We organised/arranged that anyone wanting to ride would use their own route and meet up at Rusper by 11:15, so I set off from home at about 11:00 hrs. I was taking it very easy as I wasn't feeling too good - I seemed to have a cold developing - but I arrived at Rusper with time to spare. As I stood waiting, I was bemused by just how poor the average motorist is at driving. Perhaps we should stop using the term "motorist" as that implies some level of ability at the task in hand! The most classic example was a person who approached from the Ifield direction and swept around the sharp corner on the wrong side of the road in order to pull up by the right hand kerb outside the shop. The only trouble was, the wrong side of the road is the right side of the road for traffic moving in the other direction and, yes, there was a car coming in that opposite direction - fortunately he was awake and managed to avoid the collision!
Shortly after, Barbara and Pete could be seen climbing the last few yards up to the junction. After a brief chat whilst we waited to see if any other rider would materialise, we set off. We headed down towards Ifield then bore right and down past the Lambs Green turning before the climb up to Dowlands Lane. From here it was down, past what looks like a large housing development, over the railway and through Faygate to the roundabout on the A264. We got across without incident and met up with Sandra.
Now we had to work for our dinner as we tackled the one mile climb that is Tower Hill. With perseverence (and a lot of inconsequential chatter from me), we soon crested and could get our breath back as we rolled the final 100 yards to the pub.
Although we were early, having locked the bikes up in the garden, we were allowed into the pub and could divest ourselves of our outerwear - look at the state of Pete's jacket:
All that spattering was the result of a rather muddy road surface and a rear mudguard that failed the trades description act!
Soon the four of us were joined by John V and John C with their partners, followed by Pete, Marian, Pat and Frank.
Dinner was served and was piping hot with monster portions and we all manfully strove to get outside it all!! Then it was time for Barbara to make a small speech to sum up the clubs year.
Barbara finished off her piece with the award of the Mick Horley trophy.
In recent years we have awarded the trophy to the club member that turned out on the most rides but this year the committee felt that it should be awarded to the person that had done the most work in promoting the club (and cycling in general). So, for his sterling efforts in creating and running the Family Bike Ride, Crawley Cycle Forum and his Right-to-Ride work, this years winner of The Mick Horley Trophy is......
Pete Smith:
Special mention must also be made of Anton who completed the VERY tough Paris-Brest-Paris ride(PBP) back in the (wet) summer. His achievement is even more remarkable because he was suffering from a severe stomach problem for two of the four days of riding!
Other mentions go out to John V who managed a couple of continental cycling "jaunts" - joined by John C on one I believe - and to me (Bob) for completing my own version of the Coast to Coast (I rode from St Davids Head to Hemsby).
Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the meal:
Merry Christmas everybody.
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