Adventures In Modern Cycling No. 8: Brighton...

I had three options for occupying myself this Sunday:
01) A trip up to the Vintage Cycle meet at Brooklands. (Lots of petrol, not much cycling for me and £9 to get in)
02) The regular folk music session at the Maypole. (Drinking to much expensive beer, not much cycling and a massive hangover.)
03) Ride my bike to Brighton in training for the 'Gridiron'. (Very 'worthy').
So, I turn into the headwind and hit the South Coast Cycleway...

There's a questionable trick I play when I'm on the road. I ride at a reasonable pace until another cyclist rides up behind me and overtakes then I 'dig in', get on the back and am pulled along in the slip-stream...
This is an appalling practice and I'm ashamed of myself for doing it. It's a hang-over from when I used to race and I can't shake it off. I offer my profound apologies to those who find themselves giving me an easy ride (like the bloke who dragged me from Comet Corner to the Ford roundabout.)

I passed through Littlehampton and Rustington where I took a wrong turn (poor route signage)
and found myself wandering aimlessly through a private estate of very expensive homes. This little detour put about 4 miles on the journey before I found the cycle route again around East Preston.
Ferring onto Goring by Sea and then into Worthing.
The trip through Worthing turns out to be the worst experience of the whole ride. Along the main drag, that makes no concession to cyclists, in heavy tourist type traffic.
I'm almost out of the town on the way to Lancing before things improve along a split foot/cycle path. The headwind really kicks in along this exposed stretch but I'm in 'cycle head space' and don't really notice or care about it.
I'd never liked the look of Lancing or Shoreham until I took this route which revealed a surprisingly pleasant stretch of coast. I was especially delighted by the Lancing Lagoon that I didn't know existed. Cormorants hanging themselves out to dry, swans gliding along and this piece of 'people art'
Hammer on through to Southwick where everything becomes industrial, bleak and forgettable.
At Hove the cycleway along the pavement becomes increasingly crowded and demands great concentration if you don't want to park your bike in a pedestrian's buttocks..
I have a confession to make... I don't like Brighton...
I'd probably understand it's appeal if I was twenty years younger and maybe I'd enjoy it but I'm not and I don't...
I've long wanted to see the Volk's Electric Railway. Trust me to arrive on the day it's closed for engineering works...
Downer..
The compensation for my disappointment consisted of coffee and, even though I mistakenly sprinkled a sachet of sugar on them, chips...
Time to head back and the nightmare begins...
Two hours and forty minutes of suffering...
Yes the wind's on my back, yes the new 20 tooth sprocket makes the gearing more usable but the short rest in Brighton allowed my muscles to seize up and I began a grim ride home with the 'mask' down..
The one little light during this was sitting up riding 'look no hands' to present as large an area to the tailwind as I could. By the time I got back to Littlehampton I was becoming downright cocky (see short film below).
I bought Linda a present (just to prove that I'd done what I said I'd done) which she ate without once considering that I might like just a small piece of Brighton rock...
I reckon that I did over 62 (flat) miles today and, despite a slight problem walking, I feel I can safely attempt the Gridiron next month but the true physical consequence of today won't really hit until Tuesday..
Let's see how I feel about it then...