Guildford StationI nervously met up with Caroline, Mick, Trevor, Bob, Paul and Keith to start the Guilford-Brighton-Guildford. Nervous because there had been reports of herculean sportif riding, racing, and continental trips whereas I had just ridden the odd mountain bike ride and club run. I was also nervous because I was going to do the trip on a single-speed and wasn't sure if I would be holding people up. The saving grace was the distance, around 85 miles - 60 ish of which would be off-road, surely no one would want to start too quickly.
We set off and made our way to Bramley to pick up a friend of mine, Chris, who had done a bit of mountain biking and prepared meticulously by playing golf in Mallorca for a week with his mates. The Downs Link was dry and dusty but mercifully the tree lined route provided a cool avenue to cycle down on what was one of the hottest days of the year. Not too technical, it allowed for riding two abreast most of the time and was more like a road club run. A stop at Southwater outdoor centre for coffee was well timed and we pressed on towards Bramber.
There's always one!
At Bramber we crossed over from the Downs Link to a track alongside the estuary and down to Shoreham. Back onto tarmac for the run into Brighton Chris had puncture, which was ironic after the eight of us had done so much off-road without any problems. As we came into Hove we came across the finish of the 'Capital to Coast' sponsored ride which I hadn't realised was on.
Could be Italy...
Trevor made a dash for the station just in case there was a problem with the trains while we made a dash for a beer. Turning up at the Alfresco Restaurant we obviously impressed because we got a whole section to ourselves!!? After beer, water, pasta and coffee we split up with Caroline and Mick heading for the station, Keith deciding on a different route home and Paul, Bob, Chris and myself deciding to retrace our steps.
The ride back seemed quicker but that was upset when, after stopping to help a family mend a puncture, my rear hub started to ride roughly and sounded like it was going to fall to bits. With the hill approaching I played safe and ran up it (walking more like...), Chris took the honour's by riding all the way up and we all got into Bramley to drop Chris off feeling a mixture of relief, pride and disbelief that we had ridden so far off-road.
The last few miles on the road into Guildford and we said goodbye at the station, a good day and a testing one - whose up for next year?
Steve
Also available in green
We set off and made our way to Bramley to pick up a friend of mine, Chris, who had done a bit of mountain biking and prepared meticulously by playing golf in Mallorca for a week with his mates. The Downs Link was dry and dusty but mercifully the tree lined route provided a cool avenue to cycle down on what was one of the hottest days of the year. Not too technical, it allowed for riding two abreast most of the time and was more like a road club run. A stop at Southwater outdoor centre for coffee was well timed and we pressed on towards Bramber.
There's always one!At Bramber we crossed over from the Downs Link to a track alongside the estuary and down to Shoreham. Back onto tarmac for the run into Brighton Chris had puncture, which was ironic after the eight of us had done so much off-road without any problems. As we came into Hove we came across the finish of the 'Capital to Coast' sponsored ride which I hadn't realised was on.
Could be Italy...Trevor made a dash for the station just in case there was a problem with the trains while we made a dash for a beer. Turning up at the Alfresco Restaurant we obviously impressed because we got a whole section to ourselves!!? After beer, water, pasta and coffee we split up with Caroline and Mick heading for the station, Keith deciding on a different route home and Paul, Bob, Chris and myself deciding to retrace our steps.
The ride back seemed quicker but that was upset when, after stopping to help a family mend a puncture, my rear hub started to ride roughly and sounded like it was going to fall to bits. With the hill approaching I played safe and ran up it (walking more like...), Chris took the honour's by riding all the way up and we all got into Bramley to drop Chris off feeling a mixture of relief, pride and disbelief that we had ridden so far off-road.
The last few miles on the road into Guildford and we said goodbye at the station, a good day and a testing one - whose up for next year?
Steve
Also available in green
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