Barbara led us on this ride,
Out of Horshams southeast side.
Near Doomsday Green then Sedgwick Lane,
And down to Copsale once again.
We headed east and I, at first,
Thought we would stop at Maplehurst.
Then realised that's way too soon,
We only stop when it is noon.
Heading southward on we rode,
And on across the main road.
Camelia Botnar uses up
All the syllables in this coup(let).
Littleworth village next was seen
Leading us into Partridge Green.
Over the Downs Link we rode on
Along the B road on and on.....
Spithandle Lane now on the right,
Slow down for horses wearing bright
Yellow vests and looking nervous.
Next Wiston, future rendezvous (well, it looks like it should rhyme!)
North on Hole Street to Ashington,
Under main road - Worthing, London.
Continuing northwards up until,
Turning right onto Spear Hill.
Hooklands lane is undulating
Broomers Corner to us did bring.
Countryman Lane goes to the pub,
For gallons of ale and lovely grub.
But we didn't stop there, oh no,
Up Smithers Hill Lane we did go
Again a Main Road we came upon
Crossed it, arrive at George and Dragon.
A cider each and soup and pate
Made us each feel rather fat, eh?
A second pint washed that away
Then it was back into the day.
Up Bakers Lane and Old House too
Then along Marlpost Road we flew.
Two Mile Ash Road was soon behind
And we had to make up our mind:
What route next? "Straight on," said I
"The Carfax, to the other side,
Then past the Station on North Street
Is the route I think most fleet."
Norman and Barbara now turning home
Left Bob by himself, all alone
Riding along the Forest Road
Back to Crawley ("Field full of crows").
Our next ride is Sunday 22nd January. Starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 it will be an Easy ride, led by Pete S, with a lunch stop at The Jolly Farmers at Horne. The weather forecast seems to be for a dry, slightly chilly day - good cycling weather, go on, get out on your bike!
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Easy Morning Ride
Break out the violin, rub that onion under your eyes ........
It isn't half hard trying to write a blog every week!
Regular readers may have noticed the irregularity of the blog posts in recent weeks. As happened about the same time last year, I've lost my muse :-( and am finding it hard to put finger to keyboard. There's only so many ways I can describe a route or what the weather was like or even what state of mind I was in.
So, as an experiment, I'm going to just jot down a "stream of consciousness" ...........
late, late, change wheels? no, stay with knobblies, out the gate, weather mild, air cold (feel it in lungs). Fast up the hill, out of breath, freewheel down. Traffic? Traffic? plenty of space, accelerate, green light, green light, amber, red! Wait, look around, amber GO! Anyone there? Pink jacketed cyclist, Barbara. Good Morning, Happy New Year. Talk about wedding, happy, happy. Hello John, good Christmas? small talk, small talk. Ten past, let's go. Road, cycle track, quiet roads, subway, VERY LOUD BRAKES. New Fire Station. Buckswood Drive, reminiscences, Dower Walk, winter of '63, Overdene Drive, alma mater, Rusper Road. Countryside, quiet, blue skies, relax.
Avoid horse dung, ignore barking dog, climb to Rusper. The Star. Regroup. Drink (from water bottle). Local drivers must be good - they don't seem to need to wear their seatbelts. Freewheel, fork left. Slightly chilly. Warm up on uphill. Road Closed ahead at Level crossing. We'll be ok with bikes. Downhill, chilly blast. Frog and Nightgown. Road really is closed at level crossing. Discuss options, take bridleway - easy enough, nice and firm underwheel. Back on road, over the bypass, up past Littlehaven. Bye bye Barbara. Roffey, Forest Road, Colgate, Cottesmore, Pease Pottage, K2, quiet roads, bye John, home.
It isn't half hard trying to write a blog every week!
Regular readers may have noticed the irregularity of the blog posts in recent weeks. As happened about the same time last year, I've lost my muse :-( and am finding it hard to put finger to keyboard. There's only so many ways I can describe a route or what the weather was like or even what state of mind I was in.
So, as an experiment, I'm going to just jot down a "stream of consciousness" ...........
late, late, change wheels? no, stay with knobblies, out the gate, weather mild, air cold (feel it in lungs). Fast up the hill, out of breath, freewheel down. Traffic? Traffic? plenty of space, accelerate, green light, green light, amber, red! Wait, look around, amber GO! Anyone there? Pink jacketed cyclist, Barbara. Good Morning, Happy New Year. Talk about wedding, happy, happy. Hello John, good Christmas? small talk, small talk. Ten past, let's go. Road, cycle track, quiet roads, subway, VERY LOUD BRAKES. New Fire Station. Buckswood Drive, reminiscences, Dower Walk, winter of '63, Overdene Drive, alma mater, Rusper Road. Countryside, quiet, blue skies, relax.
