Went for a ride with the Fairies again, this time to Burwash. There were about 9 or 10 of us riding, and again the weather was superb – mainly sunny and not too hot. The main topic of conversation seemed to be last week’s ride to Medway Bridge, which I had missed. In particular, talk centred around tales of angst regarding Lockyers Hill, near Luddesdown. It is one of the few ‘double-chevron’ hills around here, boasting a gradient, according to the sign, of 25%. Damn! I wish I hadn’t missed that one. I’ll have to plan a route there myself.
We had a coffee (plus poached egg on toast) break in a nice café in Burwash called the Lime Tree Tea Rooms. Luckily we could park all our bikes down the side alley.
It was a fairly hilly route except for the bits near Marden. 52 miles at 14.4 mph.
Well, as promised, this route is a modification of the Greensand Hills Route I did last week, except this time the previous descents become the new ascents and vice versa.
I wasn’t really in the mood for this ride. Maybe it was the couple of beers I’d had the previous evening; I just felt a bit lack-lustre, performance-wise. It was a fairly hot day (25°C) with sunny spells.
The first climb of the day was Yalding Hill, and it felt a bit of a slog, which was worrying, this early in the ride. Then, it was down Barn and up Hunton Hill. This was the first time I had climbed Hunton Hill and it was steeper than I had expected. Nearly two miles later came Vanity Lane. Having climbed this for the first time a couple of weeks before, at least I knew what to expect; it didn’t make it any easier though! As I panted my way up the steep incline, a woman jogging (or at least to the extent that one can ‘jog’ down such a steep slope) past me in the opposite direction quipped “and I thought I was mad running down it!”. A grunt of acknowledgement was all I could muster in response, as I gasped for more air. I was glad to get Vanity Lane out of the way – the remaining hills are all less severe. Only eight more to go!
Five hills later I was wishing it could be over. When I came to the top of Windmill Hill I mistakenly thought I had completed the last one, so when I found myself descending again I thought “Drat, there must be another one to go” (or thoughts to that effect!). And there was – Headcorn Road has an ascent of 220 feet in half a mile. With that out of the way I just had 11 fairly flat miles to ride home.
Even though it was a slog I was still glad I had done it once it was over.
St. Peters, Church Hill, Boughton MonchelseaSt Peter’s and St Paul’s, Church Lane, East Sutton
Just a quick post. Rode to Hastings today. The Met Office radar showed showers all across Kent and Sussex but I took a chance and managed to get there dry! Every other time I have cycled there I have got wet. It was very windy though, and that added a bit to the time, although I did clock up a few PBs on Strava including one for Stonestile Lane. The data from my Garmin reported a top speed of over 50 mph! I do remember going very fast at one point but I’m not sure I would have been going that fast on that particular piece of road – I’ll have to compare with other trips.
Once again my Garmin had recorded bad elevation data and according to it I was frequently cycling at 150 feet below sea level! When I got home I researched this issue and found that you are supposed to switch the unit on and give it 5 minutes or so to calibrate before setting off. I tried that this evening and sure enough it did get more accurate after leaving it a while. I must remember to do this before every ride. I also found out that the altimeter is affected by temperature – which explains why, when I stop at a café and put it in my pocket, it seems to think I have ascended 150 feet while I have been drinking my coffee!
This is the first ride with my new pedals, which I fitted last night. They were great – I soon got used to the slightly different way of clipping in.
Reading something on the web about a year ago, someone suggested a route of this nature – ie. going up and down each consecutive hill along the Greensand Ridge starting at Yalding Hill and moving East. At the the time I thought it would be a killer, as I considered Yalding, Barn and Hunton Hills, Westerhill Road, Vanity Lane, etc, but really these are the worst ones – with one or two exceptions the hills get easier as you go East. I thought I’d give it a go. I designed the following route (43 miles, 3,340 feet ascent) : It was a hot day (26°C) with light winds. The first climb was Barn Hill. I’m very familiar with this short, sharp shock. The next ascent was Westerhill Road and that was really tough, certainly the steepest on this route – it’s up there with the toughest of all the Ridge hills and required out-of-the-saddle heavy breathing action to get up it! With that one done, the rest were easier.
St. Michael’s Chart Sutton
During this ride I discovered some really nice country lanes around here that I had never ridden before, such as Loddington Lane. I think this route will become a favourite. I have designed another one that goes up the hills that this one goes down and vice versa. I tried something new on this ride, namely having an IsoGel every 7 or 8 miles. It seemed to work OK and I noticed no unpleasant side-effects, other than feeling more hungry than usual once I got home.
