2009-08-29 Sat 10pm - Overnight to Brighton Take 3

IMO, Not really worth complaining about the Police, they were only ding there job. I know we weren't really a security threat but they have to keep things strict in such an environment...

I disagree. I think it was unreasonable and disproportionate. It was a completely unnecessary police operation that was conducted incompetently and with very little dignity (with the honourable exception of some of the junior officers, who were powerless to object). They knew that we weren't a security threat, either. All they did was tie up their resources in a completely pointless palaver that reduced respect for the police even further among those who witnessed it. And there should be a follow-up.

CG1, that was me. Soz.

Firstly, MANY MANY thanks for organising the ride, Oliver. And to everyone else for not sneering at the back-end loiterers, and to those lovely backstops who [strike]persuaded me to keep[/strike] kept me going. And to Farid for the light that made a huge difference to my enjoyment of the dark.

blackburn voyager 4 from evans, about £22.

Am inspired though, by y'all. You guys were incredible. SOOO impressive to be on fixed gear bikes. It almost makes me sick. I'm going bike shopping though - so if you work in Chamberlains' - keep an eye out?

there are people on this forum that are literally twice as fast. but the pace set by the slightly more experienced riders you can achieve within <6 months of light training.

did you think we all just push shagged out lo-pros and keirin bikes with aerospokes around east london? :-)

amazing ride , super man oliver the organiser , cant wait for the next one on saturday

great job Oliver, Mat, Owen and Bryce.

Gutted I couldn't go, but I went to a wake on Friday night and spent Saturday nursing a hangover and trying to get back from deepest Norfolk. Next time!

Down for the vintage car rallye, defo.

despite the high likelyhood that you are literally within a 10 metre radius of me as I type this, we still haven't met and therefore I don't belive that you actually exist.

Was a great ride. Thank you to everyone (Oliver especially) for making it what it was. Admittedly it was a tad on the slow side but it was yet another great example of the forum 'no man left behind' mentality. Wouldn't have it any other way and it certainly didn't detract any from the overall night ride experience. Plus it had more than enough fast and exciting sections to keep the speed demons happy. Oh, and I had my first experience of riding in a bunch that took turns at the front whilst the others drafted. Win.

without a shadow of a doubt - best bit of the night was powering down in full fixed-gear peloton with you, owen and bryce, all riding 70" and on a catchup mission coming in to ditchling. We ate about 10k of tarmac in almost no time, the group getting tighter and tighter as the trust increased. Sweet. I'm up for this anytime.

Ah I so wish I could of been there. Looks like the next Brighton ride won't be for a while.
You guys going on any other Cycles any time soon, even in London? Would be great to catch up with you, as I couldn't make it.

[Edit, username change. Was MartinJKnight]

Nice photo! I can put faces to names now.

Well here's a photo of me.

No seriously that is me, but here's what I really look like.

What's all this about at Gatwick?

CS287
CS351
CG001
GL165
CO726
CK147
DP326
DB461
CF152

.

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Fred, now I'm hungry.

[quote=.

Which one was that obnoxious woman who turned into a main actor? Her name should be S Leaver. She wouldn't give it but had a card pinned to her vest that gave that name. When I said 'so your surname is Leaver? you couldn't make it up' she did a gulp and a double take and went 'it might be' in a very different, almost comedy, voice and quickly flipped the card over. I didn't see the purpose of the card, but I assume that that is her name from her reaction.[/quote]

And theres the one writing with his right hand, pistol holstered on the left. I'd love to have seen him draw that in a hurry!

Did you finish that breakfast Fred? The small one was enough for me

And also Fred, I'm up for some Team Draft riding action to Southend soon

what a ride, clear skies, a nice sunrise, only two punctures (both to alister; love that front light man) and while the pace was a touch sedate it was wicked that everyone made it through, i was def stoked on that.

cheers for organising oliver, that was a much better route than the one i have used in the past. Also you were def a voice of reason in dealing with the police. While i was aware that you can't go to an airport without a purpose i thought they would just let us be. isn't it nice that police officers (who we pay) can use police cars (which we pay for) to escort us from a public place? i mean what the hell are liberties anyway? However so far as that goes how many other rides include the police stopping traffic to let you through on a dual carriageway? and keeping us company at a petrol station on the way. fred was talking some classic jive with them.

after it was all done i hit up the train home, couple hours sleep then carnival: mission complete.

to the ladies and gentlemen that found themselves in the company of team backstop from time to time well done, i had a great time (frankly) talking far too much shit with you all, and as i kept saying brighton will be just around that next corner i swear.

fred, our wee chases back were def the highlight for me too, was great to spin those gears out aye, the other highlights were off roading at the top of ditchling( owen, you got lucky with that one hander) and hitting up ditchling without stopping. (another highlight was def that the muppets take manhattan was on when i got home)

andy and noel if you don't hit ditchling it don't count, well played all the same.

thanks again oliver

See you in Chamberlaines soon Naomi I hope, we can talk sensible bicycle options.[/quote]

always the frickin' salesman. the guys i was talking to about the duck check this out:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6094973/Scientists-study-DNA-of-four-legged-duck.html

stumpy

I feel so guilty, I've got to use Gatwick airport now, flying off to Turkey for a month. Retired expat parents with house by beach equals rock n roll! Needless to say I'll be taking the Gatwick Express, not the Ridgeback Crawler.

Wow, what an incredible night! My first Brighton run and one of the longest rides I've ever done. Thanks so much to everyone for the help, encouragement, advice and good times! Hope to see you guys out there soon.