Avoid horse dung, ignore barking dog, climb to Rusper. The Star. Regroup. Drink (from water bottle). Local drivers must be good - they don't seem to need to wear their seatbelts. Freewheel, fork left. Slightly chilly. Warm up on uphill. Road Closed ahead at Level crossing. We'll be ok with bikes. Downhill, chilly blast. Frog and Nightgown. Road really is closed at level crossing. Discuss options, take bridleway - easy enough, nice and firm underwheel. Back on road, over the bypass, up past Littlehaven. Bye bye Barbara. Roffey, Forest Road, Colgate, Cottesmore, Pease Pottage, K2, quiet roads, bye John, home.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
New Years Day Ride
Back in the autumn when I drew up the rides list for the first three months of 2012, a rendezvous ride down to Amberley to meet with the other groups on New Years Day seemed a really good idea, BUT the reality of a night out seeing the New Year in and then having to get out of the house by 08:45 proved a little bit tough to say the least. I managed 08:55 but I could tell my heart wasn't in it as I plodded into the wind along the Forest Road. All the time I was thinking "It's going to be against this wind all the way to Amberley" and "I bet no-one else turns up". That coupled with the fact that I needed to be back home by 15:00hrs meant that I had completely dissuaded myself from riding to Amberley before I'd even got to the Horsham start point!
Just like I always seem to be, I was late getting to Horsham Pavilions in the Park, but it didn't seem to matter because there were no riders waiting for me. That settled it, I definitely wasn't going to ride to Amberley.
Then Norman turned up.
"How'd you get past me?" he said. He'd been waiting for ages and it looked like I'd arrived just at the moment he'd decided to do a quick loop of the car park to try and spot other riders. Meantime, my brain was busy adjusting back into doing the ride to Amberley mode - now there was someone to ride with, I couldn't let them down. Norman's next comment however was to the effect that, because he hadn't been out riding for some time he would probably cut his ride a little short and maybe not go all the way to Amberley - that was enough for me to suggest that maybe we could just do a shorter, more local ride and so, basically, this weeks ride became a facsimile of last weeks.
We rode out of Horsham along Depot Road but then instead of using the bridleway I used last week, we stayed on the roads - Comptons Lane, St Leonards Road and Hammerpond Road to Doomsday Green. Norman and I were chatting about Christmas, fitness levels, skiing and foreign holidays as we rode along (although that dip and climb past Roosthole interrupted the conversation). We soon turned onto Grouse Road where a small group of more 'sporty' cyclists flashed past us. At the top end of the road, Norman and I parted - I headed to Pease Pottage and home, Norman retraced our route back to Horsham. So once again, the ride hadn't been what was originally planned, but Hey! I got back in time to wrap up some presents we then took to the family party we were going to ( and I got there on time!!).
Happy New Year everybody, hope to see you on one of our upcoming rides.
The next ride, on Sunday January 8th, is another of our "introductory" rides open to members and non-members alike. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs and, depending on who turns up, will be an easy ride either out along the Worth Way or head north on cycle tracks and quiet lanes to Redhill Aerodrome. The plan is for the ride to last just a couple of hours and get us back to Crawley in time for lunch. Why not come along and kick-start that New Years fitness resolution into action?
Just like I always seem to be, I was late getting to Horsham Pavilions in the Park, but it didn't seem to matter because there were no riders waiting for me. That settled it, I definitely wasn't going to ride to Amberley.
Then Norman turned up.
"How'd you get past me?" he said. He'd been waiting for ages and it looked like I'd arrived just at the moment he'd decided to do a quick loop of the car park to try and spot other riders. Meantime, my brain was busy adjusting back into doing the ride to Amberley mode - now there was someone to ride with, I couldn't let them down. Norman's next comment however was to the effect that, because he hadn't been out riding for some time he would probably cut his ride a little short and maybe not go all the way to Amberley - that was enough for me to suggest that maybe we could just do a shorter, more local ride and so, basically, this weeks ride became a facsimile of last weeks.
We rode out of Horsham along Depot Road but then instead of using the bridleway I used last week, we stayed on the roads - Comptons Lane, St Leonards Road and Hammerpond Road to Doomsday Green. Norman and I were chatting about Christmas, fitness levels, skiing and foreign holidays as we rode along (although that dip and climb past Roosthole interrupted the conversation). We soon turned onto Grouse Road where a small group of more 'sporty' cyclists flashed past us. At the top end of the road, Norman and I parted - I headed to Pease Pottage and home, Norman retraced our route back to Horsham. So once again, the ride hadn't been what was originally planned, but Hey! I got back in time to wrap up some presents we then took to the family party we were going to ( and I got there on time!!).
Happy New Year everybody, hope to see you on one of our upcoming rides.
The next ride, on Sunday January 8th, is another of our "introductory" rides open to members and non-members alike. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs and, depending on who turns up, will be an easy ride either out along the Worth Way or head north on cycle tracks and quiet lanes to Redhill Aerodrome. The plan is for the ride to last just a couple of hours and get us back to Crawley in time for lunch. Why not come along and kick-start that New Years fitness resolution into action?
