FNRttC London to Shoreham Friday 2nd June 2017

[mmmmartin]

One of my great fortunes in a very lucky life has been to obtain the ability to sleep almost anywhere.
So ......Train to Three Bridges, picked up by The Present Mrs Mmmmartin, driven home, shower, bed about 1.30pm and instant sleep until 5.30pm. Wake, drink beer, eat, drink wine. Bed about 9.30pm slept through until 8am.
Feel OK today albeit slightly shocked at using my exciting Iwanson gauge to measure the rear rim and discovering it started life at 1.4mm thickness and is now 0.7mm. Time for a new wheel methinks. It's done about 15,000 miles I think.

 

[wanda2010]

That was me.

In other news, you and I had a chat about my Paramo jacket a while back. It's the Mirada one, although the one on the website looks like the design has changed slightly since I bought mine a few years ago.

 

[SandySnake]

Audax rides earleir in the year menat this was to be my first FNRttC for this year and I was determined not to miss this one. Unfortunately delayed start for me and left home at 11pm facing 60kms into London. Riding through Tooting Bec on my own at 2am was a little unnerving, as was being overtaken by a car on Farthing Downs. Managed to catch the TEC just after the crossroads in Bletchingley and had a quick chat about how nice and warm it was. Shortly afterwards came across the group admiring the efforts of the jammed chain removal and offered to go on and let the markers and Adam know the cause of the delay.

For me the mid-ride stop point was a big improvement over the The Cabin, Faygate and glad the profits will go to a good cause. Pleasure to revisit Turners Hill and enjoyed the ride along the ridge and down to Steyning. After leading the first group through Steyning to the Airport it was nice to see Rebecca and have a quick chat whilst others raced on and queued for food. Excellent breakfast once again and needed the endless coffee top-ups. Wished I could have stayed for seconds on the breakfast but had a long way to go and 10 hours to complete it in.

Despite 10miles on the A281 it was a glorious and reasonably flat route to Windsor area before I faced a little bit of climbing over the Chilterns. No records set on the climbs out of Chalfont St Giles or Chesham but pleased that I cycled it all.

 

[velovoice]

Audax rides earleir in the year menat this was to be my first FNRttC for this year and I was determined not to miss this one. Unfortunately delayed start for me and left home at 11pm facing 60kms into London. Riding through Tooting Bec on my own at 2am was a little unnerving, as was being overtaken by a car on Farthing Downs. Managed to catch the TEC just after the crossroads in Bletchingley and had a quick chat about how nice and warm it was. Shortly afterwards came across the group admiring the efforts of the jammed chain removal and offered to go on and let the markers and Adam know the cause of the delay.

For me the mid-ride stop point was a big improvement over the The Cabin, Faygate and glad the profits will go to a good cause. Pleasure to revisit Turners Hill and enjoyed the ride along the ridge and down to Steyning. After leading the first group through Steyning to the Airport it was nice to see Rebecca and have a quick chat whilst others raced on and queued for food. Excellent breakfast once again and needed the endless coffee top-ups. Wished I could have stayed for seconds on the breakfast but had a long way to go and 10 hours to complete it in.

Despite 10miles on the A281 it was a glorious and reasonably flat route to Windsor area before I faced a little bit of climbing over the Chilterns. No records set on the climbs out of Chalfont St Giles or Chesham but pleased that I cycled it all.

View attachment 355463

Andrew, you are LEGEND.

 

[StuAff]

Andrew, you are LEGEND.

+1. Chapeau!!

 

[Flying Dodo]

Audax rides earleir in the year menat this was to be my first FNRttC for this year and I was determined not to miss this one. Unfortunately delayed start for me and left home at 11pm facing 60kms into London. Riding through Tooting Bec on my own at 2am was a little unnerving, as was being overtaken by a car on Farthing Downs. Managed to catch the TEC just after the crossroads in Bletchingley and had a quick chat about how nice and warm it was. Shortly afterwards came across the group admiring the efforts of the jammed chain removal and offered to go on and let the markers and Adam know the cause of the delay.

For me the mid-ride stop point was a big improvement over the The Cabin, Faygate and glad the profits will go to a good cause. Pleasure to revisit Turners Hill and enjoyed the ride along the ridge and down to Steyning. After leading the first group through Steyning to the Airport it was nice to see Rebecca and have a quick chat whilst others raced on and queued for food. Excellent breakfast once again and needed the endless coffee top-ups. Wished I could have stayed for seconds on the breakfast but had a long way to go and 10 hours to complete it in.

