Author Topic: Mid-Essex Mid-Week Nocturnal Series  (Read 1718202 times)

Oaky

  • ACME Fire Safety Officer
  • Audax Club Mid-Essex
    • MEMWNS Map
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #300 on: 21 October, 2009, 02:39:19 pm »
I am still thinking about coming tonight. How rough is the Flitch Trail? I get pretty muddy down at ground level on my trike...

It's basically hard-packed fine gravel, very similar to the cycle path section of your Suffolk Soujourn route round Sudbury.  You should be fine.
You are in a maze of twisty flat droves, all alike.

85.4 miles from Marsh Gibbon

Audax Club Mid-Essex Fire Safety Officer
http://acme.bike

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #301 on: 21 October, 2009, 02:41:20 pm »
My attendance is looking less and less likely, what with all this weather an' all.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #302 on: 21 October, 2009, 02:45:04 pm »
My attendance is looking less and less likely, what with all this weather an' all.

It's sunny up this end  ;)

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #303 on: 21 October, 2009, 03:47:42 pm »
I have a new Personal Transferable Skill, that of resetting our boiler.

Hopefully I shall warm up shortly and then perhaps put the trike in the car ready for a voyage to Rayne.

I hope no-one minds if I appear Altura Night Vision from head to foot. One gets a very wet lap on a recumbent in the rain.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Oaky

  • ACME Fire Safety Officer
  • Audax Club Mid-Essex
    • MEMWNS Map
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #304 on: 21 October, 2009, 03:51:13 pm »
[...]
I hope no-one minds if I appear Altura Night Vision from head to foot. One gets a very wet lap on a recumbent in the rain.

When you've cycling alongside someone dressed as a traffic cone, "Night Vision from head to foot" will look staid and formal by comparison.
You are in a maze of twisty flat droves, all alike.

85.4 miles from Marsh Gibbon

Audax Club Mid-Essex Fire Safety Officer
http://acme.bike

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #305 on: 21 October, 2009, 03:51:59 pm »

I hope no-one minds if I appear Altura Night Vision from head to foot. One gets a very wet lap on a recumbent in the rain.

Oooooooo kinky!  I shall be wearing my little rubber booties and waterproof apron (Rain Legs).  I wonder if Dunmow is prepared for what is about to hit them this evening!

I wasn't going to wear my traffic cone outfit as my waterproof top is reflective enough.  However, I might re-consider if we're going to play "Who can be the most reflective"  ;D

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #306 on: 21 October, 2009, 04:07:15 pm »
Ah, but my trike has the Reflective Skirt of course. I bet your bike doesn't have a skirt!
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #307 on: 21 October, 2009, 04:08:00 pm »
[...]
I hope no-one minds if I appear Altura Night Vision from head to foot. One gets a very wet lap on a recumbent in the rain.

When you've cycling alongside someone dressed as a traffic cone, "Night Vision from head to foot" will look staid and formal by comparison.

At least I won't be riding a girl's bike  :P

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #308 on: 21 October, 2009, 04:08:57 pm »
Ah, but my trike has the Reflective Skirt of course. I bet your bike doesn't have a skirt!

I'm working on it!

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #309 on: 21 October, 2009, 04:10:37 pm »
[...]
I hope no-one minds if I appear Altura Night Vision from head to foot. One gets a very wet lap on a recumbent in the rain.

When you've cycling alongside someone dressed as a traffic cone, "Night Vision from head to foot" will look staid and formal by comparison.

At least I won't be riding a girl's bike  :P
That's a dangerous angle to take, that is, as the lovely Uncle James has gone one of them trike thingies too... And he's a manly chap ;)
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #310 on: 21 October, 2009, 04:20:15 pm »
I was referring to Mr O who will be astride Mrs O's machine.  I do hope he has asked her nicely!

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #311 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:00:49 pm »
OK, next question. M_O and O_D, are you coming up the Flitch Trail from Braintree direction? I'm wondering if I'm early, perhaps I should make my way towards you all to keep from just sitting around in the rain.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #312 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:06:22 pm »
OK, next question. M_O and O_D, are you coming up the Flitch Trail from Braintree direction? I'm wondering if I'm early, perhaps I should make my way towards you all to keep from just sitting around in the rain.