Monday, 26 December 2011
Boxing Day Ride
I'd eaten too much, drank just a little and stayed up late watching The Bourne Ultimatum - do you feel an excuse coming on? Well you're dead right - I had severe trouble getting up and consequently only gave myself 25 minutes to do a 40 minute journey. Manfully I rode into the wind, trying not to overdo it as I've only just recovered from my cold (actually the remnants are still on my chest). As I rode past K2 (which was closed), a couple of Crows tried to fly out of my way and both of them flew straight into a chain-link fence! How weird?
I thought I was making good time as I crested Pease Pottage Hill and the clock still looked good as approached Colgate but that tiny little hill there took minutes off me and somehow the road seemed longer from there to Roffey. I kept the power on down through Roffey but it was 10:15 before I arrived at the (closed) Pavilions in the Park. I hung around, looking to see if there were any recent tyre tracks visible (none were), but after 10 minutes and barely having seen a soul, I concluded that either no-one else fancied a Boxing-Day ride or that they'd got fed up waiting for me and gone off.
I decided I would head out towards Doomsday Green, so took Depot Road. At the end, realising that I was on my own and my bike was fitted with knobblies, I decided to use the bridleway route along Hampers Lane and then down to Hammerpond Road. This was quiet and pleasant although the second part was definitely not suitable for any of the more delicate, close clearance bikes (my Kona did it with it's eyes shut and both hands tied behind its back!!).
Hammerpond Road was up and down as usual but seemed easier than usual today and I was soon on Grouse Road. I'd put my rear light on at the start of todays ride and it was noticeable that (almost) all the traffic was giving me plenty of space - even on the narrow part of Grouse Road, a car actually had the good manners to stay behind me until the road widened out! I think there's a lot to be said for having a bright red flashing led on the back of your bike.
At Pease Pottage I had a decision to make - stay on the road or go off-road through Tilgate Forest? I'm afraid I wimped out - feeling too lazy to have to clean all my gear after doing an off-road ride, I stayed on the road and belted down Pease Pottage Hill. Then, as I cut through the deserted K2, at exactly the same spot as the Crow incident, I disturbed a Green Woodpecker. That's the first time I've seen one and it was on the ground! (until it flew into the tree that is).
Arriving home, I'd only ridden 19 miles but they'd been enjoyable enough and I'm sure the exercise had done me good.
Our next ride is on New Years Day, Sunday 1st January. Starting from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs, we will head south to The Black Horse at Amberley where we will meet up with riders from the other two West Sussex groups for lunch. I reckon it's a Medium rated ride of about 40 miles. There will be a couple of hills but nothing too hard. Let's hope the weather is kind to us.
I thought I was making good time as I crested Pease Pottage Hill and the clock still looked good as approached Colgate but that tiny little hill there took minutes off me and somehow the road seemed longer from there to Roffey. I kept the power on down through Roffey but it was 10:15 before I arrived at the (closed) Pavilions in the Park. I hung around, looking to see if there were any recent tyre tracks visible (none were), but after 10 minutes and barely having seen a soul, I concluded that either no-one else fancied a Boxing-Day ride or that they'd got fed up waiting for me and gone off.
I decided I would head out towards Doomsday Green, so took Depot Road. At the end, realising that I was on my own and my bike was fitted with knobblies, I decided to use the bridleway route along Hampers Lane and then down to Hammerpond Road. This was quiet and pleasant although the second part was definitely not suitable for any of the more delicate, close clearance bikes (my Kona did it with it's eyes shut and both hands tied behind its back!!).
Hammerpond Road was up and down as usual but seemed easier than usual today and I was soon on Grouse Road. I'd put my rear light on at the start of todays ride and it was noticeable that (almost) all the traffic was giving me plenty of space - even on the narrow part of Grouse Road, a car actually had the good manners to stay behind me until the road widened out! I think there's a lot to be said for having a bright red flashing led on the back of your bike.
At Pease Pottage I had a decision to make - stay on the road or go off-road through Tilgate Forest? I'm afraid I wimped out - feeling too lazy to have to clean all my gear after doing an off-road ride, I stayed on the road and belted down Pease Pottage Hill. Then, as I cut through the deserted K2, at exactly the same spot as the Crow incident, I disturbed a Green Woodpecker. That's the first time I've seen one and it was on the ground! (until it flew into the tree that is).
Arriving home, I'd only ridden 19 miles but they'd been enjoyable enough and I'm sure the exercise had done me good.
Our next ride is on New Years Day, Sunday 1st January. Starting from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs, we will head south to The Black Horse at Amberley where we will meet up with riders from the other two West Sussex groups for lunch. I reckon it's a Medium rated ride of about 40 miles. There will be a couple of hills but nothing too hard. Let's hope the weather is kind to us.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
South and West from Crawley
This weeks ride should have been led by me and was intended as a short morning ride to the south and west of Crawley, however, I was laid low by a cold and couldn't even get to the start to see if anyone else was out. I've not had reports that anyone was - please let me know if I'm wrong!
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Christmas Party
This year, our Christmas Party was held at The Dragon in Colgate.
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:
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.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Easy Bike Ride
I'm sure we had a ride on Sunday 4th December, but at the moment I can't remember any details of it! Anyone care to remind me? Or write a blog for it? Or a poem?
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