FNRttC July 22 - Friday Night Ride to... Newhaven

[ianmac62]

Not long indoors. Lovely night: balmy weather, good route, really great company. Chatted to friends old and new. Sorry to hear of your travails @rb58 - we couldn't believe it when the TECs came up to the regrouping point and told of your disaster. Hope everything gets repaired soon.

So ... many thanks to the weather gods, really big thanks to @redfalo for leading and for applying that German efficiency (we started at 0000 not at 2358 or 0002; each regrouping stop promptly urged to continue; and lightning fast MaccyD's stop) so that the group reached Luna Rosa in time for everyone to have a relaxed breakfast (mega breakfast, excellent coffee, Italian beer) and for the ferry passengers to embark with plenty of time. Thanks to @Gordon P and @TimO for TECcying, always reassuring; and to @TimO again for calm assistance in finding the ticket office at Brighton station. And thanks to *everyone* for charm and good humour.

I'd pedalled to Brighton and needed the ticket office (sorry, "travel centre") to buy a ticket for the unusual Southern through service to Milton Keynes (change at Clapham Jct, travel via Kensington Olympia and you end up on the West Coast Mainline). As it happened the lady there was quick and helpful; I caught the 1028 with two minutes to spare. As there's only one shuttle an hour from Clapham Jct (well, East Croydon really, as @User informed me), get a train after 1028 and the journey takes an hour longer.

From Milton Keynes, it was such lovely afternoon I pedalled to Northampton and home. So door-to-door mileage of 107. Pleased with that.

Good to hear that the France contingent has made good speed to Saint-Saëns. Enjoy the rest of your adventures!

 

[Pale Rider]

Not long indoors. Lovely night: balmy weather, good route, really great company. Chatted to friends old and new. Sorry to hear of your travails @rb58 - we couldn't believe it when the TECs came up to the regrouping point and told of your disaster. Hope everything gets repaired soon.

So ... many thanks to the weather gods, really big thanks to @redfalo for leading and for applying that German efficiency (we started at 0000 not at 2358 or 0002; each regrouping stop promptly urged to continue; and lightning fast MaccyD's stop) so that the group reached Luna Rosa in time for everyone to have a relaxed breakfast (mega breakfast, excellent coffee, Italian beer) and for the ferry passengers to embark with plenty of time. Thanks to @Gordon P and @TimO for TECcying, always reassuring; and to @TimO again for calm assistance in finding the ticket office at Brighton station. And thanks to *everyone* for charm and good humour.

I'd pedalled to Brighton and needed the ticket office (sorry, "travel centre") to buy a ticket for the unusual Southern through service to Milton Keynes (change at Clapham Jct, travel via Kensington Olympia and you end up on the West Coast Mainline). As it happened the lady there was quick and helpful; I caught the 1028 with two minutes to spare. As there's only one shuttle an hour from Clapham Jct (well, East Croydon really, as @User informed me), get a train after 1028 and the journey takes an hour longer.

From Milton Keynes, it was such lovely afternoon I pedalled to Northampton and home. So door-to-door mileage of 107. Pleased with that.

Good to hear that the France contingent has made good speed to Saint-Saëns. Enjoy the rest of your adventures!

The ticket office at Brighton station remained hidden from me after my recent ride with @ianrauk and company.

I used the self-service machines and got scowled at by the bloke behind because I took too long to work out all the buttons.

 

[SandySnake]

What a lovely ride - third consecutive weekend of overnight rides to the south coast (recce for Felpham, Felpham and now Newhaven) - all been blessed with super summer weather, almost eventful rides and a great breakfast at the end. Sorry to say it was I who suffered the puncture last night - nice of @rb58 to comment how efficiently it was repaired and for him to then offer a middle of the night chain repair class 100 metres further on - carried those chain links round in my saddle bag for a year and glad the forethought finally paid off and somebody didn't have a long walk home - i hope it doesn't turn out to be too expensive.

