FNRttC FNRttC 30th October to Whitstable 2009

[Speicher]

Keep singing that song "Back on the Road Again", then if you get cold, you will still have Canned Heat.

Have a safe ride everyone!

(a smidgeon tricky to play the harmonica while cycling tho)

 

[Aperitif]

Keep singing that song "Back on the Road Again", then if you get cold, you will still have Canned Heat.

Have a safe ride everyone!

It's 'early doors' yet Speicher - but thank you.

 

[Tim Hall]

It does seem that you are now seriously lacking in the Tims department though, nary a one to be seen.

Ahem.

<Polite cough>

I'll be there. Just putting my shoes on.

 

[TimO]

I'll be there. Just putting my shoes on.

How odd. I did a search for Tim and got no hits originally, unless you're a sneaky last minute emergency backup Tim?

 

[Aperitif]

We are riding fast to London! Alan, mikee, MacBETH, Paul, Claudine et moi...supervising! Hello all.


,

 

[arallsopp]

Ianrauk and Arallsopp say 'araralagula'.

Mines another beer, and he'll have a babycham!

 

[Flying Dodo]

Glass to right of them,
Nails to left of them,
Metal in front of them
Punctured and torn;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Puncture Hell
Rode the forty two.



(with apologies to Lord Tennyson)

 

[Andrij]

Glass to right of them,
Nails to left of them,
Metal in front of them
Punctured and torn;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death
Into the mouth of Puncture Hell
Rode the forty two.

(with apologies to Lord Tennyson)

So am I safe in assuming it was an "interesting" ride?

 

[Flying Dodo]

Oh yes. I think it was 7 punctures before Rochester - which we only got to, around 4.15 am. It's possible the final tally may never be known, but it might be 12.

Adrian got 3.

The main problem was the wet roads leaving London. It made it hard for people to spot glass, although there were at least 2 nails as well.

I was sat at the back and several times we'd stop for someone who had a flat, get it fixed and set off and find just around the corner someone else pumping away. That reminds me, I've missed another bit for the poem, as I could have put something in about empty gas cylinders, as both Simon and Martin went through quite a number. I've never seen them close-up before but they're a handy item.

On the plus side, we didn't get any egg throwers, and got lots of positive comments from car drivers. We even saw Michael Jackson - which was a big Thrill-er,although you could tell he was dead.

I think some of the riders were waiting for the cafe to start serving booze at 10, so they may not be back yet.

There'll be some very good pictures posted by the usual photographers, later on.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think this is what they call a curate's egg. We did have 12 punctures - seven shared between three riders, and two of them caused by nails...

but Teef, the PunCtureMeister was immense. Whipping tyres off and replacing them with such speed and precision that I'm having to fight off transfer requests from McLaren. So, all in all, given the TEC catch-up routine, the punctures cost us about half an hour.

We did travel a little slower than I'd anticipated, but this wasn't a problem - and, given that we were on wet roads but saw no rain until the tail end was ten minutes from the Waterfront, it might be that our relaxed pace steered us between or behind the showers. And it was spookily warm. More May than late October.

You'll have to see the pictures of Aralsopp's extraordinary halloween recumbent - an extraordinary concoction - but congratulations to him and to the youngest person ever to complete a Friday Night Ride to the Coast, Eleanor aged 14.

This wasn't the toughest ride of the year, and it wasn't the smoothest, but we wandered along, chatting, enjoying each other's company and the night. Great stuff.

 

[Aperitif]

Yes. Very well done Eleanor - a big achievement...just make sure you have cleaned the bike and are up with the larks for the preparation of tea etc - as thanks for wonderful parenting!

 

[dellzeqq]

that's an interesting one, isn't it? Charles may have to pay reparations for years to come, or, on the other hand, Eleanor may think 'my dad's a bit of loon, but he knows how to enjoy himself, and that was fun'.

Given her smile as she said goodbye I reckon Charles has just about got away with this one.......

 

[dellzeqq]

oh - another highlight. Ian's leggings. He towed me back to the group somewhere near Chalk, and those leggings are seriously bright.

And thankyou Stuart for the lift home. How you drove with such precision after a night on the road is beyond me. And thankyou Will for breakfast.

 

[Aperitif]

Here's a picture of the walnutmeister pre - his training camp with the New England Patriots.

Witness the transformation from last week, after an intensive guzzle of the medicine cabinet,,, workout or two...

Hot bod! No wonder he was not available for this ride...

 

[StuAff]

I somehow contrived to be one of the first into Whitstable. Missed the rain by a couple of minutes, which was nice...Must have been the bike. The Jetstream isn't exactly slow, but I reckon the Viner is about 10-15% quicker, an absolute joy to ride, and I've got the knack of climbing on it now, all those annoying little climbs weren't too much trouble. I was speedy enough on the run into town to get drafted by Ian & Claud. My muscles ached a bit, but in a nice working-hard way...! Wayfinding was again great fun- the TECs were clearly keen to get a move on, fortunately I could keep up!
Notwithstanding the delay to the train, made the faster service from Waterloo with time to spare.
+1 for the splendid efforts of Andy (spooktacular!) & young Eleanor.
Sterling efforts from Andy's & The Waterfront again. And the company was, of course, as delightful as ever. I think I'll pass on November, though I said that of this one.....
Oh yes, and to cap the day, Pompey won