FNRttC Friday Night Ride to......Brighton on Friday 17th June
- Thread starter Flying Dodo
- Start date
-
- Tags
- night ride
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slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
I had a heart rate monitor and found spotting the missing beats on the display quite fascinating for a while. Then I got bored and ditched it. I don't think I ever wore it on the bike. The rubber chest strap/bra thingy was really horrible.
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I don't know about the current ride leaders, but Simon quite reasonably wasn't willing to entertain that, other than for exceptional reasons*. Once you start allowing it, you potentially multiply the organisational complexities required to coordinate meetings and contact people. Almost every ride to the south passes within less than a mile of my house, occasionally a few hundred feet, and that's a far from unique occurrence for members of the The Fridays. A quick 10 mile jaunt into central London is no great effort.
Then, cycling through the night to get breakfast, probably isn't the way to do that. It's all about the silliness.
* A reasonable justification is things like meeting regulars riders with their small proto-Friday-members at the bottom of Ditchling, since some are just too young to do an entire night ride.
On the first point, possibly, but it makes sure that anyone else reading doesn't think it's a possibility!
As regards the other item, it's definitely all about the silliness.
The filthy beasts.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Seriously?As regards the other item, it's definitely all about the silliness.
swansonj
Guru
Lol. Complete with splutter.
OP
OP
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
Well, it's been a relief to read all the comments above, and knowing that the monsoon conditions hadn't put most people off. Around 5 bailed beforehand which was fewer than I expected when we were sheltering under the arch at 23:30 on Friday. Both the BBC & the Norwegians had been quite clear about no rain - that'll teach me to make jokes in an email about the referendum!
If I'd known a few months ago that it would be a smaller group, then the Gatwick Surprise would have meant a much more straightforward route. However, I'd got Mark at the The Cabin to agree to do Shoreham, Brighton & Bognor, so as I deliberately didn't want all 3 using the same route, Brighton's route had a deliberate dog-leg, meaning the halfway stop was more like the "60% of the ride is already done" stop. I do like the Farthing Digression and the subsequent skirting around the M23, so that may feature next year.
Bearing in mind the sheer volume of water, it was inevitable there'd be punctures - I think there were 5 in total, including one of my own. After Farthing Down, for about 5 miles I'd been aware of a slight hiss whenever we went through any water and reckoned I'd got a very slow front wheel puncture. As we'd had to stop just before crossing under the M23 just south of Nutfield as the wonderful tail end-ers were dealing with a puncture further back, I decided to replace my inner tube, which had been punctured by quite a large piece of flint, and managed to get it replaced before they rolled up. It wouldn't look good if I was holding up the ride!
As a result of those delays, and going a bit slower due to gravel and floods, we got to Faygate about 35 minutes behind schedule, although most of that was then made up dropping down through Handcross towards Haywards Heath. And then there was The Beacon. I was very impressed with the first timers who generally conquered it without resorting to Adrian's 24" inches method. And not forgetting the Bromptons, who I think only had 3 gears, which was 1 more than Adrian had on his interesting bike. So chapeau to all of them, and everyone else. I was also glad @TimO also managed to actually finish a FNRttC after a recent spell of having to curtail his rides for a number of reasons. Thanks also to the waymarkers.
Due to Sustrans commitments, I can't do the Cardiff ride next week, so we'll see what Bognor brings next month!
If I'd known a few months ago that it would be a smaller group, then the Gatwick Surprise would have meant a much more straightforward route. However, I'd got Mark at the The Cabin to agree to do Shoreham, Brighton & Bognor, so as I deliberately didn't want all 3 using the same route, Brighton's route had a deliberate dog-leg, meaning the halfway stop was more like the "60% of the ride is already done" stop. I do like the Farthing Digression and the subsequent skirting around the M23, so that may feature next year.
Bearing in mind the sheer volume of water, it was inevitable there'd be punctures - I think there were 5 in total, including one of my own. After Farthing Down, for about 5 miles I'd been aware of a slight hiss whenever we went through any water and reckoned I'd got a very slow front wheel puncture. As we'd had to stop just before crossing under the M23 just south of Nutfield as the wonderful tail end-ers were dealing with a puncture further back, I decided to replace my inner tube, which had been punctured by quite a large piece of flint, and managed to get it replaced before they rolled up. It wouldn't look good if I was holding up the ride!
As a result of those delays, and going a bit slower due to gravel and floods, we got to Faygate about 35 minutes behind schedule, although most of that was then made up dropping down through Handcross towards Haywards Heath. And then there was The Beacon. I was very impressed with the first timers who generally conquered it without resorting to Adrian's 24" inches method. And not forgetting the Bromptons, who I think only had 3 gears, which was 1 more than Adrian had on his interesting bike. So chapeau to all of them, and everyone else. I was also glad @TimO also managed to actually finish a FNRttC after a recent spell of having to curtail his rides for a number of reasons. Thanks also to the waymarkers.
Due to Sustrans commitments, I can't do the Cardiff ride next week, so we'll see what Bognor brings next month!
OP
OP
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
Here's one I prepared earlier.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Thank you very much @Flying Dodo for setting it up. Despite the torrential downpour that I narrowly missed at about 11pm, I got off pretty lightly. I thought Farthings Down was great, especially when it turned into a narrow rural lane at the end. I think it's called Ditches Lane. As usual, I gravitated to the back of the ride and was encouraged by Steve and his pals' good humour. A big thanks to the waymarkers, many of whom I delayed. It was great to see so many new faces.
