The Crawley 100 Ride

Today’s ride was scheduled to start at Three Bridges Station but, due to ‘Track Improvements’ a dual start was decided upon; 6:00 in Horsham and 7:00 in Crawley.

6:00 in Horsham to be met by Norman.
7:00 in Crawley to be met by Bob, Pete S and Jeet.

Off we headed through Crawley up to Pease Pottage via K2. The route was then down Grouse Road, right onto Hammerponds towards Horsham. Left in Doomsday Green took us over the A281 and past Sedgwick House. It was soon after here Jeet had his first puncture. Having done a good job, see later, we headed off again through Copsale, Maplehurst and over the A272. After the A272 we went through Partridge Green turning left onto the B2116 and joined the A281 at Shermanbury heading south. After a mile we turned left to rejoin B2116 just north of Henfield. Left again took us through Wineham and then right onto Bob Lane, through Twineham and a break at the Little Chef.

After refreshments Jeet noticed he had had another puncture, this turned out to be a missed flint from the first puncture. Having done another good job, see later, we started our northerly leg, into the wind. Just after crossing the A272 Norman said he was going home as he was not feeling well, after some discussion about the best route home we headed up towards the B2115 near Slough Green where Norman could leave us. Approaching this junction Bob said ‘Here comes a Scooby’, meaning a Subaru. All I saw was a Ford, as did Pete. Jeet saw a Subaru. This was then to become a topic for the day, seeing Ford Impreza’s and Subaru Mondeo’s quite regularly. Having said goodbye to Norman we headed east towards Cuckfield where I nearly came a cropper, looking at some balloons with skull and crossbones on I did not see a stone which I promptly hit and only just managed to stay on my bike. Bob thought it may have been a golf ball, the same one that caused Frank to come off on a previous ride. Right and left in Cuckfield we headed past Borde Hill Gardens where Jeet had another puncture, this turned out to be a leak from the previous patch.

Heading off again we aimed for Ardingly, en-route we were passed by a lady on a scooter and yes her bum did look big on it. Later she passed us coming in the other direction and yes she was equally as big up front! (Is this politically correct? Ed.) We turned left in Ardingly, went over the reservoir and then right towards the Flying Saucer (Worth Abbey). It was tops off for me here as it was boil in the bag time. Turning right we headed towards Turners Hill though we turned left just beforehand to head towards Crawley and our lunch stop. Pete and Bob led us at this point as local knowledge helped us avoided traffic lights near Three Bridges station. Lunch was at Costa Coffee in Tescos. Anton made an appearance here and joined us for lunch; he had been on a ride in Kent. We were expecting Barbara but it was a no-show.

Having been fed and watered we headed north, again into the wind. Irons Bottom (a place, not a result of too many miles in the saddle) came and went and we headed for Leigh then on towards Betchworth. Just before there we turned west into the wind towards Stroud Green. Turning left here, we headed south and hoped for some wind assisted cycling. HA! Bob asked the route here and I said straight on until the next T-junction so off he went in pursuit of a young lady cyclist. Unfortunately I had forgotten a right turn, as I had done while working out the route. So we were off course and had to make some adjustments. This was fairly easy as the roads we were on are used on our regular rides. So we headed for Parkgate then Newdigate where we rejoined the route. This was actually shorter but avoided a single arrowed hill. In Newdigate we turned right by ‘Bob’s Store’, heading for Capel and our afternoon stop. As we arrived at Capel Bob swallowed a fly (perhaps he’ll die) and spent most of the break with a tickle in his throat. Tea was as good as ever - 90p for a slice of cake and a cup of tea.

The last leg, or legs. Through Capel, over the A24 and towards Ockley station. Then the next few miles were on Weare Street, a lovely steady downhill for the most. Crossing over the A29 I swear I saw a Subaru Golf. Passing though Okewoodhill there was a cricket match on with a warning to parked cars that they parked there at their own risk. Having passed safely, we headed towards Rookwood where I think we hit our top speed; Pete said he got to just less than 32mph. We crossed the A29 again and onto the A281 to go towards Broadbridge Heath. Turning left after a mile we headed through Warnham. Up Knob Hill here! We then headed south towards Broadbridge Heath, then east along Robin Hood Lane, over the golf course and on to The Forresters pub in Horsham for a break. I checked on Norman here to check he had got home ok, he had. Having quenched our thirst we headed off, I headed home, having done my bit, and the others headed off along Hammerponds.

