2010-05-02 - Isle of Wight Randonnee

^drying Sidis on radiator FAIL.

having radiator on at all in MAY = fail.

I dry mine on a heater.. well I used to. I haven't used one in this place.

^drying Sidis on radiator FAIL.

Why?

having radiator on at all in MAY = fail.

It is cold and I need to dry my shoes!

I dry mine on a heater.. well I used to. I haven't used one in this place.

Come to Souths.

Crumpled newspaper overnight, but then remove it, or they don't dry beyond that point. And leave them in an airing cupboard or something, with the insoles removed.

Or, point a fan at them (blowing in from the heel) for a couple of hours; my new preferred method.

Direct heat fucks with any glue used in the shoe construction, and ages the Lorica prematurely.

Hmm.. Souths.. I haven't been there for ages and I am bored.. I need a ride today.

I usually dry mine with newspaper stuffed inside them but sometimes it's nice to dry 'em a bit quicker before a long ride.

@JG: are you wearing a tshirt?
put a jumper on.
if it is still cold, put on a hat.

think of the planet.

Crumpled newspaper overnight, but then remove it, or they don't dry beyond that point. And leave them in an airing cupboard or something, with the insoles removed.

Or, point a fan at them (blowing in from the heel) for a couple of hours; my new preferred method.

Direct heat fucks with any glue used in the shoe construction, and ages the Lorica prematurely.

Thank you for that. I will refrain from doing it in future. The newspaper trick works to a degree. I hate damp shoes! I don't have an airing cupboard.

Just leave them on a windowsill in the sunlight (there is sunlight here in Ealing)

@JG: are you wearing a tshirt?
put a jumper on.
if it is still cold, put on a hat.

think of the planet.

Speak to my wife. She is the green Buddhist. It was her idea. I am wearing a shirt and a jumper. The heating is set to keep the house at 15C.

Back to IoW...

Bad points.
Visiting Godshill, after a 20 minute slog against the driving rain and realising that we were about as far off course as it was possible to be.
Turning round and going back.
Dropout's face as he used only his mind to turn the pedals for the last half of the ride, when his body had told him to get off and lie down. The man is a legend.

Good points.
Visiting Godshill.
Learning to look for flapping laminated arrows.
The whole ride.
The people, especially the Damo Train.

i hate to big up the damo train again. but it was epic.

I think you can get drying racks that sit a little above the radiator. Or those radiator [st]cat[/st] Sidi beds :)

I think you can get drying racks that sit a little above the radiator. Or those radiator [st]cat[/st] Sidi beds :)

.

Just got home, absolutely knackered after a cold, wet, windy ride. Good to meet so many forumengers! Lugging all the camping kit on the bike is tiring, I'm off for a nap...

I think you can get drying racks that sit a little above the radiator. Or those radiator [st]cat[/st] Sidi beds :)

maybe I should dry the sidis on my lap and put the cat on the radiator.

Just use the cat to dry the SIDIs. Job done.

was great to bump into so many lfgss riders on what can only be describe as a shit weather day. had a top time with shoots, jonny, larissa and a few other faces bedding down in cowes. was my fiance's first ever ride and although i tried my hardest to talk her out of it on several occassions she went for it. For us the point of no return was whitwell and that's when the weather got even worse. hard times out on that coastal rd and i hope evryone who crashed is ok. can't describe how good it was to see some familiar faces after that and gina, phil and nancy i bet you are glad gina was home baking on saturday. officially that was the worst weather conditions ever for that ride since it started in 1985. I can only imagine the locals are now recovering from the demented swearing cockney woman who had to dig deep into her bad language locker to get through that experience.

looks like we should bow to the experience of Jonny on this one, many years of legendary riding :-
http://www.lfgss.com/thread4235.html

it was a pleasure to meet the one and only abigail collins

Hey Tika, lovely to finally meet you, and Cynthia too, in person. What a ride - my baptism into cycling by freezing cold wind, rain gravel and hills. I might just stick to pole dancing, somehow it's less painful! Let me know when you're free for dinner (or tequila!), Abi xxx (not tim)

tequila sounds nice!

