Thursday Night Ride to the Coast to Felpham 5th April

[TimO]

It was a fairly brisk night out, but I've cycled on colder FNRttCs. The plus side of that was that we had a spectacularly clear view of the moon.

I think the ride was largely uneventful, excepting the tosser who thought it would be funny to throw eggs at us from a moving car.

It was unfortunate that some had to abandon at the half way point, because it was a smashing final half, with a lovely crisp morning eventually, and bright sun. I think we only had one visitation on the entire ride, and that was cleared fairly rapidly (and mostly by the cyclist whose bike it was).

Our "normal" cafe failed to be open to serve us, so we used the Lobster Pot, who whilst they don't have a license (so no beer) did manage to serve a very large number of cyclists fairly rapidly. My breakfast certainly dispappeared almost as rapidly.

Even though the direct trains were buggered by some sort of signalling failure, we managed to jam an unfeasibly large number of bikes onto a four carriage Barnham train, and then onto another four carriage train to Victoria. This did result in some of us having to stand for the entire journey home, but that's been unusual for return journeys on FNRttCs, in my experience, so not worthy of much note.

Zev and Kai are now happily full of cat food, and sunning themselves in the overgrown area known as my back garden, and I'm about to go and collapse, and possibly rest my eyelids for a while. It was a top ride as ever, and many thanks to Simon for his essential organisational skills, and to all the other people who help make it such an enjoyable experience.

 

[martint235]

A cold ride but a good ride. I don't think it was as cold as the March Southend one last year but I still felt it. The sunrise and early morning run into Felpham made it worthwhile (apart from penultimate waymarking, must not be that close to the front again!). I thought I'd rescued the situation though by asking the nice Thom fellow to order my breakfast. However the "nice" Thom fellow wasn't on the ride, only his evil twin who sat eating cake and gloating about not being the penultimate waymarker

I like the Lobster Pot breakfast. We went there for Adam's Not a Xmas ride in 2011. They certainly serve quicker than the boathouse. I decided to forgo alcohol in favour of matrimonial harmony and caught the 10.45 train to East Croydon from Littlehampton. Just short of 100 miles but I couldn't leave it so twice round the block brought that up. Now for a bath and some sleep!

 

[User10571]

Loved the ride, loved the moon - and what a moon it was....
Nice to chat to some new people, the visited (sorry, I never did catch your name ), Kat (apologies for the lightbulb moment) lovely to meet you, you are fine riding company.
I may post some piccies - depending on what they look like, but right now I'm badly in need of a bath. And some kip.

 

[Nigel182]

Home now and completely "Cream Crackered"
Did enjoy the "Narnia-esque" trip thru the fields and Mountain Bike ride on my Road Bike.
And saw a Dirty Great Castle just after.
Have a great pic of the other Nigel's Trike going across the field will post it after a kip.

 

[thom]

I thought I'd rescued the situation though by asking the nice Thom fellow to order my breakfast. However the "nice" Thom fellow wasn't on the ride, only his evil twin who sat eating cake and gloating about not being the penultimate waymarker

Ha ha ha, guilty as charged...
What was touted as a "Run in" by some... unfurled in a quite comedic fashion. Aka Bob slipped up like "Cav chasing his breakfast" only to hit the front too soon, graciously accepting a waymarking role. After which Decker Tim and I sat behind and observed you appearing on the right hand of Our Glorious Leader for a chat before casting around behind with a look of shock as the apparent final turn clearly fell into your trust amidst resigned Northern mutterings ;-) Only for a gleeful DT to lurch to the head to discover the venue change required the actual final waymarker, a role accepted with a smile and humour.
The breakfast was great at The Lobster Pot although I can see the merits of a venue serving beer too. I wasn't the only happy customer to enjoy the high quality Victoria sponge and the veggie breakfast while slowly picking up a tan.
I did find the dark part of the ride as cold as any I've been on but unfortunately there was a nadir with Tim's egged head. Ignorant tossers indeed.
That orange red moon was very cool.
Thanks Simon for impeccable organisation as always !

