Hard Day in January '22

Super day out, so nice to have a proper forum ride. Thank you so much @youramericanlover for sorting.
I bonked badly on way home at Camberwell, luckily right next to a noodle buffet. Excellent way to end a HDIJ.

Great ride, great to meet new people, and see some familiar faces and all credit to @youramericanlover for organising it, (and providing quick alterations when required). Looking forward to next year, when hopefully I'll be able to stick around for the pub after as well!

Really really lush time lads, these kinds of events are very special - where else (other than Denmark) can you ride with a bunch of sweet fixies on a terryfingly long hilly scenic route.

Glad @cagimaha won the prize, he is the sole reason for ensuring I didn't quit after trying to follow @TTM wheel (think it was over 3.5x bodyweight watts/kg up toys hill until I blew up and was just like, what the hell man, you're not even sweating).

Thanks again @youramericanlover for organising, you are keeping the spirit of @clubman 1959 ride going, yesterday i suffered more than I have for recent memory, probably over a year, which was very welcome.

Very much looking forward to any similar future rides (hopefully with a renewed fitness, inevitably lighter bike and @Lucybee).

Glad @cagimaha won the prize, he is the sole reason for...

Very much this ^ - his good humour and encouragement hauled me up the bits I made and I think I'd have carried on down Toys if I hadn't started seeing stars on the way up!

Overall, I found the long upwards slog too hard at the pace set by the group, but the route was/is fantastic and the switchback of the ridges was glorious. I'm going to do it my own way soon (with some loooow gears). Thanks to @youramericanlover for organising the day.

And now I have to register with a GP and find out why my lungs seem to have been replaced with walnuts...

Amazing day, thank you so much everyone, especially @youramericanlover for organising and leading, and @clubman's original inspiring ride. Afraid we haven't met Clubman - hope to someday - and I'm sorry you were unable to make it, but you should know the event you have created is quite fantastic, thank you.

I was gutted to leave after the coffee stop, the rest of the day looked pleasantly challenging, but the drinks (tinnie and pie! @Po) sound suitably rewarding. I know what I'd rather have done. Afraid I only took one lousy photo of a fantastic slice of cake to send to a friend, who's dad is the Chiddingstone vicar, singing the praises of the local store.

@Vilms5000 chapeau for digging in, hope that return leg was ok and you got a decent brew at Ide Hill. @cagimaha congrats on most meritorius rider - please dm me your address and I'll stick a Burner in the post to you, they work particularly well with skinsuits :)

I mentioned some Albion stuff going on; for anyone interested there's a separate Albion thread which I'll post on for more workshops, events film screenings as-and-when they're booked. (plus there's an LFGSS discount code in there too).

Genuinely one of the most welcoming, courteous and entertaining groups I've ridden with. YAL you do raise a good point, but you have created one of the warmest, easiest-going groups there, so I'm hopeful broadening the profile will be an easy and natural course for HDIJ .....although I'd also be up for the suggested Easier Day In May, should that arise... Hope to ride with you all again someday.

Final thought ....afraid I'm terrible with names, but a gent on a lovely brushed ti bike mentioned a ceramics studio near Hither Green? Please could you pass on the studio name and I'll look into it. ....Our studio gets demolished next month, and although we have a few options, always good to scope out more, thank you!

Hi there, that was me. I’ll PM details

Incredibly honoured to have joined the exalted company of previous winners, I still think there's been some confusion regarding my "work" as backstop and just being incapable of going up any inclines much quicker but I'll take it!

Thanks again everyone for making it such a great ride and hopefully it's a sign of a good year to come.

Another Vote of Thanks

Firstly thanks to all of you for your continuing enthusiasm for this event - it does give me a lot of pleasure to see it carrying on, even though I failed to come.

Naturally, special thanks go to YAL who has made such an excellent job of carrying on where I left off. The existence of club cycling depends on the YALs of this world to come forward and do their stuff, something which has been going on since the late nineteenth century but which is now becoming rarer and rarer. If there's no one to organise these events they just won't happen, so I hope some of you other HDiJ riders may start thinking about stepping into the breach. I'm not talking about the HDiJ here, because I really hope YAL will continue organising for the foreseeable future; there are plenty of other possible events to promote.

Diversity: I don't think the HDiJ should be worried too much about this. As long as we can honestly say that we welcome anyone who is capable of riding with the group, I feel we are doing all that can be done. There is inevitably a touch of elitism in this sort of riding, and if a ride is organised on the basis of making allowance for the weakness of some category of rider, well it's just not going to be a 'hard day'. The main reason I haven't ridden for the past couple of years is that I don't want to hinder riders who are stronger than I am - I don't want you to have to wait for me. Let's remember that the real origin of these rides lies in old style training rides, and those rides were aimed at people who intended to race. The leader of my 1959 ride went on to ride the Tour of Britain later that year (it was already called 'The Milk Race' but we thought of it as the ToB.)