So, ride report time...

There was a fair amount of rain overnight so it was pretty damp when we woke up in the middle of a field in Wooton. The wind hadn't picked up yet but there was a distinct lack of tea and cakes so *m.f, Pifko and myself decided to head on down to Bembridge and the first checkpoint to await the arrival of the daytrippers and the rest of the happy campers.
So we had cake, tea and a chat with some other riders whilst we were hanging around, oggling the bikes and enjoying the good vibes.
After a little while we spot the unmistakeable beards of Joe Smith and middleofnowhere. The rest of the campers had arrived only to learn that the daytrippers had made a beeline for the campsite in an attempt to catch us at the start. So we decided to wait for them in the warmth of the school gym whilst the rain passed.
Finally we roll out of the school car park only for Kattiep to get the first puncture of the day, a quick repair and we were on our way through the islands lanes, a few ups and downs to get the legs warmed up before the next checkpoint. A stamp and a squash and we were on our way.
The weather was holding and the wind wasn't too bad, so much for the forecast! On we roll to the next checkpoint, stamp, roll onwards towards Blackgang.
The hill is a bit of a psycological challenge, knowing it is the biggest climb on the route builds the anticipation, knowing it's going to hurt, but I'll be damned if I'm walking! After a few junctions where you always follow the signs to Blackgang, the road opens up and you can see most of the climb. The top is a fair way off but it turns out to be much easier than anticipated, we had become strung out along the hill so a short stop at the top to regroup and we're away.
As I'm descending the otherside I get to a roundabout to see Pifko on the floor, so stopped to help him patch up his face whilst most of the others continue on down. *m.f decides to stay for a while to slow the riders before the junction, so we leave him behind and ride on into the rain.
The flat section after blackgang is really, really nice when the weather is good. Today the weather is a howling headwind and driving rain that stings the face. Pifko, Moth and I slog on through some abysmal weather until we reach the climbs just before Freshwater. Screw Blackgang, that thing's a speed bump compared to this one! Climbing up an exposed hill, with the wind and the rain in your face wasn't easy, but we all made it up without anyone walking. Roll down into Freshwater and onto the causeway, a path along the estuary, nice and flat but very muddy.
We got to the Yarmouth checkpoint and had some expensive cake and rolls, regrouped with Joe Smith and kattiep, and *m.f caught up with us. Refuelled and regrouped we continued onwards to Cowes.
The rain had almost stopped but the wind was still going strong! The ride to cowes was pretty uneventful, rolling countryside and some good views of the mainland. Then we roll along the promenade into Cowes. Except the wind is screaming in our faces. I just remember pushing hard to keep going and glancing at the speedo. 16mph. Fuck me, I'm absolutely slogging here and we're only going 16? Some short, sharp climbs that saw even *m.f out of the saddle (!) and then we're at the chain ferry.
Everyone seemed to be there at the same time, most of the campers had managed to regroup and a pub stop was called for.
A pint later and we're on our way. The rain had stopped and there is only about 5 miles to go. I decided to push it a little, partly to be the first in line for the showers, and partly to test the legs. Middleofnowhere answered the pace I set and we stormed through the final few miles, down the last hill, get some momentum for the last climb, lose it all when a bus stops right at the bottom, and then sprint up the hill to the turning and roll along onto the camp site.
We'd made it. I was one of the lucky few who managed to get a shower before the crazy camp site lady sent everyone away for half an hour to do the cleaning.
After a shower and some dry clothes we headed for the pub and mountains of food, rivers of beer, a pub quiz (3rd place!) and plenty of good cheer. Thankyou all for making it a great day despite the awful weather. Good to meet so many of you, and a shame not to have met more!

Roll on next year...

Holy shit that's massive, sorry. Got a bit carried away.

Pffft, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things.:)

Nice report!