Ideas, they come and they go like waves crashing against the shoreline, some small and inconsequential, others making their presence known with a boldness and noise that forces you to take note. I’m not quite sure where my idea of cobbling together ASCND Sussex (#ascndssx) registers on the wave scale, somewhere in the middle perhaps, but I’m glad I did.

Before I go on I should say that this is just a tributary, a branch of the main ASCND that head dawg Nick started and without his support and encouragement this would never have happened, so a huge thanks to him.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes… I’m glad I did, really glad. That’s not to say that it was all smiles and confidence leading up to the big day. In honesty I’d been awash with fear, anxiety levels were high and my back was playing up something silly. My main concerns stemmed around attendance, my validity as an organiser and ride leader (even typing that now makes me feel a bit squamish) and my ability; “what if nobody turned up?”, “who do you think you are, Jonnie?” “can I really do this?” etc. I tried to hide it, but was open to a couple of people close who tried to reassure me and support me. They helped, but there’s always that voice, isn’t there.

I’d been thinking for a while about how to connect people from my corner of the world with the great stuff ASCND does and the values it stands for, more than my Instagram at least. Making that tangible to people and connecting them with one another to create a vibe of inclusivity, openness and honesty and various thoughts tumbled through my brain, each one finally resting in the “it’ll never work” pile before I finally thought about a sort of federated approach. Why not distill ASCND in Sussex, and Sussex into ASCND? The county is full of idyllic country lanes, brilliant coffee stops, and the most glorious countryside that has helped me on my journey, it can definitely do the same for others.

That’s when I reached out, full of fear and imposter syndrome to Nick with my idea. A bunch of irrational thoughts when whizzing through my head about him saying what a stupid idea it was, about how there’s just not that much demand down here for it, that it was a good idea but I probably wasn’t the right person…blah, blah, blah. Of course it was all nonsense, as these thoughts often are, and he was incredibly supportive and encouraging. So, armed with my new, and slightly alien confidence, I took the plunge and posted it up.

Immediately the responses started coming back - people were actually saying yes (over 20 in total). One of whom was Harry. Harry heads up Neighbourhood CC in Brighton and is a wonderful spirit to be around, always full of fun and humanity he’s easy to connect with and feel like you’ve been friends for ages.

The inaugural ride was exactly what I’d hoped it would be: fun, free of rules, people connecting, smiling, laughing and full of warmth, both from the dazzling sun above and between each of us. A huge thank you to everyone who came along.

If you book them, they will come.

The next ASCND Sussex ride will be coming out soon, so keep your eyes peeled on Instagram or the Ascnd Strava page to see where in Sussex it is this time. Hopefully I’ll see you there.

Jonnie

The inaugural ASCND Sussex