Yes we shall but we won't have got onto the FW at Braintree.  We will be entering via Fairy Hall Lane which isn't far from Rayne.  The exit from FW onto Fairyhall Lane is hard to spot, basically it is a gap in a hedge.  I think you'll be better off waiting at Rayne as we could easily miss each other even if you're head-to-toe Night Vision and I'm dressed as a traffic cone.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #313 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:10:28 pm »
I was referring to Mr O who will be astride Mrs O's machine.  I do hope he has asked her nicely!

Heads for NSFW. :D
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #314 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:21:02 pm »
I was referring to Mr O who will be astride Mrs O's machine.  I do hope he has asked her nicely!

Heads for NSFW. :D

I'm amazed it's taken so long!

By the way, it's still sunny up here  ;D

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #315 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:27:02 pm »
I was referring to Mr O who will be astride Mrs O's machine.  I do hope he has asked her nicely!

Heads for NSFW. :D

I'm amazed it's taken so long!

By the way, it's still sunny up here  ;D

Rearrange this well known phrase or saying:

GIT LYING. :P
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #316 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:30:18 pm »
Honestly, it's well sunny here.  Just nipped out and photographed The Current Mrs R sunbathing on the decking ...


Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #317 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:33:27 pm »
Honestly, it's well sunny here.  Just nipped out and photographed The Current Mrs R sunbathing on the decking ...




Bottom right, dear boy....  ;)
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #318 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:35:05 pm »
 ;D

A mere detail!

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #319 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:35:55 pm »
OK, I'll see you at Rayne. I'll be the lady on the recumbent trike with a searchlight attached to her cycle helmet (new bit of rubber-band bodging to make a mount for the Tesco Cree).
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #320 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:36:54 pm »
OK, I'll see you at Rayne. I'll be the lady on the recumbent trike with a searchlight attached to her cycle helmet (new bit of rubber-band bodging to make a mount for the Tesco Cree).


Are you sure you shouldn't carry something to identify yourself?  A copy of the Guardian or a red rose pinned to your lapel...   


;D
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #321 on: 21 October, 2009, 05:56:35 pm »
Slight change of plan for me as I'm working later than expected. I'll meet whoever at the S&C on my way home from work, but I won't be doubling back to Rayne and onwards down the FW after that I'm afraid, got too much to do - walls to build*.

*Have any of you seen the Ollie Reed documentary where he's got this massive country house and some builders round, but he keeps taking the builders down the pub so nothing gets done, then later in a sober interlude he berates the builders for not getting anything done? He says to them something like - come on, we've got fucking walls to build! I think it's a perfect catch-all phrase for when you've got stuff to do. ;D

Oaky

  • ACME Fire Safety Officer
  • Audax Club Mid-Essex
    • MEMWNS Map
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #322 on: 22 October, 2009, 02:08:03 am »
Well,  I got back about  an hour ago, and I still have a big beaming grin over my face.

That was so much fun --- alternately blasting and pootling along the Flitch way in the dead of night, in the rain (albeit a bit light for OD who'd worn his rain-kilt and rubber fetish wear especially).

But, I get ahead of myself... as I already mentioned upthread, I was without my first choice bike for this trip.

It seems that some unearthly power was trying to prevent me from taking part tonight: when I started wheeling mrs_o's bike out of the garage, sometime after 5:30, I noticed the rear brake rubbing badly.  A quick check of the wheel revealed it to be just as out of true as mine had been earlier.    ??? >:(

Fearing some attack of the dreaded rim-rot spreading through the stable, I quickly checked the condition of the hoop and gladly, it was fine.  What wasn't fine however was the broken spoke :(.

I considered taking the road bike, but decided in the end to try and fix mrs_o's bike in time to take that.

