FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Southend on Sea June 29th - the Genteel Ride

[Shrimp_Stu]

Good to see the riders coming through from Hadleigh to Leigh, and chatted to one of the ride leaders ferrying riders right into Tattersall Gardens (I was on my Orbea Onix wearing my Morvelo black shirt) and then again some riders along the seafront as I came back along my loop. Nice variation of bikes out there, and one year I will gladly join this ride.
Chapeau to all

 

[martint235]

That was a really good ride. The time flew by and before we knew it we were approaching the joy of Junction 31 in a downpour. I would have put my waterproof on but 'Teef assured me that J31 was "just around the corner". Yes that corner that's over a mile from here.

We stayed at J31 for quite some time and then pootled off to Southend. A quick sprint along the front, a fantastic breakfast and cycled home all before 11am!! They'll only just have started serving beers in LMNH!

Me and Davywalnuts firmed up the plans for the diplomatic incident that is otherwise known as FNRttC Newhaven/Dieppe so that's all good too.

 

[TimO]

Good to see the riders coming through from Hadleigh to Leigh, and chatted to one of the ride leaders ferrying riders right into Tattersall Gardens (I was on my Orbea Onix wearing my Morvelo black shirt) and then again some riders along the seafront as I came back along my loop. Nice variation of bikes out there, and one year I will gladly join this ride.
Chapeau to all

That was me, I should have asked you who you were on the forum, but by that point in the ride I'm getting a bit dopey! Calling me a ride leader is probably a bit optimistic, I'm just an occasional waymarker and TEC, but always happy to help out, and chat to anyone whilst waiting for the end to catch up.

It was nice to talk briefly. I hope your ride was dry, it seemed to get a bit better for a while, but during part of our train journey back, it poured down!

I just got home to find a Kai as well as Zev. Since Zev is under house arrest, the cat flap is set to allow incoming (identified) cats only, and they can't then get out. It's not selective on egress, so once Kai comes in, he's stuck. In all likelihood, he came in for breakfast so probably wasn't stuck for too long. Once he'd scoffed some brunch, he asked to be let out again, and has wandered off to patrol his patch.

The ride was as good as ever. The little cloudburst before the Dartford Services was as wet as it got, and I cured that by changing into my spare jersey, that sufficed for the remainder of the ride. Waymarking at Tattersall Gardens and then again at Belton Gardens gave me the excuse to blast back to the front by Chalkwell station, and then race along the front with Charlotte and Julian on the Tandem, and Simon, getting to the Rose a smattering after 7am.

I'm not sure that we had a single visitation by the fairy on this ride, which is pretty unusual for a ride with this many on it, not that I imagine the TECs are complaining!

I would imagine the Slags have been cracked open at Look Mum No Hands by now (being past the 11am threshold), but unfortunately I needed to be back in Croydon to give Zev her medication (Nurse, the screens ...), so couldn't stay out for post ride analysis and rehydration.

 

[ianmac62]

Splendid ride. Thanks, Simon. Thanks too to Olaf for mechanical assistance and being so well organised re group travel that I was home in Northampton by 11.30 a.m. Door-to-door mileage = 61 and so a PB on my Brommie. Only sorry I didn't live up to the sartorial elegance of Stuart, Stephen and the others. A great night out.

 

[bcy]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for making me welcome, despite my Dynamo jersey! (I promise, I am not a member, poor purchasing skills shall we say?), and to Simon for organising it. I had a great time, and it certainly won't be my last FNRttC.

BCY

 

[srw]

A perfect genteel ride, and far more satisfying than I'd expected from previous (family) trips to Sarfend. The first half is much more about travelling through London than the other routes I've been on. There's a real sense of moving from central to City to inner to outer and suburbs and then industrial estates.

We sat out the rain in J31 - perfectly adequate- before heading through unexpected vistas and rural land to the increasingly crinkly string of hills that makes up the Sarfend approaches.

The ride was surprisingly comfortable on the Brommie and in completely inappropriate garb. And the post-ride sun and beer have led to extreme tiredness. I trust Charlotte made her stokerless way successfully to Paddington - I would've been harder on mine than she was!

 

[TimO]

I've put the GPS track up on GPSies, although it's not dramatically different from other similar rides we've done in the past.

 

[StuAff]

'Twas great. Having got out of the door at work in plenty of time to make my usual train, met Simon & Susie who'd very kindly brought the Viner to Clapham Junction. It'll be getting a thorough clean tomorrow (not Ian-clean, but clean enough for me...). On to Victoria and then HPC we went. Apart from the heavy shower, for which I had thankfully prepared, the ride was remarkably trouble-free. Finished about fifth or sixth in the Breakfast Sprint Trophy, my early attempt at a breakaway having somewhat petered out, but not a bad effort , and I decided against attempting the ride back into the smoke (the headwind didn't appeal this time...). Journey home went smoothly enough, and a brief nap left me with enough energy to watch the climax of the TdF prologue (I won't mention the result here for the benefit of anyone planning to watch the highlights, but it was a corker).
Thanks one and all!
Roll on Friday. That'll be lovely, that will, won't it?

