My ride report:
Left on time from Oxford station with a few FNRttS newbies: dibdib, Vicky (one of FF's Abingdon cycllists, although not a NOB as far as I know) and marcusjb, resplendent in orange. The others were old hands at this.
Oxford was quiet as it isn't term time, although we did see a meat wagon and a load of broken glass outside Magdalen College. Wheatley was deserted, disappoiintingly. We stopped to look at the stars near Ickford but there was too much cloud to make it spectacular. Then FF had a visitation and fixed it with a glitter-encrusted inner tube. I don't know what than man gets up to at home. Unlike last time, the water meadows hadn't flooded but we did pick up a surprisingly annoying headwind at Thame. Chinnor Hill did what Chinnor Hill always does. Marcus and Vicky skipped up it (in relative terms; Richard Virenque in full drug-fuelled form wouldn't skip up Chinnor Hill) and I dragged the creaking, protesting Brompton to the summit in its not-very-winch like 52" bottom gear. Then I had a nice lie down in the road and nearly went to sleep while the others caught up.
Coming off the ridge towards Saunderton station, I was treated to the spectacle of one of FF's rear lights detaching itself at 40mph and bouncing towards me in several pieces, some still illuminated. This was really cool, like a sort of red Perseid meteor shower. No-one could be arsed to go back and find the bits.
Smalldean Lane was atrocious, with huge patches of glittery gravel (to match FF's inner tube). Marcus and Kim rode up, the rest of us walked. Then it was downhill all the way to Tesco, although that bit of the A40 seems to go on for ever. The nightclub in High Wycombe was closed at 3am but there was still a bit of drunken shouting from under the flyover.
We ate Tesco shelf fare in the closed cafe and watched all the night shelf-stackers smoking on the other side of the window. It seems to be compulsory to smoke if you work there. Then we had the pretty rolling bits to Ruislip, which were dark until Chalfont St Peter (it was light at High Wycombe on June's ride, because we were running so late). Gravelly stuff but not too dangerous.
At the Harefield bus shelter, 5am, a young chap (very refreshed) appeared and started looking at the bikes. I'll let Kim describe this in more detail, since she and the Streetmachine were a source of endless fascination.
London was quite quiet and we found a suitabler RLJer to scalp on the Uxbridge Road. Then he either broke his bike trying to keep up, or pulled the old "fake mechanical" trick to get out of the game.
Met Andrij at Paolo's and ate greasy stuff. Andrij's American breakfast (with maple syrup pancakes) looked quite good. Then we went our separate ways, four of us surviving Holland Park roundabout and endless RLJers to get to Paddington.
Thanks to everyone for coming. Dibdib suffered more than anyone has suffered before on a bike ride* - just remember that Feline walked every single hill in 2010 and then completed PBP the next summer
*except all of us who were on the sub-zero March 2009 ride, with sleet and snow
