FNRttC syndication

[Aperitif]

c'ept I have yet to find a decent Cafe when I get there.

Stop arriving at 03:30 then!

 

[growingvegetables]

Shame that Oban didn't make the cut as the very short midsummer nights up there make for something a bit different.

Set me thinking dreaming

This'd be a logistic nightmare, and'll never fly for a group ..... but it could be magic. Caledonian sleeper (Scotrail service out of Euston) to Inverness; people in train to Thurso (Scotrail transport bikes by van); "night"-time ride (sun "sets" about 11pm and "rises" about 3am - basically it dips below the horizon, and you get a couple of hours of twilight) Thurso round the coast to Wick; and same train services back.

I think I know where I want to be June 22nd next year

 

[theclaud]

Yep - but as I have an office and car stationed near Synod Inn and am there every other week. Hence manpower is not a problem. Womanpower and Delpower maybe. I get there by London-Birmingham - Aber or London - Swansea - Carmarthen train so I think I understand the public transport issues.

Although I have half inhabited that area for nearly 30 years it took your Cardiff - Swansea ride to open my eyes on what I thought had been a cycling impossibility. Now popping up to Aber on my folder is routine and a joy. Going down to Carmarthen is nice 'cos it is downhill ... c'ept I have yet to find a decent Cafe when I get there.


This obsession is all your fault TC

I shall continue to enjoy it alone. Company is better, willing company is even better ...

Sorry Stu - I didn't mean to put a damper on it. I'm up for riding that route with you and don't see any reason why a night ride from somewhere couldn't end at Aber - I just think you'd have your work cut out making an ackshul FNRttC of it. The obstacles being transport, halfway stop (pretty much nothing opens in Mid Wales even during opening hours), getting enough regulars on it, and where the new/local recruits are going to be found. I won't mention the hills... If you can persuade his Zeqqness that it's a goer, then obviously I would help out...

 

[StuartG]

May be there is a deeper issue here. Checking and organising an existing FNRttC is a big deal. Setting up a new FNRttC is a bigger deal. That's why they are so good to do. How Del does it all is a mystery that only Susie must know.

Which gets me to thinking it might be easier to think in terms of Candidate Rides. Rides enjoyable in themselves but whose aim is to to work out the feasibility of becoming a real FNRttC. To be/or not be adopted by Del.

It would also give that breath of informality that has to be foresaken on the bigger rides. Insurance, wayfinding, TECs are replaced with logistic checking, note taking and probably a few dead ends though hopefully not riders. Would this be a way forward in Wales, Scotland ... ?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Sorry Stu - I didn't mean to put a damper on it. I'm up for riding that route with you and don't see any reason why a night ride from somewhere couldn't end at Aber - I just think you'd have your work cut out making an ackshul FNRttC of it. The obstacles being transport, halfway stop (pretty much nothing opens in Mid Wales even during opening hours), getting enough regulars on it, and where the new/local recruits are going to be found. I won't mention the hills... If you can persuade his Zeqqness that it's a goer, then obviously I would help out...

A weekend ride to the coast?

 

[Telemark]

Touche,

there is always the Dumb Run ... which Ravenbait of this parish + friends are doing annually, in a very manageable mini-peloton, Scoosh went along this year. Speaking of Ravenbait, I haven't "seen" her on CC recently ...

Another suggestion in response to your original question, about trying out a night ride locally ...
There is nothing stopping us (CC Ecosse) from arranging a (short-ish) route with a few of us, in the hours of darkness (which are starting to descend rapidly these days ), to learn for ourselves what the key issues are for night riding. Pothole free roads (ha!!!), good lights (thanks, Noodley ), not loosing anybody along the way, a friendly pre-arranged food place, start/finish locations (+ possible bail-places along the route) to suit access/departure for a known number of attendees, and avoidance of obvious dodgy places spring to mind (ha!!! again?)...

I suspect our local Audax crowd are mostly experts at riding in the hours of darkness, + handy hints picked up from the super-organised FNRetc rides would be good . Given their large crowds, I can see why they have to be quite tightly planned and organised, but they started out small themselves, from what I can gather.

It wouldn't even have to be a full-blown all-nighter to start with ... much easier to find an establishment that will provide a late-ish evening meal, for a test-ride, after the evening rush hour is over.


