A couple of years ago I planned a ride for the Sunday of Paris-Roubaix incorporating some inappropriate sections for road bikes on skinny tyres. There are no cobbles or secteurs of pave in Sussex (except maybe a few metres here and there) but there are a lot of bridleways, gravel paths, farm tracks and tiny broken surfaced lanes that can be linked up to make a stupid ride. There are some photos from that ride here

Last Sunday a few of us rode a similar course with loads of new fun bits thrown in. A route was planned but extra silliness was added as we went. Every now and again someone would say “Do you know that bit over there?” or “There’s a path up here, it should be rideable”, so everyone chucked in ideas and we found bits we didn’t all know, and ended up with the perfect route. Smiles beamed as hard as the sun’s rays beat down on us, from the pre-ride coffee to the post ride ales. We were out and about messing around for well over ten hours, yet rode only 120 kilometres. I think we were only riding for half that time. The lunch stop took a while. There was no rush.

A tradition may have begun.