2024 ThRNC season bedwetters

Figured we should have a thread for the year. Will it make it to two pages, I wonder?

I'll start as I mean to go on by saying I can't do this Weds or Thurs due to work events. Perhaps next week? Can't do the following week as I'll be in Sweden at Eurovision

I'll be in Sweden at Eurovision

There must be a golf club type thread for these types of confessions.

It's a bit like going to IKEA

Blasphemy!

I might be insane, but what about Potters Bar Friday night? Thursday looks ... damp at best and I have a "work event" to attend.

Interested...

Having said that, I'll be at mini mashton's cricket practice til 1845 which makes it probably impossible.

A nice idea, but I can't make it I'm afraid.. (it's also still looking pretty damp!)

I'm quite comfy on the sofa at home. If someone wants to arrange a ride next week don't let my absence stop you

Dear Oh Dear

During the rather long evening of last night – after sighting the rather odd appearance of morris dancers dancing in an overly-narrow urban corridor amongst buildings and pavement – I fondly remembered their aura amongst the countryside of a country pub on a long summers evening during a mid-week ride hence my wondering about this year’s season (!).

Long excuse incoming...
About 15 years ago on a remote shallow reef off a jungle in Indonesia I was obliterated by a thick solid 15ft wave landing on my back, ripping the intercostal muscles of my bottom rib. While mostly healed, this has been a niggle since then. I had a really bad cough the past few weeks, so violent that it feels like I've been put back pretty much back to square one for the injury. Good news is riding a bike is actually ok, as long as I don't pull hard going uphill or whip skid. I couldn't help myself this last Sunday what with the perfect weather and went out to Welwyn to try out a variation of that route. It was glorious. But I was very slow, and feel like those hills are not doing me any good.
Anyways, wish I could be a out there, probably shouldn't in the near future at least.
This is what could be:

5 Attachments

After a seemingly never-ending series of work events, I finally have some free evenings next week.

Potters Bar or perhaps Hemel on Thursday? Looks warm, breezy and with a chance of a shower.

Or, we could try something new - I've been wanting to put this route together for ages: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46817399

St Albans start/finish. 20min nonstop train from St Pancras just after 7, so we can be rolling around 7:30. Head over Dunstable Downs then across to Ivinghoe Beacon, followed by 8 miles downhill to Hemel and then back to St Albans past the sights and smells of the Buncefield fuel storage tanks.

Trains back every 20mins, last sensible one 2347 but there's a 0025 too. ~25 miles BTCL.

Dunstable downs cafe closes 5pm sadly, but it's still a reasonable pitstop with a good view.

probably shouldn't in the near future at least

Recovery is always slower than you want it to be. You haven't missed anything in the last few weeks though!

Further to the momentum of above, I had - in tribute the the copyists of old (the monks, the scribes, Bede et al.) - collected some poetry for inspiration:

For Spring/Summer,

‘Country in Spring’

These lonely hills possess such charms for me,

These glades in all their native wilderness dressed,

That day by day unwearied still I see,

And plant their image in my thoughtful breast.

Pleased, I behold the new-born verdure grow,

The tender shoots put forth their leafy green;

Or sit besides the stream, whose limpid flow

Bathes, and reflects at once, the forest scene.

Here all unseen, long tranquil days I lead;

Here from my heart’s pernicious soil I cast

Each evil thought, each noxious metal weed:

Here muse in silence o’er my errors past;

And on some tree my self-inflicted woes

Record, and bathe with tears; and there repentance grows!

Filicaia

I expect, Vincenzo de Filicaia of Florence (1642 – 1707). Translated into English from the Italian composition by Edward Earl of Derby, as published in The Iliad of Homer (Sixth Edition, 1867) by John Murray (London: Albernale Street). Printed by William Clowes and Sons (of Stamford Street and Charing Cross).

I believe a website exclusive as Bing (as of yesterday) could not locate its presence on the worldwide web.

P.S.

My own fond memories of Spring/Summer (yet to make it into verse) include one mid-week ride that briefly intersected with wild deer crossing the route (thankfully without physical contact).

P.P.S.

The incident (Incident: DDoS Attack on 2024-05-24) provided more time to find more inspiration.

The front cover of the New Statesman for this week, 'Spring Special' was beautifully timed,

(link here)

Thanks for posting that verse. I really enjoyed it.

I sing in a choir most Thursdays. But I can make this so a tentative maybe if I can just be at the right sodding station for 7 this time.

I am away for half term, and my mum's 80th birthday, in Gower. Sad I might miss a new TNRC route. You don't get one of those every day!

OK I've posted an event: https://www.lfgss.com/events/9763/

Despite what I said before I've been making excellent progres with my ribs. Still makes a bit of crunchy/clicking when coughing but the pain almost gone (when cycling). So could be in! These long evenings don't last long.

I don't want you to aggravate them - if it helps you decide, this route has 4 climbs

1. A shorter-than-you-expect drag up to the Downs followed by a fast descent
   
2. A gentle drag up a fairly fast main road to the bottom of the Beacon
   
3. The Beacon is steeper with a switchback
   
4. Another annoying drag up the Hemel ring road
   
   

There are a few options to bail

• Luton (7 miles from the Downs)
  
• Cheddington (near the Beacon)
  
• Berkhamsted (just before Hemel)
  
• Hemel
  

What about a Kent route next Thursday?

I'm scheduled to be arguing with someone from the council's noise team on Thursday evening :/

I think I might be at a work event anyway

What about a WNKR return this Wednesday? Potters Bar? Cheshunt? Kent?