If it were me, I'd want to invent my own name for CC Ecosse night rides anyway, the FNRetc is a very specific beast.
Given how close the majority of CC Ecossers live to the coast, we would end up with very short rides, unless we head out in parallel with the coast, or go coast-to-coast. The route planning doesn't HAVE to involve the coast at all, but sunrise/sunset beside the seaside is not to be sniffed at ...

I for one would love to do the Innerleithen road in the moonlight. The tricky bit would be to find somewhere to get out of possible bad weather for a midnight snack along the route. I don't think Peebles is set up for nightowl cyclists, but I might be wrong... anyway, I'll stop rambling now!


T

 

[StuartG]

A weekend ride to the coast?

Carmarthen to New Quay or Aberaeron and back in a day is feasible. Both are well pubbed and iconic destinations. It is very quiet and beautiful after Pencader if you go via Talgarreg.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Carmarthen to New Quay or Aberaeron and back in a day is feasible. Both are well pubbed and iconic destinations. It is very quiet and beautiful after Pencader if you go via Talgarreg.

I meant staying over after the ride rather than having to get back home in the early hours of the morning

 

[frank9755]

"Wales, Wales, bloody great fishes are Wales..." goes the rugby song. I believed stuff like this until I started night riding and I have now graduated to geographic acknowledgement - it is a lovely place. As for enthusiasm, I quite like Frank's idea as it involves chips 'n ships...in no particular order...
"The Friday Night Ride to the Mussels From Brussels" sounds cool.

Give up 'Teef. You know what they're like; they'll be bickering about Aberystwyth for weeks now!

 

[dellzeqq]

[QUOTE 1550050"]
Birmingham
[/quote]listen up. Nothing would give me greater pleasure. Setting aside the fact that London is tops, Birmingham is the finest city in England. New Street Station is straight out of Proust. The Rotunda is one of England's finest buildings. McWobble (fearsome Glaswegian accent aside) is the greatest of men, and, even though he lives in Coventry, so great that the entirety of the West Midlands is exalted by his association. But, my dear Mr. P, I cannot find anywhere closer to Birmingham than Rhyl. Which is 95 miles away, and the opposite of Birmingham. Put simply Rhyl is pants. I wouldn't take my worst enemy to Rhyl, far less the likes of my dear FNRttC companions. And don't give me the Severn estuary, because it is a) not the coast and b) devoid of decent chips. So, sorry - until someone reverses what must have been one of God's off-days, and places Birmingham at a more sensible remove from the sea, we, that is to say you and I, are out of luck.

 

[dellzeqq]

Touche,

there is always the Dumb Run ... which Ravenbait of this parish + friends are doing annually, in a very manageable mini-peloton, Scoosh went along this year. Speaking of Ravenbait, I haven't "seen" her on CC recently ...

Another suggestion in response to your original question, about trying out a night ride locally ...
There is nothing stopping us (CC Ecosse) from arranging a (short-ish) route with a few of us, in the hours of darkness (which are starting to descend rapidly these days ), to learn for ourselves what the key issues are for night riding. Pothole free roads (ha!!!), good lights (thanks, Noodley ), not loosing anybody along the way, a friendly pre-arranged food place, start/finish locations (+ possible bail-places along the route) to suit access/departure for a known number of attendees, and avoidance of obvious dodgy places spring to mind (ha!!! again?)...

I suspect our local Audax crowd are mostly experts at riding in the hours of darkness, + handy hints picked up from the super-organised FNRetc rides would be good . Given their large crowds, I can see why they have to be quite tightly planned and organised, but they started out small themselves, from what I can gather.

It wouldn't even have to be a full-blown all-nighter to start with ... much easier to find an establishment that will provide a late-ish evening meal, for a test-ride, after the evening rush hour is over.


If it were me, I'd want to invent my own name for CC Ecosse night rides anyway, the FNRetc is a very specific beast.
Given how close the majority of CC Ecossers live to the coast, we would end up with very short rides, unless we head out in parallel with the coast, or go coast-to-coast. The route planning doesn't HAVE to involve the coast at all, but sunrise/sunset beside the seaside is not to be sniffed at ...

