The Foresters Arms, Kirdford

Well, that worked. When I first looked out of the window there was a thin layer of snow hanging around on the shed roof and part of the lawn but by the time I'd breakfasted and completed my ablutions, all sign of snow, slush or ice had gone. There was a bitter wind from the north but the sun was manfully trying to break through and accentuate the blue bits of sky. With five layers on my upper body, a woolly hat under my helmet and two or three layers everywhere else I was feeling quite toasty as I rode up Pease Pottage Hill and headed out along the Forest Road. A couple of roadies were just in front of me going a bit slower than I wanted but I didn't overtake them as I didn't want a race on my hands. Fortunately they turned right at Colgate so I could then get up to the pace I wanted. As I arrived at Horsham Park Pavilions I spotted Norman and Anton in the car park, then Pate E and Ken in the bike park. We were then joined by Malcolm who must have been riding just behind me along the Forest Road. So six blokes out today, all fairly experienced and as the weather was still bright but cold I decided we would do the full route I'd planned.

We left Horsham via the golf course and headed west via Rowhook Hill, Ellen's Green and Cox Green. After Baynards the lane went up and then we turned right and were overtaken by a car as we were doing the turn!!  The next left took us along a quiet lane which suddenly had parked cars along both sides - Cranleigh Rugby Club would appear to have a lot of members but very few parking places. On reaching the A281 we turned left and followed it down to Alfold Crossways - here we were overtaken on the left by a right-turning Range Rover! Quality driving, not. 

From here we headed over to Dunsfold and then turned south, putting the wind behind our backs. Pete was leading us at a fair old pace now although Norman hit the front as we passed through Plaistow. Just a few miles later we were pulling up at the lunch stop, The Foresters Arms at Kirdford. We were the first people in and picked a couple of tables in the public bar where a large fireplace had a newly lit fire burning in the grate. The pub had a really good range of food on offer and three bitters on tap. Most of the chat today was about the changes we are making to the clubs online presence. Our old website has been the subject to numerous complaints in recent times due to the intrusive advertising it pushes out, so we are in the process of moving it across to be hosted on the main CTC website. In addition we are trying out running a Meetup site as a possible way of attracting more riders. Please use both of them and give us some feedback to help us further improve things.

As we were leaving the pub, so we met Richard Boulton and several other Arun/Adur colleagues. A quick chat and a photocall and we'd swapped place - they were in the warmth of the pub, we were in the cold, riding our bikes.

I wanted to get us home as quick as possible so I decided we would head for Wisborough Green and then use the A272 to and through Billingshurst. Next we headed up to New Road, then through Barns Green to Bax Castle and up to Tower Hill. Exactly as per the Runslist, we'd had a round trip off exactly 35 miles anand we said goodbye to the Horsham crew, Pete and Norman, then Anton in the car park and that just left Ken, Malcom and myself to run a chain gang back to Crawley. I eventually got home at about 15:15 and took a much needed warm shower to thaw myself out.

Next weeks ride is an easy ride aimed at beginners and will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs for a two hour loop led by Gordon.

At 13:00hrs, members can convene at Gordon's house for the Q2 Runs List Meeting - come along with idea/suggestions/opinions and we can create a set of rides for April, May and June that we all will enjoy.