South Downs Run

10th September 2006

Chelsea & Fulham H.O.G.

Are we fair weather bikers? No - but a bit of sun certainly does help! So with a forecast of 25 degrees and a clear blue sky a good turn out was expected, notwithstanding the unplanned clash of dates with the Ace Café reunion run to Brighton.

The C&F Road Capitianerie was somewhat depleted (nothing to do with a certain double 50th birthday bash the night before!), even so more and more bikes kept arriving, I stopped counting at 40 well before the briefing. It was particularly pleasing to see several new riders joining us - sorry I did not get all your names but Welcome!

We set off bang on time at 10.00 but near the top of Putney Hill I was running out of drop offs, the group had become very spread out due to the traffic lights in Putney and a minor spill getting on to King’s Road which delayed the second half of the pack. A leisurely pace around Kingston by-pass allowed some reconsolidation of the ride and we headed south.

Resisting the temptations of Ryka’s café we sped on down the A24 past Horsham and on to the A281, a good biking road. Unfortunately a lot of other bikers thought the A281 would be a good route to Brighton, life became a bit complicated as we mixed with sports bikers, some nice classic Brit bikes, a couple of monkey bikes and a few other Harleys.

Despite the biking traffic the drop off system worked well and we maintained a good pace to Devil’s Dyke where I think all starters arrived within a few minutes of each other - we were rumoured to have picked up another Harley who lost his ride and followed ours - move up to C&F, you can’t go wrong!

Superb views were had from Devil’s Dyke where we took the group photo and the ride dispersed, some to the Royal Oak at Poynings for a splendid lunch and others down to join the fun in Brighton. Thanks to all who attended, especially the new riders who all did their bit in the drop offs and to Les Channing who did a great job as last man.

Cap’n Beakey - C&F Road Captain