New Year Night Ride to the Coast - 2nd January 2015

[Dogtrousers]

Kit notes

Cheapo lobster gloves from Aldi were toasty warm in the dry but not at all waterproof, which is fair enough because they didn't claim to be. They were positively hygroscopic, capable of holding my bodyweight in freezing cold water.

Spraying my Endura cycling trousers with Fabsil makes the house stink but does not have any positive effect on their performance in rainy weather.

The rain washed all the mud off my super Northwave boots. They are clean for the first time in recent memory. Feet stayed warm.

Lining my handlebar bag with an Alpkit waterproof stuffsack was a very good idea. My Haribos were kept perfectly dry.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Felpham was not in fact my first choice for this night ride. Originally I'd planned on doing a re-run of last year's round Kent ride, with a Whitstable starting point. However, due to engineering work on the trains, it would have meant more hassle getting there and back. But the rain wouldn't have got to us until we were scheduled to get back into Whitstable. Oh well.

I'd opted for the Dorking variation, which basically means after Clapham Common, we stayed on the A24 until Dorking, which very nicely was virtually devoid of traffic. I think that as it was the final weekend before most people had to go back to work, the normal misfits you get around on the roads must have been all exhausted/out of money after 2 weeks of excess.

So it was the normal exit from HPC, and then after Tooting, onto Colliers Wood, Morden, Epsom, Ashtead and then a left turn after the M25, so very easy from a navigation point of view. I tried to tempt Stu and Andrew with a quick diversion up Box Hill but for some reason they declined. After a quick spin around one of the best roundabouts in Britain, then we left the quiet, deserted main road for the quiet, deserted back road. Which was mainly downhill, apart from the slight uphill. However I warned Stu to ignore the 17% sign which some irresponsible council official had erroneously placed along the road at one point.

We stopped around Newdigate for a little break, and as mentioned above, found ourselves surrounded by at least 4 owls, all hooting away. Perhaps they were contemplating whether or not we were prey........whilst there, we even had a car driver slow down to ask us if we were OK - truly the season of good cheer to all men! Setting off again, as we approached Faygate, it started to drizzle, so then it was heads down for a quick 2 mile blast along the dual carriageway to the sumptuous surroundings of the Pease Pottage services where the Costa Coffee staff were awake and dispensing coffee. A check on the weather radar app showed several large bands of rain approaching, so by the time we left around 4:40, the rain was falling fairly steadily. Regardless of the size of the group, I'd always intended mentioning the option of quitting anyway. I knew the trains started from Horsham fairly early, and that the station had a heated waiting room which helped the decision making process!

So well done Andrew & Stu for not quitting beforehand.

 

[swansonj]

...After a quick spin around one of the best roundabouts in Britain,....

Those of us who live here are forced to get our pleasures where we can...,