FNRttC London to BOGNOR REGIS (okay, Felpham) - 1st September 2017

[kimble]

We couldn't give a monkey's how you do it. So long as it's a bicycle. Motorbikes? off the agenda. But if you have a problem with it the TECs might not be able to fix it and that's a problem.

There will always be rare problems that are unfixable at the roadside. What does it matter if it's, say, a dicky hall sensor compared to a seatpost snapping, a lightweight wheel losing half its spokes, a swollen knee or asthmatic lungs that can't cope with the cold? As with anything else, you check the bike over and prove it's reasonably reliable before bringing it on a group ride, and accept that if it fails, it's your own problem.

(I'm not sure about this increasing perception of the TECs role being to fix bike problems. It's primarily about keeping the group together. Sure, providing an extra pair of hands when someone's dealing with a puncture can help with that, but aren't we ultimately supposed to be self-sufficient?)

If the bike and rider are proven to be up to the distance (the point about battery capacity at nighttime temperatures is a good one, and applies equally to things like lights and GPS receivers), then it's all good. In practical e-bike terms, that means you're either going to be hauling a massive battery or riding primarily under human power, and just using the assistance on the hills. Don't assume that you'll be able to recharge at the halfway stop without checking!

Also, this is blatant discrimination against three-wheelers.

 

[Shadow]

There's very little to thank Southern trains for.

Quite. I checked Southern Fail's (& National Rail's) site (s) about an hour or so before leaving home to ride to the station. All ok and on time. Arrive at station to discover required train to The Smoke is cancelled. Next train in half an hour does not even get to Gatwick. Ride home and formulate Plan B.
Tell our esteemed leader (OEL) cannot make start but perhaps I could meet up with special permission after The Cabin stop. He agrees.

Leave home again a few hours later and am riding northwards thinking this is such a gorgeous morning for a ride, any ride, especially a FNRttC. Looking around, hearing the birdsong, I see so many views similar to @User21629's first pic above, generally lost in that special solo space that only seems to happen while riding, that I miss a turning. Take next right and soon come across a lone cyclist at a junction. Must be a waymarker. Carry on and soon reach the TEC's. Turn round and join them, admiring @topcat1's flashing illuminated bidon!

Watching the ever changing and brightening sky is one of the pleasures of a FNR. Enjoying it as ever, cruise to the front to let OEL I am now on the ride. The morning sun is warming, traverse the off-road section like a 12 year old, arrive at North Stoke bridge and enjoy some sweet blackberries.

The flatness after The Castle - pointed out by OEL to those who might miss it! - seemed to please those who dislike lumpy sections. Soon arriving at breakfast where it is now warm enough to entice folk into the shimmering blue waters of Felpham. Was the water warm, Zadoc?

Feeling the only way to answer those who suggested I was only doing half a FNR, doing the SMRbtH thingy had to be faced. Joining @Fab Foodie for a short distance I soon ended up on the outskirts of downtown LA (that is Little'Ampton round these parts!) in heavy traffic. Filtered thru and into Arundel. Climbed Bury Hill from the south with less difficulty than I might have imagined and zoomed down the other side, towards the turning we took a few hours earlier for the off-road bit. I was very surprised to see 2 familiar cyclists ascending. It was OEL and @velovoice!! I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day's riding.

Thanks to OEL, TECs, waymarkers and friendly first-timers for another super FNR.

 

[mmmmartin]

I've woken up now. Going back to bed soon. That was a long night and day.

As usual from @kimble there are some perceptive points, which we think about quite a bit and no doubt will think about more.

if it fails, it's your own problem

Indeed, except it's also a problem for everyone else or we're not The Fridays and degenerate into just another roadie club. An example: it's 3am five miles into the countryside outside Horsham and a bike has a catastrophic failure. We won't abandon someone, we need a mobile and reception for it, a taxi, and wait for it to arrive. Meanwhile the ride continues so a fresh TEC team is needed. And so on.

I'm not sure about this increasing perception of the TECs role being to fix bike problems. It's primarily about keeping the group together. Sure, providing an extra pair of hands when someone's dealing with a puncture can help with that, but aren't we ultimately supposed to be self-sufficient?

