2013-06-30 - Going Nuclear - part 1 - Bradwell-on-Sea & the Dengie Peninsula

ahhh the tailwind ... of course

We were solar and wind powered. 14.9mph according my statoids

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1453775

Great ride, thanks Pete, I shall definately try and seek out those lanes again. I don't remember the 2nd wrong turn and seem to have missed the drive by water pistol incident, I was suffering a bit in the heat so would have welcomed it.

Oh and when Pete said it was tradition to sprint along the reservoir I thought, ok a sprint, whats that, a max of 500m? so went off all gears (cheat) a whirring, only to discover the sprint was actually 2.9km! Haha, shot off like a hare, finished like a tortoise.

Oh I thought it funny that on the train back, we must have been letting off a bit of a pen and ink and looking a bit weather beaten, as a lady asked what we'd been up to and thought we'd been to a festival. Go team crusty!

Looking forward to nuclear part 2 now

I was also unaware of 2 wrong turns, missed the water pistol and was surprised by the actually long, up sloping 'sprint'.

And I also was smelly on the train.

shot off like a hare, finished like a tortoise !

classic !

Where is nuclear part 3 heading to? I would love to go back to Dungeness. That place is way more pleasant than Bradwell. In a strange sort of way.

I am keen for Dungeness too.

Oh and when Pete said it was tradition to sprint along the reservoir I thought, ok a sprint, whats that, a max of 500m? so went off all gears (cheat) a whirring, only to discover the sprint was actually 2.9km! Haha, shot off like a hare, finished like a tortoise.

Strava says I got a personal record of 4 mins 35 doing that.

Alex Dowsett, who beat Wiggo in the Giro TT, has a best of 4 mins 12. I think the 23 second difference is completely explained by his use of gears. Obviously ;)

Nuclear ride 3 was always going to be Dungeness, don't panic.

After that annoying train delay I'm claiming back half my ticket price from Greater Anglia by the way, you just download this form, fill it in and send it off with your ticket:
http://www.greateranglia.co.uk/files/download/847

It may only be £3.72, but I was delayed by over an hour twice earlier in the year and didn't claim for those delays in time so it's become a matter of principle with me...

Strava says I got a personal record of 4 mins 35 doing that.

#boastpost

I had a cadence of 137 for that flat bit by the reservoir. :o

God Fox - I wish I'd had my strava on! I popped over that section a bit quicker than you (geared obvs). Love to know how I compared. That tail wind really did make us look good didn't it!

Didnt get a chance to say cheers to Fox for organising and nice to meet everyone on the spin. I am so out of shape from not cycling much any more (commute is 11 mins on a bike), it was painful for me during parts of the day... and I made it worse by playing polo for a few hours last night too.

After we've signed the guestbook

did anybody put ink to paper?!

(completely forgot)

We were solar and wind powered. 14.9mph according my statoids
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1453775

thanks for that - was a really enjoyable route out of London (once past the traffic / stops), so right at Buckhurst Hill, then past another bit of the Eton Mission legacy, then seemed like it was all downhill from there!

Just done a very slightly abbreviated version of this - as ever @Fox ‘s routesare lane tastic. Now enjoying a local ale on very slow train to Wickford

Lovely day for it! Funnily enough I'm probably going to do this next week.

Apparently St Peter's Flat, just north of the chapel, is "Quite possibly Essex's loveliest shell beach" and a good spot for some wild swimming.

It's never really been wild swimming weather when I've done this ride before, but if the weather holds it could be perfect.

I imagine it would be - we flaked out the grass by the church, but could see lots of people on the beach. Have a good one!