You are reading a single comment by @Oliver Schick and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Oliver Schick
By this I mean largely forum highlights ... but if you have other cycling highlights, of course include them. It may be slightly too early to start this thread given that there are still events to come, but here's my list--rambling and self-indulgent, but perhaps you felt the same about some of these:
160-mile ride to Bletchley and then to Stonehenge with PinkGottiMobbs, Greasy Slag, 50/14, and shootthebreeze (and the leg to Bletchley with lots of others, great company). That was a ride to remember for a long time. I don't think we ever really got a grip on all the things that happened that day--eventful is about one quarter of the word you'd need to describe it.
Dunwich Dynamo there and part of the way back. I have to admit that this would have been number one if I hadn't broken a bl**dy spoke in Finchingfield and missed out on the last 42 miles while feeling great. Nonetheless, still rode 178 miles. Next year I'll complete the there-and-back for sure.
EHPBC. Loved it completely. Such amazing organisation and such great polo--and this is coming from someone who really wasn't that much into polo until seeing the semi-final between Malice and Toros. Fun, fun in the sun. From what more experienced polo people were saying, it was a real milestone in polo tournaments. If I wasn't so addicted to long-distance rides, this would be number one in my list with a bullet and then some.
The fourth Track Day, the first one I was able to make. Absolutely incredibly brilliant weather. I tried to get as many rides in as I possibly could and kept riding as many laps as I could in the Hare and Hounds race (which was more of a formality than a real challenge for the scary A cats) even when I was the only B still riding. And I won a race, heh. :) And Bright Times afterwards was brilliant.
Overnight to Brighton rides. I don't know which one to single out as the best, as the first three were all wonderful in their own ways. That was one amazing crew on the first one in freezing temperatures in February. Great to ride with Dropout and moth (and Gina and mmccarthy to Gatwick) on the second via Shoreham. Then the huge one in June, with 45 people. What an unforgettable sunrise at the top of Ditchling Beacon. Some Gatwick trouble foreshadowed. The last ride was good, too, except for that Gatwick nonsense, which made it my least favourite ride. But overall, I loved them. For next year, I wonder if I should recce a route to a different seaside town to do a couple of times, although Brighton is of course an obvious favourite. Great recces with balmain, too, although he never made it on the actual night rides!
Rollapaluza 'Muddy Hell'. An amazing event, right on the pulse. I enjoyed it hugely. Very impressed by the forumengers riding.
A couple of Essex/Suffolk 200s I did this year with a good non-forum friend of mine.
Tuesday Night Ride Club rides--I only made it to two, sadly, but both were excellent. Great company and great riding. I only wish Tuesday evening was more convenient for me. Greatest ride series on the forum.
Rollapaluza 'Brief Encounter'. Quality evening, excellent theme.
The last Bridges ride, the first one I was able to make. Huge numbers, nice breakaway group at the end.
The 'Round Chelmsford', Cycling Club Hackney's inaugural ride of the year in April. A superb out-and-back route slinging in Chelmsford. Lots of lovely forum people out and a brilliant group to ride with.
The Exmouth Exodus, another of my favourite overnighters. Torrential rain in the first section and very cold, relatively dry afterwards. I've only done this one in ... interesting weather. Relatively low down the list, although I loved the route, because I'd really love to do it in good weather for a change.
Meridian Ride--only 50 miles but somehow so hilly that it left me completely shattered. But amazing fun and to find out the truth about the railway station that claus had promised at the end ... still cracks me up a bit when I think about it. Hopefully, we'll do the full ride at some point!
And I bet I've forgotten something blindingly obvious.
Huge props to this lovely forum--the best rides are on here. So many strong riders and the company is just something else.
Here's to 2010.