Fred, great photos.

I've dumped my iPhone photos into a Flickr set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/serk/sets/72157622079637647/

Unfortunately, the cycle diversion - end of cycle diversion didn't come out very well. We'll just have to use it as a reminder...

Another an excellent ride, thanks to Oliver for organising and to Owen and Bryce for making sure no-one was left behind. The pace was decent considering the mix of abilities and the company was good.

It was a shame about the stupid way we were handled at Gatwick, I suspect that everything they did was technically correct and within procedural guidelines but they just seemed to be using their powers to cause us maximum inconvenience. It was impossible to reason with them as only the drones that would engage with us, they were being subtly directed by a senior who clearly didn't have the nerve, decency or perhaps just lacked the ability to justify his decisions directly to us.

Particular highlight for me was flying down Lonesome Lane, such a beautiful road it feels as if you're floating just above the road surface, it's so good it's almost effortless.

Oh, tearing down into Brighton spinning faster than is strictly sensible given the level of sleep deprivation I suddenly realised I had the biggest, stupidest grin on my face, must have looked like a total twat, but that summed it all up for me.

Finally I have a moment to just say big thank you to Oliver for such a great ride !
Also Bryce and Owen for being absolutely fantastico back stops !

Really truly and honestly what a great ride
The best part for me well was all of it and loved those sloping hills to which made for a more challenging ride
And as for Ditchling well very hilly indeed is all I can say.Makes Swains look like a nursery slope !

Memorable moments for me when I was on long stretch of rode not sure where it was but wools was tailing to the right of me and spinning like our lives depended on it
THough we were not riding in the day light hours the skies above were clear and amazing midnight blue.
Just looking up above at the blanket of stars that lay stretched out for miles god the world is a beautiful place !
It has been a long time since I have seen a night like that even a star simply stunning.

After getting home feeling rather exhausted I felt happy and content
Realising I had spent the last however many hours cycling I didnt care that I had not slept
I had been out doing what I love the most ,the one single thing that makes me feel free riding my bike !

Thank you for the great company and the encouragement from everyone towards each other as we finally made it to our destination !
Happy riding all xx

Re " I suspect everything they did was technically correct and within procedural guidelines" - it most definitely was not. Refusing to give us a copy of the byelaw we had supposedly broken and telling us to google it? = not within procedural guidelines (especially as none of us on googling have managed to find a bylaw that says you have to be travelling to be at an airport- which is clearly nonsense - what about families waving goodbye, plane spotters, etc? I suspect no such byelaw exists). Advising 4 citizens that they should urinate in a public place outside the ariport, and thereby break the law = not within procedural guidelines. Initially refusing to give us their ID numbers until I'd pointed out that was against the law = DEFINITELY not within procedural guidelines. And above all, forgetting they are public servants here to serve the public and make our lives safer and more comfortable = against the whole ethos of policing in a supposed democracy. Honestly, we should ALL complain about this. It might seem a small thing, but small things lead to bigger things, especially when the police begin to think they are above the rule of law, as I'm sure the family of Ian Tomlinson would verify.

It's really easy to submit a complaint online through the IPCC; for all you busy people I will write a template one and post it online here later in the week so you can just copy and paste it in. If I don't get a satisfactory repsonse, I'm willing to get a bit of press coverage involved. Who's with me?

But, aside from that - EXCELLENT ride. I had so much fun! Thanks to Oliver and all of you for making it so :-)

Georgia (the most law-abiding citizen who ever walked England's soil)

From the Sussex police website. I think they'd better seek harder:

**Sussex Police seeks to be as open and transparent as possible in its dealings with the public and consistent with the requirements of the law

**

Ooh - and another gem from Sussex police's Policing Pledge:

**The Policing Pledge explained **

The Police Service in England and Wales will support law abiding citizens and pursue criminals [and cyclists??] relentlessly to keep you and your neighbourhoods safe and from harm [or from going to the toilet]. We will:

1) Always treat you fairly with dignity and respect ensuring you have fair access to our services at a time that is reasonable and suitable for you. [Yeah, right]

Rather late in posting these sorry just some scenic ones is all

Nice landscape photography despite poor equipment. I assume you took these while riding up and down the Beacon Road?

http://static.londonfgss.com/attachments/14542d1251959578-dsc00066.jpg

Looks like the American Midwest, doesn't it? Love the plant composition in the foreground.

Have to add my huge thanks to Oliver for arranging this great ride.

The highlight for me was definately Gatwick - never been charged with loitering before

A lifes goal achieved at last! - so many crimes, so little time.

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Anyone who wants to write a complaint but is feeling lazy, feel free to plagarise mine which I've put online for that purpose:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc95xb7p_0gg3chwhs

You can complain either directly to the Chief Constable of Sussex Police, [FONT=Arial]Sussex Police Headquarters, [/FONT][FONT=Arial]Malling House, [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Church Lane[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Lewes[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]BN7 2DZ

or online with the IPCC: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/complaints/forms.htm

...or both!!! (Hint: do both :-) ).

The more letters the chief constable receives, the more effect they'll have...

Hope you is all having good weekends!

[/FONT]

Good letter, Georgia. I'll add one from my own perspective when I have time. What annoyed me the most was that we'd stopped over on rides there before, naturally without any trouble.

NB London-Brighton is about 60 miles, not kilometres. ;)

Oh, yeah! Even better!

I was having so much fun that it only felt like kilometeres, evidently...

Certainly felt like miles to my exhausted legs :D Cheers for the complaint template, will be using it.