Rapha Rides to Brighton

Working for Rapha is always a pleasure (even at Christmas when you have 500 orders to despatch each day or when the goods lift stops working). One of the best privileges is the company rides, which take place three or four times a year. We try and make it an occasion for all colleagues and friends to join and, considering the spectrum of cycling ability in the company, the rides are relatively gentle spins through country lanes with a hearty food and drinks stop. The latest ride was the furthest we have ridden as a company to date. Although hardened roadies out there may sniff at London to Brighton as a quick three-hour recovery ride, some of my colleagues had never ridden that far before.

We set off from Richmond Park under summertime drizzle and were joined by Rapha Condor team rider Tom Southam and Rapha Chairman Nick Evans. Riding down to Crawley via the Epsom Downs to meet those who were doing a shorter distance, we rode through and along a mixture of potholes, A-roads, estates and beautiful rolling Surrey countryside. Past Crawley and into Sussex it got a bit lumpier but everyone dug in and kept the pace well above 10kmph. Several breakaways by John Sutcliffe (Rapha Financial Controller) had to be bridged by the chasing group of Sam Huddleston (Despatch & Design) on his Alan with purple bar tape, Laura Fletcher (Customer Operations Manager) on her RC team bike and the flying-Dutchman, Kasper Daems (Design Manager).

At Hassocks we said goodbye to Tom as he'd had enough of being dropped on the hills by Laura Etherington (RC Club Secretary) on her retro Specialized Stumpjumper, so he caught the train back to London. A quick stop at a sweet shop for sugary refreshments and then we rode on to Ditchling to make our final assault over the Beacon into Brighton. First to the top of this hors categorie was Ultan Coyle (graphic designer and all round hard-man) closely followed by Ben Brown (Web-Master and all round Essex-boy) and Jon Knight (Customer Service Stalwart and Brixton grimpeur). We then enjoyed a lovely descent down to Brighton for a late lunch by the seafront and a few well-earned beers. Congratulations to everyone for making it and particularly to Sandra for not crashing Simon’s (Chief Executive) Pinarello.

This was not the first time Rapha have ridden to Brighton. To read about the 2007 London to Brighton Rapha Night-Ride click here.

To see the route we took this year click here.

See the pictures