Will it ever end?

Cold, cold, cold!  In fact it's so cold the ink seems frozen in my pen (or at least that's my attempted excuse for being so sluggish in the production of these blog entries).

What have we been up to this last couple of weeks?  Well, in spite of the weather we've managed a ride every Sunday.

On the 17th March we had a Horsham start that took us North out of Horsham up Langhurstwood Road and Friday Street to Rusper. We continued north and used Partridge Lane to Parkgate. Broad Lane and Clayhill Road took us on to Leigh. After that a combination of  Church Road, Flanchford Road, Clayhall Lane, Slipshatch Road and Whitehall Lane led us to Reigate Garden Centre and hot food and drink. Just what we needed. It seemed colder than ever when we went back outside to our bikes, so we decided on a fairly direct route home. We used a convenient Bridleway cut-through (concrete farm track) to reach Lonesome Lane and were soon in Horley. From here we headed across to Povey Cross where Mick, our only attendee from Horsham, left us to return to Horsham via Charlwood. The rest of us used the airport perimeter road to get to NCN21 as it passed under the South Terminal and returned to Crawley via the Industrial estate and then Northgate/Three Bridges. We all clocked up about 32 miles on what was a very cold day.

The following week was even colder with a very raw wind. With a Three Bridges start, I wasn't expecting much of a turnout and was secretly hoping I could get back to my warm bed as I stood waiting, swinging my arms and stamping my feet in a vain attempt to keep from freezing. Then Gordon turned up and I had to start thinking about the ride again. Gordon got a cup of tea and I decided the day warranted knobbly tyres rather than the slicks my bike was clad in. I headed off home to change whilst Gordon drank his tea and kept an eye open for any other riders. No-one else turned up , so Gordon and I met up in Furnace Green and headed out under the railway, through Maidenbower and onto the Worth Way. This was a good idea as the trees afforded us some protection from the wind and we were fairly comfortable as we kept up a good pace along what is a good surface (if a little messy) all year round. I had a vague notion of visiting The Bluebell Railway as this was the first day of them running a service into their newly opened East Grinstead station and I was overjoyed to spot a steam train crossing the viaduct into East Grinstead as we approached - unfortunately, thick gloves and layers of clothing meant I couldn't get my camera out quick enough to get a photo of this, to me, momentous occasion. Arriving at the station (which is adjacent to and just south of the Network Rail station), we joined the swirling throng of people enjoying the sight and smell of steam for a few minutes before we headed off south to Saint Hill Green and then the shallow end of Weirwood Reservoir. Heading up, past the Scout and Guide camping areas we carried on onto the aptly named Chilling Street to enjoy its delightful slightly downhill scenic course. Forking left we enjoyed more of the same and then took a small lane on our left which took us down and through a ford - Gordon raced through it, feet outstretched, sheets of water arcing away from his wheels, me somewhat slower, sheets of water arcing all over me!! A short climb up and to the right brought us out onto Birchgrove Road for another pleasant glide along a forest ridge that brought us neatly into Horsted Keynes Village and our lunch stop, The Green Man. Although there was hardly anyone in the pub, most of the tables were reserved but not the two comfy leather settees right in front of the roaring fire - result! We draped our cold and slightly damp outerwear on the arms of the settees and settled down to a rather large burger and swathe of chips each. Very nice. As was the locally brewed bitter I quaffed.

Amazingly enough, we had absorbed so much heat that we didn't really feel the cold when we first got back outside. We headed firstly past Horsted Keynes station (one and half miles away from the village!) and then up into Ardingly before plunging down over the reservoir and grinding slowly up the other side. Here, Gordon had to get off as his front derailleur had stopped working and he couldn't get Granny's assistance on the hill :-(    We later found that it had actually frozen solid (or rather, the wet mud around it had frozen). We carried on north up Back Lane and then West through Worth before forking right onto the bridleway at Whiteways Lodge. This bridleway is where I've often seen deer but not today - too cold for them as well I suspect. Crossing the Balcombe Road we plunged into the Forest to find the track was really muddy and slippery. I selected a fairly low gear and kept my pedal pressure as even as possible around the whole rotation - this gave my extremely grippy rear tyre (a WTB Velociraptor) the chance to show off, and it did! I pedalled my way through the gunk and gunge with nary a moments worry. The rooty parts of the track were not so good though because my suspension forks are kn*ckered and currently only have half an inch of movement before locking up - I'll be dismantling them for a service shortly, hopefully I'll be able to fix them. Just before crossing the railway, the bridleway goes through a very boggy area where a wooden walkway has had to be built alongside. I managed to hop onto that easy enough and also managed the slightly awkward hop up onto the concrete bridge over the stream, however the loose bricks, stones and muddy sand leading up to the railway bridge defeated me and I couldn't stop my rear wheel from spinning out and bringing me to a halt. After a couple of yards there was enough traction to remount and we headed onward and into Tilgate Forest. Passing the fake tree we crossed the M23 and said our goodbyes as Gordon headed west back home and I headed on down through the golf course and back to my house.  35 miles on the speedo - but as I'd forgotten to adjust it when I changed my wheels, it was probably nearer 37 in reality.

Our Easter Sunday ride is a 10:00hrs start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park and will frequent the lanes to the south of Horsham.  Wrap up warm, it's still rather cold out there!