Well, all in all, it (almost) went better than expected (no, really).
During the week, I'd been noting the patch of cloud cover which had generally been sticking over the south east and keeping night time temperatures above freezing. However, when on Thursday morning due to a clear patch developing, it was very cold with thick ice on the cars, I was starting to get a bit concerned and was considering cancelling. Fortunately, all the Met sites seemed to agree that the cloud would return on Friday night, and that it would barely get down to freezing.
Setting off for London just before 10 pm, the cars were still clear, but by the time I got towards the centre of London, it was getting colder. As I was early, I wasted a bit of time by playing with the GPS and zig zagging down roads parallel to the A5. Regardless, I still got there for around 11.30, just after Stu, where it was freezing (literally). The other brave souls - Martin, Tim and Davy rolled up within 10 minutes. Davy seemed a bit "larger" than normal which it seemed was due to him wearing 5 layers of clothes. He was finished off head to toe in green day-glo outer layers, and the colour did remind me of something, but I didn't realise what it was until Pease Pottage.
As I assumed no-one else was going to turn up, we left at 11.52 pm - sorry if someone had actually turned up at the last minute. There was no need for a Dellzeqq parting of the seas operation to hold up the traffic, as we just merged into the melee and headed off south west. By the time we got to Clapham Common, it had got rapidly warmer, and you could have cycled without gloves. Following on the traditional Brighton FNRttC route, we made steady progress through Tooting towards Streatham, although we were keeping the pace slightly slower than a normal ride, as I didn't want us to get too far south early on, in case of freezing patches . It was noticeable that there was less night life around, and to everyone's surprise, we all spotted a
Waitrose in Balham High Street which we couldn't recall noticing there before.
And then, as mentioned above, someone decided Stu was a figment of his imagination and decided to turn left straight in front of him which happened so fast. The driver started to move away, but did turn round and come back to sheepishly apologise. I pointed out he couldn't have failed to see all five of us so why then turn across? Hopefully Stu's blood stained knuckle will have made a dent in his car.
I don't know what pheromones Stu was giving off to attract further attention, but further on in Wallington going up the hill after the railway station, some yoof decided to start sprinting after him to show how clever he was in being able to run as fast as a cyclist for a short while. Stu did the right thing and ignored him completely, and when I went past, the yoof was sprawled against a railing trying to breathe.
Out there in the sticks, it had got a bit colder, although it was clear it was well above freezing. On and on the miles past by, and as we steadily climbed, we ended up in low cloud/fog. At one point going through Coulsdon, a Land Rover went past making an incredible racket, and leaving a trail of sparks to light up the night, as he was driving on the rear off side wheel. There was an incedible stench of burning rubber, which fortunately disappeared after a while, as he must have turned off.
And then we were at the top of Reigate Hill................I made a comment suggesting that people take it easy and avoid the cat eyes, so we all girded our loins, and after letting the traditional Royal Mail lorry pass us by, we descended on the brakes (just in case). After discovering that we'd all survived, we headed off, and turned down Lonesome Lane. To greet us, not only was there the usual lunar landscape of potholes, but Surrey County Council had surpassed themselves in providing a delightful patchwork quilt of inadequate repairs including 2 holes which they'd kindly lined with tar, rather than filling the complete hole in, to soften the blow as we bounced and jangled around the obstacles, like trying to navigate around a minefield.
All too quickly we arrived in Horley, so we rapidly departed again, using my Gatwick Surprise to go past the
Monsoon Shelter on the A23, beloved of previous rides, and head off to go north around Gatwick and then route around the airport. Sadly, no planes were flying so there's no spotters commentary I'm afraid. And then we got back on the A23, and by this time Davy was struggling a bit so it took some time to get to Pease Pottage Services. We were there some time, because not only did we have something to eat, but Davy had to lose some layers, as he was getting rather hot (control yourself ladies). We probably didn't leave until 5.15 am, with Stu and I heading off first. When we reached the main road again and the others hadn't caught us after a few minutes, I realised something was wrong and we headed back, to find Davy fiddling with his pride and joy roughly in front of where the red vehicle appears in the middle of
this link, to the left of the long green border. Somehow he'd turned up that section thinking he could exit and due to the positioning of the overhead lights, hadn't noticed the kerb, so it appears his bike stopped and he went flying about 10 feet forward. Very luckily, he landed on his back which had his backpack, now padded with excess clothes. I instantly realised what I'd been reminded of at HPC and had this image of Davy as a Ninja Mutant Turtle, flat on his back (sorry).
Fortunately he hadn't hit anything vital on his body, but Tim spotted his front rim had buckled a bit, meaning one spoke was completely loose. As there was no way he could continue, he gingerly headed off the 2 miles to Crawley Railway Station. So that left the 4 of us, to finish the journey. Off we headed, through Horsham which was quiet but the roads were oddly damp. The next section is probably my favourite, dropping down through Coolham to West Chiltington. Fortunately Stream Lane mainly didn't live up to its name, as although there was a far amount of water around, it only briefly covered the road in about 2 places. It was now light as we still hadn't been rushing, and so we reached Amberley after 7.45 and saw the fields behind completely covered in water. It must have been at least +5 degrees, if not warmer.
After joining the B2139, we then had the long slog up the hill to the A29 roundabout, where I could give the happy news that after a short slope up, it was then a glorious 2 mile downhill and then flat to the coast. We got stopped at the level crossing at Ford (no warning fires were visible), then it was just 3 more miles to breakfast in the Lobster Cafe at Felpham to refuel and then head for the station.
Many thanks to Martin, Tim, Stu and Davy Walnuts for agreeing to come along and for their excellent company.
