2009-06-27 Sat Midnight - Overnight to Brighton

Thanks for the pictures, Marlon!

I am so burned. Don't fall asleep on beaches, people.

I just about got away with it--burned but not too badly.

Great ride - thanks Oliver for organising and Damo/Guy for backstopping. After feeling very sleepy at Clapham Common and the first stop for massing up, I really enjoyed myself.

Highlights for me:
1) Glow in the dark spokecards
2) Daniel and Esther riding straight from the plane. Respect!
3) Whizzing through the pitch blackness of the country lanes
4) Crossing the motorway just before Gatwick and seeing fields bathed in pre-dawn mist
5) Sprawling on top of Ditchling Beacon, applauding the kids who'd given us lip on the way up
6) Brisk descent from Ditchling to Brighton
7) Man with double (fake) arrospoks crossing in front of our group photo at Brighton and having everyone shout at him - he must have been so confused!

Quite sunny for a night ride, but a lot of fun. I absolutely loved rolling along through the countryside as colour seeped back into the sky, the cool air between the mist filled fields, seeing a long snake of red tail lights ahead of me slithering around a roundabout, a river of cyclists flowing along between the high hedges on little lanes nearer the end, swooping down into Brighton.

Extra special thanks to moth for tightening my crank bolts without the aid of a torque wrench and tentative diagnosis of pitted bearing races.
Yes, really not confident in the calibration of my hand's torque settings. Hopefully i've not overdone it.

Oh yeah, stunning show from neverclever and esther_rabbit, shame they missed the pretty bit after Gatwick.

I am so burned. Don't fall asleep on beaches, people.

A lot of determination shown at the back - must be really awful to catch up with a lot of riders lounging around on the road-side, only for them all to zoom off again.

I fled the beach when i realised i was starting to scorch, so am a little rosy red.

Hope this doesn't break the internet:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m35/blackdice23/LFGSS-DITCHLING360.jpg

That's awesome. I remember that sea of blazing white mist that had flowed in over the land to the east.

Thanks Oliver for making this happen. To all for good company and the great spirit of the ride.

http://www.vimeo.com/5365635

oh man. what a beautiful experience. i wholeheartedly recommend manning up and working as a backstop to anyone. it's a great way to meet more people. anyway.
props:
oliver-awesome organizational skills, never loses his temper, perfectly calm. deserved his medal.
everyone- great riding spirit.
guy- thanks for being ditchling backstop.

apologies-
the guy on the blue gios. sorry for turning drill sergeant damo on you at one point. it was unnecessary.

highlights- ditchling obviously. the trepidation in the air as we approached the big green demon was thick. chatting to the security guards at gatwick. gatwick. the hills.

low lights- ditchling. dril sergeant damo. the lack of effect 2 coffees had in brighton.

roll on southend!

lfgss london to brighton overnight 28.06.2009 on Vimeo

nice vid, but that was after Ditchling, not before. Note the relief in everyone's faces :)

Great ride - thanks Oliver for organising and Damo/Guy for backstopping. After feeling very sleepy at Clapham Common and the first stop for massing up, I really enjoyed myself.

Highlights for me:
1) Glow in the dark spokecards
2) Daniel and Esther riding straight from the plane. Respect!
3) Whizzing through the pitch blackness of the country lanes
4) Crossing the motorway just before Gatwick and seeing fields bathed in pre-dawn mist
5) Sprawling on top of Ditchling Beacon, applauding the kids who'd given us lip on the way up
6) Brisk descent from Ditchling to Brighton
7) Man with double (fake) arrospoks crossing in front of our group photo at Brighton and having everyone shout at him - he must have been so confused!

8) That beautiful old Ferrari that passed us at the top of Ditchling (sorry Oliver).

somebody said a daimler dart rolled by as well:
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_SP250[/ame]

also:
marco: owner of the sex bike of the ride

Awesome ride, that was. Congratulations and thanks to everyone involved, particularly Oliver (good effort on the century) and his lieutenants. And CG for the spoke cards of course.

Still somewhat annoyed with myself this morning for not cracking Ditchling. Bailed on the last of the steep bits but got back on 50 feet later and rode the rest. Convinced if I'd HTFU I would've been able to make it, at least I've got summat to aim for next time out. At least I can be happy with 72 miles for the day on my first proper ride fixed, next time I'm bored I might work out how many revolutions it was.

Great to meet people new and old alike, hope to see some of you on the Dynamo next weekend.

Think the Ferrari was a Dino.

How was the ride back then? No threats of security blowing up bikes at gatwick.. And sorry to the back of the ride for not being the chattiest of cyclists. It was a lovely pace to soak up the rays and absorb the gorgeous views. Glad you made it all the way.
and another sorry for abandoning you to blast (ha!) up ditchling - i should have made it clearer we'd all be at the top!

Think the Ferrari was a Dino.

+1

8) That beautiful old Ferrari that passed us at the top of Ditchling (sorry Oliver).

1. the couple having their sunday ride along the beach front on the tandem
   

Think the Ferrari was a Dino.

Twas indeed a Dino (246 GT), IMHO the best looking car ever, what a treat it must be to be out in that car on a morning like we had.

1. the couple having their sunday ride along the beach front on the tandem
   

nice claud butler.

rocksteady: do you have that foto of me being a medic?

At least I can be happy with 72 miles for the day on my first proper ride fixed, next time I'm bored I might work out how many revolutions it was.

It's not far off 10,000 revs per mile (depending on gearing etc), I think.

or aka a fuckload.

nice claud butler.

rocksteady: do you have that foto of me being a medic?

yes drill sergeant, on it's way drill sergeant...

because i'm a cheap bastard i only have a basic flickr account which is now at it's monthly limit, so i'll edit the above post in a couple of days with more pics. the attachment function is not working for me either.

1. the couple having their sunday ride along the beach front on the tandem
   

I missed their response to the request for a skid..

Can we see the flickr page for this so that we can tag it with names - It might make it easier to remember who was who :)

i'll post the link for the set once all the pics have been loaded on to flickr

Did anyone else witness the mad overtake? Somewhere round Reigate I think. I think it was a taxi that decided to overtake a car that was overtaking us. It drove clean up onto the pavement which could only have been just about wide enough to fit and flew down it at 30-40 mph. Not as if the roads were busy, stunning level of impatience, you almost have to respect such bad decision making, almost.

It's not far off 10,000 revs per mile (depending on gearing etc), I think.

or aka a fuckload.

According to wikipedia, multiplying gear inches by 0.0798 gives you metres per crank revolution. In my case that's 5.59m.

72 miles is ~115km, so about 20,500 total.

Did anyone else witness the mad overtake? Somewhere round Reigate I think. I think it was a taxi that decided to overtake a car that was overtaking us. It drove clean up onto the pavement which could only have been just about wide enough to fit and flew down it at 30-40 mph. Not as if the roads were busy, stunning level of impatience, you almost have to respect such bad decision making, almost.

Yes! Most fucked up piece of driving I've seen.

Did anyone else witness the mad overtake? Somewhere round Reigate I think. I think it was a taxi that decided to overtake a car that was overtaking us. It drove clean up onto the pavement which could only have been just about wide enough to fit and flew down it at 30-40 mph. Not as if the roads were busy, stunning level of impatience, you almost have to respect such bad decision making, almost.

almost forgot about this. on the one-way at the bottom of the hill into reigate - that was ridiculous driving!

no skid, i'm afraid...