Sharpthorne

Low temperatures did not put many off as Cobham carpark was full of riders hoping to get a few miles in around the country lanes of Surrey and Sussex. Roger was taking an ever increasing group on his Uppers and Downers non stop ride. Trevor our runs leader had planned a route, but having never been to Sharpthorne before, had to rely on a bit of guess work on which were the best lanes to choose. So near East Grinstead we found ourselves on a mucky lane that went past a farm. It slowed us down for a while but it wasn't too long before we were back on some tarmac, and my bike needed a clean anyway.

Stubpond lane

Training for Paris - Roubaix

We have only been here a few times now but we were all saying that it should be included on our runs list more often. The food was excellent although it did take a while to arrive. The owner, an Italian, made us feel very welcome, who told us he was training for a 500km cycling event taking place in the Alps this summer. While we ate and drank we were entertained by Claire, a local musician, who plays there regularly on Saturdays.

Today's destination

With the cold and the fact we had covered quite a distance, meant everyone had good appetites and there was quite a few cooked breakfast delivered to the table. Perhaps there are some latent audax riders in the group waiting to break out after all.

Cooked breakfasts were popular

Our ride back was again fast and furious and we lost a few members on the way before we all began to split, to take our individual routes home. The cold north wind was biting and unusually Nick & myself stopped in Epsom for a quick coffee to see us the last few miles back. We were going to get take aways but were glad we went inside as we found a little piece of Portugal there. It was a real delight and great coffee too.

Coffee in Portugal

Sponge Delight

With Trevor the Routemeister away ,there were a few routes for our ride to Seale flying around during the week. Andy volunteered a route on his Garmin and John sent round a map of his route we could follow.However,by the time we had descended Coombe Bottom Andy had gone off his route ,and before John could get a look in ,Mark IDNAG Packman stepped in. We then followed a route that was new to me once we left Bramley which stayed in the Surrey Hills and was consistently hilly. I do recall going over Bannacle Hill which I had not seen before and was just one of many pretty lanes we rode up on this sandy part of the Downs.

Not only is IDNAG's memory of every twist and turn impressive-he needs to be in good voice to navigate from the back of the group as he enjoys doing.

Eventually we arrived at Seale where the cakes were as good as ever. The ladies were fluttering their eyelashes at Andy for some reason -one of them saying he looked like a US serviceman she had known in 1944 . Eventually we managed to lever him out of the tea room but not before he had generously entrusted us with the secret reason for his cycling prowess. John,the Marks,Richard G and me have sworn an oath of secrecy-but I can tell you we were shocked,surprised and then impressed.

Richard continued to show the very strong form he exhibited all day all the way back to Cobham-interrupted only by our US serviceman lookalike exploding past us all on the uphill sprint to the Albury village sign .
Nick A

Shit Cyclists Say

A GLOVELY DAY

As we have all seen the weather is all over the place at the moment.

A week ago as I had to be back early I did not think I could go mountain biking south of Guildford and so as the previous week had been dry -even with images of Paul ( I now have a foot long pin for a right femur) Alderson I decided to risk a ride on the roads.

It was a select group of Mark Williams, Simon and Mark Mr Chelsea Audio -who joins us from time to time who set off for a short ride leaving a dozen or so others in Cobham still putting the world to rights.

We already had had an interesting ride out from Wandsworth.It was certainly quite chilly and Mark is known for feeling the cold -the sensitive chap that he is.He had confided to me that he was wearing 3 pairs of gloves but they were still not doing the job.So at a garage in Thames Ditton we stopped for him to take off one pair of inners and replace them with a pair of the gloves you get for free to keep your hands from smelling of petrol. It seemed to do the job as he stopped complaing for a few minutes and was no longer threatening to turn round and go home.

