Club Run to Tulleys, Turners Hill
Sunday 7th April by Paget Cohen
First of the Summer schedule and some sunshine to mark the occasion, although there was still a heavy frost when I left home at 8. After last week's embarrassment I made a conscious effort to practice spinning a small gear en route to Uckfield and still averaged a useful 18mph even if it is mainly downhill. To my surprise there was no-one outside Boots, but within minutes 9 other Wanderers (all bar 1 in current team kit) appeared from every direction. Along with John - a strong rider who has recently moved to Herstmonceux from the Midlands and is looking to circuit race - we set off North towards Maresfield.
We soon lost Luke, the lone Wanderer to shun the dress code, as first he lost his bottle then he suffered cramps chasing to catch up through Duddeswell. Thus 10 of us swooped down Kidds Hill to regroup by the pub at Coleman's Hatch with those with weak bladders taking the opportunity to water the hedgerow until we were all together. Into Forest Row and we lost Mark L; he claims he went back to look for little old me, for which I could be insulted, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt this time.
It was on the descent to Weir Wood Reservoir that I had a close encounter of the herd kind - if 3 deer can be called a herd. At first I thought there were dogs springing out from the undergrowth, but one beast raced across in front of me, another cut behind and the middle one, like me, found itself in 2 minds. Anyway, I elected to dab my brakes, the animal chose to hit its accelerator and proceeded to bound over my front wheel and into the woods the other side. Very nearly a 'hart-in-mouth' moment.
With my adrenalin now well and truly pumping the climb to the, never more appropriately named, Deer's Leap Bike Centre passed like a breeze and I was able to stay near the front past the Scientology Centre and the recent Bluebell Line extension until we started downhill again. Then the competitive spirit amongst some of our number took over and myself, Stuart Anderson and John Miller got caught by the 2nd set of lights in Felbridge. Designated 'cat-herder' Ian McG turned around in order to pace us back to the group, but we only really caught up when they stopped in Crawley Village unsure as to the route.
As we were ahead of schedule Ian treated us to a bonus loop via Copthorne Common and the 'Worthy' part of Crawley to approach Tulleys from the NW, whereupon we met Mickey T and I entertained the troops by inadvertently reclipping and falling over in the courtyard. Refreshments were slightly disappointing and far from cheap, but there was a good choice. Just as we were getting up to leave Graham Jeffs arrived having navigated solo and judging 11 o'clock perfectly.
The route back was much that I had expected for the run out - down to and across Ardingly Reservoir then South towards Lindfield. By now it was nearly 10 degrees warmer than when we set out (almost shorts weather), but we had turned into what wind there was as we veered East for Fletching.
No sooner had John Miller complemented me on how much stronger I was riding this week then the sluice gates opened to the reservoirs of lactic acid in my thighs and within seconds I was in trouble. The guys waited for me at Piltdown Pond, but were out of sight again before Uckfield such was my explosion. By the time I got home I'd clocked 64 memorable miles at a reasonable 15.4mph considering I can have barely managed 12 in the last hour.
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