CharlieB
Junior Walker and the Allstars
- Location
- Therivermeadowatthepileofstones
England : Hampshire Night Ride Around The Coast - 14 March
- Thread starter StuAff
- Start date
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Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
It's almost a full moon. So you won't need so much lighting. However, on the down side, the night life in Portsmouth might be more rabid than normal, so be careful on the streets. Think Romford but without the sparkling wit and repartee.
JoeyB
Go on, tilt your head!
- Location
- Fareham, Hampshire
Pasta being cooked for dinner! Excited and nervous...
JoeyB
Go on, tilt your head!
- Location
- Fareham, Hampshire
Took the little'un down the beach park earlier, there is an island waiting for us out there somewhere...
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
Have a good ride everyone!!!
OP
OP
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Down to about six degrees, and a headwind for the southern coast. Didn't feel too bad on the way home. Fingers crossed, metaphorically....
redfalo
known as Olaf in real life
- Location
- Brexit Boomtown
OP
OP
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Oh yes, the delights of Gunwharf......
JoeyB
Go on, tilt your head!
- Location
- Fareham, Hampshire
redfalo
known as Olaf in real life
- Location
- Brexit Boomtown
What a great night out. I already fell in love with the IOW two years ago when Katharina and I spent a week there, and it was about time to top my affection up. Whilst I almost ended up in a train to cherished Bognor Regis ("Bugger, Bognor!"), I finally made it into the correct carriage, to meet @charlie b. We later enjoyed a late-night pizza at the waterfront in Pompey and then met up with our dear leader of the night, @StuAff, @BigGee @JoeyB and @HorTs. The welcome committee - @Eddie_C - was awaiting us on the island.
Ryde's night life is on a level playing field with Romfort but doesn't match Erith. We were greeted by an intoxinated teen, crossing the street while brandishing his willy and relieving himself. A target easy to miss, luckily even for @Eddie_C.
Starting a night ride without the nightmare that is called London traffic is always a treat. This time, we had no traffic at all, but stunning views of a moon-lit landscape that changed within a blink. Beaches, tree-hugged country lanes, sleeping villages... It felt like riding through a dream.
What a balmy night it was! Probably for the first time ever on a night ride, I voluntarily took off a layer.
The ride wasn't flat, but @StuAff and @Flying Dodo (who was dearly missed) proved masters of managing expectations. After rather scary news from the recce, I got really nervous, but the ride was absolutely doable. (Although I have to say I do feel my knees tonight)
Stuart's approach of leading from behind eventually brought us here.
This ride deserves to be repeated. As for the Friday's brand, I think deserves to be stripped off its "white lable" status. Downsides are lacking halfway stops and bail out points. Had it rained on the night, the whole endeavour would have been grim.
Kudos to @StuAff for coming up with the idea and realising it. Thanks to him and @Flying Dodo for a meticulous recce and to everyone on the ride for fantastic company.
Ryde's night life is on a level playing field with Romfort but doesn't match Erith. We were greeted by an intoxinated teen, crossing the street while brandishing his willy and relieving himself. A target easy to miss, luckily even for @Eddie_C.
Starting a night ride without the nightmare that is called London traffic is always a treat. This time, we had no traffic at all, but stunning views of a moon-lit landscape that changed within a blink. Beaches, tree-hugged country lanes, sleeping villages... It felt like riding through a dream.
What a balmy night it was! Probably for the first time ever on a night ride, I voluntarily took off a layer.
The ride wasn't flat, but @StuAff and @Flying Dodo (who was dearly missed) proved masters of managing expectations. After rather scary news from the recce, I got really nervous, but the ride was absolutely doable. (Although I have to say I do feel my knees tonight)
Stuart's approach of leading from behind eventually brought us here.
This ride deserves to be repeated. As for the Friday's brand, I think deserves to be stripped off its "white lable" status. Downsides are lacking halfway stops and bail out points. Had it rained on the night, the whole endeavour would have been grim.
Kudos to @StuAff for coming up with the idea and realising it. Thanks to him and @Flying Dodo for a meticulous recce and to everyone on the ride for fantastic company.
Last edited:
BigGee
Senior Member
- Location
- North East London
Well I am feeling back in the land of the living now after the excretions of Friday night. I stayed up all day yesterday, which I don't normally do, mainly to watch rugby and then fell into a coma at around 8. I slept very well though and don't feel to bad this morning, so maybe there is something in this method.
It was my first time to the IoW and getting there proved to be a bit of a trial, with landslips and revised timetables to deal with. I made it eventually though and meandered down to the ferry terminal to meet the others. One by one they arrived and we got onto the boat and off we went. 45 mins on the ferry and we the disembarked and caught up with our final member, Eddie in the car park. It was one o'clock by then and then body, not having done much for a few hours now was going into shut down mode. It took a few miles riding to start to reverse that process, helped by the burst of adrenaline caused by having to outrun the young man with his willie in hand who was trying to pee on us. I have never seen the like of that even in Romford or Brentwood! Fortunately it is not to difficult to out speed a man running along whilst grasping his manhood, which is probably not that easy to do and I imagine as well that most of the pee was probably going over himself!
This fortunately proved to be the last problem with the locals we had on the trip and everyone else we meet proved to be courteous and friendly, even if a little bemused as to why a group of cyclists were riding by in the middle of the night. We headed pretty much immediately for Tesco's to buy some stores and then it was off out of Ryde and onto the proper ride.