Agreed and most riders know what to do: and in almost every case it's the rider themself who does the work (unless it's Olaf's last ride, in which case we made him do it all ). But every minute the back of the ride is delayed means another 75 people delayed for a minute at the front of the ride. The main need while fixing a mechanical is lighting, so three people pointing their bike lights or holding torches makes a big difference. And it's usually the case that it's much quicker for the bike owner to be rooting around in their bags for inner tubes and tyre levers while others get the wheel off, remove tyre, etc. And hardly anyone seems to carry a big strong Zefal pump capable of getting to 100 psi quickly. And once it's fixed the owner can be replacing kit in bags while others put wheel back on, etc. Because every minute the back of the ride is delayed means 75 others waiting for a minute at the front of the ride....
A secondary point: a rider with a fault will try to fix it. The TEC team will have a different agenda: keeping things at the back moving. So, as we did on this ride, we'll suggest a slow puncture be pumped up and dealt with at a regroup under streetlights.Sadly after another two miles it became a quick puncture and we had the examine the tyre minutely before finding the tiny thorn that had pushed through the sidewall. then we had to get a sharp knife to get the thorn out and replace the inner. So yes, riders are self-sufficient. But many hands make light work.

the point about battery capacity at nighttime temperatures is a good one, and applies equally to things like lights and GPS receivers

I hadn't thought of this point. Interesting. Of course if an e-bike battery fails the bike riding changes dramatically but if a GPS fails the rider can continue, and lights can be borrowed.

 

[sagefly]

Great pics!
I have to ask, in preparation for myself and my OH to join one of these rides next year, is it, you know, the done thing (ahem) to join in on an ebike?
This is most probably the only way we ( one of us, I won't say whom!) would be able to join up!

I can't see an issue with having a battery on the bike, most importantly you need to get on one of the rides! October 6 is the next one. Don't over think just ride.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Indeed, except it's also a problem for everyone else or we're not The Fridays and degenerate into just another roadie club. An example: it's 3am five miles into the countryside outside Horsham and a bike has a catastrophic failure. We won't abandon someone, we need a mobile and reception for it, a taxi, and wait for it to arrive. Meanwhile the ride continues so a fresh TEC team is needed. And so on..

In that event, if I'm not on the ride, ring me. Seriously. Ok it only applies in this use case but tlh's roomster swallows bikes.

I remember one ride under Simon's leadership where someone's rear mech exploded into a twenty bits. We nursed him to the layby atop Reigate Hill, at which point Simon did the "You're a grown-up, call a cab, do you need money for it? no?, thanks, we will be off then" speech.

 

[Flying Dodo]

A few general thoughts. The A24 is a good route which simplifies waymarking. However, I had let a bit of a time deficit build up at the stops. For instance at the garage and also when I hadn't realised the tail end had arrived when we were waiting on the M25 bridge.

So those extra 5-10 minutes each time build up. On a long ride like this, that matters. Having to detour into Leatherhead to avoid the traffic being diverted off the M25 with the long wait at the lights didn't help. So with some new riders who were struggling with the distance before the halfway stop, that meant a late arrival at Faygate along with a 15 minute gap between the first and last arrivals.

In the second half of the ride, although I knew there was a puncture, I did worry it was something more terminal as it was 35 minutes from stopping near West Chiltington to being able to set off again.

I'd allowed time for the Gurkha bridge though. However, I was worried about the wooden fence being down at the top. One of the riders had taken off the electric fence cable and whilst that would have simplified things for getting bike through, a few couldn't understand why I made him put it back. The point being if the farmer came along at that point and wasn't aware of the fence being down, we would have got the blame for knocking it over. Quite a few also walked the path after the bridge rather than cycling.

So that's why it ended up being just over an hour late in arriving. I even had a text from The Lobster Pot at 9:26 asking if everything was ok!

So perhaps some riders did go outside their comfort zone and stretched themselves a bit far, but they all survived and they seemed to still be smiling at the end. We had at least 2 who'd come along after doing Dunwich and had seen the post on the Facebook page. Also a Breeze ride leader who got persuaded to come along after chatting to @CharlieB on his train back after the Whitstable ride.

I do appreciate all of those who do volunteer to waymarker or being at the back, so many thanks to everyone. On the rare occasion on other rides that I'm not either leading a ride or TECing, I enjoy being able to waymark, as that way I can practise for those KOM points.

Finally, I think West Sussex council have a job lot of 17% signs as both hills marked that way weren't that steep.

