FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Southend-on-Sea 9th December

[Auntie Helen]

Not 100% sure if I will be coming to Southend to meet you all. As much as I would like to, I may decide against if I wake up cold and tired...

 

[CharlieB]

Sorry I can't be with you on this ride, but work at 07.00 in the morning gets in the way. Anorak on, For those who may be interested or curious, 70000 Brittania (steam) will be leaving Southend Central at 09.34 with a train for Winchester. Just thought I'd mention it.

Sorry I can't be with you on this ride, but work at 07.00 in the morning gets in the way. Anorak on, For those who may be interested or curious, 70000 Brittania (steam) will be leaving Southend Central at 09.34 with a train for Winchester. Just thought I'd mention it.

Thank you for that, Paulus. That's right up my alley of proclivities. Good job I've a camera with me.
Yikes, it's cold in Chesham this eve!
Whoops, hit reply twice there, I think.

Oh , and DavyW, I forgot your bidon I borrowed in the Chilterns - I hope you have enough tonight.

 

[redflightuk]

Well they should be on the road now, unlike myself having only woken up about 30mins ago. Was looking forward to this one too, spent the afternoon cleaning the trike and stuck new tyres on the front, new batteries in the lights.
Looks great out there in the moonlight.

 

[Andrij]

I'm back, having left the peloton at Gidea park around 02:30. A bit chilly, but nothing in comparison to the March ride.

I'm off so grab a bite to eat then SLEEP.

 

[saoirse50]

Well, I'm mighty annoyed. First FNR for ages. Spent the longest I have ever spent preparing for one. New front gear cable, flask of hot, strong coffee to ward off my 3am bike dozes, hip flask of lovely scotch to ward off cold, took me about an hour to get dressed. Spare fleece packed. Then, on Clapham Common while HPC bound, a flat. No problem, had a few minutes spare. Sorted, apart from the fact I couldn't find the culprit. And my fingertips were almost frozen. But I took a chance. Rode on. Tyre getting slowly flatter and flatter. Changed it again. Still could not find anything that might have caused it. Guy on a very fancy Wilier stopped to help. On his commute home (????) He couldn't find anything either, despite us employing the full combined power of our lights in our search. I decided to cut my losses and return home. I was now out of spare tubes, and didn't fancy repairing any in the cold. More importantly, there was obviously something, somewhere in the tyre causing this deflation and if I was too stupid and shortsighted to find it, I obviously didn't deserve to go. Meh. The guy on the Wilier (Sam) rode up to Clapham Common with me where I had to reflate again. He waited to ward off any Clapham Common monsters that might be waiting to attack me. Kind, sweet and gentlemanly but completely unnecessary. We shared a wee dram of my scotch (Bruichladdich from Islay, won it in a raffle in Port Charlotte, while I was on my summer end to end ). Then we went our separate ways.
It took me ages to get all those bloody layers off. I gave up at the last one and fell into bed in my merino base and leggings.
Hope you all had fun and weren't too cold.
Now to find whatever the bxxxxrd was.

 

[redflightuk]

Just been reading tweets and posts elsewhere and it looks like i wouldn't have made it to London anyway. Seems a lot of trains were canx in and out of Kings X. Hope you all had a good ride.
I'm off to surprise them at the stables shortly.

 

[philk56]

Just got home - the train connections worked out very well. Another good ride, very cold but fortunately only one icy patch around the ford. Beautiful shooting star over Canvey Island and lovely sunshine in Southend. Thanks once again to Simon and team - here's to more rides next year...

 

[martint235]

I have to say that going for post-ride drinks without actually going on the ride has to be recommended.

Good to see you all and I hope your ankle recovers soon TC

 

[BigGee]

Well sitting at home feeling very tired but pleased with the efforts of last nights ride. Getting through a bit of adversity always adds a bit to the sense of acheivement and boy it sure was cold last night. There is a bit of madness about doing these rides in december, but life would be very dull if we were all sensible people!

