Cycle Seahaven Tourers climb Ditchling Beacon.

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Made it to the top of Ditchling Beacon

Nine club members joined the Road Touring Section’s ride on Easter Sunday and conquered Sussex’s most notorious climb, Ditchling Beacon. Several of the group had never previously managed a ‘non-stop to the top’ before; it would be fair comment to say that some anxiety was expressed and some unfamiliar (to me) self-motivational words were heard at the base of the climb.

Cycling this big hill is a fair effort by any standard, so well done to those that have now conquered it. The smiles on the club members who achieved it were a joy to see.

Many thanks to Chris Girder who swapped his normal forest trail habitat for the open road and helped me out with TEC duties.

This was another Touring Ride success story. The Tourers ride every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, weather permitting. All types of cyclist are welcome on whatever bike you choose although it’s easier on a road bike. We only ask that you can average about 12½ mph whilst cycling.

Happy Cycling,

Dave Sutton

Eliza Ellie’s fitness campaign attempt two….

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Go riding

Get fit

Challenge yourself

Have fun

The spring is officially here and just like a bear waking up from the winter sleep, I am too starting to feel more alive (although coffee helps with that greatly…)

My last year’s plan to get bike fit has gone somewhat skewed due to injuries, but this year I am determined to make it work. And if I can make it work – so can you!

Yes, you…

and you…

and you too!

And yes, I am pointing to make it more dramatic!

So here is the deal:

Over the next few months and until the end of July I will be putting up rides to not only get us started but also to improve our fitness, discover great routes and maybe even get you to enter an event!? Perhaps you have already signed up for some awesome event like the SDW or looking to participate in this year’s Beachy Head Sportive?

Yes? – Start training!

No? – Sign up and start training!

Simples.

 

The kick-off will be on the Easter Monday (TOMORROW!) and then one or two rides a week. Keep an eye on the calendar and Facebook.

All rides will be off-road. I intend to start rides at a slower pace and shorter distance to break into this fitness malarkey slowly, and build up both the speed and mileage as we get fitter with each ride. We will cover our local SDW tracks and parts of the MTB sportive. I may even throw in a homing pigeon ride for extended fun. Watch this space!

I hope to see you on these rides whether you want to get fit or already are an awesome athlete. Riding a bike is great fun, but even more fun with friends, so let’s do it together J

“WHAT is sportive?” you might think…

It’s a posh way of saying that a group of cyclists get together for an organised ride. It’s a non-competitive event and you ride against yourself.

if you want to contact Ellie you can do so using the following here  

JUST IN CASE you are interested, the sportive supported by the local South East Mountain Biking is here:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/195400/Beachy-Head-MTB-Sportive-2019

Cycle Seahaven’s Ladies New Forest Sportive Team

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The New Forest Spring Sportive is one of the New Forests most popular events and has become a welcome ‘start of the season’ test for may cyclists, this year held on the 13th and 14th April.

Starting and finishing just outside the Hampshire town of Verwood, the riders took in the rolling scenery with a number of hills to challenge their legs. 

Eight of the touring ladies from Cycle Seahaven, including Sarah Webb, Debbie McFly, Carol Bryant, Kate Parkinson, Annette Blackman, Heather Cheek and Linda Pilkington-Peachey took on the challenge. 

Sarah reports

‘The 7 Sisters’ team completed the 66 mile New Forest Sportive on Sunday (the eagle-eyed among you may notice there’s 8 of us but we liked the team name so much we kept it). We all met through Cycle Seahaven and have had great support from our fellow riders in the tourers group. We didn’t specify this had to be a ladies only weekend but that’s the way it worked out, so naturally there was a 2 night stay in a log cabin with sauna and fizz involved!

Well done ladies!

The 7 Sisters. All eight of them!

Cycle Seahaven Survey Results – 2019

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A sincere thanks to all who took time out to complete this year’s survey. An abridged version has been published in our recent newsletter however it was to large to publish in it’s entirety. We had some interesting comments and observations. Some requests have already been addressed and others are to be addressed and will be added to the committee agenda as time permits. For those interested in viewing the whole report you can view on the link below.  

CSH 2019 Survey

 

1000 Miles of Touring Rides Already This Year

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The Touring rides clocked up just over 1000 miles in the first quarter of 2019. There were 31 such rides; that’s the most miles and rides for the first three months of a year since the touring rides started many years ago. That’s partly because of the better weather this year (only a few rides have been cancelled due to inclement weather) and also that some of our rides go slightly further these days.

Our Sunday rides are usually 35 miles give or take a few miles. However, our ride on Sunday, 31st March, was 45 miles when nine of us rode to Bexhill and back. There was a fairly strong headwind which made for a reasonably challenging outward trip but, of course, made the return trip very easy and rather faster than we normally cycle. The Beach Café, where we had our refreshment stop, is a super little café on the promenade at Bexhill, just under the De La Warr Pavilion.

