Tnrc 2013

That was brilliant fun - thank you all. Loic - we all felt terible about losing you - glad you made it back ok.

Felt pretty exhausted when I got in last night but another cracking evening out. That fast bit on that lane near the end was tremendous fun.

Yeah I'll add my adulation to the chorus, absolutely amazing evening. Had such a great time, and it's an outstanding route. PLUS on the way home me and bothwell had a bonus double-vom spot! One poor chap near kings x, and another on the E&C bypass, two guys in a taxi and one really fucking unhappy looking taxi driver. What's wrong with people, it's a school night

Nice night for it wasn't it.

I've decided that I'm going to start doing TNRC. Need to ride more, need better routes, this seems like the best solution.

I'm going to be really shouty so that this kind of thing can't happen to me:

Much to our shame, we only realised you were missing when we were twenty miles in!

^ Would be great to have you along!

Yeah I'll add my adulation to the chorus, absolutely amazing evening. Had such a great time, and it's an outstanding route. PLUS on the way home me and bothwell had a bonus double-vom spot! One poor chap near kings x, and another on the E&C bypass, two guys in a taxi and one really fucking unhappy looking taxi driver. What's wrong with people, it's a school night

Mate! After we split up I saw another one, stumbling along Clapham Road while vomming at the same time! It was amazing.

Anyway, thanks all - I had a proper good evening, most fun I've had on a bike in a long time. Thanks Des for giving me a tow after I got myself dropped on that first slight incline. "Hrm", I thought to myself, "this lot aren't like my usual riding buddies, are they?" Had to resort to smashing it after all to keep up after that. Big smiles all round.

The rarely witnessed Triple Vom - that's like Halley's Comet shooting across a solar eclipse while two unicorns make love on a mountain top.

couple of pics,

at the start, with veLLo, before he went missing!

after the supremely enjoyable surprise that is the Sainsburys Travellator

can't see pics

The only snap I managed to get, somewhere near the start

Oh, and also, shortly after I started riding towards London, my front brake was somehow less responsive, I had a closer look and realized the cable was about to snap!! It held till London though... Balls, I could have fell into the canal!!

That canal route was actually great, I want to do it again at some point.

So hippy is faster for 100 miles then our grupetto was for those 7.5 miles yesterday.

#heatstrokemathinthesunlunchbreak.

Really nice ride last night, all fell into place after a messy start a Kings X - groupsaves from a machine would be a nice customer service addition and why does everyone at the ticket counter appear to be completing their dissertation? Great to have some tnrc newcomers out there - hope to see you again for another spin. Thanks to bmmf for (yet another) fine route. Next ride in 2 weeks, list up next week - not sure which route yet.

Real shame about losing you at the station Loic - I should have checked before we headed out. Glad to hear you got a nice spin back anyway. Hopefully see you out there again on a Tuesday.

I bumped into Jacqui as I was approaching London...

Ha, I saw Jacqui earlier in the evening at the Movement for Liveable London Street Talk.

So hippy is faster for 100 miles then our grupetto was for those 7.5 miles yesterday.

#heatstrokemathinthesunlunchbreak.

That's a meaningful comparison: aero-optimised bike and rider (sort of) rolling up and down infamously fast dual-carriageway dragstrip in daylight @ 25mph vs drop bar fixie in 69" gear (well, those of us who haven't sold out) along undulating country lane in the dark @ 23mph after short recovery from VO2Max+ 3min climb.

What's your next conversation piece? "So Cliff Richard has had number one hits in more decades than Jimi Hendrix"?

Glad I bailed out to Luton. I was on my last legs before that climb and was in no shape for the fast section. Damn my lack of riding.

I'm suffering serious wednesday-afternoon-after-TNRC-itis.

This work malarkey has got knobs on it.

Fields and fields and fields....

Wouldnt mind a lie down in a field.

Little audaxy nappy time.

I'm suffering serious wednesday-afternoon-after-TNRC-itis.

+1, although you've got more of an excuse given the extra ride-out mileage

separately,

my updated TNRC additional bag content list,

• padded-shorts (compeltely solved bottom discomfort :-)
  
• head-torch (it gets dark late-night)
  
• adequately-charged batteries for lights (!)
  
• fig rolls (MoN-style) for the snack-stops
  

an excuse given the extra ride-out mileage

Might have more to do with trying to stay awake to watch the recording of the NBA basketball playoffs.

I do however blame TNRC for being woken from the couch at 3 in the morning, siitting bolt upright holding a 4/5 full can of London pride, by a slightly unimpressed spouse.

Still dont know the result of the game.

I haven't really done anything today except post memes in the memes thread from Tumblr and I completely blame TNRC, but maybe also partially blame all those people who were vomiting on themselves in the street.

A Poor Evening Sonnet On the Topic of Life and Nature and the Fragility of Life, for and Requested by, KT Bee

Some mechanised crank winds up the day
And down the evening -
So hues of rapeseed and still-green hay
Morph their course like a swallow weaving.

Winter eyes course the coloured field
as our machines combine betwixt -
But wind and light do not yield
Regardless of a body free or fixed.

Though the West moved time ahead
It cannot stretch the sun for hours
Still we ride into our summer stead
While night-time falls to blacken flowers.

Quiet roads and chromatic fields bring temporal joy and strife,
But it's summer's skylight colour crush that bring us courage for life.

^I refuse to be held accountable in the future for that by the way.

No one gets left behind on the TNRC. Except at stations it would seem.

My apologies to Will for the groupsave fiasco that saw him miss the first train. After standing in the queue waiting for the people ahead of me to finish their protracted and delicate negotiations we only had 3 mins to get the train so I just thrust the tickets to the first people I saw and sprinted. Seems we had one more person than I'd bargained for.

Leaving veLLo at Welwyn station was also pretty inexcusable. Would have been worse to lose you on the ride but the backstop system usually deals with that.

So next time we will assign everyone into groups of 4 (for groupsave) as they arrive at the station, you will then hold hands with each other all the way on the train and at the stations right up until you are told to get on your bikes and ride. Or perhaps we can get a long piece of rope and tie everyone together for the whole duration, including the ride. Possibly an elastic chord to cater for mixed climbing abilities.