England : Isle of Wight Night Ride Around the Coast 2016 (June 3)

[Bollo]

Thanks for the great ride Stu. Immaculately planned and executed as usual (Tescos? ). The honour of official write up should always go to the ride leader, so I'll keep my fat gob shut until then.

 

[StuAff]

Not so long ago, this ride was shaping up to be huge! OK, maybe not, but for the first time the number who had expressed an interest was in double figures. Sadly, a few people had dropped out for various reasons by Friday night. Phil B who saw the post over the road didn't show, don't know why. And acts of Southern Railway took their toll again, causing @Shadow's late withdrawal, & @PaulRide made it only thanks to a sprint finish (I was under the impression that he was on a later train than he actually was, if he had been he'd have had no chance). Ho hum, small but perfectly formed the peloton was again. Am I downhearted? Am I going to give up on this ride? Am I ********! Far too much of a good time was had by all concerned. As I know I said about last year's edition, if you ummed and aahed then decided the sheer horror of having to travel two or more hours to get to the start is too much bother, well (as with all the Not From That London editions of Friday Night Rides, a gem every one of them), your loss. Those of us who have miles to go before we sleep, just to get to HPC, know it's worth the effort for those...This ride is (please forgive proprietorial enthusiasm) an absolute peach of a ride. If Southwold was the 'queen of rides', as the boss would have it, well, this is the Queen Victoria. We even go past her favourite holiday gaff. You will be amused! If you think you've done The Best Night Ride Ever and you haven't done this one, frankly you really need to sign up for next year and check your assessment. I'd still give the nod to the masterpiece that is the FNRttK, but this one has many, many charms of its own.

Unlike every other ride, I get a nice easy experience in prep and getting to the start for this one. Usual commute home, changing in my own bedroom (luxury!) and a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge before self and @CharlieB (who stopped by to drop a weekend bag off, on account of doing the Norwich 100 on the Sunday) made our leisurely progress round to the ferry terminal, where we met up with @Bollo (on a bike that proved rather more appropriate than he thought it would be, his rather lovely Canyon Aeroad) and David- who'd done Whitstable before. I wasn't expecting @PaulRide, not knowing he'd been on an 8pm-ish train from the smoke and thinking he was further back up the line than he was. Then, a familiar face on a familiar bike pulled up to the front of the car queue just as the ship arrived. The Campagnolo Chorus of 'Paul' got his attention, and he had enough time to buy a ticket before we boarded. Phew! As on the night recce, Greggs was shut. Unlike that trip, I noticed the Costa on the next deck up was open (it used to be the other way round on night sailings). Which was nice. Bang on time into Fishbourne, where we were joined by @Eddie_C who'd gone on the Southampton-East Cowes ferry and ridden round. I let The Traffic (Escort XR3i! We truly had gone back in time!) get out of the way before delivering the safety talk, which I deem essential on account of all the holes. Island Roads has actually done some resurfacing- some very recently indeed!- but there remain many, many, many (...) holes to be avoided. The first stretch saw a bit of an unscheduled detour prior to arriving at Tesco. What I've done in previous years, as the route crosses over itself, is have two files for the Garmin, to stop it getting all confused and deciding we're at the end when the end's sixty miles away. Forgot to load that first file up. So, we missed a turn and it took a little while before I realised we were off course, though it didn't add much in time or distance to put that right. Made Tesco by two or so, and it was ever so slightly disappointing that unusual retail habits were not much in evidence- no-one buying cat litter in the small hours this time. Provisions purchased and break taken, on we went. I didn't forget to load the GPX this time....

This first stretch (well, apart from the bit I messed up, obv...) was identical to the official, signposted, round-IOW route, but the next bit was my first alteration from it, as we went up to Seaview, for the, er, sea view. Which is very nice indeed. Then back on the official route for Bembridge. When we got there, self and David were trailing the other three a bit, and they missed the turn at Foreland Road (scene of the night recce chain link incident last year). Just a little mileage added before we caught them up. Looking at the track afterward, we could have actually continued the same way, but benefits of hindsight…

