ACF before the Y

[TimC]

Yes, vaguely. CakeStop, I think.

Anyone else here remember the great Cakestop jersey relay - predating the Baton and the Little Red Book by many years. I've got a couple of pictures somewhere, with Nutty. Everyone who rode with it signed the jersey.

[Steph]

I remember the jersey race as well. The first person I ever met from the C+ site was Charlotte. I was on C+ and got somewhat involved in trolling the trolls who came in regularly from SS, including those pretending to be in the police or living in impossible places, or even forgetting that they originally registered as female and posting as males. The crunch came when the trolls apparently managed to persuade the magazine's management to block all references to them by pretending to be barristers.

A lot of folk jumped ship because Sam/Scott was running ACF as a small venture, and the ethos formed itself there. Yes, we have spats here, but flame wars are extinguished pretty quickly and it is a very sociable place most of the time. For reasons of his own, Sam decided to close down or restrict his forum--and it was his forum. His reasons are his business. I like Sam, but he is his own person.

I wasn't an immediate jumper to this place, and posted on and off on the CTC and Cyclechat fora, but never really settled there. I know a LOT of people here, which is far from unusual in YACF. The thing that keeps me here is that sense of family, where we end up in a field in Oxfordshire to celebrate a new child, or just in a pub-and-curry house in East London, well, because we can. Worth hanging onto.

[TimC]

YACF feels like home. CC feels like a big place where you get lost in the noise. I remember the SafeSpeed trolls at C+, and how it all got very unpleasant and how all of a sudden we were out!

Just like Corry, innit?!

[Tigerrr]

YACF is outstanding compared to other places on the net. ACF was OK too - but I got barred as soon as I came here so this is indeed cycling home. Much preferred to other bike fora - and generally mutually so which is a good thing.

[Adam]

I still have my L/S jersey.
Can't remember the last time it left the wardrobe.....
My recollection is that if you put heavy stuff in the pockets, it felt like you were being garrotted.
ETA - I thought, and do still think, that the design was ace.

Same here (except mine was the short sleeve).

We ought to wear all the ACF kit on a reunion cycle ride.........

[hatler]

Still using my l/s jersey here, though typically under another top, so it's unlikely to be spotted by anyone else.

[Jurek]

I still have my L/S jersey.
Can't remember the last time it left the wardrobe.....
My recollection is that if you put heavy stuff in the pockets, it felt like you were being garrotted.
ETA - I thought, and do still think, that the design was ace.

Same here (except mine was the short sleeve).

We ought to wear all the ACF kit on a reunion cycle ride.........

Where do you think we should go ? Whitstable?

[Adam]

I still have my L/S jersey.
Can't remember the last time it left the wardrobe.....
My recollection is that if you put heavy stuff in the pockets, it felt like you were being garrotted.
ETA - I thought, and do still think, that the design was ace.

Same here (except mine was the short sleeve).

We ought to wear all the ACF kit on a reunion cycle ride.........

Where do you think we should go ? Whitstable?

It's a nice place!

[Butterfly]

I still have acf kit which is a bit snug as well as cake stop kit which is tiny.

[Pingu]

Yes, vaguely. CakeStop, I think.

Anyone else here remember the great Cakestop jersey relay - predating the Baton and the Little Red Book by many years. I've got a couple of pictures somewhere, with Nutty. Everyone who rode with it signed the jersey.

IMG_0123 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[IJL]

Yes, vaguely. CakeStop, I think.

Anyone else here remember the great Cakestop jersey relay - predating the Baton and the Little Red Book by many years. I've got a couple of pictures somewhere, with Nutty. Everyone who rode with it signed the jersey

I took the jersey from Sheffield to Retford.  What became of it?

[Polar Bear]

I bought one of those ss C+ jerseys.   Despite the sizing advice it was waaaaay too small for me so I gave it to a smaller friend who still uses it from time to time.

Never bought any ACF merchandise. 

[Arellcat]

Anyone else here remember the great Cakestop jersey relay

Anyone else here still have their copy of C+ with the article about The Great Forum Ride?  Pingu's photo predated the jersey reaching Edinburgh where RJ and I took it sightseeing at the Castle.

