velovoice
Veteran
- Location
- Between the City and the Sea
Yep, we were quick, I tell ya.
FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Whitstable, 15th August
- Thread starter dellzeqq
- Start date
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aHsk24B83k
If you was there you're probably on here, you'll need about 15 minutes for the slide show
Great ride Mercians Holdsworth Colnagos' old and new Bromptons only 1 bent tho
enjoy the pics
tc1
If you was there you're probably on here, you'll need about 15 minutes for the slide show
Great ride Mercians Holdsworth Colnagos' old and new Bromptons only 1 bent tho
enjoy the pics
tc1
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Fab set of photos, I think you've got pretty much everybody! Nice meeting you btw.
Mice
Guru
With the sound of silence in the small hours of the night, sleep was the natural state of both body and soul. The gap where the curtains didn't quite meet allowed a small amount of street light in did not affect the depth of slumber.
For the single storey building, on the other side of the road seemingly in another time zone, lights were shining brightly from within. Kettles at the ready, paper plates and folded napkins lined up next to platters of food to a standard that would have won the Chief Baker title at a Mary Berry Bake off. With preparations galore, the village hall had been transformed to give it a private restaurant status. Warm, welcoming and waiting.
Out in the street, flickers of little lights gathered before swooping into the car park. Within minutes the hall was full and the waiting was over. Enormous cups of tea spread across the hall chasing the banter that only this kind of gathering can bring. Three hours earlier a pub landlord in west London declared last orders, dispersing his somewhat inebriated clientele out into the night. Faces transfixed to mobiles, seeking cabs and quick ways to their beds, they hardly noticed the cyclist put her wheels on the road and silently pedal by. Their high-heeled tottering as they leaned on each other for guidance and balance saw the close of their Friday Night - Out on the Tiles. For me, the girl with the Boardman, this was just the beginning of my Friday Night - Ride to the Coast.
http://www.the5milecyclist.com/apps/blog/show/42587647-the-fridays-go-to-whitstable
https://picasaweb.google.com/108733694586194797062/FNRttCWhitstable150814?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL3osbGZpqTSAw&feat=directlink
Thank you peeps!
For the single storey building, on the other side of the road seemingly in another time zone, lights were shining brightly from within. Kettles at the ready, paper plates and folded napkins lined up next to platters of food to a standard that would have won the Chief Baker title at a Mary Berry Bake off. With preparations galore, the village hall had been transformed to give it a private restaurant status. Warm, welcoming and waiting.
Out in the street, flickers of little lights gathered before swooping into the car park. Within minutes the hall was full and the waiting was over. Enormous cups of tea spread across the hall chasing the banter that only this kind of gathering can bring. Three hours earlier a pub landlord in west London declared last orders, dispersing his somewhat inebriated clientele out into the night. Faces transfixed to mobiles, seeking cabs and quick ways to their beds, they hardly noticed the cyclist put her wheels on the road and silently pedal by. Their high-heeled tottering as they leaned on each other for guidance and balance saw the close of their Friday Night - Out on the Tiles. For me, the girl with the Boardman, this was just the beginning of my Friday Night - Ride to the Coast.
http://www.the5milecyclist.com/apps/blog/show/42587647-the-fridays-go-to-whitstable
https://picasaweb.google.com/108733694586194797062/FNRttCWhitstable150814?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL3osbGZpqTSAw&feat=directlink
Thank you peeps!
Attachments
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
Sorry for the long delay, but here's my 2p's worth.
Firstly, an apology to his Dellzeqness for turning up late during the important pre-ride briefing. Our train to St Pancras was about 15 minutes late, and I'd stupidly suggested to Rebecca about trying an alternative route to HPC. One which it seems to involve a traffic light every 50m, all of which were at red. So we won't try that one again.
