FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast to Southend-on-Sea 30th April 2010

[Mista Preston]

well that was an interesting one.......Simon you really need to sort that cat of yours out !

 

[matthew]

Now home after a wet and eventful ride.

I suspect the puncture count was nearer to 20 than 10 as one guy had five, and two others are known to have had five between them.

Andrew's injury occurred when the bunch stopped for Simon to take the call that said that the guy was packing after his fifth puncture. The cry 'stopping' went up and was heard to ripple back through the pack so we stopped only for the sound of falling bikes. Damaged elbow and then went into shock at the services. Simon dropped out to care for him and facilitate the paramedics.

Then things got interesting, another puncture stopped the TECs for ~15 minutes and meant that they picked up me as a way marker but then went a different way, leaving other way markers hanging.

the result was that the final section and arrival at the Rose was fragmented.

 

[MacB]

Well! I was surrounded by Whisky Mist, Nobu, The Colony Club and Trader Vics - not to mention the Hilton Park Lane as backup.

The word I used most frequently earlier this trip was beginning with B
Yes - capital ones, and multitudinous.
I was really 'up' for this ride after an awkward week at the coalface of life.
An easily spotted shard of glass saw me wrestling with a well-seated new tyre, new wheel and new tube in Kilburn - with helpful passers-by.
And then the steering was getting sluggish down Park Lane - not a flat front wheel - just not fully pumped
And then I tried again, and because it was raining the camber of Hertford Street offered me a ready made plunge bath to discover the hole...and then another again in the other tube. Luckily there were some lads digging the road up for an electricity fault and there was plenty of arc lighting - I was getting to the stage of "Taxi"!
So much sodding about for so little - the tiniest sliver of metal wire - the first one probably wasn't the glass.
Oh well. The End.
Meanwhile, I had lots of people say how nice the bike was etc...Premiership footballers, celebs, wannabies, a couple of chats with minicab drivers waiting for trade - amazed that you lot were wheeling away to Southend.
Actually, I was going to take the tyre off for fun as the entertainment value was quality - my last chat with a couple of big American guys. BIG - with pony tails (one with a Tom Sellick style moustache containing more hair than I had on my head - ever). Everyone was nicely dressed and nice smelling - I felt quite at home... Rolled away from The Hilton at 01:05, cold, wet and bursting for a pee which was duly completed at Marble Arch (so many peeps wandering about down Park Lane!)
Anyway, another few mentions of that b word and I got indoors at 02.30
parked my bike and

b word.
I'm happy - would have felt awful keeping everyone waiting 'en route'.
b word, nevertheless.

Mate, I know it was posted in the middle of the night but, even by your standards, that's incomprehensible....I think I've translated but my head aches now

 

[CopperBrompton]

Hmmm - having been annoyed at missing yet another one of these, perhaps I don't feel too bad now. It doesn't sound like the best FNRttC in its history.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I will sit around the campfire with seasoned FNRttCers and hear the songs that are sung about that fateful night.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Sorry to hear about Andrew - hope he's OK.

I decided over a month ago I wasn't going to do this ride, and that seems to have been a good choice - I didn't sign up for the November one either, and that turned out to be a smart move as well!

I've been busy decorating rather than admiring the art deco buildings you've come across.

Time to get plastered.

 

[rich p]

Mate, I know it was posted in the middle of the night but, even by your standards, that's incomprehensible....I think I've translated but my head aches now

It's poetry, Al, ask Flying Monkey! It doesn't have to scan or rhyme

 

[MacB]

It's poetry, Al, ask Flying Monkey! It doesn't have to scan or rhyme

what, you think his translation would be more comprehensible?

 

[iLB]

'oof sounds like a 'character building' fnrttc to say the least, well done all for completing and i hope you're ok andrew

 

[rich p]

what, you think his translation would be more comprehensible?

Point taken

 

[StuAff]

Oh my word......
By a country mile I think that was the toughest FNR I've been on (yes, I'm counting November and February). Above all else, get well soon Andrew, from what I saw and heard it was horrific.
I think we had all the incidents that should have happened last month...so many punctures, 'teef not even making the start, Andrij bailing out (wondered where you'd got to), Ian's spoke damage, there was someone else who seemed to have wheel bother, 'the alternate route group' who seemed to have made it to the Rose first....I was lucky. Two chain drops, and the need to pump up the Jetstream's shock- a recent issue for which I was prepared. Compared to so many others, did I get off lightly......!!!
And we didn't even get the architectural lessons!
If it's raining tomorrow, stuff the IOW, I'll go back to bed......

 

[ChrisBailey]

Then things got interesting, another puncture stopped the TECs for ~15 minutes and meant that they picked up me as a way marker but then went a different way, leaving other way markers hanging.

Hung around on my cold and solitary way mark for what felt like ages, maybe 20 minutes, then cycled back down the route, joined Clive and together we went back a further couple of miles. No sign of Matthew at his junction and mysteriously no sign of the back markers and their repairs. Couldn't really call Simon (on ambulance / chaperoning duties) to work out where Adrian and Charlotte (the TECs) were. Decided to stop off at Stanford le Hope and catch the Fenchurch Street train at 7.12am. Clive set off to rejoin the main group, hope you made it.

Back home (Hampton Hill) by 9.45am and asleep by 10.00am.

An eventful FNRTTC, not the dry freewheeling one I expected. But I always enjoy these rides.

 

[ianrauk]

As others have said a very eventful FNRttC, full of incident. It rained solidly and at times quite heavy from 11pm to 3am... Others suffered more bleeding punctures then you could shake a broken spoke at. Which brings it nicely my spoke.. A few of us were just standing round chatting.. when.. ping.. a spoke on my back wheel decided to let go..5 minutes later a bird decided to crap on me...hmmmm' definately one of those days. A good few people were close to the edge of bailing but the majority made it. The hand dryers in Thurrock services were pressed into overtime with people drying all sorts.. And poor Andrew, quite unfortunate. After his accident I cycled the 3 miles to the services with him, he knew things were not right and it wasn't until we were there that realisation kicked in poor fellow. We finally got to the Rose for brekkie.. then myself and Arallsop pushed off for a quick route home..42 miles non stop, minus the wind that blighted us so last time we did this... by the time we got over the Dartford Crossing, Kent was bathed in glorious sunshine. Yes it rained, yes it was cold, yes it was frustrating all the incidents.. but boy.. I still enjoyed it.. how could you not with the company that the FNRttc attracts? 115 miles for the day/night (half of them soggy)

ps a big chapeau to Rachel (Wheeledweenie) who completed the ride from Thurrock to Southend piloting a tandem on her own as her friend had gone to a&e with Andrew

 

[StuartG]

A rainy and chilly evening but fun nevertheless.

Oh come on Auntie - maybe a tad damp in places but icicles I saw not.

The incident was obviously painful but I'm amazed its the first I've seen. 70-100 riders in close formation, tired in the dark, Lady Luck has been very kind to us so we might excuse her slackness tonight. Kudos to Simon for dedicating himself to sorting the situation. Only outclassed by the lady on the tandem who having shed her stoker as part of the rescue plan - could still single footed hurl that heavy beast up slopes that left me struggling. What was she smoking?

At least the return wasn't as challenging as last time's headwind. Indeed there was a bit of a queue at the Dartford Crossing.

Thanks again to Simon and the crew for creating yet another unique and unforgettable experience.

 

[stevevw]

I'm home 147.35 miles. I am going to bed. Night all.