redfalo
known as Olaf in real life
- Location
- Brexit Boomtown
The 2015 Night Ride thread
- Thread starter srw
- Start date
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Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
I have a route which only involves 8 roundabouts...................
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
You did well there then!
The FNRttC is a particular thing. For me, and for many others, it is, was or has been a special - even life-changing - thing. There's a magic in the idea that is lost when any of its indispensable elements are dispensed with. The Coast element is an indispensable one - there's something joyous about the flight from the city to the seaside at midnight, at the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend. This is one of the reasons I've never been tempted by the SMRbtH, and presumably the reason DZ gave in to the idea that the Welsh ride should travel East to West, against the - ahem - prevailing wind. While there's doubtless much to be said for riding from Reading to Salisbury, or Oxford to Cambridge, I'm not sure it isn't something entirely different to a FNRttC, and better done in the daytime. Having just enjoyed my first non-Fridays-led night ride to the coast, I will certainly be interested if there are other rides to join, and might even offer to run one or two at some point, but I don't think there's any need to try and squeeze other rides into the same model in order to replicate the FNRttC schedule. I would favour a more ad-hoc approach than a programme of rides that doesn't have a story or an idea to it.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
You'd like my nocturnal IOW loop. Not one but two urban exits (one by ferry, admittedly). Not just to the coast, it's pretty much all coastal. Quieter than a very quiet thing. All the climbing is positively Welsh.
You are Leonard Euhler AICM Seven Bridges.
I've always assumed that all the talk about the hilliness of the IOW is just soft southerners making a big fuss.
You'll be able to re-assess your position on it after I've invented the Friday Night Ride from Swansea to Aberystwyth.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Nope. According to Strava's elevation figures, the Newport ride last year came to 6,928 ft over 103 miles. The group IOW ride was 4,598 ft in 70.2 miles. Nothing really big, but all manner of other climbing and it never really settles.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Just had a look with Bikehike (OSM cycle routing). The route it came up with: 75 miles, 7,500 ft of climbing, three sections over 20% and an awful lot of other very nasty gradients. Yup, you've won that argument.....
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Feel free to do a test ride on my behalf......
OP
OP
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
Other stories exist.
The dream of the spires. The search for the concrete cows. The celebration of the country lane. The joy comes from the fugue state in which the story is experienced, not necessarily for the destination. Or, to put it another way, it's less about the getting there than about the geting there.
Siclo
Veteran
I have an interest in this please, I'm sure you can guess which date.
Disclaimer: No obligations
redfalo
known as Olaf in real life
- Location
- Brexit Boomtown
I have to say I disagree on several points. For my part, I don't really care about the coast, and my feeling is it rarely gets a lot of attention by most riders. I also neither need a "story" nor an "idea". Riding through the night with very nice people is good enough for me. Without @dellzeqq, I would never have realized how enjoyable night riding is and I would have never met an amazing number of amazingly nice people, some of whom I nowadays consider good friends.
I don't think the idea of this thread it to "try and squeeze other rides into the same model in order to replicate the FNRttC schedule". I feel there is a general consensus that no night ride on any Friday night to any effing coast will ever be a "Friday Night Ride to the Coast", unless it is led by DZ. Most of the 2015 night rides will be more of an ad-hoc thing, probably lacking a civilised half-way stop as well as meticulous night recces, and I think they will also lack a "story" other than "let's get on our bikes at midnight".
There is some merits in Adrian's idea to just do them without any fuss about a club and insurance issues. As I have pointed out earlier in this thread, the fundamental problem with such kind of stuff is that at least I would be very hesitant to announce such kind of rides in a public forum because some routes - in particular London to Brighton - seem to be in high demand with non-regular Friday's members. I would not feel confident to lead a night ride with 30 or 50 people, many of them potentially lacking insurance and even a name. This year has sadly shown that tragic things can happen on a night ride, and you have to know who is on the ride.
I think it would be nice to keep at least some rides open for non-regulars. (Actually, for me, the inclusiveness of the FNRttCs rather than the coast or the story is really indispensable.
Another advantage of having a schedule of rides is that it makes planning easier for people who want to come on the ride. I'm not really sure what you have in mind when you suggest an "ad-hoc approach", but setting a date for a ride 2 or 3 months in advance, sticking to the date and trying not to have competing rides on identical dates is crucial, from my point of view.
