Velosolo Club

[sam]

Heading out shortly. It was too hot to do any pedalling yesterday, and later today looks similar. Though I love night rides, I still prefer the sun to the moon (and an admittedly awesome headlight) on these many potholed roads.

I'm seriously considering the FNRttC at the end of the month, the Velosolo Club merging with the Fridays as in the old days. It would be my first such ride since 2019. The train up to London should be practically empty, and I could ride home from the top of Ditchling Beacon, Brighton being of little interest. Depends on weather and mood.

If I do go, I'll be volunteering as a wayfinder as often as possible: mitigation to excessive congregation. Standing by the side of the road with my arm out actually sounds like a fine way to spend the night, redolent of my hitchhiking era.

Anyway, time to suit up for the road now.

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Next stop: gaffer tape

Call in the reserves

Yeah, maybe time for a new pair.


on edit: I didn't make the ride. Don't remember why.

[Adam]

Heading out shortly. It was too hot to do any pedalling yesterday, and later today looks similar.

As I'm under doctor's orders to cycle every day, I went out before 8am today, so it wasn't too warm.  No cars or people around.  Bliss.

[sam]

Someone on the local FB group saw my question about this:

I worked for the owners of this building and they only bought it because they liked it, not for any particular reason.

So, no definitive answer yet (some protection against vermin makes the most sense), just a shared appreciation for architecture that's above it all.

As I'm under doctor's orders to cycle every day, I went out before 8am today, so it wasn't too warm.  No cars or people around.  Bliss.

My last GP and I used to spend half the appointment talking about cycling.


Thank god you're the same blood type

I like seeing some other cyclists about, all the better to race them up the hills if only to dilute my presence as The Village Cyclist.



Too many would probably have me seeking these blissful midnight hours exclusively.

[sam]

Speaking of blissful midnight hours.



Hit the road @ 2, back by around 4. It was perfect cycling weather: not a trace of wind, just the right temp. The only thing that kept it from absolute perfection was the moon mostly hiding.

Three badger night. And a fox or two.

I sat next to Rud for a bit. He's the biggest selfie magnet around.



Give us a story.

[sam]

I've been riding endless loops around VCHQ for 20 years now, and still not tired of it. Back in the noughties my regulars were a Ridgeback Genesis Day 02 and a Litespeed Blue Ridge


Bloo rij with many gears

though my Litespeed never looked like that: it started with straight bars with gripshifters, moved to downtube shifters, then finally went singlespeed, which I've never looked back from.

A Langster came along, then another bike which I forget the name of, and the Genesis became a hanger for spare parts. It made the trip to the tip a couple of years ago.

The Litespeed eventually cracked through no fault of its own (some idiot had decided to drill the downtube to install shifters), but it still gets out from time to time, even though it's retired.

[sam]

That last picture (click if you dare) reminds me Halloween is my favourite time of the year. I've always liked autumn, and have pleasant memories of trick-or-treating back home in small town Ohio. How wonderfully bizarre to have a night set aside to go to your neighbours in a mask and expect candy. Unfortunately it's been ruined, kids forced to make their rounds in daylight hours; I guess because motorists can't be bothered to be extra careful just one night a year.

Some people go all out for it, which is slightly disturbing, but that's the idea.



Here in Far East Sussex, VCHQ is at the bottom of a long drive which would be perfect to set with skeletons and live zombies, even if I have to raid petty cash to hire a few. Alas nobody ever comes this way except the mailman, food and Amazon delivery drivers, and lost souls.

[sam]

Of course I didn't ride with a skeleton arm hanging out of my saddlebag. That would be silly.


It folded neatly inside.


I don't know why I do the things I do. Nevertheless there's pleasure to be had in crossing them off my list.


The radius and ulna may have been a convenient size for the bag, but weren't long enough to prop open the grit box lid to make it look as if the arm was reaching out of it. Perhaps you begin to appreciate the sort of problems I have to deal with.


Mad Jack - are you home?


Looks like.


Excuse if anyone caught me doing this: "It's what Jack would've wanted."

[sam]

Is there a club jersey? you ask. That's an affirmative. Inspired by Nancy Mitford.


Take your pick. Though you don't really have a choice.

[sam]

"If you have a bell ring it!" some boys by the side of the road shouted as I rolled by this evening. "Ring ring" I regret not answering.

[sam]

Ah, monsoon season. The Langster, which spends too much of the year languishing in the garage, will be getting out more. Do I want to put mudguards on it again? Not really. But we'll see.



The snootier end of my small stable is kept proper indoors in the spare room, as if any of our rooms were spare. They only go out in wet weather when my forecast at the beginning of a ride proves wrong. This is to avoid dripping on the carpet, as they are carried through most of the house to get to their nest. And of course we all know how titanium is notoriously rust-prone.