Back on course, we continued on towards Sandown, past Bembridge Airport. At Yaverland, we had paused for a quick break, when a police car stopped by. Had we seen a naked man? Not tonight, we hadn't. On to Sandown before joining the Sunshine Trail (bunny rabbits!), which remains a much better option than Cowleaze Hill for getting to Ventnor, where we rode over some absolutely brand new tarmac, so new the road was closed, which was nice. After the enforced (due to Undercliffe Drive's ongoing closure) detour through Whitwell, it was time for the steady grind up to Blackgang. David was suffering a bit by this stage, not being used to the distance/climbing/time of day combo, but he made it up just fine. No-one overshot the car park this time, and in first light the view was fantastic, even with the heavy cloud (will post photos later). Refreshed, it was time for the Military Road, and I rapidly fell off the back of the group as the headwind impeded my progress, even at 17 mph average. Paul M came back to keep me company and the others waited for a bit. No harm done, no turnings to get missed. Compton Bay public toilets for another break and handy water tap for those who needed bottles refilled, before the climb up towards Freshwater Bay. At the summit, it was agreed that the cloud made the Needles diversion unnecessary (David was the only one who hadn't seen them and the extra effort of getting there and back on course wouldn't have been worthwhile), so after the long fast descent into Freshwater Bay, we turned north. Another unscheduled detour (left instead of right) saw us head back towards the Needles for a bit (not sure what happened there) but that was thankfully the last of those. Back round to Yarmouth without issues, and more of these strange things known to us mainlanders as Decent Roads (whatever Island Roads have been on, may they keep taking it) and then on to West Cowes for the chain ferry. Shocking price increase- now £1 for a bike since June 1 (40p before)! Very odd loud fellow customer going on about…something…not sure what, he didn't seem to be either. We kept our distance and rapidly made our escape when the crossing was complete.

The last stretch was pleasant enough, and David's fatigue held off enough to keep him going comfortably. Charlie again did the walk of no shame on the climb that defeated him last year. Unsurprisingly, we were in no danger of being back in Ryde at the same time as my recce, let alone before Wetherspoons opened, but we were parked up and sat down by half-eight or so. Thousands of well-deserved calories later, Eddie went off to complete his monthly century, and the rest of us went for the 10.10 catamaran. We were all good boys and stuck to the 10 mph speed limit on Ryde Pier (which does apply to cyclists), but we were close-passed by an idiot woman at 20 mph. Hopefully she'll get the deserved fine in the post....

Back at Portsmouth Harbour, David found his advance ticket for a service a couple of hours hence would cost an arm and a leg to change, and settled for killing time at Gunwharf Quays (I think). @Bollo had no such bother getting to Winchester, @PaulRide was again a victim of Southern Railways as his train terminating at Victoria became a train terminating at Gatwick Airport- he decided to take it anyway. Charlie popped back with me for his bag, before he headed off to kill time before his train trip to Norwich, and I did a shortish loop to another, mainland, Fishbourne and back to complete my century. 103 miles done since 1am, back about 2.30, more than ready for a nap.

Will post photos later.

Thanks to m'learned friends for joining me. As for the rest of you, this ride will return in 2017. Don't kick yourself about missing this one, just sign up for that one!

 

[StuAff]

The view from the car park...

And the view from Compton Bay.

 

[mmmmartin]

Well done, @StuAff on a good ride completed with no dramas or epics. Having ridden on the IoW in daylight I can imagine how excellent it'd be in the night, with empty roads and mystical views. The full list of FNRttC events and dates will be decided before Christmas and, once again, we'll ensure the date for this ride does not clash with others in the calendar. And with luck, next year I'll be on it.

 

[StuAff]

Oh yes,
Light winds.
Not one drop of rain.
Not one mechanical, not so much as a chain drop.
And some nice new-as-can-be tarmac to ride on.

No sacrifices, human or otherwise, were made prior to this ride. Honest....

 

[CharlieB]

This is a stunningly good ride. I think it's the variability of scenery, roads, including a stretch of old railway line turned into pathway and the journey to and from the Island that makes it so.
Overcast conditions kept the temperature reasonable, although it prevented any star gazing this year. The democratically arrived at decision not to go to The Needles was occasioned by the conditions on that we probably wouldn't be able to see them anyway.

And some nice new-as-can-be tarmac to ride on.

