Isle of Wight Randonnee (A ThNRC Affair)

You all get around OK?

Yup, just got home now thanks.

That was actually @balmain getting his third puncture of the first 15 miles or so, on a new tyre (although at least one of them must be blamed on Bath CC's dodgy second hand tube merchants).

After that the ride was trouble free and full of the usual shenanigans - dodgy pub with Billy Bragg tribute act, belongings stashed in bushes, grinding hills, epic road surfaces, clifftop whisky drinking, rain-soaked finale washed down with the biggest and cheapest breakfast you'll ever see (unless you order two). You were missed though Dan..

Mad props to @Ruserius for riding down to Pompey beforehand too - the ride itself was tough enough so I can only imagine that hurt quite a lot!

That was a most excellent ride/night (including the Billy Bragg tribute act) - lovely to renew acquaintances and meet some new faces. Plus top notch ride leading from Matt.

It does strike me though that for this ride to work, i.e. not ending up hanging around Weatherspoons at 5:30am, it needs about three punctures and one member of the team to be a bit of a slouch whenever the road rears upwards. It doesn't need to be the same rider that accounts for these important time management factors, but I guess it keeps things neat and tidy in terms of responsibilities. Your patience was appreciated chaps.

I love riding the Isle of Wight - somehow it's always a cultural experience; dodgy pubs, 4am picnics on the cliffs, queueing outside pubs at 7am and today, getting the train back to London with what seemed like the retirement arm of Portsmouth's fabled 6:57 crew on their way to the England game. To complete my transition back to the middle classes I stopped for sushi and craft beer in Chiswick on the way home.

Cheers all – next time…

That was a total pleasure. Thanks all. Currently a few pints in in Bristol and hoping the double breakfast holds me through. This is what I managed to get on the GoPro. As to be expected it's mostly dark with red lights and some reflective legs spinning manically. https://vimeo.com/186083838

Thanks for this ride, such a nice night up and down the hills round the Isle Of Wight. Next time I'll have a more sensible gearing. Also, feeling a bit bad to have ran away to the London train without saying proper goodbye to the Bristol crew.

Thanks for the photo and video!

That was an awesome ride. Thanks all for the excellent company; very good to see some familiar faces and new cycling pals! Cliff top picnic was an absolute highlight. Would love to go back and have another go during the day.

Anyone fancy doing some cross racing tomorrow?

Wow, great experience. Thanks all, and Matt for the usual excellent leading. Easily ticked all the boxes for a perfect TNRC ride (in my case, even a travelator). I fell asleep when I got home and woke at 7, so looks my body clock is set now to night rides.

Big thanks too to @owl for the route there. The second half was worth the rush hour traffic that seemed to drag on till after Godalming. Harting Hill hurt though.

one member of the team to be a bit of a slouch whenever the road rears upwards

That should have been me, soz.

...and we're back. Great ride chaps, great numbers too and a strong ride from some. Was glad to be able to push the hills all the way around after nearly a year off from night riding. That said I was in a dark place in my head around 4am knowing that usually the sun would be up but we'd have at least another 2.5 hours. 'Till next time!

Well excellent work everyone. Very jealous. It must have been a good ride if no one complained about getting rained on - riding through the night while getting rained on is pretty clear opportunity for a justified moan so the quality of the ride must have been high. Top marks all.

I strongly suspect the ride was way too quick up the hills, so nobody had enough breath left to complain. :)

#itisnotarace

We had two very short interval of rain in the last quarter, but it actually didn't seriously rained until the very end - we're talking last 10km or something. So not a big deal.

How was the hill climb?

The Island always delivers. Well apart from that time when I took my nice new crabon beik, hit a pothole, lost control, was thrown into a ditch, landed head first against the only tree within half a mile and lost my water bottle. But even then the rest of the ride was pretty good (save the crippling neck stiffness).

But this ride was even better.

Gonna admit it felt all wrong in the run up. I felt I hadn't had enough sleep that week, I hadn't been riding enough recently, it was a bit late in the year to be riding all night... I even failed to get a proper dinner onboard and had to opt for a Sainsbury's pasta to scoff on the train. So as we pulled into Portsmouth I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed buy the what-the-fuck-am-I-doingness of it all, but the general cheeriness of everyone was reassuring and who doesn't get excited by a trip on a ferry? I liked the King Lud this time, it was lively but not too busy and after a couple of pints, and a guy telling us we should try cross racing, I was relaxed and ready to go.

What was with the roads? Some were amazing brand new tarmac and others were a nightmare of ruts and holes, very little fell in between, are they in the middle of a island wide resurfacing project?

I loved the picnic, there is something wonderful about staring out into darkness from a cliff top, such an amazing sense of space without actually being able to see it.

Also had some top wildlife spots, as well as countless rabbits (including a suicidal one that seemed determined to die under my wheels) and a load of foxes I saw 2 real actual badgers and for a few seconds we had an owl flying down the road ahead of us.

Well done to all of us, I did warn that, although it's only 70 miles it is a tough 70 miles. Very little flat land, if you're not going up you're going down pretty much all the way round, with probably the most rolling section right before the end. Which is also when the rain came in tho that didn't bother me much at that point, in fact it was quite refreshing.

Wetherspoons breakfast is still a winner despite the disappointment of not being able to get a pint before 9. They really do have to stop lacing it with Mogadon tho...

are they in the middle of a island wide resurfacing project?

Probably, but I hope they'll spare the garlic fields.

Yes they are in the middle of a whole island road upgrade including all new LED street lights and are now in the process of resurfacing and renewing all the street signs with LED lit ones.
This is all being done under a PFI contract.
http://www.islandroads.com/

dat pic. love it.