FNRttC - new London startpoint?

[mmmmartin]

HPC for me. It ain't broke........

 

[User10571]

HPC for me. It ain't broke........

Despite my earlier suggestions, mmmmmartin (and others) seem to have it right.
HPC works on so many levels.

 

[StuAff]

HPC for preference, still. As (usually) I'm the one coming from furthest south of the river, I certainly wouldn't mind somewhere nearer Waterloo, and anything that avoids navigating the lunacy of the HPC roundabout is a good thing. But, as a start point, HPC just works. Plenty of room. No numpty pedestrians getting in the way. And, as our leader is so fond of a ride 'story', there are few places with a better start.

That said, might I suggest for Whitstable we give the South Bank a dry run? I've just had a look at the road closures around Buck House & my usual route to the Arch (and our normal route east, of course) is thoroughly SNAFUd.

 

[style over speed]

I like HPC, but otherwise would vote for trafalgar square

 

[srw]

I have to admit that I don't much like HPC. It's a gloomy, windswept place on a hair-raising traffic roundabout. It's not London. London at night is a place of streetlights, hustle and bustle, warmth and humanity, buildings and intrigue. HPC is dark, quiet, on a back route between places. It's got too many reminders of vainglorious empire militarism, too much dodgy public art, not enough buildings. It's cold, it's wet, it's windy.

I don't say that purely because I seem to act as an angel of doom on these rides...
(So far I've experienced the last appearance of Planet Sweet; Junecember atop Ditchling on the 2011 genteel ride; Brighton in the ice in october, and User482's tumble near Emsworth after floods in Sutton)

 

[StuAff]

I have to admit that I don't much like HPC. It's a gloomy, windswept place on a hair-raising traffic roundabout. It's not London. London at night is a place of streetlights, hustle and bustle, warmth and humanity, buildings and intrigue. HPC is dark, quiet, on a back route between places. It's got too many reminders of vainglorious empire militarism, too much dodgy public art, not enough buildings. It's cold, it's wet, it's windy.

I don't say that purely because I seem to act as an angel of doom on these rides...
(So far I've experienced the last appearance of Planet Sweet; Junecember atop Ditchling on the 2011 genteel ride; Brighton in the ice in october, and User482's tumble near Emsworth after floods in Sutton)

London's warmth and humanity is frequently not evident on a Friday night, AFAIK.
And you're not an angel of doom.....

 

[srw]

I'd invite you to pop up to the City. London's warmth and humanity is very evident on a Friday night...

 

[theclaud]

I have to admit that I don't much like HPC. It's a gloomy, windswept place on a hair-raising traffic roundabout. It's not London. London at night is a place of streetlights, hustle and bustle, warmth and humanity, buildings and intrigue. HPC is dark, quiet, on a back route between places. It's got too many reminders of vainglorious empire militarism, too much dodgy public art, not enough buildings. It's cold, it's wet, it's windy.

I'm with Slowmo on the roundabout. I don't envy DZ his traffic-blocking role there, but I think we cut rather a dash as we swoop off en masse.

 

[Aperitif]

HPC for preference, still. As (usually) I'm the one coming from furthest south of the river, I certainly wouldn't mind somewhere nearer Waterloo, and anything that avoids navigating the lunacy of the HPC roundabout is a good thing. But, as a start point, HPC just works. Plenty of room. No numpty pedestrians getting in the way. And, as our leader is so fond of a ride 'story', there are few places with a better start.

That said, might I suggest for Whitstable we give the South Bank a dry run? I've just had a look at the road closures around Buck House & my usual route to the Arch (and our normal route east, of course) is thoroughly SNAFUd.

Yeh - you can do the 'dry run' Stu.

 

[Aperitif]

Yeah right, and they believed the earth was flat

Bit like Adam then...

 

[Aperitif]

[QUOTE 1849887, member: 1314"]First choice, The Mirch Marsala in Tooting!

If we are north of the river I like the idea of Smithfield Market. Easy enough to get to from Paddington, Kings Cross, Euston (left and left again). And it's minutes from the Jerusalem (who have excellent toilets to go with their pork sandwiches).[/quote]
You're probably at Mirch Marsala when most of the night rides leave anyway, User! On 1st June, bring a hipster satchel full of samples to distribute to the shivering gathered masses - wherever they may be. Yum yum - can't wait!

 

[Aperitif]

London's warmth and humanity is frequently not evident on a Friday night, AFAIK.
And you're not an angel of doom.....

Hmmm...

 

[StuAff]

Yeh - you can do the 'dry run' Stu.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm with Slowmo on the roundabout. I don't envy DZ his traffic-blocking role there, but I think we cut rather a dash as we swoop off en masse.

As Adrian pointed out, it can't be easy for our Glorious Leader to kick off the gig at HPC, but he has a Cloak of Invincibility......and bowels of steel. Remember his imperious march into the path of a speeding artic. near Clapham Southside? I shudder at the memory. Anyway, to my mind, HPC has a sense of grandeur, history and occasion. The "drop" into the traffic is a great buzz too. Slipping quietly out of an NCP in Victoria just doesn't cut the mustard. Sorry.

 

[Mice]

I like HPC. It has both grandeur and just a slight tinge of eccentricity about it. And it's where No 1 London is, so if we're riding from London to the coast we can only make that claim if we start from there.

I like HPC for its iconicness too. As far as I know one of the Lions in Trafalgar Square is where all the mileages to London were measured - so any sign in the UK to London has one of the lions as its destination (not sure which one). HPC has the cyclists version of that, for me. Just in case this hasnt been posted anywhere else http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18072905 hahahaha!

Needless to say Your DZness as long as the FNRttCs continue, if you want to move the start point then so be it. But there is something fabulously surreal about joining a group of cyclists in the semi dark and not really knowing til the halfway stop with whom you are cycling.....!

Mice