Anyway, after Agent Hilda fluttered her eyelids and asked me to TEC at the back and to ensure I always stayed behind her, the time to set off was upon us. Except at the back, we didn't as there was a puncture which was already being dealt with very promptly so by the time the lights had changed and there was a mass exodus across the junction into Constitution Hill, we had all caught up, so Charlie M, you got away with it.
A big patch of glass along the Embankment took a nasty slice out of Carole's tyre, but Ian fell upon the wheel with glee and with a tyre boot provided by Titus, rapidly got it sorted, and then we had a nice quick sprint to catch everyone else up on Monument Street. And then it was the usual stuff through the mean streets of London, with Agent Hilda dispensing alternate bouts of coaxing and chiding to the stragglers. It's been a while since I've been out this way, so it was nice to see buildings finished, which last year had still been under construction. Gradually we eased past East London towards Dartford and then Gravesend before finally we were out into the darkness of the Lower Higham Road in Chalk. And that's when the ride starts to open up, and I can relax a bit (or rather, be even more relaxed than I am normally, knowing I don't have to worry about idiot drunks around). I noted some odd anomalies on my GPS, as it was only logging certain points in the ride, and then joining the dots to make up a fake maximum speed of 59 mph, so clearly that was taking things easy as well.
One advantage of being at the back is that generally you plod along at a nice steady pace, which was useful as I was feeling a bit tired due to lack of sleep in recent nights, plus I'd realised that I shouldn't have bothered bringing a jacket as I was too warm. So it could well be that I was merrily cycling along asleep for a while, as seemingly in a blink of an eye, we were in Strood and dropping in to the halfway stop. Hopefully not too much food was left by the time we left. Someone must have sabotaged Agent Hilda's bike when it was parked up as that had also got a puncture, but that was rapidly sorted by Simon himself, and then we were off again. This last section is probably my favourite section, especially as it was now light, and we had the gorgeous pinks in the sky as shown in the various photos linked to above.
The final mechanical was Kai's single speed, as her chain was throwing off under pressure, and after examining it, I'd say the tension arm was slightly bent, as when it was pushed down toward the cog, it was in line, but off centre when released. Anyway, after moving it outboard about 5 or 6 mm, it did the trick as the chain stayed on under pressure, and then Kai zoomed up Basser Hill without stopping. Not many people would do their first FNRttC with only 1 gear, so well done.
The final bit of fun was the odd chap pedalling the scooter. Was it a moped or an electric scooter with a flat battery? He stopped in Teynham and had a fiddle with something underneath, but then carried on pedalling, at quite a furious pace, generally keeping pace with us. My picture for posterity is shown below. Anyway, after the brief diversion after Faversham, then it was the final few miles into Whitstable and the big breakfast. It turns out Whitstable had had torrential rain after midnight so we'd all had a lucky escape, as the weather was lovely, as was the company.
A bientôt.
Firstly, an apology to his Dellzeqness for turning up late during the important pre-ride briefing. Our train to St Pancras was about 15 minutes late, and I'd stupidly suggested to Rebecca about trying an alternative route to HPC. One which it seems to involve a traffic light every 50m, all of which were at red. So we won't try that one again.
Anyway, after Agent Hilda fluttered her eyelids and asked me to TEC at the back and to ensure I always stayed behind her, the time to set off was upon us. Except at the back, we didn't as there was a puncture which was already being dealt with very promptly so by the time the lights had changed and there was a mass exodus across the junction into Constitution Hill, we had all caught up, so Charlie M, you got away with it.
A big patch of glass along the Embankment took a nasty slice out of Carole's tyre, but Ian fell upon the wheel with glee and with a tyre boot provided by Titus, rapidly got it sorted, and then we had a nice quick sprint to catch everyone else up on Monument Street. And then it was the usual stuff through the mean streets of London, with Agent Hilda dispensing alternate bouts of coaxing and chiding to the stragglers. It's been a while since I've been out this way, so it was nice to see buildings finished, which last year had still been under construction. Gradually we eased past East London towards Dartford and then Gravesend before finally we were out into the darkness of the Lower Higham Road in Chalk. And that's when the ride starts to open up, and I can relax a bit (or rather, be even more relaxed than I am normally, knowing I don't have to worry about idiot drunks around). I noted some odd anomalies on my GPS, as it was only logging certain points in the ride, and then joining the dots to make up a fake maximum speed of 59 mph, so clearly that was taking things easy as well.