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!
I planned another ride around the lovely lanes in the Smarden / Pluckley area. But, as has happened before, I hadn’t checked that all of the route was actually on roads! The weather was beautiful – sunny and warm. Shortly into the journey my Garmin told me to turn right here: The sign next to the gate says “PRIVATE DRIVE”. I had a quick look at the Garmin to see if there was a way around, but there wasn’t a short alternative. I couldn’t believe that the mapping software would lead me up someone’s ‘garden path’! I was more inclined to believe that it was a public right of way and the sign was just there as a deterrent. So I rode up it anyway. The path led me past a huge country house (which I later discovered was Godinton House) and then through what seemed like a country park. I was soon travelling on a rough path and over cattle grids.
I still didn’t really know if I was allowed to be there, but it was a lovely ride so I carried on.
Soon I came to a nice spot by a river (The River Spinney), so I sat there for a while in the sun and spotted some interesting wildlife, including a grass snake swimming up to the bank and a frog leaping for its life. I also saw lots of beautiful flying insects that I subsequently discovered were darters, a type of dragonfly.
I met several dog-walkers who confirmed that it was a public right of way.About half a mile later I was back on public roads for the remaining 15 miles of my journey. It had been another interesting unplanned off-road excursion.
I went on another club run with the San Fairy Ann CC. This time I drove to Marden with the bike in the car. And I’m glad I did. The only stats you need to describe this ride are:
29°C+
56 miles
16.8 mph avg.
Very hot and sweaty!
I still enjoyed it though. The pace was fast considering the temperature, but it was a flat route. Stopped at a cafe in Wye for coffee. There were eight riders today so I got a chance to meet more of the group.
I planned a route to explore the nice quiet lanes around Pluckley. I also included 2 climbs at the end – the first one climbing the Greensand Ridge at Sutton Valence, then dropping all the way down again before climbing the very steep, but uncharted by me, East Hall Hill. The day started cloudy, 18°C. There was a westerly breeze that was in my face for the first part of the journey. By the end of the ride the sun had come out, 21°C.
I took it fairly easy, averaging 15.3 before I got to the hills. Around the 30-mile mark I started to flag slightly and didn’t relish the prospect of the two hills that I knew were coming up. I stopped and had a while I took in this lovely view:
Whether it was the 2 JBs I had just before climbing the first hill, or whether it was the Mule Bar I’d had about 7 miles before that, or whether it was my , or whether it was the that I was using for the first time, I don’t know, but I climbed both hills with no problem. In fact I went up both in second gear. Don’t get me wrong, East Hall Hill was no picnic. I was out of the saddle the whole way, but I settled into a rhythm, taking in huge gulps of air with every pedal stroke and my legs just on the verge of, but not quite screaming “STOP!”. At the top of the hill I recovered quickly. The even better news was that when I got home I felt totally fine, like I had just been for a brief stroll or something! It’s really great when that happens!
Today I went for a ride with four other cyclists from the San Fairy Ann CC, a well-established cycling club based in Maidstone. It’s the first time I have done a ‘club run’ since I was a boy. I cycled down to Marden and met the other guys there for 9 AM. The weather was very hot – 28°C, with a light breeze. This was the route:
Chatting as we rode I soon re-learned the etiquette of group riding. We travelled through some glorious countryside and wooded areas as we headed for a garden centre in Crowborough, where we stopped for a coffee. By the time we got there I was dripping, due to a combination of the lumpy ride and the heat. I enjoyed a toasted tea cake while others had a more substantial snack. The other guys were all experienced cyclists and had racked up various major achievements between them including JOGLE, London-Cannes, etc.
For this ride I did actually manage to pace my drinking correctly and I had drunk both bidons by the time I got home. Apart from the tea cake all I had to eat were two fig rolls and about 5 JBs. I found this ride to be tougher than I had expected. I peeled off before the end of the trip and took a less-than-optimal route back from Horsmonden, costing me a couple of extra miles. It would have been a lot easier if I had driven to Marden, thus avoiding Barn Hill on the return.
It was a nice ride through beautiful rolling countryside on a sunny day, in good company – what more could you want?
…except to then be able to watch one of the most exciting tennis matches I’ve seen, as Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in the Men’s Final at Wimbledon!