All our rides include café stops and we cycle at a fairly easy-going pace, ie an average cycling speed of about 12½ mph. There are three touring rides each week, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday so why not give our rides a try? There’s plenty of choice of destinations.

We have some great rides being planned for April including a Romney Marsh tour next Sunday and a two-day Viking Trail ride on 11th/12th April. Details are on the Rides Calendar.

Happy Cycling,

Clive

Sunday Saunter in Spring!

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Today’s Sunday Saunter was a lovely morning out in the sunshine – certainly better than the gale force winds of two weeks ago!

In total there were nine riders including the Ride Leader, Gray Brett. Seven members and two non-members who we hope to see back out on other rides again soon. We departed from outside the RNLI building in Newhaven and took the NCN2 towards Seaford. We cycled around the back of Seaford using quiet roads, ending up joining the NCN 2 again and stopping for coffee at the Martello Cafe. 

We then returned to Newhaven where the ride ended, and some of us treated ourselves to a small, but thoroughly enjoyable breakfast!

A lovely, gentle ride of just under 20 miles (including getting to Newhaven and back again from Seaford), taking two and a quarter hours with an elevation gain of 602 ft.

Record Turnout of Tourers

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Today’s touring rides to the Lavendar Line railway station at Isfield attracted 16 cyclists. Ten joined the ‘classic’ tourers ride led by Dave Sutton and me; six joined the Tourers ‘Plus’ ride led by Dave Tyler which goes slightly faster. This was a record turnout of members for the touring rides and is in-line with an upward trend of members participating in these rides.

That said, Cinders Buffet at Isfield Station always proves popular with cyclists; It’s full of railway memorabilia and they make a decent cup of coffee. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much puffing and shunting on the rails this morning.

The Tourers have lots of great rides planned over the next couple of months including a Sunday ride to Bexhill on 31st March, a Romney Marsh tour on Sunday 7th April, a two-day cycle ride on the Viking Trail in Kent on 11th & 12th April and a channel hopper to Dieppe in early May with Phoenix-CTC.

Happy cycling,

Clive Aberdour

It’s Spring and the Tourers are on a roll!

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It’s the first day of Spring, meteorologically speaking, and the tourers are on a roll. We’ve already clocked up 660 miles with 22 rides over the past two months, our best ever start to a new year! Also, the number of members participating in our rides is steadily increasing with last Tuesday’s ride to the Old Loom Mill Cafe (see picture) attracting 11 cyclists, a record for a Tuesday touring ride. For comparison, we did the same ride at the end of February last year and it attracted 7 cyclists. These may seem small numbers when compared to the mountain bike rides but the tourers form a very small section within Cycle Seahaven.

Our plans for rides during Spring are well advanced. We have a two-day Viking Trail ride planned for 11/12th April, a Romney Marsh ride which, this year, will be on a Sunday. Also nine tourers will be Channel hopping to Dieppe in May (a Phoenix-CTC ride) for some cycling in Normandy and there will be ride to Littlehampton which is a round trip of 70 miles. Our Thursday rides will be returning to 50 milers (they’ve been shorter over Winter) and our Tuesday rides will continue as 25 milers.

Our Sunday rides will now return to 8.30am starts and the weekday rides will remain at 9.30am starts.

There’s a lot happening in the touring section during the Spring so why not try some of our rides. They all include café stops and we cycle at a fairly easy-going pace, ie an average cycling speed of about 12½ mph. There are full details of our rides on the Rides Calendar which includes a link to the plotted route that you can view on Streetview; do a virtual tour if you like!

Happy cycling,

Clive

Message from the Chair

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I would like to thank everyone that attended the AGM last night. It was at times a little challenging but nevertheless very productive.

I’m grateful to those of you who voted to discuss the proposed changes to the constitution, despite a valid and legitimate challenge to defer it. The vote saved the committee a significant chunk of time and because of the number of attendees (75 in total),  it was perhaps more inclusive than doing it at a later date in an EGM.

For those of you that were disappointed by the decision to proceed with that item, I acknowledge that it was missing from the agenda. Sometimes things that are so obvious are overlooked because they are not given a second thought.

I probably made some other procedural errors but I don’t profess to be an expert in such things. Hopefully, my enthusiasm (and that of the committee) to progress things on behalf of the club compensates for this.

I also hope the majority of you felt that the subsequent proceedings were productive and gave individuals a chance to voice their opinions. As I said last night, the committee would welcome constructive criticism on any changes you think are necessary (this applies to anything the committee does, not just the constitution). There will be further opportunity to have your say.

We have taken on board the points raised and we will happily consider any further suggestions. Any additional constitutional changes will be made available to the membership in accordance with the EGM rules.

Finally, I would like to thank Denis Bass and his helpers for his culinary skills and all of you for attending and making the evening the success was.

I look forward to riding with you in the near future. 

Guy