Bob rang me later to say that he, Jeet and Pete had got back ok. He had done 94 miles, allowing for inflation and the erosion of his differentials we rounded this up to 100. Jeet meanwhile was cycling around Crawley to get up to his 100. Pete I assumed was asleep watching the Turkish Grand Prix. After Bob rang I thought I would have an early night but remembered I had not eaten so had to stay up until 8:00pm! Apple crumble then steak and mash in that order.

Vital statistics:
Cycle computer;
Distance Time moving Average Maximum
99.25 8:24 11.8 32.2

GPS;
Distance Time moving Average Maximum Elapsed time
99.4 8:56 11.1 32.9 12:47

Elevation (ft)
Minimum Maximum Ascent
16 620 8,713
TQ236190 TQ339354

Crawley 100

The Crawley 100 Ride
Here are the details of this weekends ride. Please note that, due to rail engineering works, we recommend Horsham based riders start and finish at Horsham. Feel free to join in for all or part of the ride (or even just rendezvous at a food stop!). Phone Mick or Bob to confirm whereabouts/times on the day.

CRAWLEY 100
Sunday 30th May 2010

06:00 Horsham Pavilions in the Park (Horsham start)
Hammerponds
Grouse Road
Pease Pottage

07:00 Three Bridges station
Pease Pottage
Grouse Road
Hammerponds
Copsale
Maplehurst
Partridge Green
Henfield
Wineham
Twineham

Hickstead Services- Coffee
Whiteman’s Green
Borde Hill
Ardingly
West Hill
Turners Hill
Three Bridges

Tescos (Hazelwick) – Lunch
Tinsley Green
Gatwick
Povey Cross
Irons Bottom
Leigh
Stroud Green
Holmwood Common
Newdigate
Capel

Capel Church – Tea & Cakes
Weare Street
Okewoodhill
Rowhook
Warnham

Horsham Pavilions in the Park - (Horsham) Finish
Hammerponds
Grouse Road
Pease Pottage

Three Bridges station - Finish

I-Spy

The second DA event of 2010 kicked off from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 on a sunny Sunday morning. After getting everyone to sign in, I gave a quick briefing, handed them their instructions/clues and sent them on their way. They'd grouped themselves into four teams and when they'd departed I hung around just in case any entrants were running late. I'm glad I did because Colin, having ridden all the way up from near Chichester, turned up at 10:05. I gave him his paperwork and repeated the briefing I'd given the others and then left him having a cup of coffee whilst I took a short cut to intercept the others when they reached the 7 mile stage of the event at Colgate.
Getting there, the first team I saw was Dave and Brian - they were using Brians car to get round as Dave is still on his long journey to recovery from his traumatic accident last November. We waved at each other as they went by and I looked down the road to see if anyone else was approaching. After a few minutes I found myself wondering if Dave and Brian were in the lead or at the tail of the field so decided to catch them up and ask.
A short climb back up to The Dragon and then right onto Tower Road, I was soon speeding down the hill and caught up with them just the other side of the A264 as they collected a clue in Faygate village. They confirmed they were leading the field so I decided to ride up the next hill and wait for the rest of the competitors at the turning into Wimlands.
First team to take the turn were Dave and Brian, followed some 10 minutes later by Sue, Gill, Louise, John and Richard. As I waited for the next team, a couple of vintage tractors turned out of the road. Here's a picture of one:




