FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast 18th March to Southend-on-Sea 2011

[Becs]

have fun people! hopefully see you on the bognor ride, for now I shall remain drunk and disorderly!

 

[zigzag]

leaving now (beautiful morning outside!)

 

[Number14]

Once again, another successful ride.

Many thanks Simon.

 

[ttcycle]

It's beautiful morning in London, makes me very sad that I missed the chance to see the sun rising whilst pedalling through Leigh on Sea.

Thanks for the well wishes, hope you all had a fantastic ride and hope those mad enough to mouseketeer back have a good one too!

 

[thom]

Thanks Simon - the route was pretty great and the half-time catering could not have been better.
The way the frosty night turned into a fantastic morning particularly impressed.
Thom.

 

[LouiseL]

I hope you all had a good ride and that it wasn't too cold! I'm sorry I couldn't do this ride but I'm looking forward to the Bognor one.

 

[martint235]

A good ride. A tad cool, I noticed some of my southern-bred colleagues felt it really badly. Hells' teeth, some of them went as far as to wear a LONG sleeve cycling jersey, I can scarcely credit it. I thought such garments a thing of myth, knitted by fairies that had tired of painting spots on magic mushrooms.

Anyway a very good ride. Very good to see Andy A on a bike again and a stunning effort to ride there and back effectively one-legged (although wearing a long sleeved jersey!). Just over 100 miles for me but I did have to go round the block 3 times at home, it would have been a shame to finish on 98.85!!!

Looking forward to the Bognor ride now.... oh and some sleep!!!

 

[arallsopp]

110 miles sees me home. I can only really claim 55 of those, of course. Half the time I was just waiting for the other pedal to come round
Still, I've checked, and you're all marvellous. Felicitations to Claud and hope the festivities continue throughout any waking hours made available.
Of which, to bed goes Andy.

 

[redfalo]

A fabulous ride. Maybe a little bit chilly but a great start to the 2011 season. I was most impressed that Andy was taking part - extremely well done, mate"
The new route to Southend, which I've just uploaded to GPSies, is a major improvement. Thanks, Simon.

Some pics:

 

[User10571]

Just got home.
Freezy night but not so cold as to be unbearable.
Some fantastic stuff going on with the frost on fields at dawn - I hope someone (Tim Hall) has captured it for posterity.
Geoff Tully and his family are to be commended on the half way point catering arrangements.
Lovely night, in fine company followed by a beautiful morning in the same.
116 miles for me.
Time I think, for nam-nams.
Although I might just finish this beer first.

 

[Auntie Helen]

It was good to see you all at Southend and, no, the chap with me with the German Shepherd dog wasn't Uncle James, that was Delthebike. Yes, I know they look the same, but...

Poppy the Cockapoo enjoyed meeting 75 or so cyclists. Glad I had a nice warm car ride to get there though!

 

[ianrauk]

Another great FNRttC. It was very cold.. no it was bloody freezing. Good thing I did decide to go with the thermal socks and vest. It was so cold that my my water bottle frooze and my bikes freehub body pawls seized open. Was thinking I would have to hobby horse into Southend. But got to Southend never the less. What a magnificent sunrise. Can't wait to see some of the photos. The new route is far better then the old.....some fantastic nice and dark country lanes.

Awesome spread of munchies and tea at Stock.. very well organised too, mucho gracias to the organisers.
3 pieces of lovely birthday cake for me at the Rose *belch*

Always nice too see old friends and meet some new ones. And even better to put some faces to CycleChat names.
And nice for Auntie Helen & Poppy to make an appearance.


Very nice cycle back too with rb58, Martin238 & my ol' FNRbtH Pardner Andy, great to see you back on the bike.
We even got through the Grays one way system this time no problem ;-)
112 miles for the day... back home at 12.30pm... Walking into our conservatory showing a nice 38°'s..

 

[Wobblers]

Well, that was a novel FNRttC for me. Especially considering I didn't even manage to leave Birmingham. I got to the station only to discover that Chiltern weren't running any trains to Marylebone due to an incident (someone struck by a train near Banbury!!). After getting no joy from Virgin Trains (complete disarray with no room for bikes - the rude sod of a train manager couldn't look me in the face, so at least I got some satisfaction from the evening) I had to call it, err, a night [1].

On a happier note, and I expect you'll be too drunk to read this atm, but happy birthday Claudine!



[1] I'm not exactly competing with 'Teef' for the "King of Puns" award, am I?

 

[StuAff]

By heck it was cold...fortunately I had the right gear. My fingers weren't warm (Northwave Arctic Winter gloves don't quite live up to the name), but everywhere else was. Apart from the temperatures and the ice, a splendid evening. Always good to see new people- my chum from BR, Sonia, had a great time, and the vast majority of her fellow newbies seemed to have the right equipment and the right attitude. Though if that guy on the Cannondale Synapse returns, could he please leave that retina-burning rear light at home...!!
Nice to see Charlotte and Julian back again, though sadly they suffered in the cold and pulled out early on. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who paid tribute to Titus' splendid efforts in getting their bikes back, and he was delightfully modest about it. And as for Mr Allsopp....fantastic indeed to see you back on a bike. I'd heard of your intention to do this one and thought 'naah, he's not going to be up to it..'. Very glad to be proved wrong!!
That route was a massive improvement. No Junction 31. No Vange. The Brentwood-Stock section was obviously not as planned on account of the weather, but hopefully we'll get to do that in future, and the first part after the stop would be so great in more favourable weather.
And the stops...Fantastic work by Geoff and family indeed in Stock. Great food, especially the cake, friendly service, and helping out a good cause to boot! Yet again, the Rose did the business for breakfast. And the birthday cake was great, like Ian I did my best to make sure it didn't go to waste

And talking of birthdays...all the plaudits for Claud are richly deserved, a very special member of our extended pedalling family. I imagine celebrations are still ongoing

The trip home was somewhat eventful. After taking leave of Claud et al at Fenchurch Street, got to Waterloo in time for the 12.00. So far so good...until just before Guildford, where a drunken idiot decided to go walkabout in one of the tunnels. Train was held up for 50 minutes....aaargh! Eventually got home at 2.30.
Thanks all!

 

[GM]

Thanks Simon for a well planned ride, be nice to do it again. The only down side apart from bringing the wrong bike, was I lost my nice warm gloves on the train.