FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast Brighton 9th May

[rb58]

Don't tell @ianrauk we got the train back to London. No, don't.

I almost filed last night under 'Epic' but not quite. I think we've seen worse ........ it may have been the Emsworth ride a couple of years ago when the 24 hour Tesco at Horsham was our refuge - now that was 'Epic'. But it was wet. Very wet. Any yet, I really enjoyed this FNRttC and I can't explain why. The road from the bottom of Pebble Hill to Faygate is one of my favourites and I managed to orchestrate a good 15 minute stretch when there was no-one visible in front of, or behind me. It was worth getting wet just for that experience.

My clothing choices worked out perfectly - just the Night Vision jacket over a long sleeve Merino top was all that was needed, and even my feet were still dry at the half way stage. Sealskin socks working perfectly for once. That wasn't the case when we got Madeira Drive, which was my primary reason for not riding back, where walking was accompanied by a strange squelching noise. I was in short finger gloves all night and deployed the 'latex gloves under soaking wet mitts' trick when we left the cafe, to great effect. And don't you think the second half of every ride should start with a hill, it did a great job of dealing with the chill we inevitably experience after the break? I was worried the forecast 20+mph headwind (gusting to 30+mph) was going to rip the group apart, but whilst I could feel a headwind, it really wasn't bad. And then there was the narrow cross country lane just before Ansty. It's years since I'd been that way and I've made a mental note to get back there and experience it in better conditions. Lovely.

After a quick bacon roll, I lost my 'group save' virginity, and we were soon at Victoria heading for Fenchurch Street where I said farewell to my nephew Chris who had completed his second ever FNRttC, and who is definitely getting stronger as a rider but may have regretted wearing five layers last night. Yep, five! An extra loop of the South Bank and a loop of Rotherhithe were added to my ride home and I unlocked my front door with 100.5 miles on the clock. Which means last night was my tenth century of 2014, and my 100th overall. Another reason why last night was special.

Later on I got a text from Chris to say that he opted not to get a train from Fenchurch Street, but rode solo all the way back to just short of Southend ending up with 106 miles for the night - only his second ever century. Chapeau!

Big thanks as always to our leader and his support crew - it really is a very slick operation and that inspires great confidence in the riders. I'm sorry I didn't help out as much as I usually do, but I wanted to stick relatively close to Chris as the conditions had the potential to test the resolve even amongst the most enthusiastic. Although clearly I needn't have worried.

Thanks for your company everyone, and excuse my random musings, but I've just awoken from a glorious Fridays Power Nap. I love you all!

 

[BigGee]

We it was not the wettest ride nor the coldest we have done, but it was possibly the windiest one, certainly that I have done and definitely merits a place in the folder marked 'character building'!

We knew the rain was coming, you probably did not really need to be a weather man to know which way the wind was blowing on this occasion, but to complicate things it started and remained quite mild for the whole of the night. This always makes getting your clothing right a bit of a challenge, having enough on to keep you dry may also have the side effect of causing you to melt. I choose to give my relatively new lightweight Goretex waterproof its first real go in some truly horrible weather and I was pleased to report it did a really good job, my upper half staying pretty dry.

My main mistake was delaying putting on the overshoes, hoping that we would make the cabin before it got really heavy. Unfortunately we did not and we got lashed upon in the cross country section from the bottom of the hill over to Faygate. That has long been one of my favourite stretches of all the routes we do but it was not last night. The weather had deteriorated to a point by then that you could barely see the road in front of you and a long stint spent waymarking a large hole in the road ensure feeling in my feet had all but disappeared by the time we hit the café.

Mugs of tea, doorstep sandwiches and the famous bread pudding went some way to restoring energy and enthusiasm. Simon had already made the very sensible decision to cut out some of the usual route highlights and take the crow flies route into Brighton. A few people, probably equally sensibly, decided that a train home was a good idea. Adam and Titus generously offered to escort a party to the nearby station, muttering something along the lines of 'we may be gone sometime' and headed off into the night. we were not sure if we would see them again.

The rest of us headed off into the wind and the rain which was by this time coming at us in horizontal sheets. I was wearing wrap around glasses and it was still hurting my eyes, so goodness knows how those without were coping. We avoided The beacon and Devils Dyke but you can't get to Brighton without crossing a few hills and they were of the short sharp variety and not always expected. Eventually we came onto the cycle path running alongside the A23 and Brighton came into view, the last bit being gently downhill.

