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So now that you've ridden both. Which is better? DD or EE?
EE is best, it has good hills and that amazing descent down Cheddar Gorge. DD is flat and boring by comparison. And you can't control the weather.
Any real cyclist would prefer the Exodus :P
Glad you all had fun, I really enjoyed it. Corlis and I had got the 5pm train and were raring to go at the start having been hanging round the pub for a while so we just got on with it. We blasted the first 35 miles or so, accidentally skipping the scout hut, which was a shame as we had to stop in an extremely quiet, non-warm village instead. Plus I think I gave it too much on that first section and it came back to haunt me a bit later.
Many highlights: the climb up Burrington Coombe, the awesome decent down the Gorge, climbing up between the limestone was amazing and flying down the Gorge was proper ecstatic riding. I thought the organisation was excellent, I did not expect free food from a ride with no entry fee, especially such gourmet delights as jaffa cakes, jelly babies and custard creams ('Rambo's' food stop was definitely a high point actually) so chapeau to the organisers, who were also really friendly. Everyone in Bristol seemed to be really friendly actually. Zooming down the descent into Exmouth in a pro-aero-tuck style. Breakfast at tricity's! (We got in at 7, had a coffee, then headed there about 8 I think). Which was yummy. Please pass our thanks to your Mum again Rosie!
Comedy highlight of being sat behind Corlis while about 20 carbonised lycra-clad club types also sucked his wheel in a big long line, that was quite amusing.
Lowlights: I got a puncture down that very dark steep descent which (I think) was about 10 miles before the end, it wasn't the best place to puncture so that was annoying. We had a sleep at Rosie's but didn't allow enough time to get going again, so woke up 5 minutes before we had to leave. For future reference missing a whole nights sleep, catching 40 minutes then getting on your bike again 5 minutes afterwards and having to climb up a steep hill feels very wrong! We cycled up to Exeter too, Oli's train was half an hour before mine so he went on ahead but unfortunately missed his train by 5 minutes, I made mine with 5 minutes to spare. Also got absolutely soaked doing this: the fork lightning on the way up the cycle path was a bit close for comfort a few times and that was was actually quite scary.
The train back was also a low, did everyone else go back to Paddington? I saved money by going on South West Trains from Exeter Central to Waterloo and it was horrid, it took three and a half hours and wasn't a proper train. I wouldn't do that again.
The Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady supposedly wrote the hymn 'Rock of Ages' while sheltering in some of Burrington Coombe's limestone. I suspect he was sheltering from the rain...
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Really great ride. Nice to see / meet everyone, and thanks for the company. Sorry to bail close to the end. As it turned out, the whole trip to Weymouth turned out to be a terrible idea. There are officially no flat bits between Exmouth and Weymouth, so I ended up spending a lot of the bit after the cafe stop in Exmouth grinding up bits of the A35 at 6mph. Got quite familiar with the sound of my own voice. Also arrived at the sailing about half an hour too late to watch the Ainslie gold medal. Gutted.
EE itself was ace though, and amazing that it stayed dry for most of the time. Personal highlights were flashbacks to my stag do while sweeping down Cheddar Gorge, and the magic carpet ride between the scout hut at the North Curry feedstop. Blagdon Hill was pretty special in the sunrise and the mizzle. Also Iain's unique take on the repertoire of the Presidents of the U.S.A.
Would ride again! But maybe not every weekend.
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Kitty!
Peaches!
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This ride was good fun. Nice to meet some of you. I am still buzzing from the awesomeness of a century ride with such good company and good humour.
I'm still not a great fan of night rides; more due to my dislike of staying up too late than anything else.
I'd like to repeat the route in the daylight.
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Did many of you guys ride fixed? Was keeping a look out for forumengers but the couple of people I asked looked at me blankly. Was happy with decision to go geared, more for the descents than anything although imagine it wasn't too painful. Loads of nice rolling flattish miles and happy the wind and rain largely kept out of the picture during the ride. Shame they both appeared just as we swept into the promenade finish.
Agree on the very welcome Rambo stop. The lead up was the only time I was feeling pretty hollow and zoned out by red lights. If custard cream eating was an Olympic sport...