One advantage of being at the back is that generally you plod along at a nice steady pace, which was useful as I was feeling a bit tired due to lack of sleep in recent nights, plus I'd realised that I shouldn't have bothered bringing a jacket as I was too warm. So it could well be that I was merrily cycling along asleep for a while, as seemingly in a blink of an eye, we were in Strood and dropping in to the halfway stop. Hopefully not too much food was left by the time we left. Someone must have sabotaged Agent Hilda's bike when it was parked up as that had also got a puncture, but that was rapidly sorted by Simon himself, and then we were off again. This last section is probably my favourite section, especially as it was now light, and we had the gorgeous pinks in the sky as shown in the various photos linked to above.
The final mechanical was Kai's single speed, as her chain was throwing off under pressure, and after examining it, I'd say the tension arm was slightly bent, as when it was pushed down toward the cog, it was in line, but off centre when released. Anyway, after moving it outboard about 5 or 6 mm, it did the trick as the chain stayed on under pressure, and then Kai zoomed up Basser Hill without stopping. Not many people would do their first FNRttC with only 1 gear, so well done.
The final bit of fun was the odd chap pedalling the scooter. Was it a moped or an electric scooter with a flat battery? He stopped in Teynham and had a fiddle with something underneath, but then carried on pedalling, at quite a furious pace, generally keeping pace with us. My picture for posterity is shown below. Anyway, after the brief diversion after Faversham, then it was the final few miles into Whitstable and the big breakfast. It turns out Whitstable had had torrential rain after midnight so we'd all had a lucky escape, as the weather was lovely, as was the company.
A bientôt.
Attachments
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Those are unbelievable piccies. They capture the taste of a night ride so well. If they were taken by a GoPro on a seat-post my gob is well and truly smacked. Thank you.
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deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
I think I've just cycled looking backward all the way to Whitstable.
w00hoo_kent
One of the 64K
- Location
- Maidstone or Greenwich
I don't know if this has been covered on a previous Whitstable ride, but you know when you go through Chatham, just before going down Dock Rd you are going through the outskirts of Brompton? It doesn't seem to be big enough for a village sign (it's been subsumed by Gillingham really) but there is this a little way up the hill and right from the roundabout at the top of Dock Rd...
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
On any rides I do out that way, I always turn right at that roundabout, as you also then have the bonus of going past the Royal Engineers Museum and seeing their tanks parked outside.
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
Classic symptom of 'Turrets Syndrome' on an AAA
U
User10571
Guest
Good to see that an absence of Aperitif from the tarmac doesn't prevent an appropriate response.....
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
Speaking of AAA's, I'll be running a nice little, or rather not so little, Kent-ish ride over Christmas. Watch this space.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Two Lancasters flew over the N Downs this afternoon, and gave me the perfect excuse to stop and take a breather while riding up Star Hill. Here's a spectacularly rubbish picture.Really?? We were at Headcorn and waited and waited (through shower after shower and the occasionally thunder clap) only to be told the Lancaster flyover was cancelled due to weather!
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
On Thursday I cycled over to RAF Marham, past Downham Market to view the 2 Lancasters again, as they were making a one-off flight with the Vulcan from RAF Waddington.
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
U
User10571
Guest
Each of those makes an awesome noise at full chat - I can't help but think that mixed, it might not sound so good.
Which came across the most - the 8 x Merlins or the 4 x Olympus?
I had no idea both aircraft were designed by the same man - Roy Chadwick
Which came across the most - the 8 x Merlins or the 4 x Olympus?
I had no idea both aircraft were designed by the same man - Roy Chadwick
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