Author Topic: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series  (Read 71868 times)

the straggler

  • ACME Award Recipient & ROTY 2021
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #450 on: 05 December, 2020, 09:38:00 pm »
Be tempted to ride my tourer/commuter with wellies, on flat pedals, if I was actually riding tomorrow. I think the Straggler did that on the Burford Bumble 200 a few years ago in similar Biblical rain & floods.

I messaged Big Saxon that I was contemplating to sit this ride out during yesterday's evening commute home by car. I changed my decision soon after discovering Tomsk post above, and today's conditions were nowhere near as bad as my pessimism made out.

Cheers Tomsk, you must have some sort of Spiritual Guardian Angel powers.
CCS - Setting the Standards

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #451 on: 06 December, 2020, 09:40:42 am »
Well done to all those that turned out yesterday! The flooding didn't spoil the fun, or maybe added to the adventure. Unfortunately the lanterne rouge group was unvalidatable - arrived just in time around 18:00, but they'd missed out the Thaxted info control having got a bit lost. They seemed to have had a good day out though.

Soupy and I had a long vigil as expected, but just about warm enough with thermals, down jackets etc. Another time perhaps a brazier in the style of 1970s picketing might be appropriate. My second trip down to Greggs proved fruitless as they had already shut, but I arrived back at the Labour Hall to find Huggy there with a sample of his 'Substantial Meal' brew for us. Very much appreciated - top man!

Special ACME Audaciousness Award to Big Saxon for riding in one winter cycling shoe and a trainer, having brought two identical right shoes. I was also impressed that some riders flood avoidance routes landed them with more unexpected watery obstacles. The knee-deep flood under the old railway bridge at Takeley Street with the BMW stuck in it, notably.

Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #452 on: 06 December, 2020, 10:08:35 am »
Yesterday was a great day for the event. The day before was wet/snowing, the day after is 5 deg colder (-2.8 in Cambridge at 10am) and foggy so good weather organisation as well. How do you do that?

When I left Cambridge at 10 to 8 it was about 3 degrees and went up to 5 by the time I got to Witham. There was no sign of ice on the roads although there was still some snow on the fields and verges.  Was near to overheating on the ride out, possibly because I was late and had to give it max. The bike GPS thermometer ramped up to 12 degC whilst leaning against a wall in the sunshine at the start. The were a few floods on the ride out but nothing serious. The road out of Braintree was closed due to flooding but fine for cyclists at near 10am. The ride was good, good temperature, slight wind. The storm drain  after Terling was a little worrying but narrow so wasnt going to sweep the bike of the road. I took the flood free route into Takeley, not as nice as the original one past Hatfield forest, but  flood free so looking at other's reports I think I took the right decision - Thanks Tom (and Nick for the GPS).
The only time the weather had an effect was the ride back home. The temperature dropped to 0.8 approaching halfway and I was quite tired so max effort wasn't very max or warm but that just meant getting home was even better after a great day out. 

Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #453 on: 06 December, 2020, 08:27:32 pm »
Well done to all, especially to Big Saxon!
Bikes are for riding, not cleaning!

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #454 on: 11 December, 2020, 08:31:58 am »
Validation done, all paperwork processed, brevets in the post this morning. Though the entire validation process can now be done electronically, I still get a bit of a thrill putting a stamp on an envelope that's going to the Validation Secretary in Orkney.

Mid-Essex riders will get their brevets returned when I see them, so another bundle to go in the Carradice. Now on to sorting out 2021 events ...

GdS

  • I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #455 on: 12 December, 2020, 08:02:50 am »
We had ice here in Chelmsford when I got up at 06:30 - but given that was only 2 hours of sleep I didn't need too much persuasion to drop Tomsk a text saying I wasn't coming over. 

I opted for a ride in to the alpine section South of Chelmsford to avoid the most of the flooding, still had to wade a few sections of high up field run off.  River Chelmer is well onto the flood plains at the moment...   https://www.facebook.com/simon.d.wells/videos/10218748136637669

EEEK! I'm riding Papermill tomorrow on the 3Rs perm  :o
My ece went to paper mill lock at 8.30am this morning. The little Baddow side was flooded and at axle height. Once I got to the bridge the sight of the car submerged to. It's windows at the shallow end was enough to put me off wading in 3ft of water. Hammond Lane, from Boreham also flooded, and you can't see the winds in the road, so easy to fall in the ditch. Hoe Mill lock at Ulting has a walkway, but the raised 4x4 with snorkel that came from that way had a wet bonnet, so I reckon over 3ft so didn't bother looking for the walkway.
I diverted via Maldon, which added 10k.



Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the heads-up. In the end my EPE of the excellent RRR turned into a Little Essex R & R as my Garmin routed me the wrong way from Stock. I decided after 155k to JFDI at Papermill lock despite many cars turning back and one abandoned in the water at the N end. It was knee deep for about 50m

So just the Oyster for the badge  :)

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #456 on: 05 January, 2021, 09:06:16 am »
In case there was any doubt after latest C-19 Tier 5/Lockdown 3 announcement - the Knights Templar Compasses calendar event in February will not go ahead or later in 2021.
There is no Perm version of the route, feel free to cycle round it at your own leisure as a non-AUK ride when local travel restrictions allow.
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #457 on: 05 January, 2021, 09:50:51 am »
The Kelvedon Oyster will not be going ahead this month either.

It is available as a perm and can be ridden as such as soon as AUK events are being validated again.

Huggy, we need a ruling on the much coveted ACME Anvil Winter Brevet Series shiny.  You previously offered, I think, a 2 week window around the calendar ride dates but will you be making any changes now there are no calendar events ?  There is at least one rider on this thread who has saved the best for last and just needs the Oyster to complete his series and claim his shiny.
The pleasure of pain endured
To purify our misfit ways

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #458 on: 05 January, 2021, 10:07:12 am »
Huggy, we need a ruling on the much coveted ACME Anvil Winter Brevet Series shiny.  You previously offered, I think, a 2 week window around the calendar ride dates but will you be making any changes now there are no calendar events ?  There is at least one rider on this thread who has saved the best for last and just needs the Oyster to complete his series and claim his shiny.
I have been in direct electronic communication with said rider and made assurances that the shiny will be awarded on completion of the oyster-in-the-crown ride of the ACME Anvil Winter Series.

The award of the shiny was initially made more exclusive and coveted by the rule to ride all four routes in a rolling 2-year period, I think the rulz can now be relaxed to remove the within 2-year period requirement.
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #459 on: 05 January, 2021, 10:11:08 am »
Thank you wise one  :thumbsup:

The pleasure of pain endured
To purify our misfit ways

GdS

  • I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #460 on: 15 April, 2021, 09:43:36 am »
I finally earned my shiny yesterday with an EPE of the Kelvedon Oyster  :thumbsup: (the calendar event in January as well as RRR were cancelled but they have both been thoughtfully provided as perms)

I can happily not do the section from London to the M25 again (especially on a weekday with a late start in order to get a cheap train ticket), and foolishly routed back via Little Baddow after the perm that's 3 times now although I was spared wading through Papermill lock as in December. But otherwise a nice and varied route with Mersea Island and Heybridge Basin as the undisputed highlights. Thanks tedshred for arranging that amazing pink sunset. I crossed various other ACME routes but there was almost no duplication. The cyclepath section West of Colchester was very welcome at rush hour!

Do I get extra kudos for extending all 4 rides to 200? (although looking at my ECE inbox I'm probably not alone in that respect)




Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #461 on: 15 April, 2021, 10:04:38 am »
I finally earned my shiny yesterday with an EPE of the Kelvedon Oyster

Sounds like you had a rather good day. The weather appeared to be fine, albeit a bit more chilly than you might like for this time of year.

The award of the shiny was initially made more exclusive and coveted by the rule to ride all four routes in a rolling 2-year period, I think the rulz can now be relaxed to remove the within 2-year period requirement.

Will there be a new shiny for multiple completions of the quadruple? Maybe 5x?

Eddington: 133 miles    Max square: 43x43

GdS

  • I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #462 on: 15 April, 2021, 11:25:10 am »
I finally earned my shiny yesterday with an EPE of the Kelvedon Oyster

Sounds like you had a rather good day. The weather appeared to be fine, albeit a bit more chilly than you might like for this time of year.


It was more or less the same as Nederlandse Dubbele a NNE all the way from London Bridge to Pebmarsh then cross (cold) Easterly to Mersea finally being rewarded as a tailwind back to Ingatestone.

Even more impressive than Heybridge were the enormous sailing barges at Maldon never seen anything like them before!

GdS

  • I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass
Re: ACME Winter Brevet Populaire Series
« Reply #463 on: 23 April, 2021, 10:40:56 am »
Got my shiny thanks Huggy and all the other ACME for organising and making it happen  :thumbsup: