FNRttC Friday Night Ride to......Brighton on Friday 17th June

[User10571]

OK. Not strictly relevant to this thread, but here goes anyway. I'll keep it to the bare bones of the itinerary.

Friday
4.45pm - Car, two bikes, little miss h and I set off from home for Streat (near Ditchling). Hideous traffic. Pissing rain.
6.30pm - Arrive at Blackberry Wood. Leave LMH in capable hands of Timbo. Set off for Hassocks on my bike.
7.30pm - Catch train from Hassocks towards London and change at Clapham for train home.
9pm - Eat, lie down. Miss alarm.
10.50pm - Catch train to Waterloo for meeting under the clock.
Rain.
Midnight - Ride (see above)

Saturday
9.30am - To LMH's friend's to see the kittens.
10am - Ride to Brighton station for train to Hassocks and then ride to Blackberry Wood
3.30pm - Ride back to Hassocks to meet mini-hatler and ride back to van
Bike fettle, eat and prepare for Sunday
10pm - To bed after watching the footie

Sunday
7am - Mrs hatler sets off from home for Clapham Junction and the start of the BHF L2B
10am - Me, bike and car around the hill to Brighton (via Lewes) to deposit car
11am - Cycle back off road over the Downs
12am - Get back to van. Prepare lunch for kids and two more friends (father and son)
1pm - Cycle to Haywards Heath to intercept Mrs h and friends
2.30pm - Meet up at the top of Fox Hill, all head for Brighton
4pm ish - Coldean Lane. LMH gets a tannoy call to slow down !
4.30pm ish - Arrive on the front. Race mini-hatler and two others up the ramp from Madeira Drive to the upper road. Lose. Shagged out.
5pm - Tea and cake with friends (with the kittens). Plan hatched as to how to get seven people and seven bikes back to Blackberry Wood in just one car with room for only five people and four bikes. It involves me and one other riding back over the hill, Mrs h driving back and leaving one bike behind.
6pm - Walk outside and it's distinctly damp and murky, but with a Southerly wind. We rip up Ditchling Road as fast as I can go and make it back to the 'van in 50 minutes. Very soggy. Wait for Mrs h. Unload bikes. Re-load different set of bikes. Sort out 'van. Head home. Back at 10pm, still in my soggy cycling gear.
11pm - Crash into bed.

Reading that has left me knackered.
*Glad to not be a parent*

 

[Flying Dodo]

Staying up for the whole of Saturday after one of these has to be the way to go. It guarantees a really solid chunk of sleep on the Saturday night and you wake up on Sunday morning fully refreshed.

After 100+ night rides, it's what I do. Carry on until 8pm or so, and then deep sleep.

 

[Tim Hall]

Having at last dried out, it's time to add my thanks to Adam and to everyone else involved, whether they organised, recce'd, way-marked, TEC'd, encouraged, or anything else that made a great success out of an extremely wet evening.

After a late arrival at HPC already soaked to the skin, the first few miles of the ride were an exercise of 'getting into the mindset'. Sweary taxi drivers didn't enhance the experience, but the turning point was Ditches Lane over Farthing Downs. 10 out of 10 for that choice of route - much better than carrying on up Marlpit Lane.

Some impressive floods near the M25/M23 gave my spokes a bath, but the deluge was now a distant memory and I was finally drying out. Still, Faygate was a long time coming.

Everyone seemed uplifted for the 2nd half of the ride, and Ditchling arrived quickly. Lovely red poppies in the fields at the top of the Beacon. Not so lovely red traffic lights all the way into Brighton.

Breakfast and a quick stroll on the beach before making my way home via Hove station. Then only 20 minutes snooze at home before having to take my daughter to a 7th birthday party - and getting roped into helping out with the activities. At bed time, I managed an unbroken 11 hours of sleep. Bliss.


In all, my 2nd FNRttC was a fantastic ride. And doing it in that weather? Makes me feel like a proper cyclist.

View attachment 132589

Loving the shorty mudguard.

 

[hatler]

After leaving home with clear skies and a moon, when I got to Clapham Common it started raining fairly heavily. I had enough slack to risk hiding under a tree for ten minutes, which I did, allowing the rain to get heavier !

As others have said, whilst we mostly got fairly wet travelling to the start, the ride proper wasn't overly damp, and it did eventually dry up letting us do the same.

I overdid sprinting back to the front, from waymarking, and slightly borked one knee, but it just caused the odd minor ouch on Ditchling, and on the return back to That London, aided by Southern trains.

At the top of Ditchling, I assumed that others had already left, so did my normal mad shoot down into Brighton, being mildly annoyed that I had to slow at the speed camera, because the road conditions were fairly dire. I got to the Madeira cafe, and was a bit surprised that no one else had arrived first.

After a few brown beers, the last few of us made our ways home, Adam and myself departing to the station, and at least in my case finding that the train left fairly soon, and uneventfully delivered me back home.

The route seemed to take us in some interesting directions, and the view from Ditchling was only a little hazy, which is about as good as you can expect.

Thanks to Adam for leading the ride, and all the others that make FNRttCs one of the most enjoyable ways that you can spend an entire night, deliberately awake!

Tim, Wasn't this your first FNR completion for a little while ? If so, HUZZAH and CONGRATULATIONS !!!

 

[TimO]

Tim, Wasn't this your first FNR completion for a little while ? If so, HUZZAH and CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Indeed, four's a charm !

(On the previous three attempts, I either DNS or DNF, after <mumble> years of not a single problem).

 

[topcat1]

Here's pt 2

https://flic.kr/s/aHskBZcPdQ

 

[robjh]

Here's pt 2

https://flic.kr/s/aHskBZcPdQ

Excellent photos TC

 

[hatler]

Here's pt 2

https://flic.kr/s/aHskBZcPdQ

There's a lovely few moments captured in that photo stream where two old mates meet who haven't seen each other for about 15 years. Special.

 

[hatler]

Photos 79, 80 and 81.