 

[User10571]

A cold ride but a good ride. I don't think it was as cold as the March Southend one last year but I still felt it.

Nowhere near it.
I think we hit patches of -4°C on that occasion.
Last night it was vacillating in the regions of -1°C / -2°C.
Positively balmy!

 

[martint235]

And saw a Dirty Great Castle just after.

You saw it too??

 

[velovoice]

Kim got a reading of -1 at about 4am but as Susie, Bridget and I were preparing to leave The Cabin, Mark there said it was -4C.

Coldest temps I've ever cycled in, that's for sure and not an experience I will be seeking to repeat.

Beautiful night, perfectly run by Simon as usual. I won't catalogue all my mishaps, just want to express heartfelt thanks to Tim O, Kim and User10571 for being so patient and such good company at the back. Tim provided distracting conversation (elliptical orbits, helium and words I've never heard before and almost certainly never will again). Kim provided pragmatic sympathy, joining me in a round cursing of those bloody things called knees. And she had codeine. . User10571 was a steady presence. Safe pair of hands. Thanks chaps.

Thanks too for all the complimentary comments about my new steed. It's a lovely ride and I am thoroughly infatuated. Just need to sort out these new cleats, which were the cause of my knee strain.

It's been said many times before but I'll say it again: it's the people that make the FNRttC so special. Last night was another case in point. Thank you.

 

[wanda2010]

As much as I'm gutted to have missed this ride, I'm glad the enjoyment and high standards have been maintained

 

[TimO]

... Tim provided distracting conversation (elliptical orbits, helium and words I've never heard before and almost certainly never will again. ...

Damn you discovered my secret technique for rambling at length so that the person in question forgets that they're doing a FNRttC, and suddenly get to the end of the ride with a "Where did that come from?"... Well, sometimes it works!

If it's the cleat position causing knee problems, you need to sort that out, although my technique involves fiddling with it until it works OK, which could potentially take many FNRttCs to get it dealt with!

The previously mentioned Southend ride was definitely colder, and I've done a couple of Summer Solstice rides between Glastonbury and Stonehenge which made these FNRttCs look positively balmy.

 

[kimble]

Being dry certainly helped. I've done a couple of similar rides this winter in damp-and-just-above-zero conditions, where I felt much more cold and miserable (though this was worse for dramatically crappy performance from otherwise well-behaved Stupid Lungs - it's a good thing there wasn't too much serious climbing)

My temperature reading was hovering in the region of -2 for ages after The Cabin, which is officially Too Cold. I'm glad we managed to avoid any ice incidents. If only the same could be said for eggs (I was lucky - it only hit my front wheel).


*thunk* ZzZzz

 

[ianrauk]

During very early sunrise, I rode into a dip in the road. It was full of mist as these road depressions can get. Someone was behind me with a very bright light. My outline was projected perfectly in the mist ahead, looking 20 foot tall. It was amazing to see.

 

[StuAff]

Yet another cracking night, despite the temperatures and assorted mishaps/retirements (hope Susie, Rebecca, Adrian and the other afflicted make a speedy and full recovery).

My evening got off to a nice, quiet relaxing start...in another life. In this one, it was a nice, loud exciting one thanks to Primus & the second of their two nights at the Albert Hall. As on night one, when I rode up (I'd have gone for a ride anyway, so I got more miles in and saved a few quid on the rail fares this way), the security staff were refreshingly sensible about the no food and drink (at least not bought on the premises...!!) rule. The larder for the evening stayed in the rucksack. Two and a half hours of splendid entertainment later, over to Victoria for the pre-meet-up, er, meet-up, and thence HPC.

