2007-05-27 - Let's ride to Southend and then out into the sea

Naw are you guys really going?

...don't fancy a cold shower this early

go go go ...fuck the rain....

Come on Stefano!!!

It's PISSING!!!

Decided to be a big girl and not join in today.

Have fun - but next time make it a dry day :D

Martin rower7 Decided to be a big girl and not join in today.

Have fun - but next time make it a dry day :D

Same here, feel a bit lame but it is absolutely pooring down here in Hackney...
I'll be there next time!

i'm positively hung over and my wrist is still giving me shit, sorry chaps

wasn't sure if going was a good idea then a superior being interfered and gave a pretty good hint

I had some divine intervention too. I slept in because the voices in my head told me that they were God, and wanted me to sleep.

Besides, I have been giving my bike a beating, and it needs a bit of care today.

Does anyone have one of those BB removers that look like pincers? I guess it is called a pin spanner:

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=25&item=SPA%2D1

I got up at 7 and had a look at the weather but it was very very wet.

You lightweights...

the heavywheights are on the train back already, well done guys !

just got home , did the London to Southend today, me and more 7, don`t remember names, roberto, david, photoben , sorry guys..

was fucking amazing, much nicer than L2B ...

plus we saw a bit of the airshow there...

thanks for the ride guys!!

Yup, just home now. Looking forward to a hot shower.

Completely soaked, 4 punctures, one colision. Ace ride.

Soon as we escaped London is was country lanes all the way.

Until next time!

for me the only bad thing was that we couldn`t ride into the pier as it was closed...

where is the photos???

Absolutely topnotch ride guys!
Really enjoyed it despite the persistent rain. Just had a hot bath and some (more!) food, actually feel relatively ok.

Am trying to access my photo of the group at Southend but my card reader is playing up, will upload as soon as I can.

Good job to those that turned up, nice meeting the new faces.

Congrats guys. I'm up for a ride next weekend!

Alex I had some divine intervention too. I slept in because the voices in my head told me that they were God, and wanted me to sleep.

Besides, I have been giving my bike a beating, and it needs a bit of care today.

Does anyone have one of those BB removers that look like pincers? I guess it is called a pin spanner:

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=25&item=SPA%2D1

I've got the red ones if you think that will fit yours.

a few photos from today

mareeoh`s flickr

here's the riders at the final destination…
L-R: Hippy, photoben, Brett, velocity boy, slamm, mareeoh, Roberto & mdja(?)

Roberto, noticed you snapping a few times. Where's ya pics at? :-)

Slamm, can you please send me the photos in the original size???
gutosm84@hotmail.com email or msn ...

OK, That was awesome.

Rough ride report:

Fucking wet at the start, buckets of rain by St Pauls and the first puncture. Followed A13 to start with, riding in driving rain alongside trucks and cars doing 60+mph was a blast, but it also took care of any dryness we had left. Left the A13 when it became elevated near Dagenham as riding over it was going to be suicidal. Another puncture at this point saw velocity boy freeze his fingers to a gas canister as I tried to cheat on inflating my wheel, nice 1st degree burns on two fingers now. The rain started easing up around here, going from driving rain to regular light rain (still heavier than drizzle). Took a rather scenic back road route from there following the A1306. A couple of more inventive route turns saw us hit a couple of big hills (we really didn't need to, but the countryside was so pretty). Coming down one of the hills slamm showed us all how to undermine the rider in front by trying to slide under him, and so fucked his knees a little, the important bit though was that his bike was fine. Took in a few small towns, laughed at chavs, when we reached Leigh-on-Sea it was pretty obvious that an airshow was happening, dropped down to the coast and followed the coastal road in... rode through the people congregated on the closed promenade to get to the pier and our suspicions were confirmed, the pier was closed. The rain had all but stopped by now, and so began the search for a good seafront chippy, and the game of how to lock 8 bikes with 3 d-locks, 2 of which were small. A pint in a horrible bar before the station, and done.

Total distance 40+ miles. Total time riding 3+ hours. Average speed 13.6mph. Not bad at all given the appalling conditions.

You may note we chose a short route. We were wise to do so, every report we had heard said that the real rain (we didn't ride through it?) would arrive after 3pm. None of us wanted to be caught on some back roads with rain of biblical proportions to deal with. So instead of the 73 mile route, we decided to ad-lib and follow the A13 as far as possible, and then run parallel to it for a while.

In total today, given the distance to and from 7 dials, I've clocked up 60 miles in the rain, about 20 miles of which was in pretty appalling conditions. None of my waterproof gear held up except the jacket I lent to brett. The Rapha stuff, including the softshell jacket all gave up after only 5 miles in the really bad rain, and my gloves were absolutely laughable, many of us were able to simply form a fist and watch water stream out like a tap had been turned on. The only equipment of mine that held up that wasn't the bike was my Ortlieb bag, shame I couldn't climb into it.

Ace ride though. Early on, before we'd left London, I was ready to turn back. Really glad I didn't.

mareeoh Slamm, can you please send me the photos in the original size???
gutosm84@hotmail.com email or msn ...

no probs, just sent to your email.

velocity boy OK, That was awesome.

A pint in a horrible bar before the station, and done.

Haha, yes, a visit to Essex had to end in a visit to Yates', full of chavs and chavettes!