B Group - 28th September

It is normal when Elevenses is at Redhill for B Group to field a very small team but yesterday we had seven riders leaving the Methodist Centre. This compares favourably with the ride in March when we had a leader, a back marker, and a peloton of one in the middle.

Unfortunately John Austin is suffering with knee problems for which he is receiving treatment from a physiotherapist, and asked me to lead his ride.

On the way to Redhill Grant had a front-wheel puncture but mended it in time for us to arrive at the Christian Cente by about 10:45. We weren't going to gulp our coffee down too hastily so left at around 11:20.

So we rode John's route to Lingfield, climbing away from Redhill on the A25 until Nutfield where we turned South down the very scenic Sandy Lane and followed a logical path across the M23 before taking the Prince of Wales Road and others down towards Copthorne. Effingham Road led us on to the A264 which was rather busy with traffic but just before we reached the centre of East Grinstead we turned North up the Lingfield Road which was a bit of a blast, mostly downhill, getting us to The Star in Lingfied (Church Road) at 12:55.

John had planned for us to have lunch at The Greyhound but when I saw that Mark had booked A Group in there I decided it would be too much for any one pub to provide lunch to both groups, given how numerous A Group are these days. So for us The Star was a bit of a blind date but they catered for the eight of us (seven plus Ian Appleton who rode his own route to the pub) very well and especially given their capacity indoors it would be a good venue for lunch on a rainy day. But yesterday our rufty-tufty B Group chose to eat outside, enjoying an assortment of well-filled baguettes.

We took a more direct route back to cross the M23 at Shipley Bridge and to shorten the ride which John had planned around Gatwick and through Charlwood I opted to pick up part of the Tri-Vets route through Horley to loop around onto the A217 for the climb up and over into Reigate for our Tea stop at The Maison du Velo where good tea and cake was enjoyed in the happy ambience of a bike shop.

For those of us heading North there is no easy way from Reigate. Peter and Chris decided to go up Reigate Hill while Tim G and I rode back into Redhill and up the three big hills to Banstead before easier rides to our homes. Terry will have got off more lightly. Steph and Grant could see the lie of the land and peeled off before we reached Reigate.

Thanks to Tim for being back-marker and keeping the peloton under control. Thanks to everyone for coming out to enjoy yet another sunny day on the road.

~ Tim C

Ye Olde B Group in Lingfield