FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast 28th May - Whitstable 2010

[redflightuk]

Great ride,Great company and the weather was pretty good too.The best one i've been on so far.It was nice to see the resurfaced stretch on the run in to Whitstable, a group of us kept up a good pace to the end. After breakfast we set off back along the route for a while then got onto the A2 which wasn't as bad as i was expecting. Carried on at a good pace to Gravesend when the rain started so i found the station and trained into London. Saw some more of the elephants while getting soaked heading for Kings cross and the train home. Eventually sat down at home at eight o'clock after 120miles. (damn it, should have gone down the road a bit further to get 200k) Thanks to everyone for a great night and see you next time.

 

[Wobblers]

My third FNRttC - and this time it didn't rain. Hooray!

Thanks to Dellzeqq for the flawless organisation and everyone else for the company. And a special thanks to Mrs Redfalo for the cake!

That was a most enjoyable ride - the sunrise, the company, the dawn chorus... and the cafe serving beer at the end. How very civilised!

Ho ho ho!
We had (and are possibly having a good time...)
'The Sozzled Six' + Claudine, departed Whitstastastableshle, terrorised the ticket person, tried to defeat the sliding doors on the toilet and arrived at Victoria in plenty of time!

Sozzled Six?? I think "The Pissed-kateers" might be more appropriate!

I got lost, as usual, trying to get back to Marylebone from Victoria. Unfortunately Yan was following me (I think it was Yan, my memory seems to be a bit hazy for some reason... ) because I rather rashly claimed I knew the way back to HPC. Sorry for the impromptu tour of the Victoria Embankment, Knightsbridge and Hyde Park! Hope you found Paddington okay.

 

[Aperitif]

So sorry you two.
I thought you were moving trainwards from Victoria.
Damn, I'm p d off about that now because I went into work via there and even stopped for a 'sharpener' of the coffee kind in Hyde Park - at our favourite stoppery on a Sunday.
Flippin' 'eck - that's bad of me.

 

[clivedb]

hope you're not in too much pain, Big Al. You were missed.

Yes, really sorry you couldn't make it, Alistair, and hope that you're recovering.

Apologies if my Stoichkov ramblings were an embarrasment.

Blimey - Stoichkov - I had forgotten him but that mention brought back memories of watching him on the tele. Unlike the thoroughly unmemorable current England team.

Thanks yet again for another fun ride - the well-oiled machine back in gear again - at least on the train back from Whitstable if reports here are to believed.

 

[Aperitif]

Making our way into the daylight, we admired the higher spire of St Marys, Upchurch.

This is one of three churches in Kent with a 'candle-snuffer' roof design. Boats navigating the Medway used them as reference points apparently.

And we always have a photo of the doors on this one - lovely.

 

[MacB]

Yes, really sorry you couldn't make it, Alistair, and hope that you're recovering.

Missing a ride I can live with, but missing a drinkie winkie session, that's unforgiveable

Thanks for all the good wishes, LBS is repairing front wheel, new rim required. Scrapes and aches all fading now, gonna have some scabs to pick, but left wrist is giving me gyp after my gardening session today, may have to get it looked at.

 

[Aperitif]

Missing a ride I can live with, but missing a drinkie winkie session, that's unforgiveable

Thanks for all the good wishes, LBS is repairing front wheel, new rim required. Scrapes and aches all fading now, gonna have some scabs to pick, but left wrist is giving me gyp after my gardening session today, may have to get it looked at.

Oh no - not another set of handlebars!
Get well soon - you were missed. If you had come along Al, it would have meant changing the 'm' for a 'p'.

 

[redfalo]

What's your 'real' name Chris? Anyway, you should know by now that Olaf is the 'Friday Night rolling cake stop'* - particularly in Sig's absence.

*If Ianrauk hasn't sampled it all before anyone else gets a go, that is...

Sorry for not introducing myself properly, Chris . When signing on to Cycle Chat I just adopted my common German forum nickname which is rather straightforward: "der Olaf" (the olaf) spelled backwards. "ehtfalo" would be half as nice...

 

[Aperitif]

Origamist and Mistral with my bike at 6ML

Bridget - elegant cyclist, preparing to roll...the rich red of 6 More London to the fore...

Peek a boo - troublemakers!

Kieran with his lovely mannered assistant.
One day I would like to give this place a lighting makeover + get something decent on the telly!

The tarrif. rich p was thinking of booking a week's sojourn...

At the Café, everyone had a 'roll' to play, and I even had time to have a jive with this bunny - very Andy...

Homage to Davywalnuts...

Stop! Look carefully at the phenomenon that is someone using a CALL BOX! Adrian, Ian and self concluded that the bloke had just jumped out of his Corsa and was about to embark on a relaxing pee (or worse), when a swarm of cyclists descended upon him. He picked up the handset and crossed his legs in the hope that we would move on apace...sorry mate. Further discussion led Adrian to declare that he had never, ever done that before in his life. (Drive a Corsa that is.)

Getting comfortable - the winding down begins...Thee penny finally dropped when I realised it was Barry Jordon! I spent time with his partner, Jim, on the way to Preston Park last year. Barry's face was familiar when we got to Andy's but my memory...arghhh, my memory

Before

After

rich p is creased up by Origamist! This epitomises what the day was about - fun!

It was only right that rich should take one of me so...with Claudine, Simon (partwork) and The Babe.

