FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast 21st March - Burnham-on-Crouch via Junction 31

[Zee]

BBC now showing heavy showers from 2300-0200H. Metweather concurs. Is anyone going for full overshoes?

 

[MisterStan]

Just sat at the station in Huntingdon, watching train after train being cancelled. Looks like the cycling Gods are not smiling on me today

 

[wanda2010]

^^ That is a real shame. Bad luck.

 

[vernon]

Just sat at the station in Huntingdon, watching train after train being cancelled. Looks like the cycling Gods are not smiling on me today

You're not the only one to suffer from the power failure. I was on a train scheduled to arrive in London King's Cross at 22:00 give or take a minute. After reversing back to Peterborough, changing trains and going via Cambridge, I arrived at 00:25 far too late to do anything about it. Never mind I though I jump on the London-Leeds train that's been delayed and I'll be back in Leeds for around 03:30 factoring a delay. No chance! The railtrack staff denied that it existed. They insisted that it would appear on the destination board when it was ready and finally when I located a miniscule East Coast Trains office staffed by a knowledgeable member of staff, I discovered that the train had left five minutes before I found the office. I did however get my late afternoon ticket exchanged for a ticket for the 07:03 first train to Leeds. East Coast Trains were not forthcoming with offers of accommodation - the problem wasn't their fault, had it been their fault they would have paid for accommodation. I made do with a SMrrL, Saturday morning ride around London with frequent pauses to sample the atmosphere of some of the quiet backwaters that I pedalled through.

Still it was a cheap night out £10 return with refunds pending.

 

[wanda2010]

Bad luck Vernon, although you probably saw more of London at night than I have!

 

[User10571]

You're not the only one to suffer from the power failure. I was on a train scheduled to arrive in London King's Cross at 22:00 give or take a minute. After reversing back to Peterborough, changing trains and going via Cambridge, I arrived at 00:25 far too late to do anything about it. Never mind I though I jump on the London-Leeds train that's been delayed and I'll be back in Leeds for around 03:30 factoring a delay. No chance! The railtrack staff denied that it existed. They insisted that it would appear on the destination board when it was ready and finally when I located a miniscule East Coast Trains office staffed by a knowledgeable member of staff, I discovered that the train had left five minutes before I found the office. I did however get my late afternoon ticket exchanged for a ticket for the 07:03 first train to Leeds. East Coast Trains were not forthcoming with offers of accommodation - the problem wasn't their fault, had it been their fault they would have paid for accommodation. I made do with a SMrrL, Saturday morning ride around London with frequent pauses to sample the atmosphere of some of the quiet backwaters that I pedalled through.

Still it was a cheap night out £10 return with refunds pending.

Vernon, for future occasions, should something similar occur be mindful of the pace at which the FNRttC traverses the roads.
I have, I think, on (at least) two occasions awoken at or just after midnight, when I should be at Hyde Park Corner to find instead, that my hide is parked under the duvet.....
A frantic phone call or two later, a bit of shimmying into the Lycra and getting a wiggle on, and I have managed to catch the ride.
Once at Thurrock services, some 18 miles from where I live, and once in Romford - about 17 miles away.
I think the statisticians amongst us can probably come up with some sort of correlation between those distances, my eyeballs-out-on-stalks average, and the average of the FNRttC.

Anyways, last night what you missed was a ride that started wet.
It then developed into something wetter (although not quite requiring a submarine).
We then refreshed ourselves with The Best Tea In The World.
At least at £4.80 for two paper cups it ought to be.
Dentists and others in the high income bracket please take note: Selling tea at motorway services will match if not surpass your current income and does not incur with it the unusually high suicide rate which your profession attracts, seemingly due to the stress of working in confined spaces.
Then we went outside and it was dry.
Someone had a flat.
The ride rumbled at a sonorous pace to accommodate the repair.
Then someone else's bike said ssssSSSSsssssss in Horndon on the Hill.
Then there was the hill.
I did it when no one was looking.
Only I didn't.
I walked.
Again
I was aghast to later learn that the only other fixer on the ride didn't deploy the 24" gear.
I was less aghast when I heard he was riding a couple of gear inches fewer than I was.
Dented pride (slightly) restored.
Actually, for the benefit of the scaremongers, I think teh walkers were a very small minority.
Added to which, everybody had such a ball

Basildon came and went in as best as it could be dealt with, following which we were into the gently rolling lanes as it was starting to get light.
The tailwind which had pushed us for much of the night, bit us a bit for the last couple of miles as we approached Burnham from the north.
The Dairy Cabin does good tucker but, understandably, they creak and heave under the pressure we exert upon them - almost as much as the building (especially noticeable upstairs) moves!!!!!!
Some had not been fed by the time others were leaving for the journey home - other than splitting the ride into a larger gap than we did - I am not sure this can be easily remedied at this particular hostelry.

Thanks DZ and AH for the groundwork you put in to make this a great ride - I still have ideas about supplementing the end of the ride with a blast across the private (traffic free) road which crosses Dengie Marshes.***
Thanks everyone else who kept me in fine company last night.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


*** @DZ Maybe that's the solution to splitting the ride to ease the pressure on the kitchen?
How many riders were still mile hungry and wouldn't mind another twelve or so, by the time they reached Burnham?

 

[User10571]

^
This.
The ride-rescue tube has yet to be squeezed to it's limits...

