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I've still to settle on the route for this year, the issue being the coffee stop. Bar Italia in Frith Street would be impossible on a Friday night/Saturday morning, so this year we have to look at alternatives.
Polo on Bishopsgate is one possibility talked about within the Dog & Bell Crew. Any thoughts on this?
Today I've been pointed by an email enquirer to mobile solutions such as the Raffa and Scotties coffee vans. Is that feasible given the likely numbers involved?
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always look forward to this night/ride. probably because it's so daft. I do miss a 'fry-up' brwakfast though.
francis, are you sure this ride actually needs marshals?
Yes, it does. The Midsummer Madness ride has a relatively high public profile, and attracts both hardcore road worriers and inexperienced cyclists. In that respect it is quite different from, say, Critical Mass.
Midsummer Madness is organised by LCC members, and as a result the covered by LCC's liability insurance. That means keeping the ride together, disciplined and road legal, but most important is that we are safe and happy. Having a group of sharp, attentive, experienced people to lead the ride without overtly directing the mass can and should facilitate this.
In previous years the marshalling of Midsummer Madness has been light and informal, and that is a tradition which the Dog & Bell Crew would like to see continue.
As for breakfast, I'm looking into this. In years past we have gone to Lock 7, but the café there was not open last year, and I don't know what the situation is now. I've asked, and await a reply. Otherwise, there are a few cafés in Southwark worth looking at. In 2013 we stopped at The Island Café. I would prefer Lock 7, as it involves a lovely pootle along the canal towpath in the early morning light.
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The ride details have now been published...
Again, if you are able and willing to help marshal the ride, please contact me ASAP.
Francis
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Update...
The coffee stop this year will be Polo Bar on Bishopsgate, with the change from the usual Bar Italia being to avoid the ultra-congested Soho on a Saturday morning.
Following the coffee stop, the ride will head back south along Bishopsgate, turn southwest along Threadneedle Street, and then west along Cheapside and Holborn toward Oxford Street. From Oxford Street we join the usual route at the junction with Wardour Street, turning north up Portland Street.
As for the post-ride breakfast, I'm still working on this. No response from Lock 7, but there are other possibilities on the Regent's Canal, and one that seems keen to have us, if the guvnor can persuade chef to open earlier than usual at 06:00, is The Proud Archivist. If that fails I will default to The Island Café in Southwark, where we went last year.
I shall do a final recce of the route within the next few days.
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Final recce done, with just one roadworks problem identified (Threadneedle St).
The post-ride breakfast will be at the Island Café in Southwark. The Proud Archivist wanted to say yes, but chef said no, and chef's word is final. That Gordon Ramsey chap has a lot to answer for.
Still looking for volunteers for relaxed marshalling duties.
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Just a few hours to go, Midsummer Madfolk!
We shall depart Cutty Sark Gardens no later than 02:05, and Southwark Needle at 02:45. The first bit of the ride, to Polo Bar on Bishopsgate, is just 10 minutes, and we stop there for half an hour.
I'll be at Cutty Sark Gardens by 01:40.
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I've not long risen following a few hours post-ride sleep.
Forty cyclists and one skater left Cutty Sark Gardens, and 100 or so from Southwark Needle.
Central London was a little eery during the night. Maybe this was down to England's footie blues. Still, we proceeded merrily on our way, and managed for the most part to keep the group together.
We arrived at Primrose Hill at around 04:20, and oh, how the mosquitos there they did feast.
The usual crusties, bongos and bagpipes greeted us as we arrived, and the Romans arrived shortly thereafter to tell the former to shut up. Good cop, bad cop, with one joking "You're all under arrest! Get in the car.", and the other showing not the slightest evidence of a sense of humour. Takes all sorts.
Ten survivors headed off for breakfast at 05:15, on the way taking in the sights of Regent's Street, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge and the South Bank.
The Island Café was shut (!!), so instead we visited the friendly Marie's café in Borough Market. After that we pootled along the Thames Path back to Greenwich.
Soon after waking, I got a phone enquiry about "tonight's Midsummer Madness thing".
"You mean last night's Midsummer Madness thing."
"Er..."
Roll on Midsummer Madness 2015!
winter
conker-
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About
Midsummer Madness 2014
Posted by
@FrancisSedgemore
With only a few weeks until the summer solstice, it is time to start planning for this year's Midsummer Madness nighttime ride from Greenwich via Southwark to Primrose Hill, there to greet the dawn on the longest day of the year. For the past few years, the Dog & Bell Crew have led this ride in memory of the late great Barry Mason Esq., whose original idea it was.
This year the solstice falls on a Friday night/Saturday morning, and that means changes are required to the usual route, owing to the vastly increased numbers of bipeds milling around Soho at the weekend. Stopping for coffee at Bar Italia on Frith Street is simply not feasible in the circumstances, so I will look at alternatives, the aim being to keep as close as possible to a route which takes us on the post-coffee leg of the ride through the West End.
Watch this space for details, and if you are able and willing to help marshal the ride, please contact me ASAP...
www.sedgemore.com/contact
Francis