Burgess Hill Springtime classic

Thornton RC were well represent at this Sussex sportive on 21 March 2010. The Four Thornton members took part in the Burgess Hill Springtime classic sportive they were Bob Sanders, Ian McMahon, Graham and Danny Frost. The event was well organised with good signage and free food on completion, which always goes down well. The ride started with gray dark skys and rain. With all opting for rain coats Bob was the only member wearing shorts, as he had relied on the BBC forecast of a spring day, which did come true albeit 2 hours later. We left at 8:30 in the rain and soon tagged on the back of a fast moving group, with an undulating route complete with fjord, blue sky began to appear. We tackled the Wall for the second time this year, some of you will remember this from the hell of ashdown. With the temperature rising I decided to stop and take my jacket off and watched our group disappear into the distance. With myself and Bob both knowing what to do the chase was on, we caught the group around 10 minutes later at the bottom of the Col de Groombidge, yes another one from the Hell of Ashdown! A quick energy bar at Heaver the half way point and then on to the return leg, which is the harder section! With a good pace being maintained we hit the hardest climb of the day the infamous Cobbs lane Hill, this was seriously steep albeit short, followed buy a short interlude and then another long hard climb just after Ardingly Reservoir. Heading for home the road continued to rise and fall until the last few miles, with the finish line in sight it was time for Oscar Friere sprints. With over 1800m of climbing in 71 miles this was certainly a leg warmer, Myself and Bob Sanders did the 71 mile route, Ian McMahon did the 51 miles challenge and Graham Frost the 35miles classic route. No one was spared as all routes went up Cobbs Lane Hill which was the main talking point over lunch. For those that want to feel the pain of this climb try Lymne Hill in the big ring? The results and tines are below:

Robert Sanders M51 04:15:48 Gold

Danny Frost M46 04:15:51 Gold

Ian McMahon M44 03:42:13 Silver

Graham Frost M68 02:30:00 Gold