Muddy ride with Gordon

Want a complete cycling experience?  Come out on one of Gordons Rides.


The day started with breakfast at Gordon and Jacqui's before an enjoyable warm up ride along Parish Lane and down through Tilgate Forest. Gordon, Ken and I did a bit of exploring through Furnace green and sued the northern tunnel under the railway - recently extended and refurbished with excellent lighting and a good smooth surface, this tunnel offers an excellent and (in some instances) shorter alternate link between NCN20 and NCN21. However, we were on our way to Three Bridges Station so we turned left onto Billington Drive and rode past a long stream of waiting traffic to arrive at the station for 10:00hrs. Here we were joined by Michael and Malcolm, then Mike, an acquaintance of mine.


Gordon led us back up Billington Drive and onto the Worth Way. Conditions were muddy but grip was good and I soon had a splattering of mud over me. Someone suggested that the Irish called the weather conditions "Soft" - an excellent description - the clouds were indistinguishable from each other and seemed to reach the ground without quite making things foggy, the vegetation looked somehow soft - even the branches and with big fat knobblies on my bike, the ride was pretty plush as well.


We were riding at an easy pace and I was having fun along the way, practicing hops, taking detours up banks. At Crawley Down we took the slope up to the B road and then used it up to Turners Hill. Never an easy hill, I realized that none of the cyclists waiting near the top had actually ridden the entire hill (all the way to the crossroads) - so I told them so, and claimed King of the Hill for myself!!


From Turners Hill we headed west along the ridge through Worth Abbey to Back Lane. Here Mick decided to head for home (via the Cowdray Arms I think), having assured me he knew where he was and how to get back to Crawley.


Meanwhile the rest of us enjoyed the long glide south and west before the short, sharp climb into Balcombe. Gordon had recce'd the route a few days earlier and was in the process of telling us about some ice he'd encountered when, as I shot down a tiny lane he'd led us to, I realised there was ice all the way across it!!  Not a problem though, I didn't need to turn or lean or brake or accelerate and just floated uneventfully across it, shouting out a warning as I did so.


Other features of this lane were:  (i) the smooth, new tarmac  (ii) a conversation with some chickens and (iii) a couple of hills (granny gear for the use of).


A right turn onto a busier road took us up to Cuckfield where we headed West then north to Staplefield and a quick visit to The Victory. What a great pub - warm welcome, warm fire, good beer (we went for the Wilmington Brewery Long Man) and good food. Actually, the good food observation was based on previous visits, as today we were going to lunch at Gordons, so it was time to get back out in the cold.


From Staplefield we carried on west, under the revamped A23, to Slaugham and thence the bridleway up to Handcross. As we were starting to feel hungry, we took the shortest route back to Gordons where he and Jacqui treated us to a delicious lunch. An hour or so later, after some good discussions about life, the universe and the CTC, we all headed off home.


Next weeks ride starts from Horsham Park Pavilions at 10:00hrs and will be a fairly easy loop to the south of Horsham led by me - unless anyone else wants to volunteer? -  with a lunch stop at The Bax Castle.