Spring?

 It’s the first week of April and it finally appears that spring has arrived. In celebration I joined a fellow Green Army member in donning the Lycra and hitting the roads early on a Sunday morning. With the marathon just 7 days away, I have been nursing a slight knee issue and thought it would allow me to do a bit of sport without pounding the tarmac. It also allowed me to give the new bike its debut ride of the year.

We had arranged to meet nice and early, specifically 9am – which was surprisingly suggested by 18-year-old George (the son of team captain Bob). The meet time was mainly agreed on to ensure that I could get back in time to watch Paris-Roubaix from the comfort of my sofa.

Unfortunately, despite arriving at George’s House nice and early, I very quickly discovered (it took few million attempts at clipping in) that I had made a monumental cock up and somehow put my peddles on my bike backwards…brilliant! Cue 30 minutes of struggling with a multi tool unscrewing the pedals and refitting them the correct way (although made slightly less annoying by the provision of a nice cup of tea from Georges Mum Maxine – we almost got a bacon sarnie too).

Finally with the ability to peddle the correct way on the bike, we embarked on our ride. George decided on the route, a popular one with minimal traffic through the Southdown’s. Starting in Eastbourne before heading to Polegate and taking in a few gradual climbs past Friston Forest, Birling Gap and finally heading down the Beachy Head road and back to Eastbourne.

On a horrible day, this route seems to have a headwind whichever direction you can turn, and when combined with rain this can be a truly horrendous experience. But on a nice day, it is quite simply a beautiful ride with smooth roads, minimal traffic and a few climbs. And today was one of those days.

 

Sunshine!

The ride was a fairly nice tempo, with me reluctant to go too hard with the marathon date fast approaching and George claiming a lack of fitness. Although this declaration didn’t stop him from standing in the saddle and shooting past and completely demoralizing, a couple of lady cyclists near the top of one particular climb (leaving me to spin past them offering them a hello and slight word of encouragement).

 

George, slightly relived the climbs are over

For those that haven’t used this route before, when ridden in this direction it takes in a long slow climb from Birling Gap to the top of Beachy Head, rewarding you with some spectacular views over the cliffs and sea. A couple of years ago we rode this exact route during Eastbourne's Airborne festival, reaching the top just as the Red Arrows began their show.

With the Red Arrows not informed of our ride, it was left to a group of paragliders to give us a show instead. Although impressive, I do question the reasoning behind paragliding on a cliff edge?!

The distance today was just over 20miles, and although not the longest, served to shake out the cobwebs and provide us with some beautiful riding. As hockey season has now ended, this next week will be continuing with the running taper and trying to work out just how many layers I will need for the marathon next week (is a duffel coat acceptable?)

For those who haven’t seen or heard of Paris-Roubaix before and don’t quite understand my desire to get back and watch it. Google it. Its an incredible race, a total of 254km with 27 sections of cobblestones, if you have never seen a bike race before, Google it. Just do it. Phenomenal).