It is probably not a ride for the fully paid up members of the flat earth society as it does go up and down a fair amount. Roughly 1300m in 70 miles according to my GPS track. The hills are all very doable but other than the 10 miles down the military road on the south side of the Island are fairly relentless. In a bigger group it would have meant a very spread out ride and a lot of waiting around. I had imagined that there was more or less just one road around the perimeter of the Island and hence not much scope for going astray. Wrong assumption, along with the fact that there would be no troublesome drunks, as well! There were in fact several intricate changes of directions required and a few that we got wrong, one of which involved me having to ride up a big hill twice! The fact that you were flying past some of these turns at 30mph on a fast downhill stretch made them a little more challenging still.
It was however the quietest and most peaceful night ride I have ever done. We probably went for 3 hours without seeing a car in the middle of the night. It was also for march very mild and pleasant, which as Olaf said helped a lot as we would have been very exposed had the weather turned. The cycling gods were kind to us though both in weather and mechanical terms, no visitations either.
The highlight of the ride had to be seeing the needles at dawn, We were chasing the clock a bit at this stage and as it involved a detour and, unsurprisingly, another hill, I could probably have been persuaded to miss it. Stu took the call though and it proved to be a good one, which I was very glad I did not miss. At the end of the day you can't come to the IoW and not see the needles and dawn surely has got to be the best time to see it.
I would recommend the ride and would definitely do it again. I would probably suggest a later time of year though. I know that there are never guarantees with the weather but we do have to accept that we were a bit lucky. More than the weather though, it would have been good to see a bit more of the island scenery in the early morning light.
The other suggestion I would make would be to do the rendezvous on the Island at midnight and not at Portsmouth, so it could start and finish in Ryde. It just seemed a little bit harder to get going after a long journey at 1am rather than midnight. It would cut a few miles off the route as well and by finishing an hour earlier would also avoid that last hour of riding when the traffic had got back up and had become quite unpleasant. That last bit from Cowes back to Ryde along what by then had become a very busy road would also have been much harder to manage with a group any larger than ours.
The Weatherspoons in Ryde was a great place for breakfast though and I wish I had not been under pressure to get away and could have spent a bit longer chewing over the ride with my companions.
So thanks to Stuart for organising a great ride and to my companions for the night for their company. First night ride of of 2014 done and looking forward to the next.
Here is the route http://connect.garmin.com/activity/461387204
It was my first time to the IoW and getting there proved to be a bit of a trial, with landslips and revised timetables to deal with. I made it eventually though and meandered down to the ferry terminal to meet the others. One by one they arrived and we got onto the boat and off we went. 45 mins on the ferry and we the disembarked and caught up with our final member, Eddie in the car park. It was one o'clock by then and then body, not having done much for a few hours now was going into shut down mode. It took a few miles riding to start to reverse that process, helped by the burst of adrenaline caused by having to outrun the young man with his willie in hand who was trying to pee on us. I have never seen the like of that even in Romford or Brentwood! Fortunately it is not to difficult to out speed a man running along whilst grasping his manhood, which is probably not that easy to do and I imagine as well that most of the pee was probably going over himself!
This fortunately proved to be the last problem with the locals we had on the trip and everyone else we meet proved to be courteous and friendly, even if a little bemused as to why a group of cyclists were riding by in the middle of the night. We headed pretty much immediately for Tesco's to buy some stores and then it was off out of Ryde and onto the proper ride.
It is probably not a ride for the fully paid up members of the flat earth society as it does go up and down a fair amount. Roughly 1300m in 70 miles according to my GPS track. The hills are all very doable but other than the 10 miles down the military road on the south side of the Island are fairly relentless. In a bigger group it would have meant a very spread out ride and a lot of waiting around. I had imagined that there was more or less just one road around the perimeter of the Island and hence not much scope for going astray. Wrong assumption, along with the fact that there would be no troublesome drunks, as well! There were in fact several intricate changes of directions required and a few that we got wrong, one of which involved me having to ride up a big hill twice! The fact that you were flying past some of these turns at 30mph on a fast downhill stretch made them a little more challenging still.
It was however the quietest and most peaceful night ride I have ever done. We probably went for 3 hours without seeing a car in the middle of the night. It was also for march very mild and pleasant, which as Olaf said helped a lot as we would have been very exposed had the weather turned. The cycling gods were kind to us though both in weather and mechanical terms, no visitations either.
The highlight of the ride had to be seeing the needles at dawn, We were chasing the clock a bit at this stage and as it involved a detour and, unsurprisingly, another hill, I could probably have been persuaded to miss it. Stu took the call though and it proved to be a good one, which I was very glad I did not miss. At the end of the day you can't come to the IoW and not see the needles and dawn surely has got to be the best time to see it.
I would recommend the ride and would definitely do it again. I would probably suggest a later time of year though. I know that there are never guarantees with the weather but we do have to accept that we were a bit lucky. More than the weather though, it would have been good to see a bit more of the island scenery in the early morning light.
The other suggestion I would make would be to do the rendezvous on the Island at midnight and not at Portsmouth, so it could start and finish in Ryde. It just seemed a little bit harder to get going after a long journey at 1am rather than midnight. It would cut a few miles off the route as well and by finishing an hour earlier would also avoid that last hour of riding when the traffic had got back up and had become quite unpleasant. That last bit from Cowes back to Ryde along what by then had become a very busy road would also have been much harder to manage with a group any larger than ours.
The Weatherspoons in Ryde was a great place for breakfast though and I wish I had not been under pressure to get away and could have spent a bit longer chewing over the ride with my companions.
So thanks to Stuart for organising a great ride and to my companions for the night for their company. First night ride of of 2014 done and looking forward to the next.
Here is the route http://connect.garmin.com/activity/461387204
