'Brighton Early'

My first mass participation sporting event for over 40 years - the Brighton Ride 2022! A great morning out with a bunch of mates from the Horsham Cycle Club...

The Magnificent Six, all medalled up

If we had known in advance that joining the Brighton Ride would involve getting up at 4.30am, most of us would probably never have signed up... But we didn't, so here I was, at stupid o'clock, driving down the A23 with the bike in the back. Unsure of the parking situation, I decided to leave the car in one of the picnic spots on Devil's Dyke Road. That worked well, except that it was absolutely freezing before the sun came up - and by the time I had whizzed all the way down to Preston Park (including the 25% descent of The Drove, a Strava segment aptly named 'Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!'), my head and hands felt like I was going for a spin at the North Pole. Thank goodness this wasn't the naked bike ride that Brighton is famous for...

Fortunately, dawn was breaking over the park and we gradually warmed up as we waited for the holding pens to open. It was also a chance to make some new friends, including a chap who had an intriguing rear light he had acquired at a cancer awareness ride, in the shape of a pair of flashing red testicles hanging from his saddle - certainly gets you noticed. Our intrepid Horsham team (Debbie, Katy. Stephen, Bob, Kevin and myself - aka the 'Magnificent Six') had opted all to wear club kit, so finding each other wasn't that difficult, although Stephen and I had somehow managed to vote ourselves into the slowest 'yellow' group while the rest were raring to go in the fullgaz 'red' pen.

The 'Grand Départ'

At 6.45am the 'Grand Départ' saw over 900 riders on bikes of all shapes and sizes setting off for a 50km spin round the centre of Brighton and up and down the front. HCC seemed to be the only club flying its team colours, so we got several encouraging mentions on the PA as we rode through the start! The first few miles were ridden behind a control car, which gave Stephen and I a chance to weave our way through the massed ranks in a (somewhat vain) attempt to catch the others. The route was mostly flat, and after a mile or so everyone had spaced out a bit - so we were soon bowling along at over 20mph through the closed streets of Brighton, running red lights and taking the racing line on corners with big silly grins on our faces.

When we finally reached the front the ride turned west, bathed in crisp morning sunshine all the way to Hove Lagoon where we turned around and charged back eastwards again to the pier. Then we were climbing Marine Parade and pressing on all the way to the outskirts of Rottingdean - being passed on the way by the somewhat smug faster members of our team powering back again around 10 minutes ahead of us. It was as we passed the marina that we saw the aftermath of the only accident of the day, but it looked a nasty one, with a chap lying face down in the road with others gathered around to tend him. He had gone by the time we returned, and hopefully made a full recovery - but it was a timely reminder to be careful whenever the bunching started.

Heading east on Marine Parade

A short detour north into Ovingdean, and then we were soon heading back for another tour round the town centre. By this time Stephen had an urgent appointment with a man about a canine, so he waved me to carry on. With the roads a bit quieter now, it was a quick spin round the town and back out to the lagoon, where I finally spotted a blue and white HCC jersey and joined up with Debbie for the rest of the ride. There was a further detour out along Basin Road, then a final run back along the front to the finish at Hove Lawns.

No quarter given at the finish!

Debbie outsprinted me at the finish, though I maintain I can claim the moral high ground on account of advanced age... and with Stephen following close behind we all came in at around 2hrs or under, with a special mention to Katy Watkins, who blasted round the 31 miles in 1hr 45mins to come 13th out of 275 women on the ride. Well deserved medals for all!

Medalled at last!

All in all, it was a great morning and the event seemed to be well organised, with masses of helpers and spectators to cheer us on and make us feel like seasoned TdF pros riding past our adoring fans. Despite the grumbling at the early start (unavoidable as they had other events and a marathon run to get through before the roads opened again), the wonderful weather, the great atmosphere and the chance to ride effortlessly along closed roads made it a real day to remember. In fact, we were so energised that some of us then decided to do another 25 miles via Shoreham, Steyning and Poynings before finishing for the day - most of which we enjoyed, aside from the climb back up to Devil's Dyke, which Bob and I didn't enjoy at all... much to Kevin's amusement!