Spring has sprung! This seemed a good time to ease ourselves back into off-road adventures for the year, with a trip on the lovely, flat, (with one bump), Downs link between Guildford and Shoreham-on-sea. Well, the plan was to ease in, but the day brought a few challenges. Storm Dave, lightly hitting Surrey and Sussex gave us a headwind all the way south to Shoreham. This meant a short celebration at the beach with a crème egg, photo pose then scurrying off to a warm café. The five of us opted to make the return by bike and the weather turned with us delivering a lovely tailwind and glimpses of the sun.
Despite the weather there were lots of interesting groups out on the trail. We had a brief chat with another group doing the same trail and back. A big family group were out bike-packing, including a long tandem and the young teen of the group was not willing to divulge if his pack was actually full of Easter Eggs. Memorably, as we left Shoreham-on-Sea we kept pace alongside a group of colourful hydrofoil surfboarders.
With each of us doing at least 75+ off-road miles in about 6.5 hours, it was a satisfying day and a couple of us had over 100 personal bests for segments on that route on Strava. This is with thanks to those that pushed the pace, (you know who you are, fast even when fueled with a full English Breakfast for lunch)!
