2014-25-01 - New Year, Same Old You: Brighton Ride

cool-dude brensho is cool, dude

Magic skid through tyre. Hilarious. Lucky lad that I had a spare with me...

I made it up Ditchling. With risers.

Much surprise. Can only have been the Zipvit bakewell tart gel that did it.

Had a great time yesterday. Thanks to YourAmericanLover for excellent planning and execution. I was really impressed when he said he had called up the po-po to check whether we could cycle trough the pedestrianised bits of Croydon. Proper leadership – meant the rest of us could just cruise down to Brighton.

And thanks to the guy who looked after the rear troops. Didn't catch your name/forumname. You did a great job though.

Worst bit: dead badger at the side of the road.
Best bit: guy who did skid+puncture at the end

which approach did you take? not the usual one by the looks of it?

No 50x15 anymore, rode with 49x19, much nicer (though still failed on ditchling) but only my second time since 3 years ago! =) Third time lucky?

That Badger was grim dude!. I love how his mini blow out has become a main talking point of this ride lol

No 50x15 anymore, rode with 49x19, much nicer (though still failed on ditchling) but only my second time since 3 years ago! =) Third time lucky?

I am disappoint.

I am disappoint.

I do wonder if there is an advantage to being a fat fucker riding fixed uphill, all that weight being dropped onto the pedals. I was grinding horribly, and was barely overtaking people who were walking.

Thanks to all those with the nouse to enable the less experienced or 1st timers like myself have such a fantastic time yesterday. It was obvious that it takes some management and you guys made it easy for everyone else. It was a great introduction and good to put 2x names to faces.

I took lots of photos, mostly of all your nice bikes but haven't mastered getting them up in one post. For now there is this one of Hoke looking spesh and lady tandem embracing lord tandem at the finish line (the worst quality, but richest in meaning).

1 Attachment

Great ride. No rain. Not much wind apart from the hurricane at the top of Ditchling. Loads of crap on the roads but some great new lanes to add to the route library. Especially enjoyed Slugwash.

Probably the most diverse forum ride I've been on in terms of age, ability and levels of preparedness. Top nav skills from Dan. Great patience and effort by Tim sweeping up. Reckon you're owed a beer or two.

Plenty of good chats along the way, certainly stopped often enough for a yarn or two. Great post ride refreshments as well. Nice to meet a few new faces as well as old ones. Also enjoyed the little competitive effort out of Ditchling village and up the hill. I put that down to the excellent pasty at Turners Hill which finally cured my hangover.

Had a tub come unstuck in camberwell peckham so got to walk home. Had to be in Brighton mid afternoon so jumped on the motorbike.

Probably the most diverse forum ride I've been on in terms of age, ability and levels of preparedness. Top nav skills from Dan. Great patience and effort by Tim sweeping up. Reckon you're owed a beer or two.

.

^^^^^^^^ This for sure. Great work and thanks for being so patient. 5 punctures between two of us was insane. Coming down Ditchling was interesting with everyone having to lean into the wind and congrats to HoKe for not being blown away.

Would it be premature to suggest an end of summer reunion?

Annoyed I missed this. Ride looks cracking. Well done everyone. Well done done Dan for sorting it.

Thanks for organising and leading that Dan - great fun all round, excellent company and a nice little reminder of January 'fitness'. Double kudos to Tim for some sterling backstop work and guiding us to the essential beer/breakfast at the end. Apols for holding you up at Caterham - a wrong turn and I had the feeling that I'd got ahead - seemed better to wait than try and retrace. Great route post Croydon - a couple of years since I've done a Brighton ride, forgotten how nice the countryside is south of the M25 (and how awful Croydon and its surrounds are... ). Definitely going to put that route into action again over the next few weeks.

Des

Call me if you are doing it again, I found a great route to get to bletchingley that goes from south of Richmond park and avoids the cuntaggedon that is Croydon.

^ I'd be interested in that as well.

Have a look at the strava trace I put up. It was an improvised route but worked well and there was no need to go via Croydon.

We should do it again soon.

Speaking of Strava...

http://www.strava.com/activities/108897094

Here's the ride!

According to Endomondo on my phone (which died about 3 miles from the end) av speed was 7.48 mph, max altitude 895ft and top speed was 22mph.

We should do it again soon.

This. I feel left out. Although I can always sort out a tarck bike for the hhsb Brighton ride when that happens.

I'm always up for another one, Brighton is one of my favourite rides just outside of london.

I'm always up for another one, Brighton is one of my favourite rides just outside of london.

And if it happens again soon, I'll have a bike this time :)

Thanks for the ride Dan and patient marshalling by Tim and Simon (sorry if i forgot anyone else!). Was good seeing some familiar faces and making new friends. Great route, can't believe i've been missing some of those lanes on my usual ride down. Will definitely be using some of that route again. Also hats off to mr and mrs hovis, was funny seeing them pull round the finishing bend on Ditchling to a round of applause, well done to you both! Lovely bike by the way! Great photos as well HoKe, you take some good shots on the move whilst riding one handed and brakeless!

Only downer for me was the impossibly long time it took to get down there. Don't think i've been on a ride before where i've spent more time on my feet than actually in the saddle. Guess I should have expected that with the numbers we had.

Also not overly impressed with some of the standard of riding on show though...at times it felt like a daytime Dunwich Dynamo ride with people bunching up on lanes and not letting cars past, fixie skiddas overtaking going downhill on wet roads they obviously hadn't ridden before, not calling out pot holes, drains etc when group riding either, just swerving wildly at the last moment. Also called a couple of guys out for not signalling on the turn off to the Beacon from Ditchling village but I think the first one was too wasted at that point to even lift his arm, oh well. The driver waiting to pull out wasn't overly impressed anyway.

I hope this isn't coming across as a rant but if the ride was on the Sunday (when it was pouring with rain) there would have been a lot of liabilities out there to look after....I like going out on group rides with new people but this is a bit of a novalty ride that i don't think i'll be going on again.

Also hats off to mr and mrs hovis, was funny seeing them pull round the finishing bend on Ditchling to a round of applause, well done to you both!

Ha. I will never forget that moment. The cheering really was quite surreal, I felt like I was in a stage at the tour de france.

Anyone fancy this route?

http://www.mapmyride.com/so/ceeldheer-galguduud/fnrttc-brighton-route-5589325

Its my preferred route as it avoids the A23 and more importantly croydon.