As the others who ventured out experienced it was odd to find the frost forming your gloves -even on Mr Williams' super warm versions- as we neared the downs. Around that time the sun came out bringing with it some superb views and a noticeable rise in temperature. A quick ride up Staples Lane,down to Green Deene up onto Ranmore ,down to Effingham back up onto Ranmore again by the back lane behind St Teresas,across to chase Simon up Box Hill and home for about 12.30pm.A classic North Downs short ride on a stunning morning.

E Petition

In the light of some appalling sentencing of  drivers who injure or kill bike riders on the roads (http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/bc20120113-about-bc-news-Driver-in-Rob-Jefferies-case-given-community-order-and-18-month-driving-ban-0)

I would like all bike riders or those sympathetic to this cause to sign this petition for a chance to change the law regarding this matter, we need to get 100,000 signatures to get it accepted to House of Commons

Sign Petition here

Breaking Away (1979)

This is one of the best cycling movies ever made. The story was about Dave, small-town teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team and of course a girl.

When a professional Italian bicycling team comes to town for a race, Dave is thrilled to be competing with them. However, the Italians become irked when Dave is able to keep up with and even speak to them in Italian during the race. One of them jams a bike pump in Dave's wheel, causing him to crash, which leaves him disillusioned and depressed.



Dave and his friends later form a cycling team and compete in annual Indiana University Little 500 race. 

Trail Break MTB event

It was too cold for a road ride today, so some of us planned to meet to ride the Trail Break event that was based at Shackleford near Godalming.

It read -2.5 degrees on the drive out.

My old friends Dave & Abi were also there.

Mark & Niall were already there when I arrived, so as soon as I had picked up my timing chip it was all power to the pedal and off we set. The tracks were dry and super fast as we raced along overtaking all the other riders. Some of them looking as if they had eaten too much Christmas pudding.We headed over Crooksbury Common and around Tilford. On the way through Kettlebury Hill there were a couple of ice filled puddles which a rider in front of me skidded and fell fully into one.

Someone finished but with a nail in his tyre.

At the 30km mark we had a road climb up towards Hindhead and Niall pulled away from Mark and myself. There was a fantastic long, long straight rocky decent down off the top that I really enjoyed. Then across Elstead Common where there was more icy filled streams to cross, but which there were a couple of boardwalks there to kept our feet dry.

Finished and time for a cuppa.

We arrived back at the finish where the organisers were serving a nice array of food and drinks to all the riders.

Paul in Hospital

Paul Alderson came off his bike on the way to work last week. He slipped on some cobbles and now is lying in bed with a broken femur on his left leg. Nick Allen & myself visited him tonight and he was in good spirits considering he will be off the bike for the foreseeable future.
Get well Paul ASAP

Herne Hill

Nice little video about the best track in London

http://gu.com/p/349qy

Wendy Houvenaghel

One for all you testers out there
More Road Cycling Videos

More Sky news

From today's Metro newspaper.
Who's the King now?

Cav's the man

Seen at a bus stop on my way to work this morning.

Cycle the Isle of Wight

I was on the Isle of Wight over the holidays and decided I'd cycle a lap of the island. I'd had ridden quite a bit here over the years, and got to know the place especially well when I competed in the Trailbreak Wight Diamond 2-day mountain bike festival 3 years running. That meant riding to different points around the island to collect points like an orienteering event.

Follow the cycle network signs

This time I had the road bike with me because I was expecting wet weather and the chalk bridlepaths would be like an ice rink and difficult to ride along. I had downloaded a route to my Garmin that took me clockwise around the isle using a series of designated cycle network paths that meant I was on the rural lanes most of the time.

Stick to the quiet lanes

To include the northern coast you have to ride through Cowes which means catching the ferry across the river Medina. It's quick and there's not too long to wait and it runs up to midnight.

Cowes ferry

It would be a great place for a club run away day so expect to see this on the calendar for later in the year. A lap without any detours would be about 100km or 62 miles so quite manageable for all our groups.

Cyclist travel  free on the ferry