We ended up arriving an hour or so ahead of schedule, they had barely got the kettle and the bacon on at the café! That wqas quickly rectified and we refuelled. It was only at that point that I began to feel cold and wet and judging by the chattering teeth around me I was not the only one. Those that had the fore site to bring some dry cloths headed of to the public loos once they opened and generous use was made of the hand dryer, including by Simon, who I found drying his hair! I am still not sure why?

Eventually after all the stragglers arrived in and we had retreated inside the Madeira to get out of the wind, Adam and Titus hove into view, having felt honour bound to forsake the train and finish the ride on 2 wheels, fair play to them for that. As always after a challenging ride there was a sense of general satisfaction and achievement at completing it and there was some good banter around the table, tongues being gently loosened by a hip flask of vintage Dalwhiinnie that was doing the rounds. Weatherspoons was beckoning for some and trains home for others and we parted looking forward to more of the same next weekend outside York Minster.

As usual thanks to Simon for his brilliant organisation and his sensible decisions on route planning. I still have not done the Devils Dyke but I don't think it will go away and will be climbed on another day. Thanks to everyone else for the companionship and camaraderie that gets you through a night like that.

Here is the route for anyone who is interested.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/496671141

 

[Flying Dodo]

Well, that was interesting.

It was wet at times, but it was nowhere near as wet as the biblical proportions of water we had on the Manchester to Morecambe ride 2 years ago. Then, the rain didn't just fall, it was a complete monsoon with solid sheets of water cascading out of the sky. Just like in the tropics, only not as warm. So last night wasn't too bad considering.

It was nice to do little variations, such as going across Tooting Bec Common (power to the people), and then seeing the exotic night life in Sutton, and the charming one brain-celled idiot who wished us to get crushed by lorries. The rush of heading down Pebble Combe Hill and then the hypnotic rise and fall of the road as we headed towards Faygate, where at one point we had to take care not to run over the various frogs sitting in the road. Titus and I chaperoned Paul who was struggling, so it wasn't until 4:15 that we arrived at the sanctuary of the Cabin, and swung open the door to see a mini swimming pool of water swishing over the floor - I hope they had lots of mops.

After a resuscitating cup of coffee, whilst everyone else headed off to Brighton, we led a small band of survivors off to Three Bridges, where the trains were running all night. Then Titus and I headed off towards Brighton. When the rain started, I pointed out several impressive viewpoints - or they would have been, if they hadn't been obscured by low cloud. We took a slightly circular route to the east of the A23 to try and avoid the worst of the hills and then headed through Burgess Hill, Hassocks and then along the A23 cycle path into Brighton. So we ended up doing 66 miles in total, 34 of those on a totally different route to everyone else!

We can all experience the same thing and appreciate different things, and the other way round as well. After all, the FNRttC is not just about the journey, it's also about the people.

Keep pedalling folks.

 

[swansonj]

"The exotic nightlife in Sutton"

As I remarked to a couple of people, I grew up in Carshalton, next door to Sutton. My memory is that Sutton was distinguished pretty well solely for having a rather spiffing Public Library. When one wanted a book that was too worthy for one's local library to stock, one made the journey to Sutton to see if their Library had it, feeling a bit like a country bumpkin visiting the Big City. Oh, and they had a single-screen Cinema, which was a bit of a racy thing to have, and which one's parents took one to, if I recall, twice in one's entire childhood, to see Chitty Chitty BB and Those Magnificent Men. So last night's exotic nightlife and accompanying police presence was something of an eye opener !

 

[StuAff]

I can only beg forgiveness on behalf of myself and the others that bailed.......
Wet is what I was.
Epic precipitation management failure.
Why, why, why did the piece de resistance back-up rain jacket remain in my bag.
While the Montane and the Rapha soft-shell and the two layers below it get soaked through.
Can you tell the readers why you did that, User10571?
Well, can you?
The sacrificial marigolds-as-gaiters did little to stop the rain entering through the ankle cuff of my overshoes.
Maybe I should've enhanced their next-to-skin sealing property by deploying a cable tie around each one?

Nomination for top marks for way-marking goes to Paul Ride for his cunningly innovative use of a strategically placed front light, enabling him to cast the shadow of a Very Big Pointy Hand on the white wall of The Star in Rusper
http://goo.gl/maps/f5NCi

Well done to all those who completed.

Yes, that was inspired!

 

[rb58]

[QUOTE 3073585, member: 30090"]
As I was riding out of Brighton I spied with my little eye a coin op launderette - ''Prestons Launderette'' and now would be my chance to emulate Nick Kamen. As it was, £3.20 lighter and roughly 50 mins later, now dry was my gloves, jacket, base layer, jersey, overshoes, socks, hat and longs. My shoes were also dryish with me stuffing them full of newspaper whilst my kit was in the tumble dryer.
[/QUOTE]
Brilliant! That beats drying socks under the hand dryer at Junction 31 hands down.