It was a little milestone for me in that I managed my first ride back. A good ride in the company of Gordon, Malcolm and Sandra who stayed with us up to Shenfield. After that we pressed on as best we could, with energy levels starting to sag and eventually made it home by about half twelve. It ended up at about 109 miles for the whole trip for me. I know that is nothing in amongst some of the legendary mile munching that goes on in this group, but it was a good acheivement for me in the journey I have made this year, at the begining of the year I was hardly riding at all, and one that I hope to continue next year. Who knows where it will lead.

So thanks as usual to Simon and all that made it another great event and thanks as well for the whole year. The rides are always sociable, inclusive and impecably organised. It has been great to be a part of it and I have enjoyed starting to get to know some of you a bit better. I am looking forward to next year already and to continuing the journey.

Best wishes and merry christmas to all of you

Grahame

 

[ceepeebee]

well that was tremendous fun, some notable moments:
a blooming traffic jam post midnight at Blackfriars/Embankment
all sorts of shenanigans and police activity as we rolled so smoothly out through East London
lazy santa
the friendly policeman warning us that Romford "isn't the nicest of places"
the most welcome of halfway stops in Stock, those guys are fantastic, and coffee with hot X buns = perfect sustenance.
A couple of long drags into Brentwood and Stock that showed I still have a way to go on my climbing.... Did make them though, just rather slowly.
The ford's immediate aftermath was interesting, what with the crunchy frost on the grass and the ice patches.
The view from the beginning of Leigh out over Canvey was a highlight, gas flares, a real, actual shooting star that drew gasps. Dz invoked Poussin, I was thinking of Brilleaux, Johnson, Sparks and Figure.
And that breakfast - oh that breakfast - *great* bacon.

I think it may be my favourite FNRTTC experience you know. Thanks Simon, you rock.



Oh, it was a bit nippy too.

 

[TimO]

It sounds like you had fun. I was awake for the duration of the ride, sat here in Berkeley,watching people fail to solve a problem with the UHF Transceiver and the deployment boom triggering mechanism.

I got to bed around midnight PST, which would have been around the time you lot were having breakfast in Southend. In something like 45 hours I had three hours of sleep!

I'm back in the Space Science Lab up the hill in Berkeley now, watching other people do things to the spacecraft, and reading up on the brisk weather you had.

The weather here is unbelievably mild. Walking around this morning, it was a bit like a slightly brisk summer morning, but after all, this is California.

Hopefully I'll see you all in the New Year for next years FNRttC season.

 

[clarion]

you were missed. Hope to see you back next year.

 

[martint235]

It sounds like you had fun. I was awake for the duration of the ride, sat here in Berkeley,watching people fail to solve a problem with the UHF Transceiver and the deployment boom triggering mechanism.

I got to bed around midnight PST, which would have been around the time you lot were having breakfast in Southend. In something like 45 hours I had three hours of sleep!

I'm back in the Space Science Lab up the hill in Berkeley now, watching other people do things to the spacecraft, and reading up on the brisk weather you had.

The weather here is unbelievably mild. Walking around this morning, it was a bit like a slightly brisk summer morning, but after all, this is California.

Hopefully I'll see you all in the New Year for next years FNRttC season.

Show off!!!

 

[thom]

well that was tremendous fun, some notable moments:
a blooming traffic jam post midnight at Blackfriars/Embankment

I happened to be walking home from Mansion House Tube at 12.15 so waited at the Southwark bridge junction on Upper Thames St, expecting to see a different perspective of the ride before retreating to a warm flat. I gave up after 15 mins when noone came - glad to see the tardiness was not due to a major problem.
TimO, what is the Berkeley night riding like ? There must be a good cycling culture out there if a lack of breakfast establishments purveying beer at 9am.

 

[wanda2010]

I would like to report, to certain people who dragged me to LMNH - against my will obviously - that I did get some sleep (3 hours) AND I made it to my group dinner later on.

Things I have learnt this FNRTTC year: I can ride a singlespeed long distance. I can ride long distance. I like Guinness with my breakfast. I drink beer more now than I ever did before. I'm getting closer to cycling up a hill standing up. The FNRTTC group are FAB. Oh yes, the route to Southend is NOT flat but I'm glad my legs didn't let me down

I will now retire to bed. I may well be there for the rest of Sunday (bike-cleaning duties notwithstanding).