"Those London Lights": Late Night Ride, Thurs Dec 4th

thanks phil, for putting so much effort into this ride. i won't forget the great reception when i met up with the ride after work and it was pleasure to meet everyone again, it was a shame i had to leave early though, i really wanted to finish the ride, had a great time for the while i was there.

bit of a shock to hear there was collision at the end and i hope henry isn't suffering too much today, if someone could give me an exact location i will get some more details for the incident.

http://www.londonfgss.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3543&stc=1&d=1228479975

mega tron

^^^ That looks awesome... Shame it was a school night... :/

It really was an amazing ride and I'm proud to say that I made it to the end.. Obviously my first thoughts are with Henry, glad to see that you were out of hospital sharpish and that there is no obvious damage to the bike..

Thanks to Pajamas for organising and leading so well on a ride that wasn't given the best of luck..

Highlights - Seeing the smile brought to most of the random strangers faces as we all went past. Whizzing down the foot tunnel. whizzing down the underpass (properly going top speed but in following Dropout, inadvertently leading people astray). Bagels as ever but most of all the company!

I won't go into too much detail about the lowlights but at least some of the adversity of this ride brought out the best in what a group ride can be..

Best wishes going out to Henry and Furious Tiles, heal up guys

Well, what a ride! I failed to make it to the end but for the 3 1/2 hours or so I was riding I had a great time. Massive thanks to Mr Pajamas for sorting this out and leading from the front like a pro. Was heart-warming to see everyone stopping, waiting, ensuring the group stayed together and waited for those unlucky enough to have punctures...like me! Cornelius of Blackfoot, I owe you one for the innertube buddy, offered up with a smile, what can I say! To everyone else I chatted to or just rode with, thanks for contributing to a great night. Real shame about the injuries at the end but relieved to hear its not a serious as it sounded at first, and brought a smile to my face too, to hear about the resulting camaraderie! Rest and heal TFU chaps.

I got hit by a flying MaccyD's Coke, and rode into a bollard. Wouldn't have changed a thing about the night though!

Apart from eyebrows' accident.

The twats along the way just reinforced the FACT that my bike helps prevent me from becoming one of them myself.

^What is it with these haters? You alright??

Great Ride, thanks Pajamas. Some spectacular lights & great folk to ride with.

Bailed out after Rotherhithe as I'd a early start but enjoyed every minute.

Blue tron light near Cannery Wharf was a highlight, didn't see that coming & the epic fail of riders coming back up the ramp from the ferry stop (funny stuff).

heal up Henry...

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where are the yellow squares? they are lovely

^What is it with these haters? You alright??

Yeah. That made it sound like I hit the bollard because of the coke. The coke just soaked my leg. Would have wiped out a few riders if I'd swerved to avoid it though. The bollard was down Thames path. It's bloody dark down there!

where are the yellow squares? they are lovely

Broadgate I think...

Ace photos Shoot.

Thanx to everyone on the ride last night, it was my first one, and a totally amazing experience. Was very sad that one of us had to get hurt, hope you're back on it soon Henry! Glad it wasn't any more serious than it was.

I missed the whole thing as I was part of the high speed splinter group through the tunnel at Hyde Park.

It's been said over and over, but Pyjamas did a great job organizing this whole thing, and did an amazing job of getting us from start to finish. Thanx a lot dude!

I've been wanting to do a group ride for ages, and last night we hit a few spots that I've also never been able to cycle during normal waking hours, so I had a fuggin great time with you lot.

Can't wait till the next one!

I dunno why I spelt Pajamas with a y.:-|

I broke my record for being late to work today. Fuck 'em, they knew the risks.

That was a really nice roll, could have done it all again after a quick food stop.

Awsome ride people, I was gutted that I had to shoot off at about 3 but we were getting tired (I have only just got out of bed). Thanks to everyone for making Sarah feel really welcome. She really enjoyed it and I think it is only a matter of time before I get her on a fixed. It was really nice to ride in a quiet London and see things that I havent before. I forget sometimes why I live here and that is one of the reasones why. Cheers PJs. Glad to hear Henry is ok(ish). I look forward to the next ride, they are always really good fun.

WALL OF WORDS ALERT - WALL OF WORDS ALERT - WALL OF WORDS ALERT-WALL OF WORDS ALERT

now that tron grid is a great photo.

Dudes we had such bad luck with punctures and mechanical problems - just one of those occasions I guess, we lost an hour and a half really and so so sorry we had to say goodbye (quite understandably) to a good few guys who were concerned about getting back.

Truth is, it was a gorgeous ride which was upset by the broken rhythm in the first half.. ironically after the last couple of blowouts in Rotherhithe where people departed we cracked on and got a very good pace going back to the centre and up west. Hats off to those who stuck with the ride past the centre - we'd already had enough mishaps for one night and at that point i think we had started to wonder if we would ever finish...!

