2010-04-03 - Egg run to the sun - London to Brighton night ride

we were at buddies on king's road. 24hr.

Dropout, crimsonape and myself @ Izzy's cafe st James street.

tdub, badpoppers, was that you we hooked up with at Clapham? What happend? I doubled back and you had vanished.

Yo, I'm further up St James St at ground coffee bar. When are you guys heading back? X

What a night, weather was lovely all the way to Clapham, got a bit iffy after that.

Now watching Match of the Day with a can of lager, might go to bed soon.

Home, showered, dry, clothes in wash.

Awesome night guys and girls. Night did start off a bit wet but it was clear (sort of) all the way to Brighton from Gatwick.

Thanks for organising it Owen

Blimey, what happened? Did you get split up into three groups or something?

17 riders departed at 10 o'clock sharp from HPC. We found Dropout coming the other way on Chelsea Bridge then promptly lost him before the first hill. Nobody had his number so we couldn't find out where he had got to but as he's a strong rider and knows the route we thought he'd probably catch us soon enough. Never saw him again.

At Gatwick (where the Police were very helpful, exactly as they should be, by finding out who we were, realising we were no risk and helping us get access to the airport) having been battered by the worst of the weather the consensus was to get the train back. But there is always someone stupid enough to want to carry on, and a few more stupid enough to agree. Bolstered by coffee, warmth and hand driers the magnificent seven rode on. The weather eased a bit and we kept a nice tight bunch and, despite a minor navigational error, we were on the front by quarter to six.

Izzy's hadn't opened by the time we got there so we headed for the slightly scary 24h place on the front. Bouncers on the door and beer with your breakfast, it served it's purpose.

Gutted! Guinness for breakfast FTW - anyone get any snappy snaps?

Having dried out, warmed up and had some sleep I'm now really pissed off with myself for giving in to the cold and wet! Just about to have breakfast and head down there again!

As you can see from the thread above, braker was a little late, and I gave him Dropout's number, thinking that he must be with the ride. Turns out that probably didn't work too well--Sam and John, I assume that you rode on to Brighton, too?

Hm, on a ride like this, especially with a large group, don't make assumptions. Get everybody's phone numbers. Stop periodically and wait for the backstop, whose job it is to ensure that they are the last person on the road.

I'd like to hear more about police interaction--where did you meet them, why did they not pursue the same 'policy' as last time?

Thanks for your help Oliver. Unfortunately, I missed the start as I had wrongly assumed that 'meet at 10pm' meant depart at some point after that.

Myself and 3 others headed out to Dropout, but only Crimsonape and me made it. I hope that the others turned back due to the weather rather than being dropped.

A huge thank you to Dropout for waiting patiently for us to arrive, and for guiding so expertly.

Also, well done to Crimsonape for soldiering on so valiantly with a crippled knee.

A great ride with some atrocious weather at times. A shame that it wasn't possible to catch up with the pack.

Slickalicious Happy Bunnies.

Well as the backstop i can say the splits weren't my fault. i never saw drop out. but congrats to all who managed to get to brighton. you got there before i managed to get home

I'll tell the tale when I've had some sleep. a few zzz's on the train back is not enough catch-up for 32 hours of wakefulness since Friday morning! Hope CrimsonApes's knee gets better soon, otherwise good news only though from the 'following group'.

Well done, John! Look forward to the report!

me too.. sounds like an eventful one!

I've been up for a while but brain isn't functioning properly to write anything, also feeling a cold coming on. Who's bloody idea was it to ride to the coast on a cold and rainy night?

I have a lot to write, i'll do it later :)

I'm gutted! Got the train back to Brighton from Gatwick because I thought everyone was aborting - and now I read that a small group carried on! I would have loved to have joined the magnificent 7. Arses.

But never mind - it was great fun riding as far as Gatwick with you all. Lovely to meet new people and ride through the night - even with the rain.

I was fairly well prepared for the rain, but I was still soaked in various places - my feet were especially water-logged. Did anyone have gear that withstood the water? I'm going to look into buying more waterproof stuff but can anyone recommend good items?

I'm already looking forward to trying this again! Big thanks to owenreed for organising - I had loads of fun. And thanks to everyone else I met last night - I thought it might be weird turning up as I'm a forum newb and didn't know anyone - but everyone was very cool even though the weather was shite.

photooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21944846@N00/sets/72157623767705834/

really nice pictures. ah to have slept, showered, coffee'd and be warm

haha! i didnt realise how... errr.... cool my hat was

Awesome effort guys! man points all round.

Yeah kudos to those who soldiered through the 2nd half. Respeck.

nope!

ya'll suckaz!

was owen, middle 'o' nowhere, t0m, fiammetta, selim, someone whose name i forget (sorry!) and i who triumphantly rode into b-town about 5.45am. still dark. found a place to eat (v. strange, lots people still around). i had guinness. they are on train to LDN BRDG. i am in a small village. wet feet yo.

yo i was the 7th samurai.

my knee is quietly complaining and my shoes smell satanic but i'm looking forward to the next one. thanks owen & the brave velocipedes who dared cross the Rubicon at Gatwick. it was rad. ben.

photooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21944846@N00/sets/72157623767705834/

Nice, there are some really good ones in there, good work dude!

yo i was the 7th samurai.

my knee is quietly complaining and my shoes smell satanic but i'm looking forward to the next one. thanks owen & the brave velocipedes who dared cross the Rubicon at Gatwick. it was rad. ben.

i wake up and my mum goes "uh, yeah. i washed your shoes. and put them in the tumble dryer. they couldn't get any wetter, i just had to do it. i had to"