Yet Another Random Tandem (and Triplet and Solo) Ride - Sun 19th Oct

[agagisgroovy]

Cakes!?

I'll see you all tomorrow then.

How did I know you'd say that?   

[Wowbagger]

Proposed route -

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/YACF-Random-Ttandem-2008

Clockwise!


Edit: Is everyone happy with Sunday 19th October, otherwise we could do Saturday 18th, but I wont be able to do the Colours of Clumber Audax.

I've tried downloading this route but it's being truncated when it transfers across to the GPS. Anyone else having this problem?

Also, it's in the form of a "track" rather than a route. How do I get the GPS (Vista HCX) to follow a track?

[Julian]

Yes, Charlotte's having exactly the same problem.  She thinks it's because the GPS will only record 500 waypoints, and the route is 635. 

This is in the same realms of science as splitting the atom as far as I'm concerned but if anyone has a magic solution do let us know. 

[chris]

Proposed route -

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/YACF-Random-Ttandem-2008

Clockwise!


Edit: Is everyone happy with Sunday 19th October, otherwise we could do Saturday 18th, but I wont be able to do the Colours of Clumber Audax.

I've tried downloading this route but it's being truncated when it transfers across to the GPS. Anyone else having this problem?

Also, it's in the form of a "track" rather than a route. How do I get the GPS (Vista HCX) to follow a track?

Yes, Charlotte's having exactly the same problem.  She thinks it's because the GPS will only record 500 waypoints, and the route is 635. 

This is in the same realms of science as splitting the atom as far as I'm concerned but if anyone has a magic solution do let us know. 

Don't worry, I used to work for Ordnance Survey R&D, followed by 10 years writing software for GPS units, and I have a solution to this problem. A piece of paper with some lines on it, aka a map!

[chris]

Note - the route on Bikely shows us starting from the station, but following Wow and PBs research into Sundays trains, we decided to meet in Long Buckby village.

[Charlotte]

Whereabouts exactly in Long Buckby village, Chris?

[Polar Bear]

I have checked again.  Definitely no trains tomorrow     Very disappointing because there have been trains today.

Map reference for Long Buckby village market square car park is SP 628 676

[chris]

Whereabouts exactly in Long Buckby village, Chris?

It's not a very big village, so it shouldn't be too hard to find each other. I suggest we park up then meet at the village centre where all the roads meet.

[Butterfly]

What time are you leaving Charlotte?

[Charlotte]

We're going to leave Harrow (where the Planetslayer lives) at 8am.  Arrive for 10.

[clarion]

We've put the tandem in the car and the jelly beans in the saddle bag.  Still feeling a bit dodgy, but wanting to go...

We're planning to leave at 0730.  Eddie's* Shipboard Computer, Holly**, reckons two hours, but part of that is thru that there london village




* My car
** OK, so I've mixed up my comedy SciFi here, but who's counting?

[chris]

Don't forget the 40 mph bit past the road works on the M1. Two hours should be fine if its not too busy.

[Polar Bear]

Oooo.  Nobody else back yet. 

Firstly and most importantly:  Great big thanks to Chris, Marion and Katie for organising, baking and carrying.   Great day, lovely company.   Thank you.

We met up with the peloton in Yelvertoft some time after 11.   It was striking to note that Charlotte was keen to see what if anything I'd done to Daisy  and Liz took a photo so they could scrutinize it in detail later no doubt 

Really nice to be able to put some faces to names and pootle along with them too.   Buddha's tearoom was fairly basic but great except for the poor Wows who obviously chose the wrong option and had to wait rather longer than anybody else for food.   Clarion had a sleep in the corner, Butterfly was rather gorgeously well-dressed  (My stoker would like to know where you get your Odlo kit from please?), Mrs Wow apparently kept her knickers on and plenty of cake was consumed.

The real treat came though at the proper cake stop in Cottesbrooke.   Marion (Mrs Chris) had made the most wonderful cakes which Katie (Yellow-ceitidh) had seekritly luggged around in her panniers.  If we'd known earlier maybe we'd have committed highway robbery!   Definitely worth the wait for.

We peeled off back for Rugby after that at 4 and got back around 5:30 in fading light. 

It was a great ride with wonderful people.  Hope to get along on another one soon.   

 

 

[agagisgroovy]

So no food poisoning from the chocolate brownies yet??? 

It was a pretty good ride - having tandems slows you all down so I can keep up! 

I've got to go to bed now, and be up at half midnight! 
I'll write more when I get back.

[Polar Bear]

Enjoy your trip 

[Wowbagger]

And don't mention the War.

A very good ride in good weather - not sunny, but not cold, and with a "sporting" wind. Our day began badly when the car failed to start (being environmentally aware drains your battery) and we had to call out the Britannia Rescue. A man with a "jump pack" (a briefcase-sized pack of electricity) and started us up, so we were delayed only by half an hour or so. The 110 miles to Long Buckby took us a bit less than 2 hours and the rest had kindly waited.

