Longest ride ever for Mick-Gary and a new rider-Sebastian. The ride itself was only a 49 miler but 8 miles from home and 5 of us decided to ride the 8 miles down and back to turn it into a metric. It was also a new ride on our calendar and rides of 12-20-39 and 49 miles. Starting on the coast and it went inland so some climbing was expected. The route was very well planned and it was mainly on back roads and the direction signing was exceptional. Couple of shots at the start and I had to take a pic of the Felt. TTsetup and the single front ring was enormous. And it was a single front ring and the front derailler was just to stop the chain from jumping.Don't know how the rider got on as we never saw him after the start.



The group of us is obvious But I had to show this girl rider. Had all the right bits on the bike and we never saw her after the start either

The 39 and 49 were the same route to Heathfield which is just 10 miles up the road from home. Then via a different route the 39 went back to base and the 49 did a 10 mile loop before rejoining the 39 route back. There were only 40 of us on the 49 miler and I had a chance to assess Gary's riding ability. Longest ride he had done was the 6 mile commute to work This is the bike I had in last week for service and rebuild so I hoped that the rebuild would help him. Got to Heathfield and Gary was finished. He had been riding with another rider and he had tried too much to stay with him. LOOONG rest break here as I tried to convince Gary to turn back but he wanted to carry on. 2 litres of water and 2 bananas and a power bar later and he felt better so continue.



The rest is obvious but the Jersy is the largest club in the UK and I have never heard of it- had to show you the jersey though. The riding pic will show you that our back roads are narrow- but very few cars.

Now that 10 mile loop--Supposedly a bit challenging 5 miles to MayfIeld and 5 miles back to the rest point- It rolls up and down a bit and the first mile was flat- Then a 1 mile downhill in which I topped 42 mph. (Back roads remember) Then a 1 mile climb in which I saw 18% on the Computer. The rest of it after the 18% was not much less either- Then a long downhill again and a mile long climb to the village. I thought that was the climbing finished and I know Gary was but have to give it to him- he did not stop or walk- Mainly because I was screaming in his ear that It was a long walk back if he did. Mayfield back to the rest and it was just like the previous 5 miles. Long downhills and long steep climbs In that 10 miles we had 1,000ft of climbing. And when you consider half of that was downhill- It was tough.

So back to the rest point and only 20 miles to go and mainly downhill- But the masochist that had sorted the route had found a few short sharp rises- 200 yards at 20 to 25%. Not the ideal for Gary and Sebastian who was feeling it now. Eventually we got down to the Marshes and pretty flat as we crossed them. Well we eventually got back to The finish and 49 miles covered- 2,200 ft climbed and a happy group of riders. That was one testing ride that was well sorted out on route and Difficulty. None of our group walked or stopped on a hill and in fact we passed several riders that appeared to be fitter and younger than us sitting at the side of the road- 1/2 way up a hill resting. and several that were walking their bikes. Gary and Sebastian felt fine although they had suffererd on this ride. Mick on the other hand was absolutely fine. He also did the ride to and back from the ride so he has done his metric. Next one for him is his ride your age and he is 55- but I saw him a couple of hours ago and he feel about 110. He got home- showered and it hit him.