 

[redfalo]

What a splendid ride. Stuart, Steve and Greg all deserve the fancy dress award of 2012. I'm quite proud that I was the second person to order breakfast at the Rose (Greg must have jumped the queue, I guess... ) . I do remember the times when I was among the last person to arrive.
Some pics:

 

[srw]

For anyone who managed to avoid hearing, that shirt and jacket are ones which used to fit me like a rather snug glove. I am quite absurdly proud of that fact.

 

[ianrauk]

For anyone who managed to avoid hearing, that shirt and jacket are ones which used to fit me like a rather snug glove. I am quite absurdly proud of that fact.

They were..eeerm... hanging off you a bit lol.. impressive stuff.

 

[Aperitif]

For anyone who managed to avoid hearing, that shirt and jacket are ones which used to fit me like a rather snug glove. I am quite absurdly proud of that fact.

"My! What strange hands one has..."
There were no punctures all night - ergo nice clean hands for me. Only Charlotte, eagle-eyed, handy with a wren ch and gaining a feather in her cap, spotted this;

As Ian mentioned - "A first in the wild". We all read about it, but it can happen. Charlotte was pleased to help the rider to fork off and we continued on our way...
At 'J31' - that all-nite eaterie, they were prepared for the surge of fitness which was to permeate the floor. Here's an example of something a peeling, exfoliating itself in excitement...all for 79p. (Too long in the 'Granny' ring methinks).

A specimen with advanced 'Davyphobia Wiltalotis'

And, to heap ignominy upon us unsuspecting souls, we were subjected to a guessing game involving 'Lord Snooty of the Folders' and his tasting pack...disgraceful! Thanks, Andrij!

Olaf, in the background, remained impressed with Andrij's assiduous pursuit of 'Cycletraining; Theory and Practice'

Meanwhile, the rain tumbled down...to coin the words of East 17 in their record 'Steam' - "Outside it's raining but inside it's wet!"
03:42 et seq - but it is all good!

 

[ceepeebee]

well, I thoroughly enjoyed that one, as can potentially be seen in that photo from Olaf above where I look like some sort of lunatic....

Weird thing - I'm finding it hard to pick out highlights - possibly it was just the general bonhomie/camaraderie, the feeling of fun along the ride, even on Bread and Cheese hill, which was steep - but even I made it up without swearing under my breath too much.

The sunrise was gorgeous, that long lazy downhill into Linford (I think that was the section) was great - smooth and relaxing. I did see a cracking hacienda-like bungalow somewhere along the route - covered in plants - would live there! I liked the long schlep down the front too, a flat straight blast - just my thing...

Then came a stonking breakfast, then.... I had previously decided to try and ride back, and duly spoke with Ian and thought I'd give it a go, not expecting to be out with the big boys.... Ian, Martin and Rimas, sorry I probably kept your usual speed down a little, but bloody hell, as I said at the time that was probably as hard and as fast as I've ridden over a decent period since I got back on the bike - I smashed all sorts of PBs. Thanks to all 3 of you for the support and encouragement, it's greatly appreciated. Must say especial thanks to Rimas who pretty much towed me all the way from Purfleet to Tower Bridge at a pace that was quick for me (most definitelly when so tired) but probably a relaxed bimble for him and ended up getting from Southend to Tower bridge in less than 4 hours - Thanks Rimas, you were ace.

Now, I'm off for another beer before I collapse into bed, but before that - thanks also to Simon and everyone who TECs, waymarks, encourages, sod it everyone!

Oh, and yeah first ton yay!

 

[TimO]

I must admit, I wimped out on cycling back to Croydon, and got a train, with others from London Bridge stations. Partly I wanted to get back asap so Zev's drugs weren't too late (and likewise her breakfast!), but also I could see that the wind would be against me the entire way, and really couldn't be arsed with struggling against that after having had a rest at breakfast and almost nodding off on the train back to London. So, I only just did a metric century, around 65 miles in all. Given how I feel, it's just as well I decided not to do the Dunrun, since the slight further distance would have been a bit of a slog.

 

[slowmotion]

That was a great day. Many thanks to Simon, the TECs and waymarkers for making it happen, and all the lovely people who I met along the way. I felt faintly dispirited as the rain came in, the sodium high-bays glared and the trucks rolled by before we reached the Shangri La of the service station, but once inside, the morale clouds lifted.

The rest of the ride was just great. Back in London, LMNH saw a pitiful bunch of losers spectacularly failing to shrug off their morbid fear of dehydration. It might not have been a pretty sight , but it was an awful lot of fun. Thank-you.