March – EOM Ride Out (Saturday ride)

Spring has sprung and on offer for your pleasure, our March ride is a spin through the Kent & Sussex Borders courtesy of Steve Wolton.  Mainly on good, well surfaced roads with plenty of opportunity to make progress and excellent scenery to enjoy!  This will be a ride of approx 120 miles through the beautiful High Weald, in two parts, with lunch en-route.

Please note that the ride has been scheduled to the last SATURDAY, not the normal Sunday, this to allow for those all important Mothers Day celebrations!

RIDE DETAILS 

Saturday 26th March,  09:30am for a 9:45am pre-ride briefing and Start by 10am.
Return anticipated mid-afternoon – around 15:00.
Total distance – around 140 miles.
Come early if you’d like to use the facilities, have a natter, tea, coffee and or fuel up beforehand.  There is plenty of parking.

Meeting Point Location:
McDonalds car park, Maresfield Bypass junction A26/A22, Maresfield, Uckfield TN22 5EP.

Closest Petrol Station:
Shell station on-site.

Lunch Point:
The Custom Cafe, Barnhorn Road (A259), Bexhill-On-Sea TN39 4QR.   This a traditional themed biker cafe with plenty of parking on site and space to enjoy your beverage of choice and a chat or to partake in the extensive diner lunchtime menu.  We plan to arrive at around midday and spend up to an hour here, departing at 1:00pm and heading back to McDs at Maresfield.

Route:
Mainly on good, well surfaced roads with plenty of opportunity to make progress and excellent scenery to enjoy!
We will head out to the Ashdown Forest, before turning South and looping around Burwash, Battle and the Pevensey levels to Bexhill.
Home will be via the sea views of Fairlight and Winchelsea Beach, for another scenic ride to our original start point in Maresfield.

Finish:
All being well we should arrive back at McDonalds at around 15:00.

I already have Back-Markers for the day, so I hope you can join me and enjoy the delights of this ride.

Weather
As with all Group Ride Outs, please note that if the overnight temperature is forecast to be below 3C degrees, the ride out will be cancelled automatically.   There will not normally be a second notification if this is the case.

*COVID* All Club Ride-Outs are governed by current government Covid19 restrictions, so attendance will be via registration with no limits on numbers attending.  If within 10 days after attending the ride you subsequently become ill or test positive then please notify the club via email ‘committee@southernriders.org‘ so we can alert all those who attended.

Back-Marker System:
One of the riders will need to Back-Mark so any volunteer for this please advise the ride leader when you register for the ride.  If you have an orange Hi-Viz please bring it with you, or one may be provided on the day, or dependant on the size of the group an alternative marker may be agreed.

Please make sure you are fully conversant with the rules of the “BACK-MARKER SYSTEM“.  Following these correctly is vital to the smooth running of the day and reduces the risk of losing someone or everyone. Details of the BM system are on our Southernriders.org  website.   If you’re unsure on the day, ask one of the attending Ride Leader. They will be more than happy to clarify any issues you have.

Hi-Viz:  If you wear hi-viz, please ensure it is not Orange as this is reserved for the ‘back-marker’ during our ride-outs.  We appreciate you may normally wear an orange hi-viz whilst riding. However, some find it confusing when in the middle of the group to see two or more riders with the orange hi-viz.  So, in an effort to avoid confusion and markers leaving their post prematurely ONLY the back-marker is to wear orange hi-viz.   Thank you