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@monkdagola
^ chapeau! (both danstuff and yetidamo)
I received a phone call around midnight Saturday from Antidotes, spontaneously / drunkenly asking if I'd like to cycle to Brighton in the morning with him and Tom. As I'd sacked off SPFG, I said yes. So I woke early to do some pre-ride maintenance / adjustments, glad I did as I discovered that my front wheel nuts were dangerously loose in the process. Antidotes had some chain issues with his new build so we didn't leave our respective abodes till around midday. We met at Croydon for some fuel / dirtyfood and headed out around 2ish.
I was riding brakeless on my Fort Track.Aero, with a bottle cage duck taped to my seat tube for road biek guise. Antidotes was breaking in his new Hardisty track with a sweet Nitto cockpit, running a cheeky front brake (sensible) and Tom was cruising his Raleigh Wayfarer SS through the country lanes.
It wasn't long out of Croydon before we happened upon some lovely country scenery. We took the longer 'scenic' route and found ourselves sliding through dusty country cycle paths and slipping through some dense vegetation. Making a stop for hydration every 15 miles or so and to do some 'mapping' as we didn't really know where we going.
No matter how far we cycled, Google seemed to be in troll mode as it repeatedly told us we were 3 hours away every stop. There were a few hills to battle, for me both up and down because brklz, but we miraculously managed to avoid Ditcham, which I'm thankful for because I was officially broken around 45 miles in. I was so exhausted that once we reached the city limit, I cycled all the way to the centre of town no-handed, relishing the upright position.
We made it to Brighton around 7sh, stumbling into Pride. We were triumphant but also rather tired, after Tom managed to appropriate some free beers, I grumpily elected to head down to the beach to relax and reflect before grabbing some fish & chips and jumping on a train home. All in all a great day, last-minute planning and exhausting but good laughs with awkward tans / sunburn.
Would I do it again? Yes, probably just leave a little earlier.
More photos here.