A few minutes later John and Norman passed through. I waited a while longer then decided to move on myself as I was getting a little cold.
I caught up with John and Norman towards the end of Wimlands and, shortly after, passed Sue, Gill and co as they were busy counting how many logs were lining the road at Crooked Chimneys. It was now trying to rain and I could feel the odd spot on my arms but I pressed on towards Capel. Here I'd given instructions to "Turn Left onto B2126 (s.p. Ockley & Ockley Station)" but the sign was no longer there! It hadn't been knocked over as the support posts were still in place so I assume someone must have stolen it - perhaps for the scrap metal? Morons! Next I turned into Weare Street and was really enjoying this pretty lane which was lined with delightful woodland and masses of bluebells when a sudden fierce snarling and barking alerted me to a dog tracking me along the lane. Although he was behind a link mesh fence, I wasn't sure whether it was complete so I accelerated away just in case. I think the fance must have held him back because only a few hundred yards further on I was a sitting duck as I crawled up a short sharp climb - as I rose out of the saddle I was listening carefully for any sound of the approaching beast but thankfully he didn't appear.
A mere half mile later and I had reached the lunchtime pub to find Dave and Brian sat in the car park waiting for everyone else to catch up.
.... to be continued.......
The Punchbowl at Oakwoodhill (or is it Okewoodhill?) was fairly quiet when I walked in but the table I was hoping to bag, right by the window, was already in use. I ordered a pint of Sussex and a sausage and onion sandwich, and sat at a table next to the inglenook fireplace. The beer was just right and I’d more or less finished my sandwich by the time most of the competitors arrived. As they handed in their answers I gave them the questions/route for the afternoon. Once the last team had arrived, I circulated a set of photos showing all the answers to questions they’d spent the morning acquiring and set about marking everybody’s answer sheets. They all got the answer to “Katie Price has her breasts reduced?” although a teammate had to explain why the answer was “Little Jordans” to John!!
The sun hadn’t put in a reappearance by the time we set off for the afternoon section and looked to have given up for the day. Although I’d waited for everyone else to leave before I remounted, I knew I’d get to the finish before them as I was going to cut out a three mile loop through Warnham that they had to do. Sure enough I was first to arrive at the Horsham Park Café and I sat down with a coffee and piece of cake to listen to the Horsham Accordion Band playing a selection of accordion favourites!

Once again, the first competitors to arrive were Dave and Brian but they were closely followed by Sue, Gill, Louise and Richard – John was last seen speeding across the park in the wrong direction, so Richard set off to rope him in…..
As people handed their afternoon answers in, I could see that they’d all got most of the answers and that several of them had spotted two possible answers to one question – so I allowed either answer to be correct. I was expecting to have to use a tiebreak to settle the result but everyone had the same (and correct) answer to the tiebreak question so I was rather relieved that it wasn’t necessary – there was a clear result for every position.
In first place with No answers wrong were Pete, Marion and Veena.
In second place with just one incorrect answer were John and Norman.
In third place with two incorrect answers (they’d actually forgotten to write one answer down!) were Sue, Gill, Louise, Richard and John.
Fourth place went to the guys in the car – Dave and Brian, with Colin admirably continuing his sweeper role to complete the result in fifth place – he’d only missed four answers which is not bad considering he was riding by himself for most of the day.
This weeks ride starts at Three Bridges Station at 09:30 hrs and will be a 40 miler with a café stop at Westerham for lunch. Led by John C, it’s rated as a Medium ride.

Forresters Arms, Kirdford

Mick writes:
At 60 miles, this ride was a good distance to build up to the ‘Crawley 100’ at the end of May so I got to the start early to sign in the expected throngs only to find just one other attendee, Barbara. She had said the previous week that she could only do the morning as she had to go to work in the afternoon. There was no point in cycling the whole route so I decided on a morning ride of 20 miles. Up to Capel, Horsham Cycling overtook us here. Over the A24, past Ockley rail station and down Weare Street where we met another group of cyclists coming the other way. Barbara thought she saw Beresford, an ex-member, so it must have been another Horsham Cycling group.

Over the A29, though Okewoodhill, Rowhook and back over the A29 taking a left onto the A281 and next left towards Warnham. It was then Robin Hood Lane, over the golf course and home to a home made steak and ale pie with peas and Beer Battered Chips. Bob rang me just after noon to check on the ride, he was out checking the ‘I-Spy’ ride for next week.

Still I got two Mick Horley points, twice as many as Barbara and infinitely more than any other member.

Bob says:
Yes, it's the second DA Event of the year next week (16th May). It's the I-Spy, a Bicycle Treasure Hunt. Starting at Horsham Park Pavilions at any time between 09:30 and 10:00 you can ride singly or in a group. The morning section is about 20 miles long and the lunch stop is at a pub that does a full range of hot and cold food (and good beer). The afternoon section is about 10 miles long with the finish at the Horsham Park Cafe. Route instructions, clues and maps are all provided and there's a small prize for the winner(s). I've just ridden the route and I reckon it'll be ablaze with bluebells by Sunday.