FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast 13th March 2009

[dellzeqq]

Simon, what time do you normally roll past Clapham? (and where, in terms of meeting?)

About 12.30 - and we cross Clapham Common.

But............ I'm always reluctant to meet people en route (there is one exception, but he's four times your age) - and you definitely miss one of the highlights, which is the meeting up and the start.

 

[Radius]

Oh ok, seems fair enough, hadn't really thought about that but you're probably right!

 

[dellzeqq]

Nah, it was a temporal shift, mate. Nothing he could do. The old space/time thing went a bit jazz, and whoops! Sian Lloyd gets dumped for a Cheeky Girl.

 

[dellzeqq]

Dan B
Martin M
Adrian C
Tim O
User10571 B
radius
arallsopp
Fred S
Jack F
Will K
Hannah C
Brian P
flying dodo (contingent on the cat's meteorological prognostications)
Morag M (50/50)
John K
Greg C
Paul R
Hatler
Aperitif
Chris B
Simon P
Marna G
Des O'D
ilovebikes
Els V
Dave J
Tom McD
Robbie D
Dan P
Isa T
Iain C
topcat1

Metcheck now looking brilliant - light southwest wind, 10% to 15% cloud cover, temperature 6degC. Enough people have indicated that they'll come if the weather is decent that if it stays like this we should count on a slowish ride, arriving in Brighton a little later than seven.

Somebody has skimmed the gravel off the path beside the ostriches - hopefully they're going to relay it. I'll check it out toward the end of the week, but if it's still in bad shape we'll have to go another way - if it's dry we can take Back Lane into Ardingly which is quite sweet.

(later edit) Taken with the weather forecast I reckon I can see the way this is going. If (big if) the weather holds it could be 40 strong

 

[TimO]

Simon, what time do you normally roll past Clapham? (and where, in terms of meeting?)

From Clapham Common, it's almost exactly 3 miles to Hyde Park corner (as the crow flies), so it's no great effort to get to the start proper. I'll be cycling from Croydon, which is four times that distance! (...and I'll pass over the FNRttC route for several miles, before I retrace it half an hour or so later!)

 

[Aperitif]

Which, roughly translated Radius means '...get thine ar$e in gear...' (I think)




Edit: That's twice I've used 'that word' in the Events section today - poor vocab.

 

[hatler]

About 12.30 - and we cross Clapham Common.

But............ I'm always reluctant to meet people en route (there is one exception, but he's four times your age) - and you definitely miss one of the highlights, which is the meeting up and the start.

I can think of one exception who is probably at least a quarter anyone else's age !!

 

[TimO]

I can think of one exception who is probably at least a quarter anyone else's age !!

Yes, but you come bearing coffee, which at that time of the night (or more exactly, morning) will get you forgiven most things!

 

[Radius]

From Clapham Common, it's almost exactly 3 miles to Hyde Park corner (as the crow flies), so it's no great effort to get to the start proper. I'll be cycling from Croydon, which is four times that distance! (...and I'll pass over the FNRttC route for several miles, before I retrace it half an hour or so later!)

Wasn't complaining, or saying anything really, I'm quite happy to ride to Hyde Park corner, and I have no issues about effort at all, I just didn't know how things were generally done (on CC rides it's often the case that people are picked up en route if it's in the path of the ride...)

Which, roughly translated Radius means '...get thine ar$e in gear...' (I think)

Yes well, slightly unnecessarily, possibly.

 

[dellzeqq]

Dan B
Martin M
Adrian C
Tim O
User10571 B
radius
arallsopp
Fred S
Jack F
Will K
Hannah C
Brian P
flying dodo (contingent on the cat's meteorological prognostications)
Morag M (50/50)
Greg C
Paul R
Hatler
Aperitif
Chris B
Simon P
Marna G
Des O'D
ilovebikes
Els V
Dave J
Tom McD
Robbie D
Dan P
Isa T
Iain C
topcat1
Dave S
David F
Ben P

metcheck now looking iffy - side winds, a little rain, and 5degC

 

[Will1985]

What is the average speed of these rides dellzeqq? ie: riding time, distance and stopping time.

I'm tempted to have a bash as I have a free weekend - it's a toss up between shelling out £30 to go and ride at Newport for 90 mins or train fare down to London and back!

 

[dellzeqq]

What is the average speed of these rides dellzeqq? ie: riding time, distance and stopping time.

58 miles or so - and the pace is moderate. Once beyond Mitcham the faster riders can zip off at intervals, but they wait for the less fast every now and again. Our stop at Gatwick will probably be an hour. If anybody wants the full sp then pm me with your e-mail address.

 

[TimO]

Wasn't complaining, or saying anything really, I'm quite happy to ride to Hyde Park corner, and I have no issues about effort at all, I just didn't know how things were generally done (on CC rides it's often the case that people are picked up en route if it's in the path of the ride...)

I think that whilst this may work with day rides, it's less suitable for night rides, where you would be hanging around in the dark, and possibly cold and wet for the ride to turn up at an undetermined time.

On the last ride, someone (and apologies but I forget who it was) had a tyre problem around about the QVC building, just after Chelsea bridge. Adamski and I were doing the TEC thing, so hung about for at least half an hour until the rider decided that he had lost confidence in the tyre staying on the wheel, since he had reseated it about three times, and we had pumped it up, and it wouldn't reliably stay on the rim.

This delayed the ride by at least half an hour less than that time from the start. I think the worst ride for mechanicals last year had three or four punctures, and this can make arrival at points along the route a little bit random.

Understandably I don't think Simon wants to have to be continually contacting people with our projected arrival time. Occasionally he doesn't mind so much, for special cases, such as Hatler and mni-Hatler meeting us at the start of Ditchling, but you don't expect small children to do the entire route, so it's a reasonabe (and good) thing to do. That's also a specific location, where it's more or less traditional to re-group, and drink some coffee/whatever people have brought before tackling the steepest bit of the ride.

Even though we will probably stop at Clapham Common, it's still much easier to get everyone together at Hyde Park Corner, and it also gives a chance for people to chat, deal with last minute mechanicals (and there are lots of people with tools), eat cake, arrange for TECs etc, and listen to Simon's briefing if you haven't done a FNRttC before.

 

[Radius]

Like I said, I have no problem with it and completely understand the logistics of it. Here's hoping the 13th wont bring with it some evil tech problems!

 

[dellzeqq]

Hey, peace and love. I really must e-mail the User. The pre-ride talk just isn't going to be the same without him.