As a ride leader you have to check a few things out before committing yourself and others to what should be a great outing. You have to set up a meeting place, check train times, check for engineering works, make sure there is somewhere on route to get something to eat before 2pm, keep an eye out for the weather (you don't want to be taking people through woods if high winds are bringing trees down), make sure you have maps and a good idea of where you are going, check you have your basic tools and inner tubes and there's a ferry crossing on this ride so I need to make sure the ferry is operational..

All this checked - we arrive in Bognor Regis at about 11AM. There are just three of us on the ride, Judth, Steve and Ian - and we are all up for a speedy ride. We make very good time around the Selsea peninsula and reach the ferry crossing at West Itchenor just after midday. Having reccied the ride a few weeks ago I know that the ferry will take only 4 bikes so I make sure we pass all other riders on the road to the ferry and hustle our small group past a much larger group of cyclists who are standing around on the shore not looking as though they know what they are doing. Great we're on the jetty, we take a few pictures, the ferry arrives, we board we cross, we pay (£2 each), we disembark, a little higher up the beach than when I was last here because the tide is higher and we make our way up the footpath and onto the road to Bosham. All is going great and then the road disappears into the water. There was a road here last time I came - honest. One thing more to add to the list of things to check at least on a ride that comes to Bosham is the time of high tide and how high that tide is going to be. We contemplated fording the sea covered road but decided against it when we saw how wet a cyclist who was coming the other way was getting. When he reached us he said he wished he hadn't done that – he had very wet feet. OK so now I know that high tide at Bosham completely floods the harbour perimeter road and comes right up to the walls of the town – it's very picturesque. We took to the footpaths adjacent to the flooded road that took us through a couple of fields and someone's garden. All decided that the flooded roads and trek across the footpaths were a feature of the ride and if possible anyone contemplating doing this ride should do it when there is a high tide. Actually the route across the footpaths was little more than half a mile and we soon found ourselves in the town and sitting outside a pleasant pub having lunch.

After lunch we continued on our speedy loop. We'd already decided to miss out the big South Downs climb and we swapped it for 3 lesser hills. When we turned south to head back to Bognor everything was slightly down hill, and with the wind behind us, we were able to easily maintain speeds around 21–22 mph for 18 miles. We arrived back in Bognor Regis at about 4pm. We completed the 60 mile ride including our off road sections in a little under 4 hours.

With plenty of time to spare we checked out the sea front, had a pint and rode slowly up and down the prom for an hour. Steve was contemplating riding on to his poker game in Hastings but decided to relax on the train.

Thanks you two for a good day. Thanks for the pictures Steve.

Ian Pendleton.