 

[dellzeqq]

It's a bit crap, isn't it, advertising one ride and then taking people on another? But......(sig material alert) my reasoning was impeccable. London was going to get it in a big way. The Norwegians predicted 7.5mm of rain in an hour. Brighton would get wet, but not drenched. The further south we were at any one time, the greater our chances of getting to Brighton. And so, we went the quick way to Faygate (32.5 miles) rather than the slow way (36.5 miles) and, better yet, the route that many of us remembered from three weeks ago. Last month the faster riders reached the Cabin at 3.10 - this month they rolled in at 3.35, the headwind accounting for 15 minutes of that an extended 'comfort stop' on the path to the 17th green for the other 10.

But....what a difference in the effort! Last month we freewheeled along moonlit roads - I remember riding alongside User10571 at the front, marvelling at the countryside. This time around it was a real grind in to the wind, and I barely lifted my eyes from the road ahead. Leaving people behind at junctions was a real wrench (big up John K for taking the last but one windswept turn in the middle of nowhere), and I can well imagine Grahame wondering if his time was well spent standing in a hole for half an hour.

I took the mini-roundabout in Faygate and waited. And waited some more. Cyclists arrived in dribs, drabs and drips, looking nothing like the blessed-out specimens of last month. The tail arrived some time after 4 a.m., four TECs escorting one very tired rider.

The climb to Colgate warmed us up, and I decided to push on to the Ansty service station in the hope that people would stay warm and that we'd get some miles in before the rain intensified. It sort of worked. The easterly descent to Pease Pottage was a respite from the wind, the road south to Handcross is sheltered, the B2114 smooth, quick easy on the eye and, while Deak's Lane was rougher than I remembered, it shaved a mile off the route.

And so on to Clayton Hill. The road is dull, but it gets you there. The cycle path that follows is crap, but, again, it gets you there, and in pretty short order. We've not arrived in Brighton at 7.15 since the good old days, and, given the headwind, I reckon that was a pretty fair effort. I know that people were wet, but the truth is we got off lightly.

So.......apologies for not going down Lonesome Lane and across the dam at the Hammer Pond. But thank you for being such a cheerful bunch on a rubbish night. You're all lovely.

 

[dellzeqq]

and especial apologies to swansonj, who'd tee'd up the most magnificent disquisition on how baby pylons come in to the world and how they grow up and march across the countryside taking electricity to towns, villages and farms in every corner of the country....

 

[swansonj]

and especial apologies to swansonj, who'd tee'd up the most magnificent disquisition on how baby pylons come in to the world and how they grow up and march across the countryside taking electricity to towns, villages and farms in every corner of the country....

Don't worry, Dellers, @User was indulgent enough to listen to disjointed excerpts as we cycled up one of your "it's not as hilly as Devil's Dyke" hills....

 

[JoeyB]

I love reading these ride reports, I'll do my own at some point when I've had a bit more sleep!

 

[Fab Foodie]

Are folks' characters well built?

Mine certainly is/was ....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Don't tell @ianrauk we got the train back to London. No, don't.

Some of us showed some backbone

 

[GrumpyGregry]

After a resuscitating cup of coffee, whilst everyone else headed off to Brighton, we led a small band of survivors off to Three Bridges, where the trains were running all night.

For future reference; first train to Victoria from Horsham on a Sat is 05:30. Bit nearer than 3 B's.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Deak's Lane was rougher than I remembered, it shaved a mile off the route.

In daylight Deak's makes Slugwash look like a newly opened motorway...

 

[ChrisBailey]

Well, that was interesting.

After a resuscitating cup of coffee, whilst everyone else headed off to Brighton, we led a small band of survivors off to Three Bridges, where the trains were running all night. Then Titus and I headed off towards Brighton.

I was part of that group, a very easy ride to Three Bridges excepting the mad bus driver who took exception to my presence in his bus lane and was taking no passengers as I scampered out of his way.

I never realised Flying Dodo & AK Bob were going to continue, I would happily have chaperoned those in difficulty to Three Bridges as my pack was not not mechanical or physical just logistical.

My 1st FNRttc this year, I actually enjoyed almost every minute of it, good to see so many familiar faces again.

Simon, you really should get a PayPal account, it would save you so much hassle and is perfectly designed for this kind of low level subscription. Can we help you here?

Chris