FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Southend on Sea 7th November

[Aperitif]

How very Freudian of you...

What to expect from a Freuday Night Ride? Jung at heart, our Olaf.

 

[SaLQ83]

Sahar and Georgios - Woohoo!!!

Thanks @wanda2010 you're missed too

 

[Agent Hilda]

It's a Doozy of a ride

You will love it

You won't get Brixton on Halloween though
or a pissed up, skeleton dressed, fixied, young man hitting your back wheel
or Simon using the C word, as in 'are you a c***?'
or mad arsed drivers with face paint on
or women in trouble on Tooley Street
or Dogs As Weapons
or snoggers on a wall
or Essex in Silence
or No Moon

You may or may not get Orion's Belt and The Plough, A Space Station, a blue black sky, a pocket of chilly night air, a spooky lane and a quiet ride along the cinder path with the lapping waves, the cry of seabirds and the whiff of a joint from the bus shelter.

Here is a photo to wet your appetites.

Love and kisses

Agent H

 

[Agent Hilda]

PS Didn't Louise look sweet on her Brompton this morning? What a doll!

 

[hatler]

To save me wading through the whole thread, can someone please summarise for me what the rough itinerary is once we have arrived in Sarfend. (Though note that this is probably of no more than academic interest for me - domestic matters are generally pressing on a Saturday.)

Many thanks.

 

[hatler]

All being well, breakfast from 07:00 onward. Trains, loads per hour and take loads of bikes without a murmer, from Southend to Fenchurch St. Best ones just under an hour. Ones that go round the loop a bit longer. Beer TBA in London. After that, I could not begin to guess.
Other variations involving riding back, not drinking beer, etc are available.

Perfect. Thanks.

 

[martint235]

All being well, breakfast from 07:00 onward. Trains, loads per hour and take loads of bikes without a murmer, from Southend to Fenchurch St. Best ones just under an hour. Ones that go round the loop a bit longer. Beer TBA in London. After that, I could not begin to guess.
Other variations involving riding back, not drinking beer, etc are available.

So to ride back (pros more exercise and home in time for the rugby) or train and go to pub (pros less exercise cons may miss rugby and will almost certainly get in trouble)?

 

[subaqua]

I will be riding back to NE London (Woodford Green) after the ride, usually go via Wickford, Billericay, Brentwood, Chigwell and Woodford Bridge, its a much nicer ride than the A13!. Its around 40 miles to my house and another 8 or so onto LMNH, if that is where you will be heading afterwards. I need to do this one as my November century.

I will be leaving right after breakfast and glad of the company if anyone wants to join me.

This would be my route back into the city. Only a brief patch of it on the A13 until Benfleet. http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=isejzyvkjrylembw

I may well , depending on how my legs are screaming.

 

[subaqua]

So to ride back (pros more exercise and home in time for the rugby) or train and go to pub (pros less exercise cons may miss rugby and will almost certainly get in trouble)?

MTFU and get in trouble . I aim for pub either by leg or by train

 

[martint235]

MTFU and get in trouble . I aim for pub either by leg or by train

But it's also the first of the Autumn Tests with the All Blacks in town. The trouble is more likely to occur when trying to cycle 12 miles home from the pub after several beers.

 

[martint235]

Catch a train then.

There are unfortunately gaps in the train coverage which will involve cycling.

 

[Aperitif]

The final countdown...5
Agent Hilda - a thunderous bird if ever there was one, has put in an appearance, which can only serve to reassure.

She's been a regular cover girl during the 'years of interest' ie: after realising that incey winceyette pyjamas weren't as comfortable as lycra, particularly when it came to drinking early on a Saturday morning. Why not whirr your slurds with an audience after taking exercise all night?
"Riding back is boring shoot, dahlings - let us have a drink instead."
(I used to offer my hip flask in the old days, but even that wouldn't be hip enough - or full enough - these days, I expect.)
Anyway, I digress, as this is supposed to be a celebration of food, following on from the breakfast and alternative breakfast mentions posted earlier.
Looking back through some online remnants, it is easy to see how vital food is for the Friday Night Riders. But where to start?
Hmmm...let me see.

A breakfast, bright'n early.

Same breakfast - different view.

There are affronted breakfasts in abundance - for the has beans...(Felpham)
And, positively happy breakfasts (Cleethorpes)

Cleethorpes actually was a delight for the friend of fried potato

There was the Republican breakfast

Olaf was also subjected to the 'shared' breakfast - although he never invited the seagull to share (pic please Tim, ta)
The Republican Ride was always going to be the 'elephant in the room'

or, in this case, 'the elephant on the vroom' but all participants survived.
And, Southend. Well, it was one end of a sausage, South or North..

All food consumed was responsibly sauced...
There were even ice creams...

Becs carried hers well - they could have suffered under the Felpham sun.

I'll not post another picture of Simon '99', but have you got any food for thought to welcome Friday night's impending ride?

 

[srw]

Right. Beer. And prosecco. The Crosse Keys aren't interested, so the options are:

LMNH. Painful if you're not sub-30, bearded (in spirit at least) and with an attitude. Also small.

Assorted Alls Bar One, including Houndsditch with large windows and Appold Street with a large pavement. Open from 9am. No brown beer but okayish yellow and okay wine.

Hamilton Hall Wetherspoons at Liverpool Street, on Bishopsgate. Has an outside fenced-off area for parking and/or drinking. Open from 7am. It's a Spoons.

My suggestion would be an All Bar One if we can isolate one with the right parking, or else the Spoons. I should be able to do an All Bar Crawl One tomorrow or Weds.

The other issue we'll have to deal with is thousands of Daily Mail readers going to the Tower to ritually curse the Guardian for damning their beautiful but ukippy poppy field.

 

[User10571]

Has anyone suggested All Bar One, Shad Thames?

I would've thought that was the most obvs - given that it has FNRttC form........
Edit - Opens at 09:00am.
Edit 2 - I seem to remember that the last time I was there I may've been ver' ver' drunk.

 

[Wobblers]

So to ride back (pros more exercise and home in time for the rugby) or train and go to pub (pros less exercise cons may miss rugby and will almost certainly get in trouble)?

Oh FFS, do you really have to ask?