13 of us met in West Hoathly for a new route South of Crawley. Newcomer to the club, Keith, joined us to supplement his training for a 3 day 300 mile charity ride in September. The first bridleway took us to Ardingley, where a brief road section took us to the path around the scenic reservoir. One (of many) road sections took us on to Borde Hill, on the way collecting the first “off” of the day when Stuart clipped Jack’s wheel and hit the tarmac. Thru Borde Hill, we continued by road to Staplefield, Slaugham and then headed north for a tea stop in the lovely tea garden at High Beeches Gardens near Handcross. Heading east, along the High Weald Landscape Trail, Robert took a tumble down a steep section – he was a bit shaken but the most pain came from landing on the money bag clipped to his thigh (? no doubt he took it riding to keep it away from the missus!). A little more road took us to a long trek through St Leonard’s Forest. Tiredness started to creep in and Jack was wishing he’d had an extra Shredded Wheat for breakfast (and one less pint the night before!), but we were only 2/3rds of the way thru the ride. Another chunk of road section took us past Tilgate Forest (sorry Mike for missing the singletrack there – one for your next ride maybe) and on to Worth Forest. Two more “offs” and the blood count was getting too high – Stuart again with a sneaky “off” only witnessed by Phil although his bloody knee was clear for all to see, followed by Grace with a similar injury (one of her traditional weekly crash tests!). Bruce and Simon peeled off heading back towards Three Bridges shortly before the final long haul (by road again!) thru Turners Hill and back to West Hoathly, arriving an hour later than the anticipated 2 o’clock finish. Thanks go to Cheryl - a fantastic job back marking and ensuring we didn’t lose anybody today and Phil for best jokes of the day. Ride statistics: 38 miles, average moving 11.3 mph, 3139 ft of climbs, calories 2500 (me) 3600 (Phil). (I think a few may be looking forward to Phil Clarke’s more “conventional” ride next Saturday!)

Cheers, Graham