First off-road ride since the Randonnee

Well, it's been a while, but I've finally been on my first off-road ride since the Randonnee. I have ridden the bike a few times; after the ride I had to renew my rear brake pads and replace the bottom jockey wheel on my derailleur; this was done at Freedom Bikes; still no complaints there, thankfully. This involved riding along to the shop from home and back, so only about 16 miles.

Then last week, I decided I was suffering slight withdrawal symptoms, so went out for a quick blast along the sea front, riding along to Worthing, past the pier and along to the roundabout at the end of the seafront road, and then back again. Not sure how far this was, as the GPS ran out, not having been charged since the last ride. However, according to Google maps, this is about 5 miles. This was completed in 45 minutes, so was a nice brisk ride.. but no off-roading.

The off-roading finally came this Bank Holiday Monday, which, after a weekend of helping T prepare lots of posh food for a BBQ, I thought I deserved. I rode up the side of the River Adur, turned left at the white bridge, and then completed the Chanctonbury Ring / Cissbury Ring ride (obviously missing out the Devils Dyke part of it).

At points 39-40 on the gallery (you'll probably need to see at least a few slides before these to get your bearings), instead of turning left, I turned right, and followed the road along to the A27, maintaining a pace of around 14-15mph. Once I reached the A27, I crossed over to the entrance to Shoreham airport and followed the road down to the back of the green opposite the petrol station on the A259, rode across the field and went home.

All in all, a good re-introduction to off-roading; I certainly missed it. I had a few minor mechanicals in the form of very low pressure in my rear tyre, which, due to turning the head of the pump the wrong way, I had real problems pumping up. I also had an annoying creak (as I normally do) coming from somewhere on the bike - I tightened the pivot bolts and also the saddle and the cranks, but to no avail. It may be the pedals playing up; I'll test this by fitting the new DMR V8s I purchased recently but haven't got round to fitting yet.

I've still yet to write up my colleagues accounts of the Randonnee; I'll try to get round to this some time this week, as there are a few funny stories to tell. Until then, TTFN!

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