Friday May 8 - FNRttC Brighton

My second FNRttC (Friday Night Ride to the Coast) saw a huge group of people (90ish) making their way from Hyde Park Corner to the Madiera Cafe in Brighton. My first FNRttC was to Southend just after I'd got my Condor and was a lot of fun so I was looking forward to a nice ride and a chance to prepare myself for the BHF version next month. We had a large contingent from LSST but there were riders from as far afield as Hull and on a wide range of machinery including a recumbent tricycle and a couple of Bromptons.
Setting off at midnight, we made our way across South London via Clapham, Balham, Tooting and Mitcham and out into Surrey. The pace across London seemed a lot better than the glacial rate at which the Southend ride started so that was nice. We passed Coulsdon before having a bit of a stop/regroup just inside the M25 (I later found out we were waiting for a cab to collect one rider with an irreparable mechanical failure).
Setting off again took us down Reigate Hill. I know Simon had asked us to be careful descending in the dark, but even without pedalling I still hit over 42mph which was a blast. Having regrouped again we headed off along a lovely country road called Lonesome Lane en route for our half-time refreshment venue, a scout hut near Horley, which furnished us with tea, soup and rock cakes.
Dawn had already broken by the time we left there and I found myself in a breakaway group of 7 including DanB, Tanya and Sol as we upped the pace all the way to Lindfield. Another regroup and by now my mind was focusing on the fast approaching climb over Ditchling Beacon. It's been something like 20 years since I last climbed it and it does have a bit of a reputation so although I was disappointed that had to stop 3/4 of the way up, I wasn't too surprised. In retrospect I probably set off a bit too quick but at least I remounted once my heart rate had lowered and I didn't walk any of it.
From that point on it was literally all downhill to an empty seafront and a welcome full english breakfast, before training it back to London.