So new, in fact, it was still warm at one point.
It's hilly. It's very hilly. I had 1500m of ascent shown for the 70 mile all round trip. The last brief kick into Ryde defeated me for a second year. Nonetheless, the usual fine breakfast at Weatherspoons makes it all worthwhile.
So thank you to @StuAff for conceiving this ride a few years back, and to everyone else for some good company.
Try this next year, people, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Shadow]

Really disappointed to have missed this.
Apparently if I look at Southern's website I might be able to claim compensation, will look at this later. Some jobsworth might be amused at my reason: delayed/non-existent trains meant missed ferry connection for a FNRttC (unofficial).

 

[CharlieB]

…and don't forget the helicopter, also looking for the naked man, mentioned by @StuAff passim.

 

[Bollo]

I doesn't help, does it? A ride of about a mile from my house will give you panoramic views of much of the Isle of Wight, but I can still get to Birmingham more quickly. It's a shame, because this ride is special. It's different. There's nothing anything like it on the FNRttC calendar.

My train journey was at least on time so I was assured of a starting berth, although I witnessed the most half-hearted attempt at bike theft from the racks at Eastleigh station by two lady fare-dodgers that had just been kicked off. Then I had the heavily refreshed student tell me that I needed cycling shoes with cleats on the heels as this is much more efficient. To Pompey Harbour and a meet-up with Dave and a cheer for @PaulRide's ride of truth, then a short ferry ride across to the Island.

During the safety talk Stu talked up the roads, then talked them down. I've done the Round the Island route a number of times so knew this was a job for the 4-door family bike. Unfortunately said bike's headset had developed an issue, so the Canyon was my only option. Lovely it is, but I was haunted by the recurring image of me stood on Ryde Pier, a Tescos bag full of shattered carbon by my side, weeping gently. As it was, I survived with sore wrists and nothing more.

The road surfaces are getting there, but the hills remain. It's not the big-ticket inclines that do the damage (I managed a 16mph average up Blackgang - Grrrrr!) and there are no Ditchlings or White Downs, but it's the constant up-down-up-down that chisel away at the stamina. With the lack of serious bailout options, I know why Stu doesn't sugar the pill in his ride description. Charlie looked strong the entire ride, but the nasty ramp into Ryde claimed him in the end.

The island rewards the effort though. From the slightly-shabby seaside resorts to the magnificent sweep of the south coast, the views are rarely boring and, if they are, they'll change completely ten minutes down the road. The IoW is famous for it's red squirrels but no-one saw any on the night. Lots of foxes, but no squirrels. Draw your own conclusions. One fox clearly hadn't listened to Tufty's road safety message because the little bin-digging bugger ran right out in front of me.

The naked man mystery was never resolved. We'd seen the same police car at Tescos, then passed them again around Shanklin and were finally questioned a few miles further on. I felt strangely guilty. Was I the naked man? Was Stuart? Charlie? Probably Charlie.

The chain ferry was ..... interesting. Just as we were getting over the shock of the price hike (surely it's now the most expensive per-mile boat journey in the world?) and were trying to pay (also not simple) we were greeted by a short bearded pensioner in a sailors cap. Cap'n Birdseye didn't care for us. Cap'n Birdseye called us ****ing queer ****s. Cap'n Birdseye was out of his mind. The chain-ferry staff didn't bat an eyelid and just asked why they'd not seen him in a while. During the short crossing he held an A4 folder up to the drivers with a copy of the Spectator on one side and the message "Type 22 is killing you" in highlighter pen on the other, while cackling wildly. None of this is remotely exaggerated.

The breakfast at Ryde Wetherspoons was well-deserved and enjoyed, although hash-browngate will rubble on. I even ran into a few people I know from Ryde ice rink. The first proper warmth of the day was breaking through on the catamaran back to Portsmouth. My day was in, but Stuart would have good weather in which to complete his ton.

Thanks again to Stuart for organising this and to Paul R, Dave and Charlie for the fine company. And Eddie (sorry! - lack of sleep)

Do this ride!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PaulRide]

I have very little to add to the fine words above, but thought it might be useful to provide an illustration. In case you were wondering, Eddie had already whizzed past when I took this.

Thanks again Stu for organising a top ride.

 

[Eddie_C]

Thank you Stuart for arranging this - as stated eloquently above, it's a corker of a ride and well worth the physical and logistical challenges.
And thanks to the two Pauls, to Dave, and to Charlie for your company.
Hope to see you and maybe a few more next year.