, albeit not ideal if you wanted a flat one.Rogan, Kieran, Jon H, and Paul (Ingram) joined me for today's jaunt through the countryside. Set off my usual way out through Selsdon, with a little diversion through Littleheath Road as a)it's steeper, and b) it has no traffic, before the down-up-down-big up to Old Farleigh golf course. On and out to tackle Slines Oak Road, a nasty climb at the start of a ride.
On to the descent of Gangers which is a bit sketchy when damp so a bit of care as there were little patches visable in the dappled light through the tree cover, and then the ever nasty Chalkpit. A couple of slightly damp bits under the trees but mercifully no wheel slip today. As far as I can remember these two hills were the only place where there was damp from yesterday's rain and the weather was smashing, nice temperature and crystal clear skies giving us some excellent views as we went up and down the hills
.Skipped across the top of Titsey and down Rectory Lane (where I often take people up at the end of rides) to join up to a great section shown to me by Huw a couple of weeks ago. Down Clacket Lane and over the A25 to climb up to Limpsfield Chart, then straight over and down what looks a bit like a driveway. It's a nice drop which you need a bit of care on and brings you to a gate, nip around that and then left at the bottom. We saw some Old Ports down here, their club run goes more off the beaten track than ours, but they carried straight on at the bottom. Our left took us over to Pootings where I took us left on to the climb up towards Chartwell but then cut across to Toys Hill via Puddledock Lane, a personal favourite.
Down in to Sundridge and on to the next climb, Star Hill, where Jon's legs fell off
. At the top he said he'd go straight on for home so we waved him off and the remaining four of us went through Knockholt and then right down towards Cudham. A sharp left on to the descent of New Barn Lane which is a bit broken and then a climb up to the main Biggin Hill/Westerham Hill road. On this draggy climb I was still feeling perky so wound it up a touch as it levelled towards the top 
, Paul's legs fell off a bit on this climb so was going to cut off for home after Tatsfield and save his pins the final battle with gradient. He was bouncing up the earlier climbs very well so perhaps just not paced enough early on.We cut through Tatsfield keeping the pace steady so Paul could sit on the back, and then when he turned for home we turned down Beddlestead for the climb of Hessiers. Rogan clearly didn't know this climb as he came passed me on the bottom section, it kinks slightly and then the rapid gear changes as he spotted it going on for the same distance again...but a bit steeper
. Well it would have been rude for me to tell him when he came passed that it went on longer than you think 
, you've got to learn for yourself 
.I had intended to cut us back through to Slines New Road to finish with Bug Hill but Rogan and Kieran had to get home so we finished off with a good blast down Featherbed Lane before back home.
I really enjoyed this morning, thanks a lot for joining me chaps so much nicer than a solo ride on a sunny day like today. 50 miles and a smidge over 3 hours for me door to door.
Where we went--->[url=http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=177456]Map[/url].
You can zoom in and scroll about to follow the route and flick through the tabs and you get the stats and gradient profile and a cue sheet which you can download to csv and use in excel should you want to retrace it sometime. If you have a garmin you can download the route to your box of tricks from the summary tab.
