'Follow Jonny' - Cambridge Ride - 25th Nov - 9:30 Hyde Park Corner

team TT! get a chaingang goin...we'll aim for under 2hrs!

0: MA3K|³|
1: asm (got a friend in cambridge, great excuse to visit him!)
2: matt sparkes
3: uh, thanks Ma3k, Jonny
4: fatboyralph
5: Lucky7

What time are we meeting at hpc?
If we TT, does that mean we are going to go fast?

Really quick route that's quiet in the morning, and has scenic(ish) bits, roughly:

Old St - Hackney then Queensbridge Rd - Clapton Pond - Lea Bridge Rd - Woodford - Epping - Harlow - Sawbridgeworth - Bishops Stortford - Ugley (!) - Newport - Great Chesterford - Stumps Cross - Sawston - Great Shelford - Cambridge.

Part of this (Ugley to Sawston roundabout) is the outward part of the E1/25b timetrial course. It's do-able in 2.5hrs, comfortably in 4hrs. Can be windy at the Stumps Cross rdbt. Hacking it round the East side of Harlow (new town road scheme) is a blast on the way out.

Alternatively, there's the charity ride route which is more undulating, running West of Bishops Stortford.

BMMF - you up for it?

i have never done the charity ride but the route we go must be similar, running west of harlow and bishops stortford.

Epping, Epping green, Roydon, Standstead Abbots, Much Hadham, Little Hadham, Furneaux Pelham, Hare Street, Barkway, Barley, Fowlmere, Harston, then just stick to the A10 for the last couple of miles into Cambridge.

@lucky7, not sure what time we'll set off but reckon 0930 at HPC sounds reasonable. I will go with the consensus.

edit - to add the 0 to A10

Dammit, would be in but I'm away for the weekend...

@jonny - dunno yet. I'm on hardcore antibiotics for something, and will know if cycling any distance is practicable by this Sunday (when I'm maybe doing a fast 80 miler with some roadies).

If I do come along, it might be as far as Stortford to see my Auntie Joan, and then I'd do a fast ride back to London from her place...

BMMF - hope you will be alright dude. reckon auntie joan sounds like she might be good for a tincture or two.

@ jonny - that sounds good to me.

i will make sure i bring enough food and clothes on this ride too.
damm i can't believe how many long rides i have been on lately.
it is making me feel all roadie like..lol..!

nice one lucky7. we will go through a village called Much Hadham which is pretty much the half way mark, possibly over half way actually. they have a village shop which is open on sundays and is a good place to stock up. most likely will stop at the garage before epping village. the slight uphill drag out to epping normally splits the group a little bit so this is a good place to gather again.

last time i was out that way, a few weeks ago, i drafted a JCB for about four miles leading up to that garage. was awesome. hope he's there again.

excellent, looking forward to this now.

0: MA3K|³|
1: asm (got a friend in cambridge, great excuse to visit him!)
2: matt sparkes
3: uh, thanks Ma3k, Jonny
4: fatboyralph
5: Lucky7
6: StarrerGang

I am in...can't wait !

velocity boy

But the titles, they will always be put into Sentence Case and brand names capitalised, acronyms capitalised, redundant punctuation removed, etc.

Sorry to be a cnut but "Follow jonny' - Cambridge Ride - 25th Nov" isn't sentence case. Nor is 'Sentence Case' written in sentence case in your example, rather it's in title case.
Sentence case only capitalises proper nouns (place names, brands - if capitalised - and names) and the first letter of the sentence, i.e. 'ride' should not be capitalised. yes, i'm an editor and a pedantic bastard.

But otherwise I commend your dedication to editorial consistency FTW!!!11

i'm thinking about coming on the ride but it depends on the weather.

badtmy [quote]velocity boy

But the titles, they will always be put into Sentence Case and brand names capitalised, acronyms capitalised, redundant punctuation removed, etc.

Sorry to be a cnut but "Follow jonny' - Cambridge Ride - 25th Nov" isn't sentence case. Nor is 'Sentence Case' written in sentence case in your example, rather it's in title case.
Sentence case only capitalises proper nouns (place names, brands - if capitalised - and names) and the first letter of the sentence, i.e. 'ride' should not be capitalised. yes, i'm an editor and a pedantic bastard.

But otherwise I commend your dedication to editorial consistency FTW!!!11

i'm thinking about coming on the ride but it depends on the weather.[/quote]
hommous :p

surely there will be lots of shops open along the route...or not? 90km or so ride, one stop should suffice....or nice country pub meal, even better!!!

when i did the ride to brighton, i didnt even carry a bag. light = faster easier ride. i hate having something on my back on 50+km rides. from the pix, was really surprised with how much people were carryin. for me, water bottle and pump on frame, two tubes, patchkit, tools, card and cash and some nibbles in saddle bag. gels, energy bars and longsleeve thermal in back pocket of jacket...

even with the small load i carried i only used up half of water bottle and two energy bars...not that id carry less next time...good to have something extra to bail you out just in case.

lucky7 you're a roadie deep inside...admit it.

same as you fatboyralph, i wouldn't have taken a bag to brighton and won't be to cambridge though don't have a bottle cage so will just slip a half litre job in the back pocket. won't need energy bars and all that for the cambridge run.

oh, i sometimes call flapjacks, gummy fruits and snickers energy bars :p

@ fbr - i used to be a kind of roadie i guess...(shit, i can't believe i said that)...does wearing lycra make you a roadie?

my hand is up for wearing a backpack to brighton. i will have to try and find alternative ways of carrying my stuff.

Brighton was pretty minimal - no bag: box spanner, multi-tool, spare tube, patch kit, antiseptic cream (politely refused by crash victims), banana (taped to stem due to no jersey pockets), bag of dried fruit/nuts/seeds, mini-pump+levers (attached to frame), 1L bottle of water in cage, wallet, keys, phone, pen - mostly divided up in 3/4 Endura pockets.

In the winter, that's pretty much it for anything up to about 100miles; but I did buy a banana and blag one of hippy's 'etape' gels cos of all the waiting around :p

The problem was all the stopping my jacket was on and off in and out of my bag, I did not eat enough as it was due to the cold on the Brighton run, I needed a bag.

BringMeMyFix Antiseptic cream (politely refused by crash victims)

Only because I had my own with me.
The banana taped to the stem was a nice touch.

yeah i like that banana taped to the stem thing. will be doing that.

I think bmmf choice of masking tape was a wise one. Easy to rip. Electrical tape pould result in mushed banana.

I hate porridge and I wouldn't want to inflict it on anyone else but it really does keep you going and therefore has to be a recommended pre-ride breakfast.

Anyway, I'm in...

0: MA3K|³|
1: asm (got a friend in cambridge, great excuse to visit him!)
2: matt sparkes
3: uh, thanks Ma3k, Jonny
4: fatboyralph
5: Lucky7
6: StarrerGang
7: Dave4 (unless the weather is shite, in which case I get to avaoid the porridge too)

TheBrick(Tommy) I think bmmf choice of masking tape was a wise one. Easy to rip. Electrical tape pould result in mushed banana.

But the masking tape did stretch a bit in the rain, resulting in a bit of squidginess - but to be fair, it was well past ripe to begin with.

Did you know that you can preserve ageing bananas by bunging them in the fridge. The skin goes a bit brown, but the fruit remains in suspended animation. And the chilled fruit that results has just proved to be an excellent teething aid for my 1-year-old :)

Or, you can peel them, stick them in the freezer, and you've got yourself a banana popsicle.

I fucking love bananas, clearly.

Nature's candy....