 

[wanda2010]

Abuse and help in one sentence. I luvs this gang

 

[martint235]

First of the season and I have to admit I very nearly bailed at Junction 31. My feet were cold, my hands were cold, water had seeped through my "waterproof" jacket and I could see the Dartford Crossing. A quick chat to Deckertim, a moderate amount of whisky and I decided if it was dry I'd continue on to the end. It was dry. I actually warmed up a bit on occasion. I somehow got myself into User10571's advance speedy party. And then I got myself out of it again. Still we arrived before breakfast was ready and a good breakfast it was too.

It was good to meet some new people, some people I've not seen for a long, long time (like User30090) and some people I'd seen a lot but never really spoken to (Ann, although I think she slept during the whole conversation)

The ride back home was into a headwind. I used to be able to ride into headwinds and just leave a big lump shaped hole behind for others to ride into. Today, I hid at the back. My fitness isn't what it used to be. Home with 112 miles done. Super 15 rugby on the telly, lager in hand. Soon to fall asleep.

Thanks Simon and all who put so much effort into this one.

 

[User10571]

.........First of the season and I have to admit I very nearly bailed at Junction 31. My feet were cold, my hands were cold, water had seeped through my "waterproof" jacket and I could see the Dartford Crossing. .............

That's odd in as much as I'd usually be the one to bail or DNTU.
For me it was a forecast-Vs-available kit issue
Kit won.
I used everything I took with me.
I did not want for more.
OK. TBF. the train home could've been a little less rammed , and I could've done without the 'Bloody cyclist' comment.
I hope that individual has a seizure....
In the nicest possible way......

 

[AlexB]

Another ride where I pessimistically took along everything I had, kitchen sink included, and used it all at some point! It was pretty wet, very wet at times. I got a puncture and then got filmed fixing it. "You look very professional"; "I guess you're getting pretty cold now...", it was like having my mother commenting in my ear (funny, not annoying). I hope the photographers got the shots they were after. It was good fun having them around.
As for the ride, I could have done without the rain, but it was an OK route. One I'd like to try again in the dry. The cafe at the end is one of the better ones.
Our journey home was also "helped by a critic of the railways' lack of investment in cycling facilities.

 

[ianrauk]

The first couple of hours out of Hyde Park Corner gave us the most horrendous squally, freezing rain. It really was hard work, down-heartening and just plain horrid. I have never bailed on a FNR but I did have naughty thoughts about it. I thought it was going to be one of those very busy TEC nights as when rain does it's thing, tyres decide to puncture. We had 4 in the space of a couple of miles, including as Alex said above, being filmed while we fixed one. Luckily all punctures were dealt with promptly. Praise be the rain did clear when the BBC weather report said it woould and the temperature never really fell too low as to feel too cold. The rest of the ride sailed along thanks to the tailwind gods pushing us along very nicely to our destination for a very nice, much earned and much needed full English brekkie and copious amounts of tea.

And the sun came out....

Only 3 of us for the SMRbtH today, myself LongM and Martin @humbert15 from Simpson's magazine (sorry @Fab Foodie , was under a lot of pressure from a certain tall person to get on the road). And wow, the relentless headwind home really took it's toll, it was damn hard work at times, real thigh burning stuff. But the rain decided to stay away so that was a blessing.

Got home just in time to watch the Chelsea-Arsenal match...


I am now tired...


So 120 miles for the day and another great FNR.

 

[vernon]

Vernon you silly arse, if you had let us know we could easily have got you from Kings X and met the ride along the way.

I let Dellzeqq know two hours in advance of touchdown. The picture was constantly changing while on board the train, with announcements about expected arrival times contradicting each other.

Dellzeqq delivered a get out of jail card via text but I wasn't able to take advantage of it and there was a promise of a speedy return to Leeds alas sabotaged by Railtrack minions.

Coming from the sticks I find the size of London intimidating and fear riding off into the dawn in totally the wrong direction and attempting to liase with the FNRttC in Tring. Last night's pootle partially allayed those fears and although I found myself in unfamiliar territory at times I was travelling in the right directions to complete a loop.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Friday started so well, but fate, or rather Rebecca's collapsing Brooks saddle, conspired against us, to bring a (very) premature end to another tandem outing. The Helios is normally in permanent cargo mode:-

either for shopping as shown above, or pulling a trailer with all my equipment for Sustrans Dr Bike events, but just occasionally it gets the rear seat fitted.

It's possible that 6 months of storage in the garage did something to Rebecca's saddle, as despite being tensioned, it started sagging and the nose pushing upwards where you don't want a nose going. Although it just confirms what I've always thought about Brooks saddles, as being instruments of torture. This meant we had to bail, which (putting it mildly) was a bit off-putting, as we were both looking forward to Burnham and their bangers. We had plenty of clothing, and were fully waterproofed, so knew the rain wouldn't have stopped us.

I don't like letting people down, so apologies to Simon, and the staff at the Burnham cafe. On the train back home, I even tried working out the logistics of getting home, swapping bikes, getting a train back into London again, and then a high speed pursuit. However, as the trains back from Luton are only 1 per hour, and they run slow, I wouldn't get back into central London until just after 4 am, so I abandoned that idea.

Another time.

 

[velovoice]

Was gutted to have to bail last night. Woke up this morning to bright sunshine and knew we'd missed a good one.

As Adam said, we had all the right gear - my Gore jacket, Goretex gloves, Craft overtrousers and leather hiking boots (over head to toe merino) were doing me proud.

re Brooks. I've owned, lemmeeseenow.... 8 in the past 4 years. All disasters, one way or another. This is the second one now to just start folding up, front to back, with little warning. Conversations with Brooks England have been circuitous and futile; they act like they just can't conceive of this ever happening.

So goodbye to Brooks for good. Hello saddle shopping, oh joy.