@redfalo - great route, cows on Farthing Downs was a bonus, McD's was an experience and I think those that went to the petrol station next door probably had the better service and sustenance. The opportunity to stretch the legs out front with a couple of others for the run into Lindfield was a delight and helped build up a small appetite for a breakfast at Luna Rossa that was of the usual high quality, just what I've come to experience from all the FNRttC rides this year. For a change I'm glad I paired down to a smaller bacon and egg sandwich rather than the full breakfast which at least one person could not finish! I chose to ride back to Brighton with @TimO and do some exploring - approx 200 steps to climb down for the Peacehaven undercliff path and as we got to the heart of Brighton we came across @ianmac62 and had a little group ride up to the station. My past experiences of trying to get into the ticket office at Brighton station (queues trailing right out the door) and using the self-service ticket machines whilst also holding my bike has now led me to get my tickets beforehand. Also offers me the benefit of using some of those rail compensation vouchers I have from London Midland to buy a Thameslink ticket at my local station.

Overall just a 175km last night and just for you @redfalo here is a link to the relive video that is the add-on to strava https://www.relive.cc/view/650618198.

May the weather, winds, food and drink stay favourable to those across the channel over the next few days. See you all on another ride soon.

 

[rb58]

I will carry two pair of quick links in my bag for the next few FNRttC @SandySnake so I can pay you back. Thanks for the loan. Sod's law though, when I sorted out the saddle bag this morning I found ....... an 11 speed quick link, so I had one after all.

And I have to say, the chain breaker on my Topeak multi-tool works really well. Especially in the middle of the night!

 

[martint235]

Not long indoors. Lovely night: balmy weather, good route, really great company. Chatted to friends old and new. Sorry to hear of your travails @rb58 - we couldn't believe it when the TECs came up to the regrouping point and told of your disaster. Hope everything gets repaired soon.

So ... many thanks to the weather gods, really big thanks to @redfalo for leading and for applying that German efficiency (we started at 0000 not at 2358 or 0002; each regrouping stop promptly urged to continue; and lightning fast MaccyD's stop) so that the group reached Luna Rosa in time for everyone to have a relaxed breakfast (mega breakfast, excellent coffee, Italian beer) and for the ferry passengers to embark with plenty of time. Thanks to @Gordon P and @TimO for TECcying, always reassuring; and to @TimO again for calm assistance in finding the ticket office at Brighton station. And thanks to *everyone* for charm and good humour.

I'd pedalled to Brighton and needed the ticket office (sorry, "travel centre") to buy a ticket for the unusual Southern through service to Milton Keynes (change at Clapham Jct, travel via Kensington Olympia and you end up on the West Coast Mainline). As it happened the lady there was quick and helpful; I caught the 1028 with two minutes to spare. As there's only one shuttle an hour from Clapham Jct (well, East Croydon really, as @User informed me), get a train after 1028 and the journey takes an hour longer.

From Milton Keynes, it was such lovely afternoon I pedalled to Northampton and home. So door-to-door mileage of 107. Pleased with that.

Good to hear that the France contingent has made good speed to Saint-Saëns. Enjoy the rest of your adventures!

I had to give a "like" for obvious reasons.

 

[TimO]

A great ride, aside from the unfortunate albeit quickly rectified flat of @SandySnake, and less easily sorted explosion of @rb58's Di2 rear derailleur, but at least that was injury free, and he managed to limp back homewards OK. I blame it on @Tim Hall not being on this ride, and reducing the number of Tims below the essential threshold required for zero mechanicals !

We made surprisingly good time, and would have been far too early for breakfast if we hadn't deliberately slowed a bit towards the end. The staff at the restaurant were friendly and helpful, and the breakfast good, and very soon disposed of. It's always very pleasant to sit in the sun slowly drinking a coffee and smugly basking in the feeling of another night ride successfully completed.

The route to Brighton was a bit novel, and done more out of curiosity than practicality. The Highway was a bit rough, as expected, and the staircase down to the short section of the Under Cliff Walk doable, but probably not exactly a time saver ! I got a handful of photos there, before my phone decided to play silly buggers, and refused to take any more images. We briefly paused to take a photo of a couple with their small child, before continuing along the path. The concrete surface is far from the worst surface to cycle on, but the continual "thump, thump, thump" of the expansion gaps is less than ideal.

