When the bike being dropped off on Wednesday for transportation to Nancy, this weekend gave me the last opportunity to get some more miles and my belt. I was tipped off by Shaun Randell, a fellow stage 5 rider about his cycle club's annual Brighton ride. The club is the Big Foot CC based in Hayes, and after a short email to the organiser, I was in.
Another early start, as the briefing was at 8am in Hayes, some 11 miles from home. Heading out a little before 7am on a cold and damp morning, I was in Hayes 45 minutes later. On arrival I introduced myself to somebody with a clipboard and asked what speed his group would be riding at. He told me that the plan of action was to take about seven hours to get to Brighton. Oh dear! Fortunately somebody interrupted and suggested that I went to the other side of the street, where the normal club rides would follow the Brighton route. Shaun and his friend Jon, another stage 5 rider popped over to say hi, but they had opted for the slower ride.
A very impressive turnout of about 90 riders, who were divided into groups based on speed. Big Foot have seven different speed groups, the fastest of which today was what they term level 2/3. Having looked at their website, I felt that I was probably a level 3/4 rider, but as the other option was a level 4/5 ride, I pitched for the level 2/3 group. Our group was a little short of 20 strong, and we heading out and up onto the North Downs. Normal club rules had been abandoned for the day given the cold and wet weather, and when one of the group punctured at Woldingham, the group split. I was in two minds whether to stop, but decided I would carry on. However, the riders in front of me had now disappeared, so I had to chase them down, something that was going to be a little taste of things to come. I caught them up, and soon we were at the first refreshment stop about 20 miles in.
Coffee, cake and a few jelly babies later we were back on the bikes, and heading south. I was in the middle of the pack when we reached the top of Turners Hill, but unfortunately the lead rider decided to go straight on, the usual route to Brighton, but not the route we were taking today. The necessity to turn around saw me drop off the back once again, and this time it was a much longer game of catch up, something only achieved when I got to the next refreshment stop. Freezing cold it may have been, but there was some good entertainment in the form of the passing London to Brighton vintage commercial vehicle rally.
A quick stop, and with 19 miles to go, we soon set off on the final leg. One guy punctured, and I got dropped towards the bottom of the Devils Dyke climb, only to have the guy that punctured pass me just short of the summit. I could see the bunch on the horizon, but I only caught them up about a mile or so from the finish line. It did, however, mean that we all arrived at the same time, the first of the club's groups to do so. A quick coffee on the seafront, and then I and one other took the train back to London, leaving nine hardy souls to commence the return trip.
A big thank you to the guys at Big Foot for allowing me to join them, and in total 65 miles and over 1200m of climbing. If the weather is not too inclement tomorrow, a final 30 miles in the saddle, and then that's the training done. It's almost France here I come!
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