OK, so to a lot of you hardened types, 50 miles is nothing more than a warm up, but for the less fit
among us, it's quite an achievement!
I was a bit worried about hills, because the highest point I achieved on any of my practice routes
was a whopping 11m ASL, and we had climbs of 50m planned with lots of smaller rises. On the plus
side, it was a net downhill of 150m from start to finish.
In preparation for this, I took my bike to the LBS to get the gears fixed - previously I had been
unable to change 2->1 or 3->2 on the front cog, and unable to use 1st gear on the rear cog. Which
was OK on the flat, but not what I wanted with hills around. He reckoned it needed a new chain, new
sprockets and a new gear cable for the front, and when I rode it away, it seemed to be working fine.
1st gear at the back was still a bit iffy and the adjustment wasn't perfect, but the front cog was
spot on, and that was the important bit.
And so it remained. For 30 miles, then it got stuck in 3 and made no attempt whatsoever to shift
back to 2 - at least before it had tried and failed, now there was no sign of movement at all. My
cousin, who is more technically minded than I am, tried to fix it but couldn't manage anything at
the roadside with no more than an adjustable spanner, but did wrench it to the middle cog so that
I had slightly more usable gears. So in a moment I'm going to pay another visit to LBS and give
him what for!
And apart from that and a couple of unplanned detours, the ride went entirely without incident. The
detours were *not my fault*! I had been in charge of planning the route, being the one with the most
free time, and the only one able to read a map properly, and I had carefully (and with the help of a
few people here - thank you!) planned a route that avoided as many contours and main roads as
possible, as well as the A259 coast road, aka the UK's most open wind tunnel. Which would have
worked fine if bro and cuz hadn't gone racing on ahead down the A22, completely oblivious to the
fact we were supposed to turn right.
Then later, having turned off the A27 to run parallel down some suburban side streets, as Dad & I
turned to follow them about 200 yards behind, we noticed them wheeling round and head back up to the
A27 - yes, they took the correct turning, thought it was wrong and went back to the main road
without bothering to check with me where they were supposed to be going!
Oh yes, and the traffic lights by Lancing College that someone recommended would have been great if
they hadn't been OOO for the Shoreham Air Show, so we had to cross the A27 on foot!
What surprised all of us was how easy it felt towards the end - we were all prepared to be
absolutely knackered, but when we pulled up outside my Nan's we all felt we could keep going for
quite a bit longer. And apart from my cousin's knee, which has been giving him gyp for years, none
of us have really felt any aftereffects, apart from sore buttocks!
Next year we're planning on 75 miles from Kingsclere (Berks) to Worthing - 50% longer and probably
200% hillier!
--
Stevie D \\\\\ ///// Bringing dating agencies to the \\\\\\\__X__///////
common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs" ___\\\\\\\'/
\'///////_____________________________________________