FNRttC - new London startpoint?
- Thread starter dellzeqq
- Start date
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I think the main issue with HPC is more that it's a very boring place to hang around if you get there early, but if the setting off is a problem I would be more than happy (having done it many many times for the skates that start in the same place) to add my body/bike to the roadblock. On skates we usually allow one blocker for each traffic lane, and almost never have trouble wth anything fatter than a moped trying to break through.
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
Read the first post - it sometimes helps.
It might be an idea to forget all the searching for an ideal place and get real, with a decamp to the destination and a Night Ride to London, arriving at suitable points along the way. Much cheaper, more convenient and less crowded on arrival, also giving countryfolk a soupcon of what London in daylight is like!
And we could start from other locations...Colne General Hospital immediately springs to mind.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
Apart from the fact it doesn't have one (in fact the nearest A&E is now in Blackburn) why Colne General?
caimg
Über Member
Thanks for the sarcasm Aperitif, funnily enough I had done that but the first post doesn't really specify apart from talking about potential meeting places...was just asking what for?
I have no idea what the acronym in the thread title stands for! Is it for the Night Rider event in June?
I have no idea what the acronym in the thread title stands for! Is it for the Night Rider event in June?
Take a look at the sticky post immediately above this one. "FNRttC: About / Ride Registration". That'll explain all.
caimg
Über Member
CharlieB
Junior Walker and the Allstars
- Location
- Therivermeadowatthepileofstones
I'm almost with that. It would normally offer easy access to The Mall, but for the status quo of closures.
Did anyone suggest St. Paul's? I'm too darned lazy to backtrack 8pp of posts.
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
Yes, several times, Charlie.
Not sarcasm 'caimg' - but I might have expected your query to be"What does FNRttC mean?" or something along those lines. I hope you are now fully informed and will join in soon, perhaps.
Re the HPC issues:
"Boring if you arrive early": Well don't arrive early. There is a party going on half a mile down the road at Platform 12 Victoria Station. A great venue as its served by the Circle Line which takes bikes and:
* Makes it easy for new members arriving at all London's mainlines stations serving the West, North and East to meet up with only the need for a tube map
* If its wet you keep dry and warm
* Its bright so the early roll call is easy plus last minute technicals and you won't get dropped before HPC
* The last minute dash to HPC is kinda interesting and the company makes it easier
As for the start: It's FNRttC's version of Le Man's dash. That's the point it forces people together and gets 'em moving fast. Any other venue is more likely to start with a dribble. But I agree it isn't fun for Del. For those of us too incompetent to be TECs could at least volunteer for Kamikase duty.
"Boring if you arrive early": Well don't arrive early. There is a party going on half a mile down the road at Platform 12 Victoria Station. A great venue as its served by the Circle Line which takes bikes and:
* Makes it easy for new members arriving at all London's mainlines stations serving the West, North and East to meet up with only the need for a tube map
* If its wet you keep dry and warm
* Its bright so the early roll call is easy plus last minute technicals and you won't get dropped before HPC
* The last minute dash to HPC is kinda interesting and the company makes it easier
As for the start: It's FNRttC's version of Le Man's dash. That's the point it forces people together and gets 'em moving fast. Any other venue is more likely to start with a dribble. But I agree it isn't fun for Del. For those of us too incompetent to be TECs could at least volunteer for Kamikase duty.
no - that starts at the Ally Pally, which is a thoroughly dumbass place to start a ride to Brighton
ah-ha. Very clever!
Maybe I'm just suffering some kind of menopausal ennui, but, speaking personally, HPC was more fun when we were a band of bicycling desperados heading off in to the unknown, although I accept that for a few people each month, we are heading off in to the unknown.
There is no doubt that HBC has 'iconicity'. For the eastward rides it has the tremendous advantage of a straight line for the first few hundred yards. And, again, for the eastward rides again it's easy to marshal down to the river, and, once at the river, all is well - indeed, given the view, all is wonderful. For the southward rides it's handily placed - Sloane Square is better placed, but Sloane Square is crowded and more difficult for the northern and eastern crew to get to.
Truth to tell I'm feeling a little abashed. I hadn't realised that people liked HPC quite as much as they do.
This is what I've decided. It will be the NFT for one month only. Hopefully this will teach me a lesson, and we'll revert to HPC. But, if only for one month, I would dearly like to try something different. Indulge me, please.
I'm going to send an e-mail to all the people registered for the Whitstable ride, and require an answer from each of them. Anybody who doesn't answer will get a phone call....
Right, having sorted that out, I'll turn to the late LonJoG cancellation. Pass the surface to cyclist missiles.....
.
AKA Bob
Riding a folding bike far too much of the time...
- Location
- Reading upon Thames
Not wanting to be on the end of one of Simon's missiles!!
What about thinking outside the box and starting at the coast and heading to London especially Southend? Tully family will still be visited and would allow more 'Slag' drinking time at LMNHs!!!!!!!!!
What about thinking outside the box and starting at the coast and heading to London especially Southend? Tully family will still be visited and would allow more 'Slag' drinking time at LMNHs!!!!!!!!!
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
Unfortunately it wouldn't as LMNH have this weird idea of no beer before 11am. Boo Hiss!
Mice
Guru
.
Not sure what this means it just made me laugh out loud when I read it! (I'm slow!)
I'm sorry you have HPC ennui DZ - I hope it passes. And if it doesn't then whatever venue you pick will have us all bounding down to it before you can say "Bollard" . The FNRttCs are awesome to the rest of us who don't have a jot of admin to do, can turn up in time for the Safety Talk, to then laugh all the way to the Coast, in a smug "we can relax and enjoy the ride cos we're in good hands, this is an FNRttC" sort of way.
I did wonder if it would make any difference if we left HPC from the north west bit as it's not two sets of traffic lights next to each other; then I thought maybe if we left in three groups with a TEC at the front of each; then I started googling spaces of off road where we could regroup - Google maps is summat else, I found the bottom of Northampton Row and could imagine you doing the Safety Talk from Hungerford Bridge (or on the stairs); then I thought Pudding Lane (impossible to get to) then I thought Waterloo Station (it has rain cover up by the taxi rank/bus drop off bit) then I wondered what your recce list included that led you to HPC in the first place,
then, eventually I realised that there were far more competent FNRttCers and Cycling Commuters who would have a much better idea than me, the greatest one of course being you. So really, as long as you're happy, I don't give a monkeys where it starts (as long as I know where it starts!) 
Mice
