Still, the magic incantation "FCC" worked though. 
That was a fun ride, although after 97.6 miles, I'm a bit knackered, so opted to wimp out of the final Liverpool Street Station to Croydon cycle, and also because the Saturday morning traffic along the route is less pleasant than many other times.
We had a handful or mechanicals, so it was less fortunate than last years ride. I think there were three fairy visitations, including one which put a slash big enough to require a tyre boot, and a search for a replacement tyre in Harwich before departure.
The weather was excellent, just being cold enough that I did swap over to a long sleeved jersey once we left the urban heat island effect of London. If I'd managed to find both of my arm warmers, they would have provided a similar degree of comfort, and I could have survived just wearing a short sleeved jersey, but since I was carrying the long sleeved one, it seemed pointless to avoid using it.
The ferry crossing worked flawlessly, although we did have to put the pedal to the metal a bit, to make sure we got there on time (just). I'm not sure exactly what route we used from Brighlingsea to Harwich, but it departed significantly from the one we used last year. It did have some slightly busy stretches of road, with a few artics hammering past, but cycling into a port, that sort of traffic is inevitable.
I think I killed the screen on my phone, by dropping my bike, with the phone in the saddle bag pocket on that side. I hope I can retrieve my numbers off of it, if the touch screen will still work, and I can do the minimal operations necessary to access it from a PC.
That was a fun ride, although after 97.6 miles, I'm a bit knackered, so opted to wimp out of the final Liverpool Street Station to Croydon cycle, and also because the Saturday morning traffic along the route is less pleasant than many other times.
We had a handful or mechanicals, so it was less fortunate than last years ride. I think there were three fairy visitations, including one which put a slash big enough to require a tyre boot, and a search for a replacement tyre in Harwich before departure.
The weather was excellent, just being cold enough that I did swap over to a long sleeved jersey once we left the urban heat island effect of London. If I'd managed to find both of my arm warmers, they would have provided a similar degree of comfort, and I could have survived just wearing a short sleeved jersey, but since I was carrying the long sleeved one, it seemed pointless to avoid using it.
The ferry crossing worked flawlessly, although we did have to put the pedal to the metal a bit, to make sure we got there on time (just). I'm not sure exactly what route we used from Brighlingsea to Harwich, but it departed significantly from the one we used last year. It did have some slightly busy stretches of road, with a few artics hammering past, but cycling into a port, that sort of traffic is inevitable.
I think I killed the screen on my phone, by dropping my bike, with the phone in the saddle bag pocket on that side. I hope I can retrieve my numbers off of it, if the touch screen will still work, and I can do the minimal operations necessary to access it from a PC.
Martin likes them.
)