Overall the main later section of the Under Cliff Path is useful, missing several lumpy bits of road, and the not terribly fun A259. Whilst we had bright sunshine at Newhaven for breakfast and the departure of @SandySnake and myself towards Brighton, the cloudiness out to sea fairly rapidly moved towards shore, leaving us in a rather more dull environment once we got to Brighton. There were quite a few joggers, dog walkers, a few other cyclists, and small number of wanderers. Still fairly early on a Saturday morning, there were not too many people. Amazingly, even on my train back the That London, the carriage wasn't too full, and I didn't have to struggle to get my bike off at East Croydon, aside from trying not to brain a couple of French schoolgirls who seemed to think sitting on the floor of the train was more sensible than using seats.

Photos of the stairway down to the Newhaven end of the Under Clfff Path, with @SandySnake, while it was still sunny.





The complete route from Hyde Park Corner for Newhaven is on GPSies.

The somewhat simpler ten mile cycle from Newhaven to Brighton mostly along the Under Cliff Path is also on GPSies.

As always, thanks to everyone for their hard work and effort in helping with the ride, long may they continue.

 

[StuAff]

SMRbtH (OK, ferry home) completed. Sitting on the Etretat waiting for departure. 65 miles from Saint-Saëns ( should have been 59- acts of Garmin), left 8.50, here 3.45. Not bad considering nav fails and riding all day into a headwind. A great weekend, more to follow when I have a keyboard.

 

[rb58]

A great ride, aside from the unfortunate albeit quickly rectified flat of @SandySnake, and less easily sorted explosion of @rb58's Di2 rear derailleur, but at least that was injury free, and he managed to limp back homewards OK.

News from the LBS is that it's just a broken gear hanger and everything should be back together by Wednesday.

 

[rb58]

Phew.

It's a safety 'feature' apparently.

 

[StuAff]

News from the LBS is that it's just a broken gear hanger and everything should be back together by Wednesday.

The RD went into crash mode, at a rough guess? That's good news.

 

[Tim Hall]

It's a safety 'feature' apparently.

The hanger is designed to break instead of the frame.

 

[velovoice]

Yep, I've bent an integral hanger and that was quite a headache to get fixed.

 

[SandySnake]

@rb58 - I think you were very lucky with your hanger break. Here is a photo from a year ago of my broken hanger and the derailleur I had to throw away.

 

[redfalo]

Finally back in London after a lazy day in Paris. Below are some pictures, and some thoughts as well as questions.

- Farthing Downs worked like a treat, but should probably only be ridden on dry days. In the wet, the steep, dark descent may be a bit too much.

- Approaching Gatwick Airport via the back door is a good alternative to the ghastly dual carriage way we took in the past.

- I'm unsure about the Gatwick Airport McDonalds as a halfway stop. It probably saves some time as getting in and out is quicker than getting into the terminal.
The fact that they did not serve coffee was a downer, but probably due to a broken coffee machine. The BP garage next door did hot drinks. Getting away safely was a bit tricky though as the level of traffic at 4am was just astonishing. It was much more busy than during may day recce. Next time, or with a larger group, I may reconsider the terminal, but keep the back door approach. I would be keen to know what others thought about the halfway stop.

- The Luna Rossa as a breakfast stop in Newhaven is ace.

- While there had been plenty of extra room for more bikes on the ferry, the ship itself was really packed. Next time, it probably really makes sense to run the ride outside the school holidays, with hopefully more available bike spaces (we were the only six bikes on the ferry)

- As for the ride to Paris, I tweaked @dellzeqq's well-tested route between Gisors and Pontoise, trying to find an alternative to the busy and boring D915. The alternative added about 7 km in distance but no significant climbing, but was much more pleasant to ride, as we encountered little if any car traffic. New route is here: http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=zdiuzruoljdgnkqk

- starting on a Friday night, rather than on a Thursday night, makes it possible to ride to Paris without taking any time off work. @mllond easily managed to get on the Eurostar 8pm-ish. We left Saint Saens 8am-ish and arrived in Paris 5pm, without any haste+.

Here are the pics

 

[rb58]

@rb58 - I think you were very lucky with your hanger break. Here is a photo from a year ago of my broken hanger and the derailleur I had to throw away. View attachment 136218

Unfortunately, the LBS have reported the rear mech is damaged as well, so it'll be more expensive than originally thought.