The 2015 Night Ride thread

[srw]

[edit]
Register of rides....
(nothing guaranteed yet)


6th March - @redfalo and ⁠@ianrauk - London to Brighton
17th April - @Trickedem - London to Whitstable
2nd May - @swarm_catcher - Brussels to De Panne.
15th May - @StuAff - Round the Isle of Wight
Late June or early July - @dellzeqq - London to Whitstable
A time to be decided - @srw and @Fab Foodie - London to Oxford or Abingdon


Please contact the indicated user by PM if you want more details.

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The night-meister @dellzeqq is taking a break for at least some of next year, and a number of others are thinking of trying to fill in the gaps in the calendar. To avoid too much duplication, and clashes, this is your chance to declare your hands. I'll start.

I'm intending to do something from Central London to Oxford, via Buckinghamshire on roads which are much less hilly than the ones the Tour of Britain used. I've got an enthusiastic in-principle agreement from the local church to provide refreshments half-way, and @Fab Foodie is using his contacts to see if we can find somewhere good in Oxford for breakfast.

I've also had a couple of other ideas for non-coastal destinations, but so far nothing more than ideas that I think might have legs.

Anyone else? @AKA Bob @Flying Dodo @redfalo @theclaud

 

[ianrauk]

I am planning on running a Whitstable ride. and could also run a Southend.

 

[redfalo]

Brilliant idea to start such a discussion. I'm happy to do a London to Brighton ride or two next year, and/or a Dun Run lite (Hackney to Dunwich, but on a Friday night leaving at midnight).

I'm also aware that @ianrauk and @Trickedem are mulling a Whitstable one, while @StuAff wants to repeat the Night Ride around the Isle of Wight. I'm sure @Andrew Br can be talked into organising a Mancunian night ride. @mmmmartin may also be a candidate to lead another one. And maybe @sbird re-runs Reading to Lymington, as well as @swarm_catcher her fabulous Flemish night ride to the Kust from Brussles to Oostende?

As a starting point, it may be good to get an idea of the weekends closest to full moon between March and November 2015 (I used this website, let's hope it's accurate)

March 6th -- London to Brigthon night ride (led by redfalo and hopefully @ianrauk )
April 3rd (Easter Weekend)
May 1st
May 22nd - May 26th The Fridays Tour de Normandie 2015
June 5th
July 3rd (Dunwich Dynamo on July 4th)
July 31st
August 28th
Sept 25th
Oct 30th
Nov 27th

As I'm toying with the idea of doing BPB PBP, my diary will be pretty packed in May and June. I'll also be away over the Easter holidays. But I could lead a Brighton ride on March 6. Not sure about plans in 2nd part of the year at the moment.

 

[srw]

I'm embarrassed to say I forgot @mcshroom's forum name - he's got a cross-Britain ride running next weekend.

 

[dellzeqq]

As I'm toying with the idea of doing BPB, my diary will be pretty packed in May and June. I'll also be away over the Easter holidays. But I could lead a Brighton ride on March 6. Not sure about plans in 2nd part of the year at the moment.

Don't. You'll look silly.

 

[Andrew Br]

I'll be happy to repeat the Manchester-Morecambe ride or I could look for a better destination although I don't know where yet.

.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Don't. You'll look silly.

It's in aid of dislecksia ....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Is this too anal?

Divide the area around Londinium into 4 say:
M1 to Essex Estuary
Kent Estuary to the M23
M23 to M4
M4 to the M1

Have a group of peeps in each quadrant who have to organise 2 night rides per year in their quadrant. Divide-up the calender. Shouldn't be to onerous?
Also, reverse routes could be possible. Par example, Oxford to Londinium is a well trodden path these days ....







OK, it was a shoot idea wasn't it ....

 

[User10571]

The night-meister @dellzeqq is taking a break for at least some of next year, and a number of others are thinking of trying to fill in the gaps in the calendar. To avoid too much duplication, and clashes, this is your chance to declare your hands. I'll start.

