YACF night ride, York to Whitby, 29/10/10

[phantasmagoriana]

Have fun - sounds like a great experience!  If it were not for the fact that I've never done anything like that distance, have very little experience of night riding and am rather very slow, I'd have loved to have joined in. Maybe next year...  

 

[User10119]

I honestly dont see the attraction of riding through the night. OK the roads are quieter but for me the scenery is part of the attraction. Whatever floats your boat though so good luck.

I can ride roads that I just couldn't go along in the day. I can climb hills as slowly as I like, without some impatient motorist tailgating me or passing too close when I'm already wobbly-slow. I can ride down the other side without being quite so terrified, as I can pretty much take the lane and avoid the bad surfaces. I often find hills in the dark less fearsome anyway - you can't see the top, so you just concentrate on the 6 foot in front of you and keep on plodding (can you tell that I'm not very good at hills? Blue Bank was.... interesting!). I can talk to my friends whilst I ride two-up, and hear the conversation because there's no traffic noise, just the sound of tyres on the road and assorted bikes' idiosyncratic squeaks, creaks and burbles. It's cool enough that I can tackle long/mildly hilly rides without massively overheating. The stars last night were pretty cool too. The Hole of Horcum in the dark is a mighty fine place for a brew and a slice of cake. Riding into the dawn is lovely. The look on people's faces when you tell them that you've ridden since midnight to get there is worth doing it for, at least once. And the breakfast tastes particularly good at the end.

 

[User10119]

Have fun - sounds like a great experience! If it were not for the fact that I've never done anything like that distance, have very little experience of night riding and am rather very slow, I'd have loved to have joined in. Maybe next year...

Well, until Cleethorpes in June I'd never done a night ride either and Scarborough was a first for most of the people who did that one. Around Easter this year I did my first ever 50 mile ride - Auntie Helen's 'mostly flat' Manningtree ride - this time last year I don't think I ever did more than about 10 miles in one go. Someone said that our moving average to Whitby was a bit over 10mph - probably on the slow side for most of that attendees, but about right for me given the terrain and the very helpful tailwind. Most of my riding is usually somewhat slower than that, but it really does help to be in a group.

If you can possibly do it (especially if there is a York-Cleethorpes one again next year) I REALLY recommend doing one of the 'official' FNRttCs. They are so spectacularly well organised and a really supportive environment, which for me (as a total noob) was incredibly reassuring. That was one of the really key things in helping me to get the confidence to do most of my subsequent Silly Bike Adventures - of which there have now been a few!

 

[Arch]

Have fun - sounds like a great experience! If it were not for the fact that I've never done anything like that distance, have very little experience of night riding and am rather very slow, I'd have loved to have joined in. Maybe next year...

It's unlikely we'll do another until maybe March - the risk of ice increases for the next few months. Build up some distance between now and then, and you'll be fine. As CL says, we weren't all that fast (my average for the whole ride was a shade under 10mph). There's a first time at night riding for everyone - I was a bit worried about the first, but the cameraderie and other people's super dooper lights made it easy. I'm putting a Hope 1 on my Christmas list I think.

Once you can do, say, 30 miles, then 50 isn't such a big leap. If you can do 40, then you can do 50 in a group with that 'special event' feeling.

Banjo - I think you maybe have to try it to understand. Although I did see the attraction before, it wasn't until I did the ride to Scarborough that I really got it. The peace is amazing - roads aren't just 'quieter', they are frenquently empty, for an hour at a time. And it's true you don't get the view, but it's replaced with something else - the little bubble of light around you, the disembodied bobbing of lights and reflective trim ahead of you - your only clue to any hills ahead. If you chat, that's fine, but when road turns upwards, and the conversation drops, you just have companionable silence. On a clear night, out of town, there are stars galore, and then that first hint of light in the east that says you've ridden to dawn. And by heck, you've earned your breakfast.

I'm a convert, I know, with a convert's zeal. But I'd say to anyone, give it a go if you get a chance.. I really must try and get down to a London FNRttC, to find out what it feels like to be in the company of 50 or 60 or more likeminded people.

 

[TheDoctor]

It's not to everyones taste, but I quite like riding at night. Less scenery, but more stars and owls.
I'm not convinced about riding all night, though.
I've done one FNRttC but I don't feel the need to do another.
I don't cope well with missing a nights sleep.

 

[Aperitif]

The peace is amazing - roads aren't just 'quieter', they are frenquently empty, for an hour at a time. And it's true you don't get the view, but it's replaced with something else - the little bubble of light around you, the disembodied bobbing of lights and reflective trim ahead of you - your only clue to any hills ahead. If you chat, that's fine, but when road turns upwards, and the conversation drops, you just have companionable silence. On a clear night, out of town, there are stars galore, and then that first hint of light in the east that says you've ridden to dawn.

Very good, Arch.

Banjo will be 'duelling' 'ere long

 

[Banjo]

A group of riders from the CTC club I ride with do Tuesday night pub runs during the warmer months.which usually involve a 15 or 20 mile ride home in the dark for me which is enjoyable but i am allways aware that the bike has to be securely locked in the shed before midnight so it doesnt turn back into a pumpkin

 

[Fnaar]

Have a good ride to Whitby... was hoping to do this, having really enjoyed the Carlisle-Newcastle, but can't make it. Temperatures are great for this time of year!

 

[Soltydog]

@Fnaar you been on the juice? Check the date of the thread

 

[roadrash]

@Fnaar, have you checked the date of this thread

 

[roadrash]

ahh.......... beaten to it

 

[Fnaar]

It was just that I know there's one going on this year, did a forum search, didn't check date

 

[clarion]

There is one going tonight.

 

[growingvegetables]

Have a good ride to Whitby... was hoping to do this, having really enjoyed the Carlisle-Newcastle, but can't make it. Temperatures are great for this time of year!

For the sake of completeness - a brilliant ride. Strong sou'wester at our backs - great for the climb to the Hole of Horcum. A few mild splashes of rain. Jupiter popping through a cloud break. Daybreak riding down the Esk Valley. Special trick - finding as many flights of stairs as we could to/from the Cinder Track viaduct.

And breakfast. Nuff said?

Probably, except for the truly daft - and I am one. Glorious day, so instead of the train, I rode down to Hawsker and took Moor-to-Sea routes back over the moors to Thornton-le-Dale. Totally mad. But one of the finest rides I have ever had. Yes ... "ever". And (perhaps for obvious reasons) entirely to my self - a good way to see the Moors.