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I leave cleaning bikes to the hired help. Note to self: must hire some help.



That's an old picture. I used to use a mirror! And a handlebar bag! My only reason for rotating it 180° is to see how many people tilt their head at least 45° then give up.

[sam]

Another bike that doesn't get out much these days. That's because it's exclusively my London ride. I was last there almost 3 years ago, and thanks to my desire to continue to evade the plague, give it a wide berth.


Fourth Plinth we'll meet again, don't know when

I know people get on fine with their Bromptons and other li'l wheeled bikes on country lanes, but my Dahon Presto Lite[sic] is a flighty filly, at its best racing through city traffic. Out here in Far East Sussex [also sic; there are points farther east] it just leaves me impatient to be on a proper road bike.

Our last outing together was in the train station parking lot to stretch its hinges. I've got another one pencilled in for eventually.

Btw, that bodge in the first picture worked, but didn't appeal for long.

[sam]

A club run before weathergeddon seemed like a grand idea. "Nature loves her little surprises," Joe Walsh was singing into my ears before I'd even left the driveway. Sure enough, within a few miles it was raining despite this being the sky directly above.


WTF Mr Blue Sky

I've found it makes no difference if you tell yourself it's not raining because it can't be raining: you still get wet. Shame you can't even trust wispy white clouds these days. Fortunately it realised how absurd it was being and stopped.

The lane was strewn with dogs walking their owners, which is the only way you can get most of them to exercise.

There was a diversion straight to hell.



It's true I was feeling a little warm, having overdressed. Hate getting that wrong.

The bike felt great. I'd recently changed the cog from 16T to 17T,


What's next, a motor?

obviously losing testosterone in the process, but I could live with that.

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Selfie of proof there's still some left.

At the top of the big hill that's only there to be climbed I could see trouble ahead: clouds that meant business. So I raced back home.



Actually that finger, a re-enactment, wasn't aimed at the weather gods. It was meant for the motorist that angrlly honked at me for having the temerity to be ahead of him. I don't normally let these things get to me, but exceptions can be made.


My new favourite search engine

[sam]

What's that, iPod Shuffle? You want to play this song now,



on my latest onanist velosolo ride?

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Actually it wasn't a totally solitary pleasure, as I met a few people along the way.

[sam]

Recording of a gentleman I met near Bateman's:



He was walking, I slowed down to chat then finally got off and pushed while we talked. We've run into each other several times, and I know he has significant memory issues. But he has this poem locked.

[chopstick]

Someone on the local FB group saw my question about this:

I worked for the owners of this building and they only bought it because they liked it, not for any particular reason.

So, no definitive answer yet (some protection against vermin makes the most sense), just a shared appreciation for architecture that's above it all.

Is or was the area prone to flooding?

[sam]

A good guess, but it's almost on top of a hill, so flooding shouldn't be a problem unless god gets mad again.

[chopstick]

Now I'm thinking along two lines - one that it's effectively a Dutch barn below a regular barn - half the footprint and fewer materials required (but where's the floor?), the other being that to drive piles was easier than laying foundations and levelling the site - but if so, why build it so high?  So neither of those thoughts really come to anything   

[sam]

Gotta love architecture that makes you think!

Today's ride report available exclusively at VCHQ:


Peep show

[sam]

Stop-and-go traffic on my ride a few hours ago.



Mihai and Fyzel, also on the night shift.





Connor:



That's right, I got a free pint just for stopping to chat.

[sam]

I hadn't the heart to tell the milkman in the previous post that I don't drink the stuff, and my wife only does if the lactose has been set free.

The next day I went to my nearest neighbour and asked "Do you drink milk?", explaining the circumstances by which I had come to acquire it. As he accepted the pint, he asked "Do you eat eggs?" He then rewarded me with a half dozen.

Thanks for the eggs, milkman.

[Wowbagger]

Are you the Egg Man?

[sam]

Are you the Egg Man?

Yes, but first I was the chicken.

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I have arachnophobia: the blind, unreasoning terror of such as this:


click to go wide and silhouettey

[sam]

A little off my usual loop, still available: St. Mugg's old gaff.



Prompted me to visit his earthly remains.





• Life of Brian debate (if you can call it that)
• Malcolm Muggeridge’s journey
• A Contrarian Remembered
• Famine in Ukraine
• Handsy

[sam]

Don't look into the light!



Lil' pothole that jarred me out of a reverie the other day.

[sam]

I may not have the organisational genius of Simon Legg,† but by all accounts I can put together a memorable fictional‡ ride:

Sunday Day Ride to the City

* There being more rides behind me than ahead of me at this point (or at best, an equal number), I feel entirely comfortable plundering them
†Unauthorised biography
‡ Spoiler alert