In any case, we haven't achieved nothing in the way of diversity: LucyB.

I'm still doing what I can, and I might be up for a ride later in the year. I have a possible route: Start at Radlett then St Albans, Redbourn, Gaddesden Row, Dagnall, Ivinghoe Beacon, Ringshall, Hudnall and back to Redbourn and Radlett (about 45 miles). I would prefer someone else to be designated as ride leader, so that if it gets too much (I don't know how fast others will want to go), I can drop off the back and not kill myself (see the second paragraph of this post).

Anyway, congratulations to everyone who made it round last Saturday.

As if the adulation of the forumisti wasn't enough I've also received a logo'd up lightweight musette from @Chopsicle

I'm sure I'm not worthy, etc. but absolutely blown away by the generosity. Looking forward to filling it with pastries or belvita on a ride soon.

Also, as so excellently put by @clubman I'm also very thankful to @youramericanlover for organising and making the ride what it is.

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Superb!

That is so rad, I love it!

Ace, glad you like it @cagimaha :) sorry it took a while!

Lovely stuff

Bloody hell that's good. Thanks to both of you.

I just try and encourage same spirit as previous years, it's the rest of you that show up and make it happen

Dan: I feel like there are lots of cycling collectives out there on Instagram that don't seem to have much connection with the forum - fixed pirates, fixedwitches, Icarus, and so on. You might have seen them participate in the cycling sequence of the brit awards. To increase participation and diversity it might be worth reaching out to them.

@youramericanlover

We did think about this, but most are brakeless and therefore give ride to too much risk, especially in the context of a group ride with third party (and other) liability issues - lfgss or the relevant organiser could be held responsible

Icarus are proper #chavsonbikes - there are major systematic failings with the police as an institution but is the best solution to do wheelies at them?

So as a quick update I have had and am still having conversations with some excellent people with great ideas on how to make HDIJ more than just a brofest.

I don't have ambitions for it to grow into some larger thing, or for it to be "bigger and better" than it is. Tbh there is a nagging insurance / organisational liability issue that gives me the mini heebeejeebies each year. It's small thing, niche-in-niche-in-niche. But I do think that with some extra insight there are local people (who don't look like me) that would already be up for it to come along with a minimum of effort from myself and others.

However I AM looking for sponsors for next year link in bio

Hey there

lfgss or the relevant organiser could be held responsible

Fair enough, I just thought these were casual things, not really organised as such. If someone calls a ride and someone else shanks themself on it with an accident, is the person who initially posts it on a forum responsible for them? I'm not a lawyer, and admittedly wouldn't look into these things when organising a ride out.

You could always invite them and say it's a long hilly ride and they need a hand brake, or shouldn't come.

I was on forum rides before in the past where people were riding brakeless down hills and that. But I know we've all grown up and are more responsible etc. now.

Icarus are proper #chavsonbikes

I don't know them that well to be honest - I might know a couple of them, not sure if they're aligned with them or what - but calling other cycling crews names like that probably isn't going to help if you want to increase the reach for the rides. We were all young and anti-police at some stage (and some still might be) and did dangerous things on bikes. I prefer to give them some rope in these matters.

Is there a way it could be run under an organisation like Audax UK (or a BC club) where non-members join for one day for a small fee, and are covered?

Can't promise, but do keep us up to speed on sponsorship and I'll see if there's anything I can do - 'link in bio' is there info available somewhere already?

@Chopsicle Ha I was joking with the link in bio - my insta is pathetic. However you did arrange that absolutely awesome musette for Ben so I'll actually think around this idea in general as it's a nice idea to offer a rider something for their effort on the day.

You do make a good point about running it under an organisation. I'm a member of BC and having had a preliminary look earlier in the year I don't think it's a huge deal to organise a non-race event with some rider insurance etc, especially with a low number threshold. All other issues aside, mentally I would feel more at peace (especially this year as we climbed through Petts Wood) I knew that there was at least some kind of safety net for us. Might just do that regardless. I could probably cover the cost myself, as I ride almost exclusively fixed I have a huge pile of money saved up from not spending money on groupsets.

I ride almost exclusively fixed

Funny, you've never mentioned this

:( don't joke about these things, I was about to order a 2023 diary!

Sorry it's been stressful, but always good to think and plan for worst, knowing it shouldn't happen, with that peace of mind for support.

And, yes, defo will pull any strings I can, and if there's fundraising, will be behind it too.

If I don't say it people might forget

.

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