Highlights for me:

meeting so many new people and finally meeting some guys who've been goofing around on here for a while

purple tom's festive bike - dude you and your bike looked absolutely brilliant.

hitting the first lights (shoot's photo above) - seeing that it was a genuine surprise for most people and watching them react the way i did when i found it last year;

having everyone together for the roll through the tron beam over westferry

getting to Greenwich - pause necessary for repairs - ten people immediately get to work skidding the hell out of the paving slabs

realising that, any time coppers or some form of The Man appeared, Bernie was distracting them with a demonstration of the curious Fixed Wheel Bike

the rose water of London Bridge

being naughty going through the Marriott at 3am - just cos we could

the avenue of trees approaching the Eye and hearing everyone behind going "aaaaahhh"

the back route I had decided to keep in near Sloane Square as all those lights were still on and looked beautiful

John Maek going the wrong way round Sloane Square and pulling off typically complicated skip- and skid skills in front of oncoming traffic - the vehicles let alone the drivers looked baffled..

The second angry driver in Mayfair - because his car smelt so bad and he was getting nowehere with his anger..

seeing just how many people stuck with it when to be honest the ride was well past its sell by date by 3.30am - thanks for being up for it.

THE WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

Horrible end to the ride Henry and just glad you're in one piece - it was not nice to have to leave you and Tom. In fact fuck it it was a terrible terrible end to the ride and noone can understand what the fuck the driver was thinking - white van man except the white van had copper decals..

John Maek and Corny were as usual the scoutmasters - true team players - and Multi you were a real beaut for rounding people up and getting them back to the group - really great stuff. Props to the boys from way out west who soldiered on with the 18 mile ride back home - amazing. And Spencerwells I really hope it was worth coming down from Leeds for, superb forum action and great to meet you.

Finally a mention to furious tiles who had such bad luck on the night after he had spent time with me learning the ride last week just so he could help out - next time dude, hope you're okay.

Nice one Pajamas, a well planned and thoroughly decent ride only marred by the stupidity at the end by grumpy drivers and the exigent WTF Police shenanigans.
Glad Henry is pieced back together again.

At the beginning of the ride as everybody was Moving from King William to Eastcheap the lights change and a Police officer on a motorbike(who'd seen those ahead of me blithely pass through the junction) swerved his bike directly in across my my path and stopped.
I pulled up and said "whoa!" and trackstood with my bike three inches or so from his bike.
I said to him "Excuse me sir, when the lights go green am I going to be able to go through?"
"That's the idea" he replied.
Then for some reason he volunteered the information "This is my last a night, I don't need to deal with stuff like this".
"Wow", I said. "Sounds like the plot of Lethal Weapon 3".
He didn't get the joke and proceeded to shadow the ride all the way down to Tower Bridge to ensure the night was safe for decent law-abiding motorists.

Toward the end of the night coming down Hill street to Berkeley Square some idiot acting dangerously tried to drive past the entire ride. Knowing that he would have to swerve right across the front of our number where the road narrowed I blocked him off. He didn't take to kindly to that and later, down and around the corner he threw his 1.5 litre water bottle at me as he sped along. Luckily most people don't keep half-bricks in their door wells and fortunately I saw it coming and got my hand up, cunt.

Then as we passed over the lights at Shorditch High into Bethnal Green and got some 50 meters from the junction there was an almighty cacophony of sirens blaring up from the back. I pulled towards the side and looked over my shoulder just in time to see a Police van running fully over Henry's Geekhouse and throwing him to the ground. Miracle he missed both being ground into the railings or splitting his head open on the curb. Went back to try and help. Bloody disgrace, gave my details as a witness, still waiting for a phonecall.
Thanks to cornelius for dissuading my attempts at debate with the plod, which we all know is a pointless waste of time.

All told, despite the aforementioned, a great ride which took me to a few places I've not yet been even though I have lived here 10 years.

Well done Pajamas.

Despite ongoing politeness and silliness problems in threads, in the real world the forum is alive and well and riding bikes and having really good times together. Rollapaluza Wednesday, the ride last night, Fixed Mag 2 Saturday - and polo and drinks nearly every night of the week. This is one week in the calendar of an amazing place that brings people together and makes life more enjoyable.

So did the Pigs just drive into Henry? Were they chasing the ride or responding to a call?

Agree with JimmyJams, even tho I wasn't on this ride, the forum outside the interwebz is great at the moment. I was worried that the 1000's of new members would dilute it somewhat, bt it's always the usual suspects who are out and about, and rides like the Bridges and this just prove what a tight little community we have.

Love & hugs
The Donut! ;)

They drove into him and over his bike.

Moog was the only proper witness but from the sounds of it all i'd say the copper driving thought he was in the Bill or was Starsky and was moving to "cut off" the errant peleton riding towards bagels. The problem is while you can enjoy dramatically cutting off a speeding car or whatever in your copper dreams it's just bewilderingly stupid of him to have done it with a cyclist involved.

Phil, looks like you had enough little helpers on the night.

After all is said n done with the bits of bad luck atleast you encountered no trolls:-)

Ma3k- Ill be in touch soon,
just sorting out things with some very useful friends to have at this time (lawyers(ish)).

I just want to say thanks again, to everyone, it was an excellent night.
In fact, I can't quite say thanks enough.
you are all just awesome.
The bike is 100% fine, and I'm probably going to have to get an extension on my project :(

are you ok mr tiles?