2013.01 January

5th January 8.00am Saturday morning ride.
The morning after the APM so was anyone out?

Well as it happened the Dane was out, having missed the APM hyperventilating on his chocolate fumes instead, commenting that it was “me and only me out“.

This resulted in the following indignant message from Mr Thriscutt as follows:-

Well actually, Samuel and I were all present and correct, ready for the ride from the usual place at 8:00 on Saturday morning – yes, so soon after the APM too (where it seemed that certain members were making gallant efforts to support all the local breweries)! Suffice to say how disappointed we were to see that none of the other so called members of the FGCC were present! Really, call that dedication?!!

FYI, we did the penta-peaks (well, OK, perhaps there weren’t quite 5 of them, and they were not entirely peak-like, but it did seem like it at the time, especially as I was carrying half of the South Downs mud on my lead-lines bike!): Cisbury Ring, then along towards Chantonbury, down across the Findon by-pass, and then on towards the tank, turning off before then and getting a bit lost (“Does this bit of fog look familiar?”); then back via Long Furlong. We did about 45 miles (well, 14 km, but it seemed like 45 miles – it must have been all that excitement from the APM the previous evening), and it took about 3 days!

So, that’s my/our story and we’re sticking to it, so that should be good for the FGCC Brownie Points (when do we get the certificates?)! We didn’t come across any other cyclists either in our travels!

To which the grounded Dane replied:
Mark,

Although I haven’t had the chance to meet you and your son I would have recognized two mountain bikers. However the only other bike I noticed was the paper boy before I 8am (according to the butcher’s clock) decided to give up waiting and went up to Cissbury Car park where I took the goat track up to Cissbury. Instead of getting to the top I took the track south of Cissbury to get some climbing in. Down from Cissbury along the singletrack towards the green barn. Here I went down what could be called Findon autobane due to it’s now very smooth and plane surface. At the first gate I went left towards No Mans land, a big mistake as the track was very rough and muddy.
In No Mans land I climbed back to Findon. My plan was to get home via Chantonbury but I ran out of steam. Instead I climbed Church hill.

Petty we missed each others.

Combination of an impatient Dane and the “maxing out” of the 10 minute rule by a halfcut Thriscutt?

10 miles for MT and 5 miles for KBS? Maybe PT can check on the Satmap. However, we look forward to the Flying Dane being back with us on January 19th.

Saturday 12th January 8.00am ride.
A cold drizzly morning and only CB and RT out – clearly the weather had proven too much for others.
Neither having ridden for some time, a ride to Shoreham was selected as being not too challenging and yet a reasonable distance.
Route up and over Cissbury car park, over the Steyning road and round to Lancing clump, past the college and over the footbridge to Shoreham and a breakfast at Truffles. Some heavy rain on the way over and into the wind so not too pleasant and very sticky going after Steyning road.
As we set off home we came across a frozen Dane at his stall, and then had a fast ride along the sea-front with the benefit of having the wind behind, but it started to rain and by the time we got back to Findon we were more than a little wet – e.g. cycling shoes were full of water in spite of waterproof socks.
18 miles?

Saturday 19th January 08.00am ride.
KBS and RRT.
Snow all around and choice made was a 4 peaks. At Cissbury car park KBS insisted that a 4 peaks ride should include going up round the east side of Cissbury, which then meant a treacherous descent down the other side in a south-easterly direction – KBS’s clearly aiming for a repeat of Bloody Norse Corner, especially as he knew that RT’s rear brakes weren’t working.
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A great run through the valley to the farm buildings and then a slippery climb up the hill to Langmead, with several stops to enjoy the scene.

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Heavy going most of the way up to Chanctonbury,
img_0295a.JPGChanctonbury Ring looks great in white !
and then a drop to Washington and round the back of Windlesham and up to George’s office. Not the best of rides for KBS who rapidly went downhill (!) after Chanctonbury,

img_0304a.JPGFirst time down – blood on right leg ! img_0305a.JPGSecond time down….blood on left leg (not much)
only finally being rescued by the offer of a jammy dodger at Pukkamuck HQ, but not providing sufficient energy for him to do the 4th peak either.
Total distance probably not more than 8 miles but took 3.5 hours due because it was so heavy going.

Kim: Luckily, no photos of me pulling my bike while Richard riding ahead with a big smile on his face 🙂