I went for my third club run with the San Fairy Ann (SFA) cycling club. The day started off cloudy and cool, but by the time we got to Rye Harbour it was 25°C with a cloudless sky. Thankfully the temperature and the average speed were lower than on last week’s ride. There were five of us riding down to Rye and we met another rider there, so there were six of us on the way back. I got to meet a couple more members of the group. In fact I’m the only rider who has been consistently for the past three runs – not bad for a non-member!
We averaged 16 mph on the way down there. The route consisted mainly of quiet country lanes and a couple of steep (15%) descents, one of which had a dangerously tight bend halfway down. I wasn’t looking forward to climbing these hills on the return journey – luckily we came back using a different route! Rye Harbour wasn’t as characterful as I had imagined – in fact it was really just a place for people to launch their boats. We sat outside a café in the sunshine, sharing the available tables with some other bikers; when I say ‘bikers’ I mean the sort with leather jackets, beards, tattoos and Harleys, in somewhat stark contrast to us in our colourful lycra and silly cycling shoes. Luckily there wasn’t a stand-off!
The route back was less lumpy and started off dead flat as it followed the Military Canal for about 6 miles to Appledore. Quite a bit of the ride back was on busier roads, which are not as enjoyable as the lanes, but you do tend to get further, quicker. We averaged 15.4 mph back to Marden and had covered 58 miles in total. All in all this was a much easier ride than last week’s, and I had survived on just the piece of flapjack that I’d had at the café!