 

[mmmmartin]

Lesson: at regroups All Upper to personally talk to ride leader, it's not enough to wave and think you've been waved back or nodded at. Unambiguous-ness needed from All Upper. Esp outside houses where people are sleeping so shouting is out of order.

 

[StuAff]

@AlexB As discussed at breakfast, a route from Bognor to Pompey https://www.plotaroute.com/route/489670 should work pretty well.

 

[swansonj]

...traffic lights that fail to detect cyclists and therefore remain on red ....

Those of you doing the Prudential will pass over one such in Leatherhead, ....

....Having to detour into Leatherhead to avoid the traffic being diverted off the M25 with the long wait at the lights didn't help. ....
.

I'm putting two and two together and making twenty five

 

[topcat1]

I really like the start by the river and the ride up to Battersea. It got a little bit cold but it was such fun. Well done and thank you Adam Martin and the rest of the Fridays. Great night great ride tc1


https://flic.kr/s/aHsm4jmgnV

 

[kimble]

Lesson: at regroups All Upper to personally talk to ride leader, it's not enough to wave and think you've been waved back or nodded at. Unambiguous-ness needed from All Upper. Esp outside houses where people are sleeping so shouting is out of order.

An easy mistake, and by no means exclusive to Fridays rides. (BTDT)

It turns out that people on bikes with lights on the front look pretty much like other people on bikes with lights on the front. Especially if there are loads more people on bikes with lights on the front standing in between you.

 

[kimble]

I'd allowed time for the Gurkha bridge though. However, I was worried about the wooden fence being down at the top. One of the riders had taken off the electric fence cable and whilst that would have simplified things for getting bike through, a few couldn't understand why I made him put it back. The point being if the farmer came along at that point and wasn't aware of the fence being down, we would have got the blame for knocking it over. Quite a few also walked the path after the bridge rather than cycling.

I thought the whole Gurkah Bridge flat-cut was handled particularly well. While taking the time on a recce ride to kick in some nettles in order to open up a valuable shortcut is something I've done before, taking proper gardening tools and clearing quite so much undergrowth really is above and beyond the duty of any ride leader. In the end, I only got stung once and the nettle in question wasn't really trying all that hard. Chapeau!

I concluded that the centre of mass on The Red Baron is too far back in the seat to do the turn-it-upside-down-and-balance-it-on-my-head method that worked so well with the Streetmachine, that doesn't really matter as this one's so much easier to tilt sideways and pass over the gate to a pair of volunteers.

I also discovered - thankfully without any drama - that while lowracers aren't really designed for singletrack, it's doable as long as the surface is firm, you treat sharp changes of direction with caution and there aren't any sudden-death tree roots (the sort of thing the Streetmachine would shrug and bounce over, on this one feel like you've gone arse-over-tit and landed hard on your back on concrete). Feeling smug about surviving that, and momentarily forgetting the fishtailing as I applied the rear brake on the descent through the first field, I proceeded to embarrass myself proving conclusively that a lightly-loaded Durano really doesn't give you any useful traction on wet grass. Nothing was hurt but my pride, unless that happened to be the moment where some mysterious slug entrails managed to attach themselves to a part of the bike frame that's ostensibly protected by the front mudguard. We'll never know.

Other than that, I was reasonably pleased at managing my longest ride this year (stupid injuries) and about double the distance I'd previously ridden on that bike. Without even being particularly physically tired, which shows how efficient it is in the right conditions. The concentration required to keep avoiding dodgy surfaces in the dark on a bike that really doesn't like potholes was quite fatiguing, though, and it's only coming out when the weather promises to behave...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Lesson: at regroups All Upper to personally talk to ride leader, it's not enough to wave and think you've been waved back or nodded at. Unambiguous-ness needed from All Upper. Esp outside houses where people are sleeping so shouting is out of order.

A token of some kind could perhaps be exchanged.

 

[Flying Dodo]

I thought the whole Gurkah Bridge flat-cut was handled particularly well. While taking the time on a recce ride to kick in some nettles in order to open up a valuable shortcut is something I've done before, taking proper gardening tools and clearing quite so much undergrowth really is above and beyond the duty of any ride leader. In the end, I only got stung once and the nettle in question wasn't really trying all that hard. Chapeau!

Aww... thank you!

What I'm quite astonished by is how much the brambles had grown back in 2 weeks on the section immediately after the field. I had to bend 3 or 4 out of the way. Next year - Agent Orange!

 

[StuAff]

Next year - Agent Orange!