Not so long ago, this ride was shaping up to be huge! OK, maybe not, but for the first time the number who had expressed an interest was in double figures. Sadly, a few people had dropped out for various reasons by Friday night. Phil B who saw the post over the road didn't show, don't know why. And acts of Southern Railway took their toll again, causing
@Shadow's late withdrawal, &
@PaulRide made it only thanks to a sprint finish (I was under the impression that he was on a later train than he actually was, if he had been he'd have had no chance). Ho hum, small but perfectly formed the peloton was again. Am I downhearted? Am I going to give up on this ride? Am I ********! Far too much of a good time was had by all concerned. As I know I said about last year's edition, if you ummed and aahed then decided the sheer horror of having to travel two or more hours to get to the start is too much bother, well (as with all the Not From That London editions of Friday Night Rides, a gem every one of them), your loss. Those of us who have miles to go before we sleep, just to get to HPC, know it's worth the effort for those...This ride is (please forgive proprietorial enthusiasm) an absolute peach of a ride. If Southwold was the 'queen of rides', as the boss would have it, well, this is the Queen Victoria. We even go past her favourite holiday gaff. You will be amused! If you think you've done The Best Night Ride Ever and you haven't done this one, frankly you really need to sign up for next year and check your assessment. I'd still give the nod to the masterpiece that is the FNRttK, but this one has many, many charms of its own.
Unlike every other ride, I get a nice easy experience in prep and getting to the start for this one. Usual commute home, changing in my own bedroom (luxury!) and a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge before self and
@CharlieB (who stopped by to drop a weekend bag off, on account of doing the Norwich 100 on the Sunday) made our leisurely progress round to the ferry terminal, where we met up with
@Bollo (on a bike that proved rather more appropriate than he thought it would be, his rather lovely Canyon Aeroad) and David- who'd done Whitstable before. I wasn't expecting
@PaulRide, not knowing he'd been on an 8pm-ish train from the smoke and thinking he was further back up the line than he was. Then, a familiar face on a familiar bike pulled up to the front of the car queue just as the ship arrived. The Campagnolo Chorus of 'Paul' got his attention, and he had enough time to buy a ticket before we boarded. Phew! As on the night recce, Greggs was shut. Unlike that trip, I noticed the Costa on the next deck up was open (it used to be the other way round on night sailings). Which was nice. Bang on time into Fishbourne, where we were joined by
@Eddie_C who'd gone on the Southampton-East Cowes ferry and ridden round. I let The Traffic (Escort XR3i! We truly had gone back in time!) get out of the way before delivering the safety talk, which I deem essential on account of all the holes. Island Roads has actually done some resurfacing- some very recently indeed!- but there remain many, many, many (...) holes to be avoided. The first stretch saw a bit of an unscheduled detour prior to arriving at Tesco. What I've done in previous years, as the route crosses over itself, is have two files for the Garmin, to stop it getting all confused and deciding we're at the end when the end's sixty miles away. Forgot to load that first file up. So, we missed a turn and it took a little while before I realised we were off course, though it didn't add much in time or distance to put that right. Made Tesco by two or so, and it was ever so slightly disappointing that unusual retail habits were not much in evidence- no-one buying cat litter in the small hours this time. Provisions purchased and break taken, on we went. I didn't forget to load the GPX this time....
This first stretch (well, apart from the bit I messed up, obv...) was identical to the official, signposted, round-IOW route, but the next bit was my first alteration from it, as we went up to Seaview, for the, er, sea view. Which is very nice indeed. Then back on the official route for Bembridge. When we got there, self and David were trailing the other three a bit, and they missed the turn at Foreland Road (scene of the night recce chain link incident last year). Just a little mileage added before we caught them up. Looking at the track afterward, we could have actually continued the same way, but benefits of hindsight…
Back on course, we continued on towards Sandown, past Bembridge Airport. At Yaverland, we had paused for a quick break, when a police car stopped by. Had we seen a naked man? Not tonight, we hadn't. On to Sandown before joining the Sunshine Trail (bunny rabbits!), which remains a much better option than Cowleaze Hill for getting to Ventnor, where we rode over some absolutely brand new tarmac, so new the road was closed, which was nice. After the enforced (due to Undercliffe Drive's ongoing closure) detour through Whitwell, it was time for the steady grind up to Blackgang. David was suffering a bit by this stage, not being used to the distance/climbing/time of day combo, but he made it up just fine. No-one overshot the car park this time, and in first light the view was fantastic, even with the heavy cloud (will post photos later). Refreshed, it was time for the Military Road, and I rapidly fell off the back of the group as the headwind impeded my progress, even at 17 mph average. Paul M came back to keep me company and the others waited for a bit. No harm done, no turnings to get missed. Compton Bay public toilets for another break and handy water tap for those who needed bottles refilled, before the climb up towards Freshwater Bay. At the summit, it was agreed that the cloud made the Needles diversion unnecessary (David was the only one who hadn't seen them and the extra effort of getting there and back on course wouldn't have been worthwhile), so after the long fast descent into Freshwater Bay, we turned north. Another unscheduled detour (left instead of right) saw us head back towards the Needles for a bit (not sure what happened there) but that was thankfully the last of those. Back round to Yarmouth without issues, and more of these strange things known to us mainlanders as Decent Roads (whatever Island Roads have been on, may they keep taking it) and then on to West Cowes for the chain ferry. Shocking price increase- now £1 for a bike since June 1 (40p before)! Very odd loud fellow customer going on about…something…not sure what, he didn't seem to be either. We kept our distance and rapidly made our escape when the crossing was complete.
The last stretch was pleasant enough, and David's fatigue held off enough to keep him going comfortably. Charlie again did the walk of no shame on the climb that defeated him last year. Unsurprisingly, we were in no danger of being back in Ryde at the same time as my recce, let alone before Wetherspoons opened, but we were parked up and sat down by half-eight or so. Thousands of well-deserved calories later, Eddie went off to complete his monthly century, and the rest of us went for the 10.10 catamaran. We were all good boys and stuck to the 10 mph speed limit on Ryde Pier (which does apply to cyclists), but we were close-passed by an idiot woman at 20 mph. Hopefully she'll get the deserved fine in the post....
Back at Portsmouth Harbour, David found his advance ticket for a service a couple of hours hence would cost an arm and a leg to change, and settled for killing time at Gunwharf Quays (I think).
@Bollo had no such bother getting to Winchester,
@PaulRide was again a victim of Southern Railways as his train terminating at Victoria became a train terminating at Gatwick Airport- he decided to take it anyway. Charlie popped back with me for his bag, before he headed off to kill time before his train trip to Norwich, and I did a shortish loop to another, mainland, Fishbourne and back to complete my century. 103 miles done since 1am, back about 2.30, more than ready for a nap.
Will post photos later.
Thanks to m'learned friends for joining me. As for the rest of you, this ride will return in 2017. Don't kick yourself about missing this one, just sign up for that one!