It was late, it was a Friday evening. I was scurrying around getting my bits and bobs ready for the ‘big ride’, and getting more excited by the minute. Brighton here we come!I decided to take my rack bag so that I could carry the essentials in an efficient manner.
What I took:
Multi tool and repair kit
2 inner tubes
1 banana
6 home-made energy bars
1 litre of home-made energy drink
Slices of fruit loaf
Merino wool top
Small padlock and cable
Money
GPS/phone
I had planned the route using Google Maps and had loaded the map into an Android app called Maverick. We also had backup paper maps in case my battery didn’t last.
When I woke on Saturday morning it was glorious. The sky was blue and the sun was out at last. It was still a little nippy though but I reasoned that it would warm up soon enough. Chand arrived at 7.20am to collect his bike and after saying goodbye to the bairns we set off for Ladywell Fields.
We cycled through the park and then hooked up onto the Waterlink Way which was very pleasant. From there we headed through Lower Sydenham, Kent House and Elmers End before stopping for a break in the environs of East Croydon.
Soon we were whizzing along the Dorking Road before hitting our first little hill, namely Box Hill. To be honest it wasn’t too bad. Having made it to the top James treated us to generic cups of coffee. The caffeine was a welcome boost. On the way down we kind of got lost. Yes, I know I had a GPS but it was pointing to a road that simply was NOT there! We blamed the ladybirds inside the unit. It was their job to paint the map on the screen after having the route relayed to them via an airborne ladybird flying 20 metres above us. Anyway they had gone on a tea break. We ended up taking a rather unusual route down the hill. Said route being a dried up river bed. My bike coped admirably but the skinnier tyres on Ben and James bikes made the steep descent a lot more treacherous.
The majority of the rest of the journey was along quiet undulating country roads. Down one monster hill I was hammering along touching 30ish mph when Ben went barrelling past having made the most of my slipstream before whip-lashing out to overtake me. Exciting stuff!
We had our first spill just after we had gone through Faygate. Here the road had been freshly laid with razor sharp gravel which had collected in troughs at the side of the road. We had just stopped for a breather when Chand heard a car coming and moved in a little bit. I doing so his bike sunk into the gravel and flicked from under him. His knee took the force of the tumble. After helping him up we saw that his knee was a bloody mess.
10 minutes and one bandaged knee later Chand assured us he was happy to go on. Chand really was a star on the ride. He hadn’t trained and had only recently got back into cycling again so his fitness was not what it should have been to attempt the ride. Lesser men would have given up, especially as we neared the coast and saw the whopping Saddlescombe hill that stood in our way. Chand did not give up. He struggled on. Kudos to him!
Towards the end of the journey it started to get cold. The sun had gone, there was a headwind and as we entered the environs of Brighton I did not feel as elated as I was hoping to feel. However a hearty meal of fish and chips and huge cup of coke sorted me out.
Ben and I were toying with the idea of cycling back, but the lateness of the day and the general feeling of fatigue put paid to that. Maybe next time? So we took the train back and ended the day with a celebratory drink at Masons.
Statistics
Mileage: 66 miles
Time:7 hours 40 minutes
Stops:lots
Spills:1
Enjoyment:10/10