Luckily I still had chief's bench vise borrowed from the last time I had to remove the freewheel on mrs_o's bike, and i had as many donor spokes as I could ask for on my recently deceased rear wheel (once I got the cassette off there), and so in the nick of time (I was just finishing up truing the wheel and putting the tyre back on at about 10 past 6) I was able to get changed, pack some essentials into a pannier and head off to OD's place, probably about 5 mins late.

We rushed off to the S&C, arriving back on the nominal schedule at 1900, and installed ourselves in the bar with a pint of stoker's to wait for Tokamak.  Unfortunately the "doughnut" was in the wrong Compasses (although he did meet chief there, who gallantly had a pint to keep him company ;)).

We made it to Rayne via Great Notley country park, just a few minutes late, and met up with Auntie Helen, Tomsk and chief.

A couple of annoying "motorbike barriers" later and we were off down the Flitch Way.

For those that don't know it, the Flitch Way is a former railway line, converted to a cycle path, of the sustrans hard-packed fine ravel type.  From Rayne to Dunmow, by and large the FW is slightly downhill, so the outbound leg included large stretches of hooning along at 16/17 mph, ostensibly off-road, with trees either side, suicide bunnies darting across and light rain falling in the glare of our LEDs.  I had the biggest grin imaginable during this bit.

We negotiated the plank (although the concrete footbridge before it was more of an obstacle, requiring all our powers of innuendo and smuttiness to get across "It's OK - I've got hold of your rack"), left the Flitch Way and started the on-road uphill drag to Dunmow.  OD took u on some secret sustrans route through some folks' ack gardens, and we arrived at the curry house.

chief hopped inside and got a nice chap fro the restaurant to open the back gate so we could park inside, and we headed in to get to dinner.

The food was superb.  The Doom Bar with which I washed it down was also excellent.

Tomsk, being near home, peeled off here, and the rest of us made our way back to the FW.  The ride back was equally fun, if a little slower since slightly uphill.

A really, really enjoyable night's riding.  The bizarreness of being (nominally, but at times not so nominally) off-road, in such quiet surroundings, in the dark, riding for such a long distance in a perfectly straight line was both incredibly fun and slightly surreal.

stats:- 39.75 miles at 11.3 mph
You are in a maze of twisty flat droves, all alike.

85.4 miles from Marsh Gibbon

Audax Club Mid-Essex Fire Safety Officer
http://acme.bike

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #323 on: 22 October, 2009, 08:54:42 am »
You're right, that was great fun!

The lack of rain was a disappointment, it had lobbed it down all day and I like riding in the rain; then the sun comes out (told you so Wow!).  However, on the return journey the wind picked up and the window panes are still getting rattled this morning - must be the cheesy peas.

It was great to meet chief and Tomsk for the first time and Jordon (aka Katie Price) too!  It's truly amazing who you bump into on the Flitch Way.

I have just checked the diary and it looks like I shall miss the trip to the Blue Boar in Maldon as I shall be in Leeds  >:(  Therefore I won't have the opportunity to fondle Jordon's Auntie Helen's rack as we help get her trike over various obstacles on the Blackwater Rail Trail.  Damn shame.

37.48 miles for me at an average of 11.6mph.  But more importantly a thoroughly good time - thanks all  :thumbsup:

PS - just noticed I was faster than Mr O.  That's never happened before!

Re: Mid-Essex Mid Week Nocturnal Series
« Reply #324 on: 22 October, 2009, 10:09:21 am »
We rushed off to the S&C, arriving back on the nominal schedule at 1900, and installed ourselves in the bar with a pint of stoker's to wait for Tokamak.  Unfortunately the "doughnut" was in the wrong Compasses (although he did meet chief there, who gallantly had a pint to keep him company ;)).

Ahem, yes, well... you see all week I'd been thinking of the Compasses in Littley Green and just had in my head that is was on your chosen route to Rayne, obviously I didn't bother to actually read the thread too thoroughly or anything like that! Anyway, they had Maldon Gold on tap - so I had two, and a home-pickled egg, pickled with mustard seeds, delicious! It was already dawning on me that I might have got the wrong pub before Chief arrived, he confirmed by doubts, had a quick pint himself and then took off for Rayne.

Glad you all had fun, maybe I'll make it for next week?!