[Fab Foodie]

I bought one of those ss C+ jerseys.   Despite the sizing advice it was waaaaay too small for me so I gave it to a smaller friend who still uses it from time to time.

Never bought any ACF merchandise.

I still have one ....  whether I can squeeze into it any more is another matter ....

[TimC]

I'd forgotten that it was a C+ jersey we took round the relay. The 'politics' of the C+ forum was strange - those of us who inhabited the Cake Stop board on C+ pretty much thought of ourselves as a separate group, and we had our own Cake Stop kit.

[sam]

Had forgotten how much I liked the Intel rip-off logo.

Same here. I forget who did the art, but if you're around, a very belated thumbs up.

I don't have a jersey, but I still wear the shoes Paul sold me, which I kind of consider to be acf kit, as the forum was my conduit for acquiring the only comfortable pair I've had for the last decade.



acf is still out there drifting in cyberspace. I held on to some of the library for old times' sake. And I remain addicted to forums.


PS. If you're doing the ride to Hastings, feel free to wear whatever jersey that'll help you up the hills.

[Aidan]

I've a pair of the same shoes Sam and I cant let them go, they're probably in worse condition than yours, but still my favourites!!

I have my C+ SS Jersey, and ACF Jersey  and I still use my ACF bidon from time to time.  I've even got some Cakestop shorts somewhere. Whatever happened to Dan Cave?

[nuttycyclist]

I'm not a regular on any forum now, not had much time for cycling recently.    Ironic that this popped up earlier today though as I did 96 miles on Monday in my ACF shorts (the most comfy ones I've ever owned).

I was a regular on forums with many of the old posters here, and migrated with them from forum to forum before settling in the happy home of ACF.   The C+ forum ride with t-shirt is mentioned above.    When there was the trouble with the  it was tense (as somebody referred to upthread as the night of the long knives) and I took the safety bolt of going multi-personality on several forums - to my downfall as it meant I also got culled.  YACF was the final refuge after that.    Yes at the time there was mild anger, but that briefly passed and I forgot all about it.

It's funny, but as I was planning the ride for Mon/Tue I realised it was going past where I recall Sam lived at the time and I was almost tempted to hunt out the old address and pop in to say hello for old times sake (we'd met in person before the Knight of the Cull and got on ok), but although I had nothing but positive memories of old times I thought I'd let sleeping dogs lay.


To me a community is its members and not the meeting location.     It's nice to dip in here occasionally and see the old names, and even better to see in this thread that Sam is also on here.  ACF may have had a time of stress but the people who contributed are still part of the wider cycling community wherever they are now.   Names mentioned in this thread bring back memories, and I'm frustrated I've forgotten the name of our German friend (Steelman?) even though I remember him every time I water the potted tree he gifted me the day I popped in to say hello on my way home from Switzerland one holiday.

[TimC]

Good to see you, Nutty - and Sam.

[Hot Flatus]

I saw BardsandWarriors ride down the rode in a blonde wig holding a screwdriver like some sort of tiny lance.

[Ruthie]

BardsandWarriors!  Oh he was a one... 

[spesh]

BardsandWarriors!  Oh he was a one... 

That's a... diplomatic... way of putting it.

A troubled soul, IIRC.

[Jurek]

I saw BardsandWarriors ride down the rode in a blonde wig holding a screwdriver like some sort of tiny lance.

No!
You mess with our heads.

[sam]

From my history of the old place

I wanted a forum where words were cherished and sometimes woven into stories, prompting yet more words and more stories. If attached to this there could also be a generous helping of advice both on topic and off, respectful debate, camaraderie without offputting cliquishness, safety for oddballs and misfits like myself, and general good-natured mayhem, all the better.

As someone frequently accused, at least in these precincts, of being touched, I will refrain from speculating on where B&W fit on the spectrum between oddball and misfit. A certain correspondent here represented once upon a time plaintively asked: Is this normal? If nothing else we redefined normal.

[Arellcat]

I liked BardsandWarriors.  It's a name I'd not heard in a long time.