Good call

 

[srw]

@Fab Foodie - a bit anal, but not silly - though I'd argue for voluntarism not compulsion in organising.

My impression is that the Oxford to London ride is (a) a bit hard-core in terms of hills, and (b) doesn't actually go to London, but stops about 10 miles short in Acton. I'm not keen on the to London direction, because it goes towards the traffickest bits of the country. If you must start in London (and it is an attractive start because it's easy to get to) it makes sense to get it out of the way in the middle of the night, when most sensible people are fast asleep.

 

[Fab Foodie]

@Fab Foodie - a bit anal, but not silly - though I'd argue for voluntarism not compulsion in organising.

My impression is that the Oxford to London ride is (a) a bit hard-core in terms of hills, and (b) doesn't actually go to London, but stops about 10 miles short in Acton. I'm not keen on the to London direction, because it goes towards the traffickest bits of the country. If you must start in London (and it is an attractive start because it's easy to get to) it makes sense to get it out of the way in the middle of the night, when most sensible people are fast asleep.

Sorry, just to clarify (I was rushing because the Butler had just hit the dinner gong ...).
Of course volunteers, compulsion would be silly.

In terms of Oxford to London specifically; there's no good reason why it has to stop in Acton, the final miles into say HPC or other are easy and with little traffic on a Saturday morn between 7 and 8 am..
Hill-wise, it really depends on the route taken (there are many variations). OK you have to get up over Chinnor or similar but other than that there are few hills of any note. Chinnor hill now has ToB fame to boot! If people can do L2B, then O2L is certainly no harder.

Anyhow, as you were.

 

[AKA Bob]

As @srw seems to have London to Oxford in hand happy to organise a London to Winchester adventure

 

[StuAff]

Should the lovely @swarm_catcher be doing the FNRttK, and I hope she does as it's an absolute corker, I should imagine that will be (as previous editions) on the first Saturday night in May- May 2 in 2015.

I am indeed planning to do another IOW loop- the suggestions about leaving it to May were good ones, we got lucky with the weather this year. I'll start a thread on it in the not-too-distant future to gauge interest. If possible, I'd prefer to run it anti-clockwise but that'll depend on getting a suitable refreshment stop, which will in turn depend on numbers.

London-Pompey has been done by small groups of (mostly) locals a couple of times, and if anyone fancied it I'd happily do another run. Bear in mind that it's rolling terrain with a few nasty climbs (the stretch either side of Haslemere is particularly 'welcome' with fifty-plus miles in your legs) and the halfway stop is Tesco in Guildford.....

 

[srw]

As @srw seems to have London to Oxford in hand happy to organise a London to Winchester adventure

Excellent idea. Friday night ride to the cathedrals? London to Ely is probably about the right distance. Reading to Bristol? Oxford to Coventry? MK to Peterborough?

 

[srw]

Should the lovely @swarm_catcher be doing the FNRttK, and I hope she does as it's an absolute corker, I should imagine that will be (as previous editions) on the first Saturday night in May- May 2 in 2015.

I am indeed planning to do another IOW loop- the suggestions about leaving it to May were good ones, we got lucky with the weather this year. I'll start a thread on it in the not-too-distant future to gauge interest. If possible, I'd prefer to run it anti-clockwise but that'll depend on getting a suitable refreshment stop, which will in turn depend on numbers.

London-Pompey has been done by small groups of (mostly) locals a couple of times, and if anyone fancied it I'd happily do another run. Bear in mind that it's rolling terrain with a few nasty climbs (the stretch either side of Haslemere is particularly 'welcome' with fifty-plus miles in your legs) and the halfway stop is Tesco in Guildford.....

Depending on numbers it needn't be Tesco if the halfway point is Guildford. I can certainly do half a dozen, probably squeeze in a dozen and half if they're friendly and may be able to rustle up someone to do something more somewhere in the area.