FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Southend on Sea 7th November

[clivedb]

Blimey!
Looks a very clean break, almost like it's been done with a hacksaw.

You don't mean ....it was sabotaged!....

 

[Dogtrousers]

What a great ride. Thanks to Simon, the TECs, the waymarkers, the cake and sandwich people, the all-upper and not forgetting of course the tunnel watcher.
That was a very pleasant route and plenty of chance to look at the water on final approach
Was that last path a final snook cocked by DZ at mudguards? An evil plan to clog the offending items with the very substance that they should be guarding against. If so, it worked.

I'm in bed now. I missed the 0910 ferry from Tilbury despite giving it welly (by my standards) on the way, and only getting lost two or three times, so I had a 50 minute cold and miserable wait for the next one. I didn't feel like resuming after that. Train home from Gravesend.

 

[StuAff]

SMRbtL completed- 4 1/2 hours. Some arguments between Garmin and road network, lots of congestion in the smoke, but mostly rider failing to cope with strong crosswinds. 108 miles done Waterloo-Saarfend and back, glad to get that in the bag. On train home, more to follow.

 

[hatler]

OK.
As this is turning into reminiscence central - who remembers Morag?
Morag with the tent, the sleeping bag, and strawberries (or was it raspberries) for everyone?

Yup, I had a long chat with Morag. She had great spirit.

 

[TimO]

Bad luck Tim.

It was rather annoying, but a lot more recoverable than the other Tim's failure. A quick dig around in the spares box should find a replacement quick release skewer.

I put a bolt on skewer on there, because it has been used in places where losing a wheel from a locked up bike could be possible (especially since you don't carry many locks with a carbon fibre bike!). I was never very impressed by the build quality of that skewer, and this appears to support that presumption. Simon can now add Allen key 'quick-release' skewers to his list of 'do not', along with mudguards. The only thing that could have been worse, would have been a high security skewer without the key!

Annoyingly, that bike has a Vittoria Pave clincher on the rear wheel, which is supposed to be the Marathon Plus of road tyres, in terms of punctures (and its cost reflects that). I don't know what caused that hole, because Aperitif failed to find anything in the tyre when he searched over it, and it went down very rapidly. It was one of those puncture where you can hear the hiss going around, as it rotates and gets interrupted by bits of the frame. It's the first puncture I've ever had in that tyre (or that type of tyre).

The route from where things went wrong for me, to Laindon Station, was far less obvious than I was hoping it would be, but a Smart Phone is a godsend in such a situation. The station was only signposted once I was almost within sight of it, and then the cycle route that I foolishly followed, eventually required me to walk up a quite long staircase (predictably). For anyone who wants the route, as far as Basildon, it's here (on GPSies).

I woke up about an hour ago, after not setting an alarm when I got back at around 7am. Nothing else want wrong with the wheel, but I really didn't want to risk the skewer going again, with the consequent wheel lock, and skid, if I was moving at more than a bimble. It was only about a mile from Fenchurch Street to London Bridge, and then another mile home, at the far end. On the plus side, the trains weren't very busy, although the London bound platform at Laindon rapidly gained people a few minutes before the trains arrived, after I'd been sat by myself for half an hour, in a strangely silent and deserted station.

 

[kimble]

Lovely ride, with absolutely no knee problems at all.

Lungs suffered somewhat from the atmosphere in the Rotherhithe tunnel, which slowed me down a bit later on, but that's my fault for bringing lungs to the Rotherhithe tunnel: There's no benefit from having them, and if they're not rattling, they're slowing you down just by being there. On the plus side, the tunnel wasn't littered with the detritus of a thousand broken wing mirrors, as it's been every other time I've been through it. I can only assume the Tunnel Watcher had been extra busy while were faffing about at HPC.

The bonus Comedy Off-Roading On Mildly Inappropriate Bikes™ just made the ride more memorable.

Things went a bit wrong after I headed for the station. The people who were following me vanished, and I got an entire train carriage to myself all the way to Lpoo St. I then spent about an hour and a half failing to find the agreed All Bar One based entirely on my dozy recollection of the map that Xi showed me at breakfast (with additional hindrance from a vast amount of road closures in the City, the pedestrian critical mass at Tower Hill, and a couple of decoy cycle route signs). I did find the one at London Bridge, but that didn't seem to have any cyclists. By which point it was time to head to Euston for my (pleasingly uneventful) onward journey.

I cunningly timed my arrival in Brum to be between downpours, though the road spray made up for it.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Just back in Brussels and just thanks

To Simon
To Suzie
To the waymarkers
To the TECs
To the Tully's
To the Rose
To the discoverer of that excellent route
And
To each and everyone who contributed to a fantastic night.

 

[User10571]

I'm recently returned, from having spent ~ 6hrs in the company of some of the finest.
In All Bar One.
Thank you all for your delightful company.

 

[mmmmartin]

Just back in Brussels

Hope to see you on Els' Ostend ride next May.

 

[PaulRide]

I'm recently returned, from having spent ~ 6hrs in the company of some of the finest.
In All Bar One.

...and did you remember to pick up your sausages?

 

[User10571]

...and did you remember to pick up your sausages?

I did.
Pork and apple, from Ginger Pig. Oh my! are they pricey - compared to my Peckham butcher.
Currently they're enjoying ~3°C in my fridge.
Edit - In fairness, I should add that the sausages are massive.

 

[Nigel182]

A short Hyper Lapse Video of Last Nights Ride...but only from Wellington Arch to somewhere in West Ham......
Must rember to Charge the Battery and Format the Memory Card... !!!!!

Had a great ride pleased to finish it with Knees feeling Normal

Thanks to Simon and all the TEC's for a great Effort have enjoyed Each and Every FNRttC I've been on

Apologies for leaving early....Café was well Chokka and I had to get back to pick up a new N+1

Looking forward to seeing you all again soons.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Lungs suffered somewhat from the atmosphere in the Rotherhithe tunnel, which slowed me down a bit later on, but that's my fault for bringing lungs to the Rotherhithe tunnel: There's no benefit from having them, and if they're not rattling, they're slowing you down just by being there.

Very good.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Songs going through my head last night

Billy Bragg, A13 Trunk road to the sea

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FdVjtXkQuxQ


Moz Dagenham Dave

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-VkwNZAhPQE


Ian Dury, Billericky Dickie

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T-JIzWFfsPk


And for Sketchley and his "all up" another tune by Mr Bragg

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qbDQhpGof6M

 

[EltonFrog]

A short Hyper Lapse Video of Last Nights Ride...but only from Wellington Arch to somewhere in West Ham......
Must rember to Charge the Battery and Format the Memory Card... !!!!!

Had a great ride pleased to finish it with Knees feeling Normal

Thanks to Simon and all the TEC's for a great Effort have enjoyed Each and Every FNRttC I've been on

Apologies for leaving early....Café was well Chokka and I had to get back to pick up a new N+1

Looking forward to seeing you all again soons.

What's going on with the balloons on the back of the bike at 0:18 secs?