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@Wrongcog
Bigpaintbrush and I joined cycleblog type Blazin' Saddles and his brother for a social trip to Brighton via what we assumed would be Ditchling Beacon. I was actually a bit nervy as last time I had a pop at London - Brighton I was solo on the hottest day of the year and ended up walking up the damn hill. We met in Clapham and fueled up on espresso then set a steady, chatty pace over the rolling bumps and humps South towards West Sussex. The rain subsided but the roads were greasy and sketchy although I loved the route on the whole. Never been out in that direction before and really enjoyed it. One of our number was pedaling through a shocker of a bad back and couldn't push up even the slightest hill without enduring agony. He was our navigator / routemaster and gamefully fought on despite passing many a commuter belt train station which could have relieved his suffering.
Notable was the inevitable p*nct*re stop to pull a piece of flint from 'Saddle's' tyre at which point our navigator made a user error with his compressed gas pump and it exploded across a pub car park into a fence, narrowly missing his groin. It was certainly the fastest moving object of the day.
As we begun picking our way into the bumps north of Brighton it became apparent that our Garminised route had never been set up to tackle the Beacon and so we swung up and over Devil's Dyke as a compromise stopping briefly in the fog at the top. Conscious that we'd be unable to take bikes on the train after half four we gunned it down the hill into town.
Great day out with pleasant, chatty pit stops, ace company and evocative, atmospheric, Wuthering Heights type elements. Mixed feelings at the end - weird to be that close to The Ditch but end up on The Dyke! I love those lanes and will be heading back soon as I have to get that monkey off my back and drag my ineffective legs over the proper hill this time!
Nothing to see here performance wise but you might want to cast an eye at our route: http://app.strava.com/activities/75119434