Northamptonshire is hilly. It's higher than Essex, and the bit we were in was reminiscent of the NW of Essex, in Mike country. Mrs. Wow and I were struggling for a lot of the day, but still everyone waited. At one point I could see a buzzard to the left, a sparrowhawk overhead and a kestrel to the right. Comparative raptor spotting.

The roads were mostly narrow, fairly rough and generally not horizontal. I think we exceeded 40 mph at one point. We arrived back to Long Buckby to discover that some kind soul had scraped the side of our car, which was a bit of a pain, so we went with C, L & TG for an excellent curry. When we emerged, there was a note under the windscreen from a public-spirited citizen who had witnessed someone drive into the tandem on the back of our parked car and then drive off. I have a phone number of the witness.

It looked as though the perpetrator had bashed the back of the tandem as it had moved to the left in the bike rack. I couldn't see any damage and the wheel seemed to revolve OK, but I'll give it a thorough inspection tomorrow and contact the witness for details of the offending vehicle.

[Julian]

We're back, having dropped the Planet Slayer off at its normal residence and exchanged it for two panniers full of apples. 

That was a really lovely day out - 40 miles which was about the right length, with some gorgeous scenery and fabulous company.  I'll put the pictures up tomorrow, but before that, special thanks to the assorted chrisses for the route, the cake, letting us borrow the triplet and letting us borrow the smallest stoker. 

The curry in Long Buckby is far better than the curry at the Posh Punjab. 

Ceitidh, hope you have fun in Germany, and we'll probably see you all next week for the Red Kites ride. 

[clarion]

What a great day!  I dragged myself out of bed, and struggled all the way around, but it was a lovely ride in great company in a wonderful landscape through pretty villages, even if I felt shit and cursed every gust of wind and every rise in the road

Sorry if I wasn't brilliant company.

We have some passable photos, which I shall post in the Gallery.

[Martin109]

I also thought it was a great day.  I was on fixed, and it was interesting to see how I got on with a bunch of (mostly) tandems.  The other solo rider, yellow-ceitidh, was weighed down with cake, although we didn't know it at the time.  The differences in progress of the tandems vs the fixed gears seemed to cancel themselves out over time and distance, so it all went quite well.

Great to meet new faces in the form of Polarbear and his stoker, and teethgrinder, who greatly inpressed me with his choice of gear.

Many thanks to Chris, Marion and the children for amazingly good-natured organisation and making us feel very welcome.

[clarion]

My picture linky

btw, Teethgrinder told me he had an 88" gear, so as to keep up with the tandems downhill, but uphill, there were times when I am astonished that he could keep it turning at all!

[teethgrinder]

88" was a bit big, but I was too lazy to turn my wheel around for the 80" gear. I knew we weren't doing any proper hills and thought I'd just leave it as it was and slipstream the tandems down hills. It was a bit on the big side for me now though. Not as strong as I was at the moment. Need some miles in my legs. But I never struggled up any hills. I was taking it easy and concentrating more on not dropping everyone.

I'm glad I came. I know that I'd have most likely not gone out if I never did this ride. It was a good ride too.
The triplet was really good to follow down hills. But we never got any real speed. I doubt that we got much over 40mph, if we even did.
Good route though. But not as good as the cake or the company. I think that Yellow Ceitidh probably had a few extra boxes of cake in her panniers that she wasn't sharing with anyone. Her panniers were bigger than she is! And whilw were talking about luggage. Charlottes bar bag
OK, I did have my big red panniers on, but one was empty and the contents of the other would only fill a saddlebag.
The curry was good too. A good way to finish the day off. Then a quick dash down the A5 to bed.

[clarion]

I think you're right about the speed - we hit 38.5mph.  I wasn't feeling well enough to go any faster and my stoker may have begun to object anyway.  I would hazard a guess that CharlottenLiz went rather faster though...

[chris]

The triplet was really good to follow down hills. But we never got any real speed. I doubt that we got much over 40mph, if we even did.

We hit 40 two or three times, but I think you were only behind us once when we did. The route wasn't quite hilly enough for us to go much faster, and we kept getting stuck behind a black Santana tandem that was going slow down the hills (perhaps that big disc brake was binding ). We also had a headwind after lunch and that slowed us going down the big hill after Creaton which I know from experience is good for 50+!

Her panniers were bigger than she is!

When Lewis was about two years old I rode across a camp site with him in one of them!

And while were talking about luggage. Charlottes bar bag

Isn't that the bag that the tandem packs into when the S&S couplings are undone?

[Wowbagger]

Our top speed was 40.15 mph. Our average was 9.1.