My only regret was being defeated after a brief run of good luck on the Beacon. Never mind.
Thanks all.
My only regret was being defeated after a brief run of good luck on the Beacon. Never mind.
Thanks all.
But not the Met Office. Hasn't the BBC squeezed by the government dumped the Met for a New Zealand forecasting outfit who are known to be less accurate but considerably cheaper!
Some paid the cost Friday night ...
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
The Met Office definitely were predicting 2 hours of heavy rain in London from around midnight, when I last looked at around 9pm, so maybe the BBC should have stuck with them.
An excellent ride, even if I wasn't there right at the start. Real Life meant I caught you all at Sloane Square, although I wasn't sure if you were ahead or behind me and it nearly All Went Wrong. Anyhoo,we were soon together and I even got to waymark a junction - the roundabout after Chelsea Bridge. By heck, that position on the island is somewhat isolated, with traffic passing this close >< either side of you. I retired to the back of the ride and fell to chatting with the splendid @hatler and equally splendid @User482. First puncture was on the approach to Clapham Common, setting a bit of a trend for that bit of the ride before the cafe. Note to self: pack CO2 thingy next time. Or fettle grommet on the Big pump. Or pack my Road Morph.
Farthing Down is lovely, although the road off it is showing the signs of budget cuts in leafy Surrey. As we were now on my manor, I'm afraid I bored my companions with my local knowledge. (who knew we went past the end of Christine Keeler's Road? But as @User482 said, I would say that.) However, the same local knowledge proved a bit more useful when we encountered an unmarked junction, a group of bemused cyclists and tail lights heading off in what I was sure was the wrong direction. The person with the biggest voice was sent off to chase them down and I rechecked the route, as it was on my phone, thanks to my late arrival arrangements with @Flying Dodo. All were soon safely gathered in and then we were reunited with the rest of the bunch.
Another puncture (and a broken spoke) just after the turn off the A25. We taped the busted spoke to its neighbour but as it was a disc braked bike, the humungous wobble in the wheel didn't cause a problem. I think the next puncture was in Horley, where Christain, the victim, who was waymarking, shouted after us as we swept by. It was pretty light by then, so finding the culprit was pretty easy. The road down to Charlwood has a right hand bend on a slight bank, with a slightly lower than usual chevron sign on it. The top of the sign is bent over, presumably indicating where a driver got ambitions and capabilities mixed up, resulting in a short bit of aerobatics. Did anyone else spot the wild campers, Surrey style, on the verge just before Charlwood city limits?
Faygate. Butty, coffee, bread pud and off we go, over towards Pease Pottage then onto the route beloved of those who chase old cars, old lorries and old motorbikes, with a peachy descent to Staplefield. After a while we were in Ditchling, complete with scarecrows, a Town Crier with horns and A Hill. Grit teeth and pedal on and in the end 67 inches beat 248m. Red was the colour of the day on the way into Brighton and then it was breakfast where I avoided the suspiciously straight sausages and went for an egg and bacon roll, then attacked The Guardian quiz with the help of @hatler and his chums. 7 points, which turned out to be a draw with my friends with whom I compete.
A busy day ahead meant no SMRBTH, so off to the station with @slowmotion and two of hatler's FNRTTC first timers, where the ticket machine didn't seem to dish out Group Save tickets. Train, snooze, wake up, pedal home.
TL;DR? Spiffy ride, excellent company, pics here
Farthing Down is lovely, although the road off it is showing the signs of budget cuts in leafy Surrey. As we were now on my manor, I'm afraid I bored my companions with my local knowledge. (who knew we went past the end of Christine Keeler's Road? But as @User482 said, I would say that.) However, the same local knowledge proved a bit more useful when we encountered an unmarked junction, a group of bemused cyclists and tail lights heading off in what I was sure was the wrong direction. The person with the biggest voice was sent off to chase them down and I rechecked the route, as it was on my phone, thanks to my late arrival arrangements with @Flying Dodo. All were soon safely gathered in and then we were reunited with the rest of the bunch.
Another puncture (and a broken spoke) just after the turn off the A25. We taped the busted spoke to its neighbour but as it was a disc braked bike, the humungous wobble in the wheel didn't cause a problem. I think the next puncture was in Horley, where Christain, the victim, who was waymarking, shouted after us as we swept by. It was pretty light by then, so finding the culprit was pretty easy. The road down to Charlwood has a right hand bend on a slight bank, with a slightly lower than usual chevron sign on it. The top of the sign is bent over, presumably indicating where a driver got ambitions and capabilities mixed up, resulting in a short bit of aerobatics. Did anyone else spot the wild campers, Surrey style, on the verge just before Charlwood city limits?
Faygate. Butty, coffee, bread pud and off we go, over towards Pease Pottage then onto the route beloved of those who chase old cars, old lorries and old motorbikes, with a peachy descent to Staplefield. After a while we were in Ditchling, complete with scarecrows, a Town Crier with horns and A Hill. Grit teeth and pedal on and in the end 67 inches beat 248m. Red was the colour of the day on the way into Brighton and then it was breakfast where I avoided the suspiciously straight sausages and went for an egg and bacon roll, then attacked The Guardian quiz with the help of @hatler and his chums. 7 points, which turned out to be a draw with my friends with whom I compete.
A busy day ahead meant no SMRBTH, so off to the station with @slowmotion and two of hatler's FNRTTC first timers, where the ticket machine didn't seem to dish out Group Save tickets. Train, snooze, wake up, pedal home.
TL;DR? Spiffy ride, excellent company, pics here
