I arrived at Three Bridges station to a barrage of friendly banter and time-keeping based punditry from a mixed bag of boys and girls all waiting to get going on their bikes. Anton was leading Norman, Val, Malcolm, Pete, Marian, Ros and myself, firstly on NCN21 out through the north of Crawley and on to Gatwick. There was quite strong wind from the southwest, so it would be behind us until at least the lunch stop. In spite of the wind, it wasn't that cold and even the full cloud cover didn't stop the day from feeling quite bright. Scaffolders were working on the terminal building and we had to wait for them to move their lorry out of the away before we could get past. Unlike last week, the underpass wasn't flooded, then when we emerged back on the roads, Anton surprised us by turning right where we normally turn left. Oh; hang on, wait a minute!, rewind a bit......... tfel nrut yllamron ew erehw thgir gninrut yb su desirprus notnA ,sdaor eht no kcal degreme ew nehw neht ....... I missed something: SOMEONE fell off her bike! I won't mention names but I saw her valiantly claw at Malcolm's leg as she toppled slowly, some would say gracefully, to the ground. We were stopped at the time and it was the fall that everyone using clipless pedals has at some point - you lose your balance and can't unclip quick enough. Anyway, no damage done except for a bruised bum!
Anyway, to continue, Anton surprised us by turning right where we normally turn left. This brought us out in exactly the same place as usual - near the station, from where we crossed the railway and carried on East over the traffic light junction along Smallfield Road. Just before the motorway we turned left onto Hathersham Lane and further on, avoided turning into the wind by going up New House Lane. Axes Lane took us east, over the motorway before we passed the Dog and Duck pub (a major stopping point on the London to Brighton Bike Ride) and headed to Outwood along Brickfield Road.
At Outwood windmill we regrouped and Ros, who was out riding for the first time since a minor fall off her Brompton the other week, decided to take a shorter route to the lunch stop and meet us there. As she had a map I assumed she'd got some clever route worked out and rode off with the others, along Gayhouse Lane and down Hornecourt Hill having promised to phone when we reached the lunch stop.
After just a few more miles cycling, including a short foray along a very smooth A22, we arrived in Lingfield and settled on The GreyHound pub as our lunch stop. I phoned Ros to find out where she was only to find that she had taken a much more circuitous route and was on her way down from Bletchingly! The result was that Ros had ridden almost twice as far as we had and we'd almost finished our lunch before she arrived at the pub. Never mind, that meant I could have a second pint whilst Ros ate her lunch :-)
As the wind had been pretty much behind us all morning, we knew it was going to be mainly in our faces all the way home. Anton countered this to some extent by his choice of route which firstly took us via Felcourt into East Grinstead where he took us on short cut through some quiet residential streets before we said goodbye to East Grinstead resident Ros. The A22 was busy but slow-moving until we turned off at Felbridge and took the Crawley Down fork. As we went up the hill a rather nice Scooby went by - gimme! After Crawley Down we went via Rowfant and then used a short stretch of the Worth Way before splitting into two groups - Pete, Marian and myself using the Worth Way back to Maidenbower and Furnace Green, everyone else using the road back to Three Bridges station.
All in all, quite a short ride of just over 30 miles but very enjoyable, especially as Anton tends to find roads we haven't used much before, thanks Anton.
Next weeks ride is a Horsham Pavilion in the Park start at 10:00hrs and will be led by me. It will be a Pootle to Partridge Green and will celebrate the anniversary of the club.
At Outwood windmill we regrouped and Ros, who was out riding for the first time since a minor fall off her Brompton the other week, decided to take a shorter route to the lunch stop and meet us there. As she had a map I assumed she'd got some clever route worked out and rode off with the others, along Gayhouse Lane and down Hornecourt Hill having promised to phone when we reached the lunch stop.
After just a few more miles cycling, including a short foray along a very smooth A22, we arrived in Lingfield and settled on The GreyHound pub as our lunch stop. I phoned Ros to find out where she was only to find that she had taken a much more circuitous route and was on her way down from Bletchingly! The result was that Ros had ridden almost twice as far as we had and we'd almost finished our lunch before she arrived at the pub. Never mind, that meant I could have a second pint whilst Ros ate her lunch :-)
As the wind had been pretty much behind us all morning, we knew it was going to be mainly in our faces all the way home. Anton countered this to some extent by his choice of route which firstly took us via Felcourt into East Grinstead where he took us on short cut through some quiet residential streets before we said goodbye to East Grinstead resident Ros. The A22 was busy but slow-moving until we turned off at Felbridge and took the Crawley Down fork. As we went up the hill a rather nice Scooby went by - gimme! After Crawley Down we went via Rowfant and then used a short stretch of the Worth Way before splitting into two groups - Pete, Marian and myself using the Worth Way back to Maidenbower and Furnace Green, everyone else using the road back to Three Bridges station.
All in all, quite a short ride of just over 30 miles but very enjoyable, especially as Anton tends to find roads we haven't used much before, thanks Anton.
Next weeks ride is a Horsham Pavilion in the Park start at 10:00hrs and will be led by me. It will be a Pootle to Partridge Green and will celebrate the anniversary of the club.
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