Another weekend and another trip to the coast for me making it the fourth time this year

- Road ride to East Preston in May
- Off-road MTB route to Bognor in June
- Off-road MTB route to Brighton in August

This time I was heading off to Pagham which is a few miles along the South Coast from Bognor. You’d better leave early as you took all day last time said my wife. Oh, that was because Adam was map-reading I said, I’ll be much quicker this time (forgetting to tell her that this was a road route versus the off-road route we used in June).

The route is actually very simple as I stuck to A-roads. Out of my front door and within half a mile I am on the A24 which I follow through Epsom, Ashtead and past the Dorking cock (where I picked up a puncture on the gravelly surface of the cycle path) and then along to North Holmwood and Beare Green. Yes I could have ridden the back lanes to get there and no, the A24 isn’t the most scenic of routes especially the lengthy dual carriageway sections but it gets you where you want to go in the most direct route.

At Beare Green I bear right and join the A29 slowing down ever so briefly to point out to a couple of old fellas on the grass verge that no I wasn’t part of the official ride they were marshalling and yes I was going the right way.

The A29 is a much nicer ride. Single carriageway and despite following Stane Street, the Roman Road that went from London to Chichester there are some nice curvy sections to keep you happy as well as some extremely straight rolling sections where you can gather a bit of momentum on the downs and power up the climbs. The small villages that you pass through are quintessentially English with plenty of thatched cottages, village green pubs and cricket pitches on view.

I was setting an average speed of 15 mph which isn’t hugely fast but I was a single rider heading directly into a strong South-Westerly and I was happy with this.

The weather was reasonable too with sunny spells and although a light rain started to fall at Ockley one advantage of the strong wind was that the rain cloud was swiftly blown over and behind me. I had a couple of bananas with me as well as a couple of Frusli bars and I managed to peel the bananas on the move as I was determined to ride this route without stopping. By the way, your teeth are very useful for pulling the top off a banana but the stalky bit at the top of the skin doesn’t taste very nice.

The miles rolled by and it was useful to follow my progress on the cycle computer. I don’t normally have one of these fitted to the Bianchi as I know every inch, pothole and manhole cover of my never changing 18-mile cycle commute route.

But today I was on the Specialized Allez and enjoying the smoother ride and getting used to riding with an array of information being displayed in front of me.

I was especially interested in my cadence as I have never had a clue what cadence I ride. It varied from between 64 to 80 per minute (what’s the measurement, is it revs or what?). Do I use too many brackets in my sentences (and does anyone even care?). But anyway it's not bad for just £15 from Tesco!

More miles went by and the South Downs started to appear in my vision. I know from regularly driving this route that there is a reasonable climb over the South Downs and that my car struggles over it and so at circa 40 miles into the ride I was at the foot of Bury Hill.

Bury Hill is reasonably steep at 11%. In fact it compares with the ramp at the start of the Alpe d’Huez (also tackled by me in July) in terms of the gradient. However at only 0.8 miles or 1.3 km long Bury Hill is a tenth of the length of the famous Alpe; check out the Alpe profile. Bury hill climb is completed by the time you are out of the red zone. Having said that I found it slightly harder than I expected. It wasn't until later that I realised that I rode everywhere in the alps on the Bianchi on a 50/34 whilst the Specialized allez is a 52/39. So props to Sam for riding this in the Alps whilst his old dad span up the mountain behind him.

From the top of Bury Hill there is a wonderful straight road of circa five miles where you are slightly descending. Knowing that I had got the big climb of the day out of the way I was able to get into my aero tuck position and push on the big gears to ride this section at circa 28 mph.

I finally approach Bognor although I don’t hit the seafront but follow the signs to Pagham which takes you via numerous roundabouts to a shingle beach with a blustery wind. It had really started to rain by now so I didn’t bother with a beachfront shot until the following day and made my way to where we were staying for the weekend.

It was only 55 miles but it was a rewarding ride and as already mentioned completed in one hit without pausing for a break.

READ MORE:
watch my mtb videos
Tip of the week

MTB in Canada

external bearing replacement

Goodridge hose replacement

dialled bikes rough ride

7 Stanes riding in Scotland

Single speeding
Swinley
Buy some night lights
South Downs MBR killer loop
Buy an MTB DVD
Chainsuck
Buy some night lights
Buy an MTB DVD
kit reviews

READ MORE:
watch my mtb videos
Tip of the week

MTB in Canada

external bearing replacement

Goodridge hose replacement

dialled bikes rough ride

7 Stanes riding in Scotland

Single speeding
Swinley
Buy some night lights
South Downs MBR killer loop
Buy an MTB DVD
Chainsuck
Buy some night lights
Buy an MTB DVD
kit reviews

Date: 25th September 2011
Riders: Richard, Rob, Rich Lonegroover, Nick M, Tim, Adam, Lee, Ross & Rob M
Pitch Hill & Holmbury Hill
Weather: 18°C

I haven’t ridden the MTB for what seems like ages but it’s a beautiful morning to get back out on the trails. A so-called Indian summer sees the temperature hit 20 degrees today (in the UK an Indian Summer is what we call it when we get a dry weekend or two in September as we try to persuade ourselves that the fact that the weather was shite in June, July and August wasn’t another wasted year).

And it seems like the rest of the Southern MTB world has the same idea as we bump into Howard and his Pedal and Spoke troop including Drew, the Sussex Muddyarses being led on a ride by Rich F, the Cycleworks Leatherhead crew, the Muddy Moles and Dango and 12 out on the trails.

The PA has lain unused in the garage for weeks now and a flat rear tyre gives me the opportunity to try out a recent purchase, a WTB Raptor 2.1 which I place on the front whilst moving the Continental Pro to the rear. My lack of trail riding and a certain unfamiliarity with the levels of grip lead to one cloth-touching moment as the front loses grip on a fast soft bermed corner leading to a yelped “whooooaaaahhh!” from me as I drop my inside leg out for balance and wait for the front to grip again which it luckily does.

Despite being advertised as a Tim-led ride, Nick takes over and leads us on a tour of all the interesting trails including a pause at the ‘Canyon’, a monster double which looks pretty unforgiving; it’s certainly too big for me to consider. We watch a rider take two dry runs up at it before we decide to head on. More singletrack pointed out to us by Howard and we follow his group down. There's a bit of shouting up ahead but I ignore it as I roll over a step down. I've got the front wheel on the ground and am just rolling out when my large chainring catches on the top of the wooden re-inforcement of the edge and over the bars I go in slow motion. I just did that too says Howard's mate up ahead. Note to self; take more note of shouting on the trails next time.

We head down to Peaslake and then straight on up Holmbury Hill without a break and the pace is proving too much for some riders as Rob, Adam and Ross decide to head back tot he car cursing all the way that we decided to start at the top of a hill today (Hurtwood car park 3) instead of at the bottom.

The six riders left tackle some more singletrack on Holmbury and whilst I'm still full of riding my lack of MTB'ing is showing itself leading to some dicey moments on the trails and I ride rather feebly down BKB before the trawl back up to the car-park. Stamina 100%; Riding skills 45% today.