FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Burnham-on-Crouch 26th October

[martint235]

Anyones feet still cold?

And, did I leave someone behind? Werner?? I hope not.....

So, that was another fantastic ride. I really do love cycling in that part of Blighty. Maybe its cause am subversive to hills, or, that it rains a lot less!

I've done colder, was more wrapped up for them, but, baring my hands and feet, overall, just right... The journey there is just quite nice, once past Romford and the journey back is always good, till Illford.. But not much can be done about that. The half way stop is just fab and so a big thanks and respect to the Tullys. Always smiling, friendly and great and still very reasonably priced goods. The end stop was a bit of a odd-ball, as having brekkie in a freezing cold stock room was quite random, but, the bacon butty was most good. But still, to get what we need at the times we want and numbers we have is still good going so thanks. Not sure about the bouncy floors upstairs however!

The journey back, I wanted to do, then got tooo cold so didnt, then Ian called me a girlie and I couldnt resist.. And so off seven of us went, three with afterburners on... Pah! Couple of miles in and chatting mid-cycle, it seemed three would be going South at Rayleigh and four to London, so, collectively we decided to let the three amigos go, but, didn't have the chance to let them know. However, we all knew Rayleigh was the split point. At this point also, three cyclists entrusted me to guide them back to London...Me, and a Garmin?! Isn't that how Smrbth first start? Point to London and bid farewell to a Saturday afternoon.. Anyhow, I knew the route well as its my preferred tried and tested route back so took charge all the way to Mile End. I will look over it again as theres always rooms for improvment and to try and avoid the Vauxhall Corsas of this world... We almost bailed when the heavens opened, again, but, literally a few hundred yards from the train station Mother Nature started to shine down on us and a democratic vote kept us going all the way to LMNH's.

And so thank you again one and all for a great ride. Its been a while, about 8 weeks since the last Fnrttc did I do anything over 30miles and so to do 133.55 left me feeling rather chuffed. I've still got it and quite obviously, those two muffins at the Tullys did the trick!

I was thinking on Sunday whilst reading the updates on here and watching the Indian GP, how almost coincidental our dates. But, you dont see us stopping for bad weather and rain. Were the real stars of this world. Of which, what a fab nights sky that was. And yes, the flashes of lights were for certainly static discharge, from my thighs!

Thankfully Eddie is a bit faster than you and so let me know what was occurring!. Otherwise we would have been waiting for you and looking for you and generally cursing you!!

 

[RiflemanSmith]

You cycled to Burnham then got the train back?

 

[RiflemanSmith]

Thanks.

 

[ianrauk]

You cycled to Burnham then got the train back?

Some cycled back.......HERE

 

[ianrauk]

I said that.

So...I was showing off.

 

[martint235]

So...I was showing off.

And I think we should show off, particularly as we were representing Team Fast on Saturday

 

[rb58]

I was in team fast and can confirm we didn't hang around.....

 

[User10571]

Sounds like I missed out on a decent ride......

Hang on - I had a decent ride the previous night!

 

[Mice]

Ever done a head count at the end? Or, wondered why I look bloated at brekkie?

I do love a good Chianti....

This made me spit my tea all over my keyboard....!

M

 

[Mice]

Aha - I wasn't actually - I was a free man! Although I started at the back, I rapidly moved up towards the front, as I felt like a change so did some racing along at the front, and later on did some waymarking. As I was on my new commuter bike (minus a rack), both it and I were covered in reflectives, so possibly the flashes we saw was really light bouncing off me.

Anyway, I really, really enjoyed this. Although there hasn't been a FNRttC that I haven't enjoyed, so I guess that's not much help.

Heading out of London along the A11, it was nice to see the Olympic Park, all lit up, although the stretch of the Broadway immediately afterwards, by the shopping centre should be reclassified as a mogul field, rather than a bus/cycle route, judging by the molehill-like appearance of the road surface.

As mentioned above, the night life was definitely subdued, although whilst way-marking at a roundabout in Romford, there was an idiot in a Corsa who was driving around whilst shining a green laser pointer at other cars as well as me. Apart from that, there's not a lot to tell. The folks at Stock Village Hall excelled as always, and then it was nice quiet roads all the way to Burnham.

As Tim O has already done a link for the gps plot, I haven't bothered uploading mine. Although Tim H may not have taken many photos, I did, so here's one of him:-

All of the photos, including messing around on the water, and tomfoolery at LMNH, can be seen here.

I wondered what you were doing when you cycled up to me as I was convinced you had broken out from the back - clearly I fuddled the TEC Team and mistook you for Andrij - must have been distracted by All Up Davy Walnutwhips thighs Great to see you tho' and thank you for the pics although Im not entirely sure why my feet feature....!!!

Hope to see you soon.

Mice

 

[martint235]

Sounds like I missed out on a decent ride......

Hang on - I had a decent ride the previous night!

This was the same ride, double the distance, double the fun!

 

[Wobblers]

Since the Cardiff FNRttC was the last long distance ride I did before breaking my ankle, it seemed only fitting that it should be on a FNRttC that I make my return to "proper" cycling. Mind you, it wasn't without some trepidation. Would my ankle survive? Would I have to be shot and left in a ditch, the traditional recipe for stragglers? Would Martin be even more miserable now that he was abstaining? Would Davy be wearing shorts? Would Mice be rocketing up all the hills? Most importantly, would Adrian be any the less grumpy jolly?

All these questions, and more, were milling around my mind whilst I headed off for the station. I had a cunning plan - if I caught the last London Midland train, I'd get in to HPC just in time for Dell's pep talk, which would cut out much of the standing around I'm not really up to. Unfortunately, I hadn't factored in London Midland's failure to realise that a train needs a driver... One apologetic message to Dell plus a frenetic ride through London later and I managed to get to HPC just about on the stroke of midnight! Well, I suppose I managed to avoid the standing around after all...

I started out taking things gently at the back of the ride - wasn't London really busy?? That was the plan, anyway. But after a while, I found myself going faster and faster - well, you've got to stay warm somehow, haven't you? - until finally after those wonderful lanes at the ford we were at Stock. The Tully family were as marvellous as ever - and if you didn't have one of those chocolate muffins you missed something special!

The second part of the ride was if anything better than the first. We now had a tail wind to speed us along even more wonderful lanes - at times it felt like we were wafting gently through the night, with no effort needed, as if the bike knew where to go and we were merely passangers. Then there were the stars - stopped at a cross roads in Darkest (literally!) Essex, they blazed forth with a glory seldom seen. It seemed no time at all and we were in Burnham, and breakfast.

After which, ferry, Southend, train and revitalisation at LMNH. Superb! It was simply Good to be able to catch up with people I haven't seen in months: scarily, I've missed you bunch of reprobates! Actually, it's Good to be back.

 

[Wobblers]

The meet and greet at the Arch was in full swing - a mixture of some new and some familiar faces - all wrapped up and ready for the Bollards, Bump and Bungalow warnings. There was no The Claud which was a big disappointment although the compensation was in the form of McWobble - huzzahhhh - who has recovered enough to do his first FNRttC in four months since breaking his ankle. Brilliant to see you back on two - very smart - wheels. TimO, Martint235, Ianrauk and Flying Dodo were named as the TEC team with All Up Wallnuts at the rear.


Mice

Hah. I'm not entirely sure I'm able to step into TC's shoes...

 

[martint235]

Hair, check.
Love of beer, check.

I don't know, its a start

 

[Wobblers]

Hair, check.
Love of beer, check.

I don't know, its a start

Ahem. I think you forgot the "generally all-round Fantastically Wonderful person" bit, I'll have you know.