I remarked to the lovely Helen at tea time "all my kit is ready, I've never been so prepared for a Fridays' ride." Clearly the malevolent daemon that controls the shifting in an S2C hub was listening....
Ken, Jim and I gathered at Horsham Station, knowing it would likely see us a few hours later. Talk turned to strategies for overcoming a case of the baileys. Good Friday made its presence felt when the 21:52 arrived as a four car formation. A little while later and we were dodging the wheelie cases of the passengers at Victoria, and shortly after that, I was drooling over Jenny's new bike. Still, such a lovely person deserves such a lovely bike I think. A new face ex-Martlets arrived and was welcomed. A familiar one, Adrian, arrived complete with a pair of mudguards which should, by rights, have caused an massive levitation of certain supercilium. Mick arrived, so heavily swathed I thought he'd developed a serious pie habit over the winter and scarcely recognised him.
We rolled to HPC and, en-route, were blitzed by the splendid Bruce in full-on racing snake mode. Someone has been putting the miles in over the winter.
Simon, unrecognisable in full-on ninja mode, gave a useful and informative talk on ride safety, and little did he know that the A264 would make a liar of his claims of "No bollards". I added a windshell, and offered a silent thank you to Ian and Claudine who recommended the ever effective montane. Brilliant piece of kit, even though I've had to sew the zip together at the bottom after it broke. Hands are shaken. Hugs given and received. The merits of illegal blue front leds were discussed. It is a joy to ride with friends.
My layers;
Head: trekmates polar buff worn balaclava style with walz cap over and lid on top. (At Faygate Walz cap replaced by sugino winter merino cap with ear flaps/band)
Body: On-one s/s light merino base layer, Shutt lightweight arm warmers, On-one medium weight l/s merino base layer, Fridays l/s jacket, Montane Velo shell.
Legs: Shutt lightweight long leg warmers, Shutt Pro bib shorts, Shutt Pro bib longs
Feet: DeFeet dura merino socks, On-one merino socks, Shimano MW81 bootee mtb shoes
Hands: DeFeet merino gloves, Spesh BG long finger mtb gloves, cheap 'woollen' gloves free from Cycling Plus.
I was never cold, not even post Faygate, and on the draggy climbs I dropped the zips on the shell and the jacket.
Off we went, having volunteered to TEC, firmly at the back (which is where it is all at - somehow I find standing around fixing a problem chills me less that standing around waiting for the back to catch up). Unlike Adam I cannot remember the sequence to escape so every time it is a source of wonder that we don't get lost in the first three miles.
Even the TEC's were affected by some rusty throat complaint which prevented calls being made properly - lack of practise I guess. Davy expressed his disgust and we found our voices. Ian was treated to a display of the retro-reflectives on a Montane shell and Andrew had an encounter with the front of a car. At least it was a Jag. Jenny draughts and is welcome to.
(Part of) the joy of doing FNRttC is riding on roads that I rode freely as a kid/teen, before playing rugby stole my heart, and which I'd not even consider riding on solo during the daylight hours these days. The A23? The A264? Wonderful with The Fridays or in a group, potentially terminal as a lone rider.
Sorry to disappoint but we didn't really bypass Crawley at all, we rode through the heart of it. They built the bypass in the 30's and then built the New Town either side of it after WWII. We passed Langley Green by the Tushmore Gyratory, where I, despite the huge advantage of being born in the 'sham, spent my formative years, climbed up over the railway and passed Gossops Green, on the 'right side of the tracks', from whence the lovely Helen hails. I married up.
We got lucky with the A264 roadworks. No numpties in cars, one splendid knight of the road in his HGV, and the safety lanes which last week extended all the way to Faygate have been removed as no works are taking place over the Easter holiday.
At the Cabin I swapped caps and for the first time ever I escaped the shakes on the run into Horsham. Though I did get cramp in the layby! On the Crawley Road I was pleased to see the detector strips were working and the lights changed as we approached. Slightly different route through the 'sham, right past my front door and the slumbering lovely Helen, taking out one set of traffic lights and thus one less traffic light controlled right turn and keeping us off our local race track Albion Way as much as possible.
By now my hub was sticking in top (133%) for long periods of time. Changing gear down required stopping, getting off the bike, and manually moving the pedals until it shifted. I figured I'd do that at the foot of bury Hill. The hub had other ideas. Having waymarked at Boredstiff Heath I decide to grind it out and catch up with Ken for a chat on the run into Five Oaks and down to Billingshurst. Simon tells us straight on to the town centre. My how we larfed. It's a village. You can tell from the idiots. I brake for the roundabout using the coaster (back pedal) brake and the hub goes clunk and the transmission locks nearly chucking me off the bike. Not good. It releases but when I stop to fiddle at the bottom of the high street it won't shift at all and then under manipulation it clunks and nothing will turn at all. 'Temper, temper Gregry.' As the lovely Helen would say. Game over.
I bid a few discrete farewells, shoulder the bike, and walk to the station. Giving the bike a good kicking (literally) on the platform frees things eventually but whatever the cause, it may be the grease freezing, I can't trust that hub again. Train comes at 06:41 and I sit in the warm (winter) sun on a lovely spring morning, watching the twitter updates from the ride as it rolls into Pullbogrough.
By seven I'm home and in the bath. By nine the hub is out of the wheel and in the bin. A great idea (freewheel, two speeds, direct drive bottom gear, flip flop shifting, with a coaster brake to avoid ugly cables) it is the perfect plug'n'play replacement back wheel for a fixed gear (or singlespeed) for the times when you want an extra gear and/or freewheel. But it is so badly engineered, the interwebs are littered with tales of woe, and I've done better than most owners in getting a few 1000km's out of mine. For £70, not good enough Messrs Sturmey and Archer. The fixed wheel is going back in once I've typed this and loaded the dishwasher. (And then, next month, the Plug is being sold. I'm building a disc braked fixed commuter which will take, whisper it softly, rack and 'guards. Plus the purple people eater, a fixed gear BMX/MTB inspired fixed/ss will make its FNRttC debut at some point this year, I promise. Or maybe threaten.)
Ladies and gentlemen it was a pleasure riding with you, a fellow could not ask for finer companions on two wheels.
Monday I'm going back to finish the ride....