A long ride was promised for those of us who had not yet put one in during 2012 and that's what we got. Laughs, suprises and the badly-timed sawblade that is Spronket's Lane... plus a very tidy brunch at the seafront.

To be honest, I'd expected three or four. So when 17 turned up for the Brighton and Back treat including some very handy G4 and 5'ers, some good honest hard work was on the cards. That said, the journey down breezed by. People were up for a steady ride and the babble of laughter and chatter from a rolling peloton is enough to brighten the darkest winter heart.

There was a slight delay... Nick Curran texted to say he was going to be a little late but - credit where credit is due - that was the last time he was late all day. All that secret ninja training has clearly paid off and one of the most popular games of the day was trying to guess what he'd taken to be this good after coming back after a bad injury and months off. By the time he'd be at the front for the last 30 miles on the way back, it was as much as we could do to stop a full scale hats-in-the-air celebration of King Curran.

Sorry, back to the story. We Axes Lane-ed our way to the traditional London to Brighton route and followed it up Turners Hill then quick all the way down to Lindfield. Up the Haywards Heath drag and a quick pause on the railway bridge for gels and water before the ascent of the Beacon. 

Paul joined us in shorts (brave) and was integrating the ride into his Ironman training with efforts on the hills. Along with Chris, Damon and the other mountain-goats he was among the first up. Nick C was last for the last time of the day and rode off in the distance to miss on the photo of champions that accompanies. The descent didn't really begin until the super-fast Colldean Lane because of the strong winds off the top of the Beacon. A few people cycling at an angle of 10degrees into the sideways gusts.

The Regency is a superb cyclists cafe. They filled bidons, dispensed tea and sarnies, scrambled eggs etc with efficiency and good humour. Outside, Gareth joining us on his road bike for some steady miles away from MTB suffered a cleat-bolt-static-tumble. One screw had come out of his SPD cleat and as he tried to un-clip the cleat turned on the remaining screw leaving him still attached. It wasn't ballet but he carried on with his usual stoical steadiness.

The route back is fairly tough. Damon and Chris headed off first 'on a deadline'. There were winds across Saddlescomb. Kevin unfortunately suffered a puncture on an exposed climb and when we realised after the descent, no-one had the legs to reascend Devil's Dyke to lend a hand. Calls were made and texts sent but confident he knew the way back home or to Brighton station the rapidly cooling peloton continued. 

Spronkets is never fun but we stayed together through the hills, drags and winds all the way to Faygate where a final puncture saw the group split with the time well past 2pm.

Conflabs after the event suggested some tired but happy legs. The route is a great one and we'll be doing it again as the Pearson 150 approaches - the Pearson adds in 24 extra miles to Sutton and back via the climb to Headley and up Langley Vale. A good day to clock up a ton!

Thanks to the whole crowd, too many to mention but you can pick out most in the photo and specially to Steve T who despite a recent chest infection rode strongly and back-marked superbly.

Around 75 miles depending on where you went back to with averages from 15mph upwards. Suspect around 3,200ft of climbing but if anyone can give me a proper figure, please post it below!

Adrian