and I completed another 100 km in well under 4 hours, keeping up a moving average of >27 km/h. Everything was going great and I had good feelings. Midhurst was the next control, where we did the Audax thing and went for some garage food to obtain a receipt as proof of passage.

Forested areas in the vicinity of Midhurst

After Midhurst, we had another bit of main road, and then off again to the lanes. Towards the end of this leg I started to feel pretty knackered, and could not really keep up with the other guys. Although I suggested they go ahead, they decided to stick together, which I really appreciated. I am not sure what went wrong here. I had a sore knee pretty much all the way, which I believe it was due to the seatpost being higher than normal. After I adjusted it, it seemed to get a bit better, but the pain continued for the rest of the ride, although it was not too bad. Also, we kept an average that was a little above of what I am used to, which may have also had an impact after 150 km into the ride. And lastly, the food. I normally stuff my face with a hearty breakfast in the morning, and keep eating every 30-45 min. But today I had rushed it and did not get much food in. Also, I was feeling very hungry and the bananas and chocolates did not seem to calm that down. Despite the feed in Pyecombe (at 10:30 am!) I had not had any proper food in a while, and I was feeling it. Lesson learnt.

Luckily for me, the guys were in the front pretty much all the time, which made it easier to keep pedalling at a reasonable speed. Despite my bad feelings and hanger, I was still averaging over 25 km/h. But I truly needed some food.

One of the things I like about cycling in Britain is the cake eating culture. Cycling gives you "cake points". If you ride with Brits, they will always stop for cake and coffe somewhere during the ride. And so we did this time. Two cakes and a sugary coffee and we were off for the last, easiest stage.

Only 24 km separated us from the finish. I had recovered a bit, but Mike and Steve were still impossing a brisk pace which I sometimes struggled to follow. The roads were undulating all the way, but every single bump looked like a proper hill now. I used the granny ring a lot today, also because of the pain in the knee. In less than 1 hour we were back in Pease Pottage, where Dave and his helpers were waiting with yet more food and drink.

I had a great day out. The route was pretty good, although it would have been even better with less of the busy roads in Stage 2 and 3. Some other memories of the day:

• Weather held up, not a single drop of rain, and reasonable temperatures. I much rather have 10C and clouds than 30C and sun like we had in some of the summer rides.
• Plenty of dead animals on the road: rabbits, foxes, squirrels, badgers, even one owl. 
• Great companions, Mike and Steve. Really like the camaraderie and friendlyness of these rides.
• Interesting chats with the organiser and helpers upon arrival. They were all pretty experienced riders themselves and were only too happy to share their knowledge of the long-distance cycling culture. Adivice such as "if you go for a kip while riding, make sure you point your bike to the direction you need to keep going after you wake up". It seems that many riders go for a nap, then carry on riding in the opposite direction for miles. 
• No stomach problems today, although knee was unhappy
• My fastest ever 200 ride, in just over 9 hours including stops. 7h and 53 min moving average, despite my tiredness and funny knee. 
• Forested areas in the South, really nice roads and feeling of remotness.

All in all, a very good ride with the usual super catering from "El Supremo". Other audax organisers charged you nearly the same amount and do not provide anything other than the brevet card, so I wonder how this happens?

Now looking forward to our Green & Yellow Fields this coming Friday, a ride with a midnight start and 300 km.

The stats were as shown below

Caught in the Rain: Friday Night Ride to Bognor Regis

Last Friday night, Alberto and I went out on our second Friday Night Ride to the Coast (and third ever night ride). This one was to Bognor Regis in West Sussex, with about 80 of us in attendance.

As with all Friday Night Rides, we met at Hyde Park Corner at 11:30pm and departed at midnight on the dot. Due to the recent disturbances, we took a different route out of London, and it seemed to me that we stopped less than on our previous rides as we were able to stick together a bit more.

When we finally got into the countryside it was past 2am. We rode along on country lanes, making small talk with various of the other riders, until it started to drizzle slightly just before the halfway stop at the Cabin Cafe in Faygate (which had opened especially for us!). No problem, I thought... we'll go inside for a snack and it'll clear up!

WRONG... It was still raining when we left the cafe and it was still raining when we arrived in Bognor Regis four hours later. I remember when we were in the cafe, BBC news was on and they showed the weather forecast. A huge groan rose up from the entire cafe, as we realised we were in for a night of terrible rain. Although my jacket was waterproof, after four hours of riding in the rain, the water had started to be absorbed on the slightly-less waterproof areas like the hems, and then slowly seeping upwards so that only my arms and waist were wet. And my feet! Oh, my feet were soaked. I was peddling in puddles inside my shoes.

Because of all the rain, Simon (the group leader) decided to alter the route a bit. Rather than walking through some fields and over a kissing gate (which would have avoided the hills of the South Downs) we stayed on the roads, going up and over on the A217. It was tough, but I actually LOVED the hill. In fact, I loved all the hills on this ride. They were rolling and not very steep, and I really felt that I could keep up my speed on them (and even pass some people!) which made me feel good.

My fingers and toes became wrinkled as if I had been in a long bath, and we both had to take our sunglasses (well, actually they are sunglasses with clear lenses, which we wear at night to protect our eyes, because we are that cool) off because it was impossible to see through all the water droplets. Without mudguards, the rain came right off my rear wheel and onto my butt. The water even went through the hole in my saddle making it feel like I had wet my pants! At one point as we were stopped in the rain waiting to regroup, I turned to Alberto and said, "this is what we do for fun..."

Wet ride!

It was a little unpleasant, but it was fun. It felt like much more of an achievement to have to slog through the rain, and it made the reward of a breakfast at The Lobster Pot on the beach in Bognor Regis so much more satisfying! In fact, I actually think it was one of the most enjoyable routes I've ever done!

130 km in all, and it took us almost exactly 8 hours including all the stopping time. Can't wait for the next Friday Night Ride to the Coast!

Sun starts to come out... just as we are ready to leave!