FNRttC to Brighton 13th May 2011

[Aperitif]

Likewise. The annoying thing is that I saw you at the start but it didn't register that I would need to take the opportunity to speak to you then.

You saw me at the finish and the same thing applied.

 

[ttcycle]

Nevermind next time- I was only there for a fleeting moment so it wasn't the most sociable of rides!

I couldn't help it - despite knowing better and knowing really that I should take it easy and ride slowly and not over do it there was a big section in Tooting that I sprinted down - I miss doing that - just don't have the endurance to do it as well or as long as I used to! There was a cyclist following me on that stretch of the legs- anyone on here out of interest?

One thing that surprises me about each FNRttC is the very lovely pace at the ease and whim of riding in such a large peleton..hanging on a wheel or freewheeling for metres at a time really is enjoyable and prevents me from haring off at a mad pace which I find quite hard to resist. If it wasn't for the hills in conjunction with the longer ride distance I would have stuck it out and enjoyed the social side for the rest of it.


Remember talking to BalkanExpress and Ian from Northampton at HPC before kick off- sounds like they both had a great one. Nice to catch up with you too Ant. I also remember the drunken man in a suit with a kebab in hand waving us on at the corner when a few of us where stopped at the traffic lights...he was well into the idea of a race!

 

[ttcycle]

You saw me at the finish and the same thing applied.

easily done and understandably done

 

[Aperitif]

I still think the Barclays Bikes idea would be great fun!

There would be a variable interest regarding this, I'm sure. Team GB riding the 'Olympic Course' or part of, might be sort of ok. TfL and/or Barclays would have to play ball though... would be a good Martlets fundraising blast.

"Barclays Bank donates £10,000 to The Marlets Hospice as a thank you for some of their '1000 person ride' doing the whole 58? miles from Londres to Bright on Barclays Bikes, with no-one to keep them in cheque"

 

[marinyork]

Well there were 130 or somewhere round there of us. I didn't see rich p for hours on end, or sittingduck, or many other people. With so many people around it's really hard to tell people apart as there are multiple clones of everyone except teef, simon, tc and susie.

 

[TimO]

Cadence: I don't get out much....err by which I mean with other people and on the bike. I have always ridden a high gear and ground my way along. It was a real education to see the speed that some were spinning at on the flat. I dropped to the middle ring and span along too, a revelation and the way I shall always ride: except down Lonesome Lane .. or the rolling road between Turners hill and the Beacon,.... or down the Beacon or…oh well too late to change now.

It's a good idea to use a relatively high cadence. Pedalling slowly, but with a relatively high force can bugger up your knees. It's generally a good idea to drop to a gear which lets you twiddle a bit faster, it's less likely to cause damage.

 

[iLB]

I was just tickled by your characterisation of what are usually considered the most indisputably joyous bits of the ride. Even with his handicap on this ride, I'm flattered to be giving iLB a tow, but Lonesome Lane was made particularly magical because there was a low bright light (Andy A's?) behind him, which projected a furiously-pedalling, dementedly wiggling, preposterously towering silhouette as it swung round every bend. Like being chased by a strangely graceful comic-book monster.

I remember thinking that shadow was pretty sick, a rare advantage over those on less sensible bikes, and I'm always happy to be called graceful on a bicycle

hoping it will have been captured in some form on the bent cam

 

[BalkanExpress]

It's a good idea to use a relatively high cadence. Pedalling slowly, but with a relatively high force can bugger up your knees. It's generally a good idea to drop to a gear which lets you twiddle a bit faster, it's less likely to cause damage.

My problem is that I'm, in cycling terms, a child of the 80's with all that entails: Robert Millar fixation, knowing that Fagor made washing machines and that racing blocks were cool. My road bike had a 42x21 bottom gear and as result spinning at speed is not natural for me. I guess that, like eating my greens, I should accept it's good for me and get on with it.

 

[Tim Hall]

a Mad Max bus playing jungle and full of scantily clad dancers, check,

My encounter went something like this:

Eyes reporting: we detect several parked cars on the nearside of the road.

Brain: OK you'll have to steer a bit to the right.

Ears: We're hearing a loud diesel engine, likely to be a bus, approaching from behind.

Brain: It's OK, we've got room.

Ears: Wait, we're also picking up loud music, must be from a car, approaching very close from behind.

Brain: shoot. That's three of us, all trying for the same bit of 3D space. Prepare escape plan.

Eyes: Relax, it's just a Mad Max bus playing jungle and full of scantily clad dancers. No car. Do not panic.




All done in about half a second.

 

[Aperitif]

A ride in that bus is on my list of 'to dos' I like that sort of thing. Maybe we could hire one to ride alongside for the whole route onetime?

 

[srw]

What you don't even dread the sight of this horror? It's enough to cure the most fervent bungalolagist of their bizarre love.

That's not a bungalow. A bungalow is a rectangle with a triangle on top. That's a bunga-bunga-low. The pickup belongs to an Italian weathergirl-turned MP.

 

[theclaud]

That's not a bungalow. A bungalow is a rectangle with a triangle on top. That's a bunga-bunga-low.

You'll be pleased to hear there's a DZ coinage for just this kind of situation! The word is "bungaloid". And rumour has it that there'll be a prize on the Welsh ride for the first person to shout "byngalo!"

 

[Dan B]

You'll be pleased to hear there's a DZ coinage for just this kind of situation! The word is "bungaloid". And rumour has it that there'll be a prize on the Welsh ride for the first person to shout "byngalo!"

I'm waiting for the route which takes us past a bungalow with a dairy attached, just so I can shout "cowabungalow"

 

[Aperitif]

There's no such thing as a Welsh bungalow, as they all have Evans above.

 

[Tim Hall]

You'll be pleased to hear there's a DZ coinage for just this kind of situation! The word is "bungaloid".

Up to a point, Lord Copper. My fading memory branes tell me it was around long a go. Mr Wiki's Big Book of Facts, Trivia and Half Truths concurs:

Bungalows became popular in the United Kingdom between the Wars, and very large numbers were built, particularly in coastal resorts, giving rise to the pejorative adjective, "bungaloid", first found in the Daily Express from 1927: "Hideous allotments and bungaloid growth make the approaches to any city repulsive"

Of course it could be that DZ is somewhat older than he looks and had a job as a hack working for Lord Beaverbrook some years ago.