I for one would love to do the Innerleithen road in the moonlight. The tricky bit would be to find somewhere to get out of possible bad weather for a midnight snack along the route. I don't think Peebles is set up for nightowl cyclists, but I might be wrong... anyway, I'll stop rambling now!


T

I think that's brilliant. Night rides are almost as much fun to organise as they are to ride. The best bit is going in to cafes and saying 'feel free to end this conversation at any time, but I think it would be wonderful if you would open up at three thirty in the morning for a bunch of cyclists. Don't forget that if it's raining you will have to mop up after us'. And, to turn the thing round............Edinburgh to Dundee with a halfway stop at Kintillo would make a fantastic ride - it's a dogleg, but you cross two great bridges, go down some wonderful dark roads around Glenfarg, get great views over the Tay in the morning, and if you book ahead you can get back for eight quid. I'm not entirely sure about Kelty in the early hours, but I'm sure Sam F won't be too worried.

 

[Aperitif]

I think that's brilliant. Night rides are almost as much fun to organise as they are to ride. The best bit is going in to cafes and saying 'feel free to end this conversation at any time, but I think it would be wonderful if you would open up at three thirty in the morning for a bunch of cyclists. Don't forget that if it's raining you will have to mop up after us'. And, to turn the thing round............Edinburgh to Dundee with a halfway stop at Kintillo would make a fantastic ride - it's a dogleg, but you cross two great bridges, go down some wonderful dark roads around Glenfarg, get great views over the Tay in the morning, and if you book ahead you can get back for eight quid. I'm not entirely sure about Kelty in the early hours, but I'm sure Sam F won't be too worried.

See? You have 'sold' that one already, you scamp! Two bridges though...wouldn't that be a bridge for far..?

 

[dellzeqq]

I'd even suggest the Kintail Lodge Lounge in Bridge of Earn for the halfway stop - 01738 813252

 

[Wobblers]

listen up. Nothing would give me greater pleasure. Setting aside the fact that London is tops, Birmingham is the finest city in England. New Street Station is straight out of Proust. The Rotunda is one of England's finest buildings. McWobble (fearsome Glaswegian accent aside) is the greatest of men, and, even though he lives in Coventry, so great that the entirety of the West Midlands is exalted by his association. But, my dear Mr. P, I cannot find anywhere closer to Birmingham than Rhyl. Which is 95 miles away, and the opposite of Birmingham. Put simply Rhyl is pants. I wouldn't take my worst enemy to Rhyl, far less the likes of my dear FNRttC companions. And don't give me the Severn estuary, because it is a) not the coast and b) devoid of decent chips. So, sorry - until someone reverses what must have been one of God's off-days, and places Birmingham at a more sensible remove from the sea, we, that is to say you and I, are out of luck.

*Splutter*!!!!

Coventry? Coventry??!? How very dare you! It's Quinton, in the Black Country ...which ...is ...worse... I think I'll shut up now...

But I have to agree with DZ on destinations. The best one I could think of is Aberystwyth, and that's very far from anywhere else. But would Cardiff work? With a detour over the Severn Bridge? I've not worked out how far it is - but the M5 services outside Gloucester might serve as a last resort halfway stop.

Edited for spelling (sigh)

 

[Wobblers]

there is nowhere outside the range. We've done Manchester to Blackpool, and we're going to do it again next year. We've done York to Cleethorpes and York to Hull, and we'll do York to Hull again next year. We've done Cardiff to Swansea and we'll do it again next year. We might yet do HPCJoG - if we don't do Barcelona to Nice. I took a look at Glasgow to Oban (I have a daughter in Glasgow) but was dissuaded by people who knew the turf better than I. I've looked at starting in Birmingham, but can't see a destination within reach, and I've given some thought to starts in Sheffield, Leeds and Edinburgh, all following suggestions from these very boards.

I've had my mind changed about the A82. My spies in the field inform me that at 2 am you'd be unlikely to meet anyone after Balloch, as Frank said. The A82 wouldn't be a problem, really. I think it could work, I've almost got a route - I just need to sort out the byzantine one way system round Kelvingrove Park (which would serve as the ideal regrouping area after all the city centre lights). If you turn onto the A83 at Tarbet you'd end up going through Rest and Be Thankful - how could anyone resist that? - on the way to Inverary. The main issue is finding a halfway stop.