Mice
Guru
Another brilliant ride! I know it rained and we were all cycling, queuing and eating whilst being soaked to the skin but to let precipitation affect participation of these rides would be - for me - so wrong.
Following the instructions detailed in the FNRttC blog "it's all about the bike" means that on the night it really is "all about the ride". The build up of fellow FNRttCers in numbers and excitement - greetings, chatting, joking and joshing to midnight when we all reshape behind His Dellzeqqship and glide out like a shoal of fish through central London, over the river, through Clapham, Mitcham, across to the Downs and beyond, it's just fantastic. The wayfaring, regrouping, chatting, amongst the requisite "Easy! Stopping! Right! Left!" warnings just kept us all together right the way to a door-stop of a ham sandwich and two cups of tea somewhere in Sussex (I think!).
The sun came up, not that we saw it, as along with the alleged meteorites that we didn't see either - in fact the only Met we saw were the Metropolitan Police who were out in force having to deal with the appalling, inexcusable and unforgivable behaviour that has tainted the streets and devastated - in some cases irretrievably - the lives of many during the previous five days.
Unlike the world according to Chicken-Licken, the only thing that fell from the sky was water. And lots of it. Too much to go cross-country through fields which meant heading up a hill. But that was alright as a certain McWobble who had encouraged me up Turners Hill last month, reassured me that the hill ahead was nothing like Turners Hill. Indeed it wasn't. It was much steeper! I was horrified. One, two, three, four I counted each turn of the pedal to keep them moving. Somehow I made it to the top and as soon as I retrieved my breath - about 10 minutes later! - I suggested to McWobble that his hill estimation was slightly askew...! The 10 minutes however did have a secret benefit as it gave me the perfect opportunity to study and admire Ianrauks new wheels. And very, very lovely they are two. And he travels like a rocket on them. (I am sure TimO may disagree with that) but Ianrauk is very speedy indeed. And they are a very cool shade of blue!
Onwards and wayhayyyy downwards! All the way to the seaside. To top it all the sun came out! Some confusion over where we were eating but a delicious breakfast at the Lobster Pot was followed by beers (and cups of tea) at the Boat House where many of us sat and found the rays and the sea breeze eventually removed the water from shoes, clothes and hair. Excellent!
A train home via Chez User10571 who very kindly spent the next two hours fixing the cones in my rear wheel and oiling my SRAM two push gears which jammed just where Dellzeqq was blocking a dual carriageway to see us to the other side of it. These repairs meant that having cycled 70 miles to Felpham, I could now cycle another 50 miles on Sunday with User10571, Flying Dodo and LouiseL from Canterbury to Whistable. A coastal route following something called the Viking Trail. It was a great day and detailed under Cobweb Cleaner. But that's another story.
As far as Felpham/Bognor is concerned I loved every single minute of it. That may have something to do with the fact that I was one of the lucky ones who was able to be inside the Cabin. I have done some thinking, as have others, about this.
Perhaps this is an opportunity to introduce a "Code Cyclone" queuing system at the halfway stop when the weather is diabolical to at least prevent people, literally, queuing in the rain whilst tables inside remain dry and unattended. A sort of - on arrival, the first five go queue, the rest sit themselves down, make sure that everyone is inside then walking in can join the queue, order and take their food to a table which will prompt the person sitting at it to relinquish their place, stand up and join the queue. A sort of silent musical chairs/last in first to eat. And afterwards those that have eaten vacate their space to allow those who haven't to do so. I am sure this can be said better but hopefully the gist of it is here.
In the meantime... here are some Pics!
Thank you everyone, I had a blast.
M
Edited to add the link to the Pics and to Cobweb Cleaner!
Following the instructions detailed in the FNRttC blog "it's all about the bike" means that on the night it really is "all about the ride". The build up of fellow FNRttCers in numbers and excitement - greetings, chatting, joking and joshing to midnight when we all reshape behind His Dellzeqqship and glide out like a shoal of fish through central London, over the river, through Clapham, Mitcham, across to the Downs and beyond, it's just fantastic. The wayfaring, regrouping, chatting, amongst the requisite "Easy! Stopping! Right! Left!" warnings just kept us all together right the way to a door-stop of a ham sandwich and two cups of tea somewhere in Sussex (I think!).
The sun came up, not that we saw it, as along with the alleged meteorites that we didn't see either - in fact the only Met we saw were the Metropolitan Police who were out in force having to deal with the appalling, inexcusable and unforgivable behaviour that has tainted the streets and devastated - in some cases irretrievably - the lives of many during the previous five days.
Unlike the world according to Chicken-Licken, the only thing that fell from the sky was water. And lots of it. Too much to go cross-country through fields which meant heading up a hill. But that was alright as a certain McWobble who had encouraged me up Turners Hill last month, reassured me that the hill ahead was nothing like Turners Hill. Indeed it wasn't. It was much steeper! I was horrified. One, two, three, four I counted each turn of the pedal to keep them moving. Somehow I made it to the top and as soon as I retrieved my breath - about 10 minutes later! - I suggested to McWobble that his hill estimation was slightly askew...! The 10 minutes however did have a secret benefit as it gave me the perfect opportunity to study and admire Ianrauks new wheels. And very, very lovely they are two. And he travels like a rocket on them. (I am sure TimO may disagree with that) but Ianrauk is very speedy indeed. And they are a very cool shade of blue!
Onwards and wayhayyyy downwards! All the way to the seaside. To top it all the sun came out! Some confusion over where we were eating but a delicious breakfast at the Lobster Pot was followed by beers (and cups of tea) at the Boat House where many of us sat and found the rays and the sea breeze eventually removed the water from shoes, clothes and hair. Excellent!
A train home via Chez User10571 who very kindly spent the next two hours fixing the cones in my rear wheel and oiling my SRAM two push gears which jammed just where Dellzeqq was blocking a dual carriageway to see us to the other side of it. These repairs meant that having cycled 70 miles to Felpham, I could now cycle another 50 miles on Sunday with User10571, Flying Dodo and LouiseL from Canterbury to Whistable. A coastal route following something called the Viking Trail. It was a great day and detailed under Cobweb Cleaner. But that's another story.
As far as Felpham/Bognor is concerned I loved every single minute of it. That may have something to do with the fact that I was one of the lucky ones who was able to be inside the Cabin. I have done some thinking, as have others, about this.
Perhaps this is an opportunity to introduce a "Code Cyclone" queuing system at the halfway stop when the weather is diabolical to at least prevent people, literally, queuing in the rain whilst tables inside remain dry and unattended. A sort of - on arrival, the first five go queue, the rest sit themselves down, make sure that everyone is inside then walking in can join the queue, order and take their food to a table which will prompt the person sitting at it to relinquish their place, stand up and join the queue. A sort of silent musical chairs/last in first to eat. And afterwards those that have eaten vacate their space to allow those who haven't to do so. I am sure this can be said better but hopefully the gist of it is here.
In the meantime... here are some Pics!
Thank you everyone, I had a blast.
M
Edited to add the link to the Pics and to Cobweb Cleaner!
