sussex
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White Chalk Hills Ultracross 2015
Stretched out along the fence line, the peloton splinters into clumps of riders. Shadows tumbling down hillsides. Pedalling not against the gradient but the wind. Silhouettes scattered along the next ridge. The gate opening relay starts, the off road equivalent of through and off, keep riding, no time for gate faff, might even finish in…
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One frame at a time
A craftsman at work, a skill that is second nature: Cut, grind, file, clamp, fit, braze, weld. Repeat. Back and forth, here, there, this bench, that jig. Sparks flying from grinders, the flash and whoosh of the torch being lit, red hot lugs and smoking bottom brackets. A day of turning straight lines into triangles, into frames, a pile of steel…
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Greenwich Mean Climb 300km [Brevet des Grimpeur du Sud ride #6]
04:29, Dyke Road, Brighton, heading for London. Underworld are played on the radio in the car and two men in their mid-forties reminisce about coming home at this time of the morning rather than going out for a bike ride. 05:47, Blackheath, London. Applying chamois cream behind a bush on the edge of Blackheath. There…
![Greenwich Mean Climb 300km [Brevet des Grimpeur du Sud ride #6]](https://themanfromicon.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tweaked-colour-14.jpg?w=1024)
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Coastal Culture Trail
For ages I’ve been meaning to do a ride from Brighton along the coast to Eastbourne to the Towner Gallery, and then on to Bexhill to the De La Warr Pavilion. Never quite managed to find a free weekend that coincided with exhibitions I really wanted to see. Then recently I discovered the Coastal Culture…
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AAA Milne (Brevet des Grimpeurs du Sud ride #5)
Yesterday I completed my series of Brevet Des Grimpeurs Du Sud audax with the AAA Milne. To get the badge you need to complete five 100km or more audax in the south east (Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire) which have AAA points. The AAA points are Audax UK climbing points and rides only qualify if they…
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Bike Belle
Day 1: http://www.strava.com/activities/300629658 Day 2: http://www.strava.com/activities/300883823 then a train across London and http://www.strava.com/activities/301194258
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The Reliable
It’s Wednesday lunchtime and I’m strolling to the Post Office with an envelope full of brevet cards and receipts. It seems a bit anachronistic in these days of gps recording and email but it feels like the proper way to prove that we completed our first permanent audax the previous Sunday. The audax in question…
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The Return of Mad Jack
Mad Jack’s – John Seviour Memorial Audax Last year Mad Jack’s event was supposed to be my first ever audax. It didn’t quite go to plan. This year’s attempt looked equally doomed as Jo and I drove over to meet Mark in Hailsham in sleeting snow. Neither of us recalled seeing this on the weather…
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The Lanes – Bo Peep Bostal
You won’t find yourself here by accident, you seek this place out. Maybe when you set off from home you didn’t plan to come here but somewhere along the way you make a decision to ride up here. When I first started riding again a few years ago I saw an photo on Instagram that…
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The Lanes – Along the Cuckmere Valley
It has three names – Litlington Road, Chapel Hill and The Street (either side of Chapel Hill) – but is one continuous strip of tarmac. Running along the Cuckmere River valley from the Seven Sister visitor centre at Exceat to Wilmington, it transfers your ride from where the South Downs meet the sea inland to…
the man from icon 