New Year's Day ride from Upminster

[Wowbagger]

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://peter.chesspod.com/routes/eastanglia/nyd2017.gpx

I haven't organised a ride for ages and previous New Year's Day rides have been rather good, so here goes.

For a change we leave from Upminster as the Lpoo St - Southend Vic line is embuggered. I haven't checked on tea rooms, but there is a choice of 2: Blackmore, which is very nice if you like tea and cake, and a mile or two further on, there is the much more greasy-spoon style cafe at Norton Heath, if either of them chooses to open on NYD. For lunch there is a fine choice of pubs: the Duck, at Newney Green, is one we have used before. The Rose & Crown, in Writtle, does excellent fajitas, or the Viper in Mill Green. This last is very popular but a bit on the small side and tends to be busy. If you like a strong chilli con carne, this is the best pub in the world. Alternatively, there is a good choice in Ingatestone, including one run by the same lot that own the White Hart in Margaretting Tye.

I suggest a 10.00 kick-off, which should give us plenty of time to complete the 41 miles in daylight. Upminster is 23 minutes from Fenchurch Street on the C2C line, and is also the eastern extremity of the District Line. There is a large car park behind the station for those travelling by car.

[Canardly]

Suggest riders take along some edibles due to many pubs serving food being fully booked on NYD and cafes being closed.

[TimO]

I haven't organised a ride for ages and previous New Year's Day rides have been rather good, so here goes.

I haven't done a Wowbagger organised ride for ages, so I think maybe I should start the year with one.  I was just thinking how much I used to enjoy the WARTYs, and was having a wander around "Rides and Touring", before I spotted this ride.

I'll have to decide what the best way to get to the start is, but that's certainly not an overly burdensome problem.

Canardly does make a good point about food, although it's not likely to be exactly ideal picnic weather.

[Wowbagger]

We have never had a problem with a pub lunch on NYD before - just turned up and eaten. I think there were 8 of us on the NYD2013 ride and we went to the Duck in Newney Green. It might be tempting providence to go there again though, because that's where we were heading when Clarion told us that he and Butterfly were expecting a happy event!

If need be, I can always book somewhere, but that gives a certain imperative that we should be at the appointed place at something like the appointed time. I think that a tea room might well be a challenge though. I reckon, perhaps, that a 10am start ought to be getting us towards Ingatestone for 12.30ish. There are quite a few pubs there. An hour for lunch would give us 2h 30m to get back to Upminster before sunset. Should be heaps of time.

[TimO]

Currently, the Met Office has a greater than 90% probability of rain, at around 9am for the start of the ride, and from 12pm for the northernmost midpoint.  Weather Underground has rain from 6am to 9pm for London (LCY).

It's probably not going to be a torrential downpour, but likely more than light drizzle.  I'll have to stare at the forecast websites more carefully tomorrow, and see if the forecasts look any better by then.  If it stays close to what is currently predicted, I think I'd forego six hours of wet cycling.

[Wowbagger]

Currently, the Met Office has a greater than 90% probability of rain, at around 9am for the start of the ride, and from 12pm for the northernmost midpoint.  Weather Underground has rain from 6am to 9pm for London (LCY).

It's probably not going to be a torrential downpour, but likely more than light drizzle.  I'll have to stare at the forecast websites more carefully tomorrow, and see if the forecasts look any better by then.  If it stays close to what is currently predicted, I think I'd forego six hours of wet cycling.

Sounds eminently sensible, Tim. The lack of clamour for a NYD ride made me wonder whether it was worth doing.

[Canardly]

Does look a bit grim - another day perhaps?

[Jurek]

I would probably have been interested in (and could do with) getting outdoors had the forecast been for the crisp, sunny days we've enjoyed over the last few, here.
However, in view of the dreich on offer, my nez is unlikely to venture outdoors for this one.

If there's a dramatic change of forecast, I will reconsider...

[Wowbagger]

I have made the exec decision not to go out tomorrow. not only is the weather forecast crap, but my right wrist is embuggered with arthritis this morning. If the form book is a guide, it will be my left wrist tomorrow.

I would have suggested putting the ride off to Monday, which is a bank hol and which has quite a food forecast, but it could well be icy early on.

[TimO]

Yes, Monday's weather would have been more acceptable, although the forecast is for it to be around 1°C to 3°C for most of the day, which could easily be a little cooler with the consequent ice.  Of course, we've cycled in colder, and infamously had ice in our hair and beard (in Wowbagger's case).

My current cunning plan, it to try and get out at sunrise, and cycle up to the top or Reigate Hill, via Portnalls Road (in a FNRttC fashion!) before skirting along to the side of the M25 and come back home via Farthing Downs (in a reverse and more recent FNRttC fashion).  That'll give me 25 miles, hopefully before the weather gets too damp, and a bit of a steeper ride than the cycle across town to Upminster Station would have been !