Despite 10miles on the A281 it was a glorious and reasonably flat route to Windsor area before I faced a little bit of climbing over the Chilterns. No records set on the climbs out of Chalfont St Giles or Chesham but pleased that I cycled it all.

View attachment 355463

Well done!

Funnily enough, I had a similar feeling of nervousness on Tooting Bec when I did the recce. Is the place haunted? On Farthing Down, I had 2 cars go past me, which also made me nervous, although for different reasons. In Coulsdon, I'd had eggs thrown at me by a red car which had circled round to try and get me twice. Both times, they missed, and I had congratulated them for their lack of skills before I turned off for Farthing Down.

 

[srw]

Andrew, you are LEGEND.

Yes, although I probably got to Guildford (9am) and Amersham (4:30pm) quicker, and probably also in a much worse state...

@SandySnake - that is one seriously impressive ride. Do you mind me asking what route you took between Guildford and Amersham? It's a ride we're thinking of doing (without the other couple of hundred miles) this coming weekend.

 

[binsted]

Just found this forum and would like to say thanks to all concerned for the ride last night, superb organisation and a very friendly bunch for a first night ride. Breakfast was excellent and set me up nicely for the ride home.

Look forward to joining a few more of these rides.

@binstedman

 

[mmmmartin]

Managed to catch the TEC just after the crossroads in Bletchingley and had a quick chat about how nice and warm it was.

Aha. So that's who you are. As the All Upper you have a very good idea of who is at the back, and chat to them. So to see a quick rider emerge from behind and chat then speed off was a bit surprising. I thought you'd had an Elderly Gentleman's Relief Stop but broken one of The Rulz about leaving the bike where the TEC team can see it.
Good ride @SandySnake : I guess you entered it as a 300k DIY? I've always found the actual FNRttC means the rest of the DIY has to be done more quickly than I can manage, in order to get inside the time.

 

[mmmmartin]

a first night ride

OK @binstedman you and the other first timers will have an email asking what you thought of it. Glad you liked it. Not all FNRttC are as warm and not asll breakfasts are as nice, but everyone is just as friendly.

 

[SandySnake]

@SandySnake - that is one seriously impressive ride. Do you mind me asking what route you took between Guildford and Amersham? It's a ride we're thinking of doing (without the other couple of hundred miles) this coming weekend.

@srw Sent you a GPX file for the whole route

 

[Bollo]

As I get older I'm finding the aftermath of a night ride harder and harder to cope with. Can't seem to fall asleep during the Saturday even for a short restorative kip, then suddenly crash in the evening, then wide awake during Saturday night. The ones where long-distance travel is involved seem to be even worse, so it might be that I give those up for now.

I feel your pain. I've only ever done a couple of FNRttCs, and only @StuAff 's excellent IoW ride recently, but I always struggle with the day after. I'm prone to insomnia so anything that plays silly buggers with my routine has to be considered.

 

[SandySnake]

Good ride @SandySnake : I guess you entered it as a 300k DIY? I've always found the actual FNRttC means the rest of the DIY has to be done more quickly than I can manage, in order to get inside the time.

@mmmmartin Submitted the mandatory route earlier in the week but not heard anything back from Paul Stewart. Not surprised as he will have been busy finalising preps for is Ditchling Devil Audax today.

 

[srw]

Now that I've had a bit of time to process Friday night and Saturday morning, here are some thoughts.

Compared with other rides to

@srw Sent you a GPX file for the whole route

Thank you.

[edit]
Part of that wasn't ready to post....

 

[Flying Dodo]

Aha. So that's who you are. As the All Upper you have a very good idea of who is at the back, and chat to them. So to see a quick rider emerge from behind and chat then speed off was a bit surprising. I thought you'd had an Elderly Gentleman's Relief Stop but broken one of The Rulz about leaving the bike where the TEC team can see it.
Good ride @SandySnake : I guess you entered it as a 300k DIY? I've always found the actual FNRttC means the rest of the DIY has to be done more quickly than I can manage, in order to get inside the time.

Sorry - entirely my fault in not warning the back about a high speed incoming cyclist at some point during the ride, as Andrew had pre-warned me.