I erred somewhat in my glove choice. I went for the lighter-weight DHBs rather than the aptly-named Northwave Arctic Winters. The rest of me was toasty (or at least 'not that cold'), I had four layers on the top half, but at times I couldn't feel my fingers, with resulting difficulty in shifting and braking. Particularly handy on fast downhills

I think the Putney Hill incident Rob mentioned was perhaps a first- I can't recall anyone else crashing with us as innocent bystanders. For those who didn't see it: Eejit in BMW (in the post-ride fugue I'm not entirely sure if it was the driver or a passenger) is leaning out of the window, telling us something or other, probably involving us peasants getting off his private road. Eejit then decides to make a right-hand turn while still giving us his undivided attention. And promptly gets rear-ended by a taxi, the BMW's nose is then pushed into a fence hard. Handily, one of our number is particularly qualified to help the driver in explaining his legal responsibilities- Will C is a serving Met officer. Poetic justice indeed...Shame those other idiots didn't get egg on their faces, in any sense.

For the most part, the first half seemed pleasantly short of incident. Definitely better to keep moving in those temps anyway! Mark and crew again did an excellent job at the Cabin (well, apart from not making enough bread pudding...). And after an elongated stop there (an hour and twenty minutes or so in my case), on we went. By this stage my Garmin (fully charged that morning and only lightly used since, switched off most of the time) had decided its battery was nearly dead. 15-hour battery life seems to go by the by in that kind of temperature. And I'd forgotten to stick my battery-powered USB charging kit in the bag (lesson learnt there..). Fortunately, Tim D lent me his battery, and the Edge got enough juice to last the rest of the day, including the ride home. Thanks again Tim!

It finally decided to warm up a bit on the last stretch, and by the time we got to Felpham it was pleasant indeed. As was the job the Lobster Pot did for us. Absolutely terrific breakfast again, and I hardly had to wait for it. On a par with the Waterfront in Whitstable for quality, and only just behind Miles in Ramsgate. After usual mooching and chinwagging, on westwards with Jen & Andrew Mc W (as far as Bognor station), Simon and Claud (till their turnoff for Wittering on) and reasonably rapid progress home. Back in just over two hours.

Roll on Southsea Emsworth....

 

[User10571]

It was cold last night, but nowhere near as cold as Southend 2011 - Last night I was wearing about 1/3rd of what I wore then.... and in 2011 there was clearly slush and ice at the roadside, of which last night there were none.....

The forecast said -2°C in Londres, -1°C roundabout Horsham, and in Bognor it'd stay at or above zero - and I think that's pretty much what we got - the scientist / loggers amongst us will doubtless have a trail that a tale it will tell...

I had no idea the RTA on Putney Hill involved the driver of a car who was busy hurling abuse. I hope no one was hurt, and am sure that with some a lot of T-Cut the damage will buff out.

Comis to those who never heard the sibilance of the waves on the shingle, for whatever reason. There's no shame in that - the ride's supposed to be an enjoyable, fun experience (last night, for instance, I'm sure a voice in my head was saying 'Simon, remind me why it is we're here') and if it stops being that, then that's the time to do what you need to do, and launch yourself bedward... however much the taxi costs...

Right.
Now I need to empty my fridge of it's contents.

 

[BigGee]

My first ride of the year and it was a cold one. My water bottle frooze, which has never happend to me before, despite being on some previous chilly rides. My cateye computer also gave up the ghost at the lowest temp point, around Faygate. I thought the battery had expired but in the morning with the sun on its back it was back to life again, probably a bit like me!

I got a front row view of the idiot in the car and the taxi. It was the passenger leaning out and he obviously succeeded in distracting the driver. I think that might be an ex-friendship now.

I think this is my favourite FNRttC, probably because it is the one I have done most often. The cross country ride from the bottom of the hill to Faygate, last night in spectacular moonlight and the morning around Amberley and Arundel are fantastic. I look forward to doing it on a balmy summer night sometime, as it always seems to be cold or wet!

Anyway, as usual thanks to Simon and everyone for a great ride. We had to head home around the houses due to malfunctioning trains, but i got a seat so can't complain. Going via Barnham I think is quicker anyway, so we probably did not loss any time, but it is nice not to just crash onto a train and not to ave to worry about any changes.

Having cycled up to town and back, I think I must have done about 100 miles, my longest of the year by a good stretch, but with my heat sensitive computer I can't be sure.

Anyway looking forward to re-gathering in Hull in a few weeks time. See you all then,