Really enjoyed the gorge. Only done it the other way before which was a memorable experience but descending in moonlight and a sketchy Cateye was special. Not sure where the guy getting patched up at the scout hut stacked it but hope it wasn't there.
Never done big mass(ish) start ride before other than Audax which hasn't had quite the same feel. It felt like the point when everyone had to leave the warm pub where sensible souls were spending their Saturday night watching the athletics galvanised spirits. Great fun riding with lots of different groups of people. Will do again.
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Any real cyclist would prefer the Exodus :P
You have to be careful, very few people manage to be cyclists.
Lowlights: I got a puncture down that very dark steep descent which (I think) was about 10 miles before the end, it wasn't the best place to puncture so that was annoying.
I think it's a bit more than ten miles. Very difficult to ride down that one. I see it as the EE equivalent of the DD's New Road (just off the A1120 Yoxford Road).
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<----geared beast
Cannondale packhorse!
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A really enjoyable ride.
I missed the start as I was at the Olympic football in Cardiff that went to extra time and then penalties! Managed to get dropped off at Weston Super Mare just before 1am and got lost on the way to Cheddar.
Habbi was just walking out of the tea stop as I was walking in so it was great to meet up with the rest of LFGSS riders.
A very friendly ride, I liked how through the dark lanes you find yourself cycling next to someone for a few miles then as the pace slowly changes you find yourself alongside someone else having a new conversation.
As others have said our group had great camaraderie, it was good to meet so many friendly forum folk.
Low point was the car overtaking our group on a bend way to fast and nearly taking out two riders as another car came the other way. It was quite shocking how very close it came and how it was just good fortune that a tragedy was averted.
Highlights include, the shooting star, the tea stops, the gentle rhythm of the group but most of all the company
I must make more effort to attend forum rides -
Dropout, further to one of our conversations along the way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrow_Mump
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that looks cool!
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A beautiful ride (mental note - must do this in daylight) and a great group of new and familiar faces for me. Chapeau to everyone for remaining so good-humoured, all night, in less than ideal conditions - particularly Hats, who would have been justified for punching me for leading her through a monsoon on a mini wild goose chase to the start!
It was a less than ideal start... we rode up a waterfall!!
It was so wet, my mobile disco only worked for part of the evening and then only half at a time.
Quality tunes though, every touring bike needs a banging sound system. Fact.
There are officially no flat bits between Exmouth and Weymouth, so I ended up spending a lot of the bit after the cafe stop in Exmouth grinding up bits of the A35 at 6mph. Got quite familiar with the sound of my own voice. Also arrived at the sailing about half an hour too late to watch the Ainslie gold medal. Gutted.
I can't believe you did this at the end of the night. I rode up (and up and up) the A35 yesterday and it was horrible. Well done for making it - shame about missing the sailing.
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Sadly one of the speakers has given up the ghost :-(
I will have to ponder on how to make a more robust system
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but then they wouldnt have been light
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sickburn
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I echo all above sentiments about the a35. Tom and I rode it fully loaded to Poole on Sunday afternoon after about 2 hours' sleep and it was one of the hardest rides I've ever done. Made the 130 miles back to London the day after feel easy.
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The main feeding station on the first two EEs was at Burrow Mump car park.
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The camera loves Iain.
I remember stopping at that stop in 2007 when it was just a bloke and his car, with a pot of soup in the boot. He kept apologising that the soup was cold because he couldn't get the burner going. We didn't mind. It was just what we needed and he got a lot of thanks instead of any acceptance of his apologies.
Ha, there are still photos on-line--this is the same place as in the video:
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Iain, was all that complaining just for the camera or did poor Hats have to put up with that all the way ;)
I was quite sore from the accident that morning. You'll have to ask hats they question;-) sadly what was missed was all the singing and the awesome mobile disco and the banter and the comradery.Cheers for that mista s!
Fox
dumps
ChainBreaker
Cupcakes
Hamatt
Oliver Schick
Moonboy
hats
tricitybendix
6pt
mista_s
O'Shane-
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2012-08-04 - Exmouth Exodus
Posted by
@Backstop
Sorry to hear it was a bit of a wet one again. It can make a big difference on that kind of ride.
The stag weekend (which meant missing the EE) was grand but I'm now scared to get back on a bike having broken myself with beer/goodtimes.