Thanks for the encouragement, it really does mean a lot! I am worried more about affecting anyone else's night that anything else.
I never touched any drink yesterday at someone's leaving drinks because I wanted to be in the peak of health for today/tonight (me being a lightweight).
Seriously, if anyone wants to tell me to stay at home this time, I will not be offended. I don't want to be a PITA, I know it's frustrating to have to keep waiting for someone.
If you do a search on ACF (I have no access anymore) for a previous FNRTTC to Brighton (I think June 2006) you'll see the ride reports.
We had a group of "newbies" turn up in jeans, who hadn't ridden that distance before, expecting just be given a routesheet and sent on their way. I was tail end charlie (Try searching for SimonL3 saying "So I did the dirty on an old friend" or similar, that rings a bell).
You'll see that the most rewarding thing that Simon and myself had wasn't the ride, but that we counted 16 riders out from the start, and counted 16 riders in at the end. 16 riders that had great fun. Yes it took longer than the previous month, but we were still there in time for breakfast (and for me to cycle back to Southend in time for the family barbeque
)
The words were penned back in 2006, not in response to you just now
I'll see you at Hyde Park Corner, and in Southend.