FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast York to Hull 9th September 2011

[mistercharly]

Thank you all for a lovely ride.
As commented on by someone at the cafe "everyone is nice!".

MsCharly really enjoyed her ride - her first through the night ride (she'd had a bijou 30miler in york, but that finished very early). Her first imperial century. She was very nervous about being amidst so many stranger and was very glad to see familiar faces at the Minster. Now she has some more faces to remember.

By Sat night she was saying "200 miles next!", but I've convinced her we should aim for 100miles that includes hills first.

Edit: Bridge factoid: It remains the longest bridge in the world that one can cross on foot or by bicycle.
wow
An alternative view of the bridge.

 

[mistral]

I imagine Admin has been out today restocking the Emoticons store!

Certainly one of the more interesting rides of the year. Although the fnrttc is London based, rides like this make it well worth the effort to get out of the Home Counties.

I travelled up with Miranda (Mice) and had a lovely ride out to meet Charlie B in a village pub. The flat countryside provided impressive panoramic views over the farmland and a huge sky line. We had a pint, fixed a slow puncture, ate a hearty meal and a calorific desert.

Outside the Minster as nocturnal cyclists gather the late night revellers and imbibers of intoxicants staggered with poise and refinement, as if mindful of their ancient and historic environs. I’d describe downtown York is a tad less brash than Times Square and slightly more genteel than Broadway.

A relatively small group helped to make the pace smooth and steady, the ride progressed well and we were soon out of the town and into the open countryside.

Goole had it’s moments; as we neared the docks Visions nightclub was doing a fine job keeping local clubbers happy. Just around the corner two splendid water towers popped up like mushrooms in the surrounding industrial debris.

[media]

]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIqMUhQJvGg[/media]


The halfway stop didn’t look promising from the outside, but inside the welcome was friendly and the spread was impressive, hot drinks, sandwiches and cakes were ready as we walked through the door.

We crossed the Trent and skirted Scunthorpe as we headed north towards the bridge. The terrain became a little more undulating and we encountered a couple of reasonable inclines. I stretched my legs chasing after Mark G along the A1077 before we took a left onto Gravel Pit Lane. The bridge, now in full view on our left, the road dropped gently to sea level allowing a speedy descent.

Crossing the bridge was fun, last year we were lucky to catch the sun rise, the grey dawn didn’t quite do the trick, but we were spurred on by the knowledge that we were just a short pedal from food & eventually beer.

The breakfast was good, the beer cold (but yellow) and the company as ever excellent. Thanks to all who made it happen, and a big thanks to Mark for waking me at Doncaster for our change of trains. I clocked up over 130 miles from door to door.

 

[phantasmagoriana]

What good fun that was!

My first night ride, first group ride and longest ride ever (I'd done one 50-miler prior to this, and nothing else above about 35 miles) - I was really rather scared to begin with, and was contemplating pulling out right up to the start. Very glad I didn't though. The pace was fine, it was almost entirely flat (I'm used to York - we don't have hills!) and even the weather was good.

Many thanks to Simon and co for the excellent organisation, and to the two food stops (cake at 4am was an excellent idea). Thanks too to User10119 for her train karma skills on the way back - hope the elbow heals quickly.

Was rather tempted to attempt the ride back, but decided not to in the end as I wasn't sure it would be a good idea to more than double my previous longest ride - the imperial century will have to wait for another day, and there's always next time (provisionally April, I see! ).

 

[mistercharly]

There is also Whitby, in October. Just dress up warm . . .

 

[mcshroom]

There is also Whitby, in October. Just dress up warm . . .

That's not an actual FNRttC

- and may well be November (with added fireworks) this year as the gothic weekend is a week later. Also has the attraction of steam trains if you fancy it

 

[mistercharly]

True, it isn't a FNRTTC

CL may be back on her bike by then.

 

[Andrew Br]

Breakfast was served efficiently, then after what was considered a polite pause Suzie got the beers in

More pictures HERE

Those beer pictures are good. It looks like you're enjoying yourselves, which is more than those of us who opted to watch the rugby managed to do.

 

[Mr Bunbury]

The info board by the Humber bridge said that the bridge's towers are 36mm further apart at the top than at the bottom, due to the curvature of the earth. Some scepticism was expressed about this figure. Here is the calculation:

The towers are 155.5m tall.
The main span of the bridge is 1410m
The average radius of the earth is 6371km

Angle between towers = arcsin(1410 / 6371000) = 0.0127 degrees
(assuming a right angle triangle, as this is only an approximate calculation anyway and we don't know the precise radius of the earth at this point)

Now calculate the amount that this variation in angle will change the towers' separation (the tower height is the adjacent side and the extra width at the top is the opposite)
155.5 tan(0.0127) = 0.0343m

That's 34.3mm, so it seems the info board was accurate.

 

[Alberto]

Thanks again Simon and all the locals that made this ride a very memorable one! Looking forward to next year's one!

A

 

[mbt22]

Thanks to all involved - my first group ride, first night ride and first over 50 miles! Despite being a bit nervous about whether I could do it, I had a great evening.

I'm already contemplating cheap Hull to London tickets for night out down south.

Matt

 

[Andrew Br]

Goole had it’s moments; as we neared the docks Visions nightclub was doing a fine job keeping local clubbers happy. ed on by the knowledge that we were just a short pedal from food & eventually beer.

That reminds me; when were riding through the docks, a local (presumably on his way home from the club) called out "Am I tripping or what ?" as the cavalcade, lights a-flashing swept past. I yelled back "No, it's real but you'll wonder if it was a dream in the morning."

 

[dellzeqq]

Merton is good for flashing, as is the approach to Gravesend. And Rochester.

 

[Aperitif]

York is the new current leader of that competition. As we were on our way through the town a young man by the side of the road gave us a Nazi salute complete with spare finger doing the Hitler moustache, heel click, and sieg heil.

Achtung Town - a suburb of London...

 

[User10119]

[QUOTE 1408096"]
4 to 6 weeks off the bike, unfortunately
[/quote]

Well, that turned out to be a slightly conservative estimate - first attempt, just down my street, in mid-October was blinking painful. But a week or so later I got a couple of short test rides done rather more successfully, I've done some of my shorter commutes, up to 7 miles each way, by bike for the last fortnight and last night I did my first social ride for two months - all of 14 miles to the pub! And the cake baking started again last week. So now to go study the dates for next year....

 

[Shaun]

[QUOTE 1408131"]
Well, that turned out to be a slightly conservative estimate - first attempt, just down my street, in mid-October was blinking painful. But a week or so later I got a couple of short test rides done rather more successfully, I've done some of my shorter commutes, up to 7 miles each way, by bike for the last fortnight and last night I did my first social ride for two months - all of 14 miles to the pub! And the cake baking started again last week. So now to go study the dates for next year....
[/quote]


Thanks for the update - good to know things are getting back to normal. Can we count you in for next year then?