This ride was a big confidence builder for me. Last month I was beaten before the start and spent the weekend drowning various sorrows. I was trying my hardest this time, but made it to HPC in good mechanical health!
I was excused 'puncture patrol' so I found myself drifting up and down the line - it was lovely observing all the rider styles, the bags, the reflections and all was well with the world.
Not so many familiar faces this time, but I hope lots are inspired to share their views on this odd evening out...perhaps making others curious about the bollards of which we talk with pride.(And man, do I talk bollards!)
The debrief was comprehensive, with a bit of grammar school thrown in for good measure. I couldn't wish for a better souvenir of another day at the Seafront.(Well I could, but that's another story...and we still got lost going to the Station )

 

[rich p]

Excellent stuff, Ape. Photo-journalism is the poorer for Chinese dentist's gain. 2.30?

£85 for a double room at Andy's? It must be true, I saw that before I lost my Whits-at-table.

 

[Origamist]

An excellent ride after an inauspicious start at HPC (a double deflation).

The weather was kind and we quickly started to make up lost time. The vocab-challenged denizens of Gravesend were as amusing and vocal as ever, but nothing could detract from the fact this was a silky-smooth ride with precious few incidents.

At Rochester we had a welcome pit-stop after only a couple of mechanicals en-route and by the time we departed, sunrise was not far away.

The second half of the ride was one of the quickest I can recall, still a conversational pace, but with v few interruptions (apart from a few welcome stops to savour the local architectural delights).

Waymarking and TEC support was excellent throughout and the ride was buoyed by an intermittent tail-wind and great, varied company.

The last 7 miles were a bit of a blur, but I do recall two amorous horses in a field and that's about it. When we arrived at the cafe at 7.10 the doors were shut, but within 5 mins we were quenching our thirst and ordering large portions of cholestrol.

It was a pleasure to meet Gareth and Meg, Rich P (small and amusing in real life), Ian, the babe, McWobble (that's not MacB, in case anyone is confused!) and the usual suspects at the bar: TC, Martin. We took the scenic route to the train station and thanks to the ever-generous Martin for sorting out the groupsave tickets (in spite of the impatient oiks who pushed in). The train to Victoria was on time and we were able to use the bike carriage - almost unheard of. Some members of our party decided sleep was the wisest course of action, others (myself included) decided to continue talking nonsense...

Thanks, as ever to: Simon, User10571, Adrian, Adam, Tim et al for their sterling work in making the ride such a (seemingly) effortless success.

Finally, the ride was beautifully balanced: 7 hours on the road and 7 hours at the bar/cafe in Whitstable. Very Yin-Yang.

 

[TimO]

I don't think I've posted here yet, although it's possible in my post-ride dopiness I may have!

As others have already said, it was nice to have a ride which didn't involve trying to minimise the amount of water carried around in soaking wet clothes.

Because of that, it was relatively mechanical free, and even with the two double punctures, and one solo, this didn't delay the ride significantly. Even getting in at just after 8 with Arthur, although we were a good half hour behind the rest of the ride, it was still a good bit earlier than many rides of recent times! I don't think we've had a ride quite as fast for a couple of years, probably since my first season back in 2008. Even then only some of the rides, probably with far less people, rivalled the speed of this one.

It's also worth noting, as Simon also said, the ride stayed together spectacularly well. When you all went past as I was stopping with Arthur near the end, I was quite surprised how fast everyone went past. Often towards the end the ride gets even more strung out than usual, with the rush towards breakfast, but if that was true on this one, it was far from obvious.

The GPS track has been put up already, but it's interesting to compare the track from this month and last September, and see the handful of small changes to the route.

In summary, a grand fast dry ride.

 

[theclaud]

I got lost, as usual, trying to get back to Marylebone from Victoria. Unfortunately Yan was following me (I think it was Yan, my memory seems to be a bit hazy for some reason... ) because I rather rashly claimed I knew the way back to HPC. Sorry for the impromptu tour of the Victoria Embankment, Knightsbridge and Hyde Park! Hope you found Paddington okay.

Oh no! I haven't spoken to Dr Evil* since - I will find out what became of him. My last words to him were "find out what route Alan recommends... and then take any one but that..."

He's Jan with a "J", by the way...

 

[theclaud]

the ride was beautifully balanced: 7 hours on the road and 7 hours at the bar/cafe in Whitstable. Very Yin-Yang.

Yes - we were indeed thoroughly yinyanged. I'd like it noted that I was not the first at the bar.

Thanks all. Great ride and delightful company. I had a whale of a time again, and was delighted that Meg and Gareth managed to join us for this one (I've been attempting to lure them in for a while now). Whitstable is a fairly full-on ride for a first FNRttC, and I thought they pulled it off with considerable panache. The Stoichkov thing sparked a bit of a man-love moment for Simon and Gareth, but then Meg and The Babe are both broad-minded sorts...

A bonus point for anyone who can tell me where this (taken yesterday afternoon) is, and what on earth it has to do with the great Tanganyika Groundnut Scandal:

 

[Aperitif]

Oh no! I haven't spoken to Dr Evil* since - I will find out what became of him. My last words to him were "find out what route Alan recommends... and then take any one but that..."

He's Jan with a "J", by the way...

The Covent Garden guided tour 'a la Alan' would have been a top recommendation.
Please apologise to Jan - I would have led both back to their stations - no problem.

Ian asked me earlier today what time we caught the train back on Saturday?
I have just found my ticket (the one I lost when exiting at Victoria ) - it was in my camera man bag; "Printed at 14:11" - so that's cool.
We left early.
The bar staff were also smashing, and really personable. There was another story about names and breakfasts, but too detailed for ear...I was pleased that the lovely girl behind the bar had sorted out her tan properly this visit. Ian we will look forward to seeing some more of it next time.