Half a Ride is Better than None!

Friday  Mice Log Early Start Date 88.  26.03 miles in 2hr 43. Ave 9.5 max speed 20.2 on the Marin  

A group of friends were cycling 70 miles or so to Felpham in Sussex from London but I knew I wasn't up to that in terms of fitness on top of which it was going to be -2 degrees in the small hours! Even with the right gear that is too cold for me so a friend and I decided to join them  - not for the ride but for breakfast! 

 To do this we took a bit of a short cut. A very shortcut as it happens! We let the train take the strain all the way to Ford which is eight miles away from Felpham! This did mean a bit of an early start.  4am alarm.  I managed to meet be on the right train at the right time and was startled to see how many other people were up so early on Good Friday!

We cycled at least two miles to a rendezvous and waited. And waited. Whoops a miscommunication meant the  group had already reached Felpham so we shot off to do the remaining six miles to join them at The Lobster Pot. 

 It had been a cold night indeed. Water bottles had frozen. Everyone had felt the icy air and had at some point been colder than they had liked but they had all worn enough clothes to compensate although  they were holding their teas and coffees with both hands! 

Breakfast and banter continued through the morning, our numbers decreased and we moved on to a pub in Bognor.  

I took a train to Worthing to meet up with a couple of friends where we revisited Coast Cafe which serves fantastically fresh and delicious food.  It was hard to leave!  Somehow eventually after home made carrot cake we managed to cycle along the sea front to Brighton despite the wind and the cold air.

To warm up we headed in land and cycled around a few streets on top of hills.  It is a hilly place. My legs didn't know what to do!  My planning went out of the window and I did a ridiculous gear change which made my chain come off.  I was about to be shown a really good trick by a friend to put it back on really quickly but was so distracted by my failure and the traffic that I did it the old fashioned way, walked back down the hill and started again in the correct gear.  Success! I made it to the top. Just! Note to self - must find some hills near home to practice on.  Unfortunately I was so distracted I forgot to ask what the tip was to put the chain back on.  Note to self 2 -  find out how to do that!

We headed down into Brighton centre for more food!  This included pudding which was a bit big and very delicious.  Back to the station and soon I was on my way home.

Moving around the country combining trains and bicycles is a really great way to discover places you wouldnt normally see.  It allows a balance of how much cycling you actually want to do rather than being daunted by numbers of miles.

 For me it was another great day with friends - and my bicycle.