England : London London to Brighton Veteran Car run: Sunday 3 November

[rb58]

Well, the weather forecast is looking to be as good as it gets in November for this ride.

 

[frank9755]

We had a record CC group - at least 20 of us - and decent weather.
Great to catch up!

 

[rb58]

 

[Dogtrousers]

Ach, forgot about this. I actually rode London to Brighton on Saturday.

 

[Shadow]

'The best fun on two wheels...in traffic', someone once said.

Another good day out, as usual. From home, meandering along the Sussex lanes, a short sprint along the A272, back along lovely quiet lanes, overcast sky, trees displaying autumn colour, to Staplefield, which was its usual busyness. I could not detect if the aroma of bacon being cooked was coming from the pub opposite the village green or from a spectator's brazier! Starting to salivate, it was time to climb the hill to Handcross and then to Pease Pottage where I watched the vehicles and a good handful of Ordinaries for a while.

Happily no precipitation, however It was chillier than forecast, around 9° or 10°, so standing around was cooling and no sign yet of a CC contingent. Down the hill to Tilgate, quick U-turn to climb up again to warm up. Caught up with a two-geared Safety cycle who was crawling up at a slow, steady pace, easy for me to chat with him. A trio of Ordinaries overtook us and I chased them up the remainder of the hill. Had a quick chat with each and the last one stopped for a drink and energy bar. At this point @frank9755 and @Gordon P passed and I called out to them. Gordon stopped, we greeted each other warmly and he told me about 20 CCers started and 25 old cycles were registered for the Run. We rode together and caught up with Shan who I last saw at Barry Island on the Fridays ride at the back end of september.

Out of Burgess Hill we were back as a trio and soon hit the Clayton climb. At the top I pulled over to wait for the others and, importantly, a car to follow. The latter took some time as the other 2 descended their way to the A23. At last 2 cars emerged, one stopped at the bottom and the other sped off, I tried to follow but it was too quick, too modern! Lane 1 is now reserved for the registered vehicles (therefore us cyclists too, by default), so riding solo along the A23 poses no difficulties. A car with Louisiana plates, a 1904 Oldsmobile I think, soon came by and I jumped in its slipstream. The rear passenger faced backwards and we soon conversed - he was from Louisiana too, reminiscences followed. We travelled the rest of the way to the seafront together and wished them a pleasant sunday afternoon as they turned left into Madeira Drive.

I turned west and headed along the Kings Road/Kingsway on the new(ish) segregated cycle lane to the end of Hove Lawns with, unusually and oh joy, a tailwind - cycling bliss. I fairly flew to Shoreham, then headed north on the flat Downs Link to Steyning (I'd had enough hills for one sunday in november) and then homewards.

'The best fun on two wheels...in traffic', someone once said - how true.

 

[rb58]

'The best fun on two wheels...in traffic', someone once said.

Another good day out, as usual. From home, meandering along the Sussex lanes, a short sprint along the A272, back along lovely quiet lanes, overcast sky, trees displaying autumn colour, to Staplefield, which was its usual busyness. I could not detect if the aroma of bacon being cooked was coming from the pub opposite the village green or from a spectator's brazier! Starting to salivate, it was time to climb the hill to Handcross and then to Pease Pottage where I watched the vehicles and a good handful of Ordinaries for a while.

Happily no precipitation, however It was chillier than forecast, around 9° or 10°, so standing around was cooling and no sign yet of a CC contingent. Down the hill to Tilgate, quick U-turn to climb up again to warm up. Caught up with a two-geared Safety cycle who was crawling up at a slow, steady pace, easy for me to chat with him. A trio of Ordinaries overtook us and I chased them up the remainder of the hill. Had a quick chat with each and the last one stopped for a drink and energy bar. At this point @frank9755 and @Gordon P passed and I called out to them. Gordon stopped, we greeted each other warmly and he told me about 20 CCers started and 25 old cycles were registered for the Run. We rode together and caught up with Shan who I last saw at Barry Island on the Fridays ride at the back end of september.

Out of Burgess Hill we were back as a trio and soon hit the Clayton climb. At the top I pulled over to wait for the others and, importantly, a car to follow. The latter took some time as the other 2 descended their way to the A23. At last 2 cars emerged, one stopped at the bottom and the other sped off, I tried to follow but it was too quick, too modern! Lane 1 is now reserved for the registered vehicles (therefore us cyclists too, by default), so riding solo along the A23 poses no difficulties. A car with Louisiana plates, a 1904 Oldsmobile I think, soon came by and I jumped in its slipstream. The rear passenger faced backwards and we soon conversed - he was from Louisiana too, reminiscences followed. We travelled the rest of the way to the seafront together and wished them a pleasant sunday afternoon as they turned left into Madeira Drive.

I turned west and headed along the Kings Road/Kingsway on the new(ish) segregated cycle lane to the end of Hove Lawns with, unusually and oh joy, a tailwind - cycling bliss. I fairly flew to Shoreham, then headed north on the flat Downs Link to Steyning (I'd had enough hills for one sunday in november) and then homewards.

'The best fun on two wheels...in traffic', someone once said - how true.

Sorry to have missed you. I turned east at Handcross and what for you was a tailwind home, for me was a headwind all the way to the brute known as Ide Hill where I finally turned north back to the 'burbs. Still a great day, and I was amazed at how fast the steam car was this year - must be something to do with the e-coal it now consumes.

 

[presta]

S9me of the jalopies brakes are very iffy at best, with ocean liner stopping distances. You don't want to be in front of one that's for sure.

One of our drawing office managers had an Austin 7 which he brought in one fine summer's day, he was saying that it's quite difficult to drive in traffic because people won't leave him enough stopping distance. Every time he dropped back, the one behind took it as an invitation to overtake, and leapt in to fill the gap.

 

[lazybloke]

There are a couple of old crocks vintage vehicles that I see from time to time driving in the village. Alas, the one I saw last week was parked up on the roadside after being t-boned.
It didn't look significantly damaged, but I bet the parts, panels and labour will cost a packet.