Author Topic: Essex R&R  (Read 8600 times)

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #25 on: 09 August, 2019, 01:32:05 pm »
A fine day out in Essex, riding time 5 hours so The Straggler and me could enjoy the longer stops, got caught up with the 200s at Abberton so a lengthy queue, but good to meet the ACME faces before Paris, good luck to one and all. I believe Team MK will have three entrants at PBP, it will have to remain unfinished business for me.

Unlikely that anyone will be at Mildenhall after PBP, so it looks like the next Essex outing from Henham on 31st when I get to hear the stories. Would be nice to complete the whole ACME set next season, something to aim for.

Usual ACME hospitality before and after, no need for a route sheet and Raymond and me did not go off route once, that must be a first.     

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #26 on: 27 August, 2023, 11:56:15 am »
The hall start/finish TLC Essex R&R 215km and A Little Essex R&R 107km events have a new home month this year having relocated to September (Saturday 16th), maybe a perfect leg reawakener after your epic PBP adventure or simply a relaxed tour around the early autumn Essex countryside.
More details in the linked AUK event pages. The ACME team will be pleased to welcome you to Witham  :)
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #27 on: 27 August, 2023, 12:47:28 pm »
i'll be riding the little R&R once more, most probably with little wheels this time

Eddington: 133 miles    Max square: 43x43

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #28 on: 27 August, 2023, 01:00:26 pm »
Ill try for the Little event, but quite a lot going on at present.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #29 on: 27 August, 2023, 01:03:30 pm »
I shall be on hollibobs in Iceland, otherwise would definitely have been out there
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #30 on: 27 August, 2023, 03:36:20 pm »
The rider formerly known as Big Saxon will be riding the mountains of Italy that week, following a diet of Latte, gelato, pasta and panettone

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #31 on: 27 August, 2023, 05:45:27 pm »
Entered the 200  :thumbsup:
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #32 on: 28 August, 2023, 07:57:05 am »
This will complete an Essex SR Series for me  :thumbsup: Looking fwd to it

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #33 on: 30 August, 2023, 07:41:31 pm »
Are any of the ACME Herts branch riding the 100km (with a view to lift sharing)?

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #34 on: 02 September, 2023, 09:38:11 pm »
Just booked my place on the 200.

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #35 on: 02 September, 2023, 09:41:23 pm »
Route check of the 215km ridden today, I can confirm the roads are all still there even if some of them are a little worse for wear. Apologies in advance if I used up all the good weather!
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #36 on: 07 September, 2023, 05:28:26 pm »
Entered the 100. My first event in 10 years. Should be interesting 🤔

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #37 on: 11 September, 2023, 04:56:55 pm »
Entered the 200 - looking forward to it.

I love the Thames Estuary as an avid (re)reader of "Riddle of the Sands", "Magic of the Swatchways" and from Maldon in particular the wonderful estuary sailing of Shoal Waters http://shoal-waters.uk/home-page/about-myself/

huggy

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    • ACME
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #38 on: 14 September, 2023, 08:46:10 am »
Lots of entries no doubt buoyed by the prospect of good weather!
If anyone would like to lend a hand in the hall at check-in any time between 07:00 and 09:00 or between 13:00 and 23:00 you'll be welcome, duties will include refilling of tea & coffee pots and squash jugs, shovelling pizzas in & out of the oven, check-in desk relief and general chat.
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #39 on: 16 September, 2023, 07:20:11 am »
Hope the event goes well and everyone has a great ride.  I am a DNS as I have been feeling below par for a couple of days and don’t feel like sharing the grot around.

GdS

  • I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #40 on: 16 September, 2023, 07:49:06 am »
Hope no wading through Papermill like I had to when I did it as a perm in Dec 2020!

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #41 on: 17 September, 2023, 09:20:17 pm »
Warning: Long...



7 fixed bikes - 7!!! Out of a field of 40 finishers. That’s nearly 20% - I hereby propose a motion to rename this ride the fixed gear memorial, on account of its popularity.

The visual feast started early - driving through the morning sunrise. The sky was a muddled mix of mist and cirrus clouds painted vivid orange and red by the morning sun. Some soft aquamarine smudges of clear sky created a Turner painting amongst the concrete jungle of Brent Cross. Even tired Uber drivers slowed down and beamed at the beauty.

Essex is a very pretty rural county, full of interest to the cyclist. The countryside rolls over benign elevations. It was a joy to ride on fixed. For once, downhill was a simple matter of letting the bike go, and the legs spin.

I paid no attention to the thought of reservoirs as we have loads of them in London - but Essex reservoirs are something else. Rather than the constant thrum of Heathrow traffic - you can soak in the sounds of birds and reeds. Some sounds were rare enough to make the resident twitchers rise urgently from slumber, point binoculars and hands at invisible smudges in the distance, or along the sky line. And twitter urgently to each other in Latin. Or so it seemed.

Estuary Essex is peppered with lone buildings on high points. Behind is the vast sky of low country. The sea air is light and full of contrast. So the colours vibrate with vigour and yet they present scenes of stark contemplation. This is the stuff of Edward Hopper paintings, which surprised me in the land of Constable.

The roads into the river towns were busy on a sunny day - but they are magic places to visit. As a keen reader of estuary sailing authors, I reposed to the quaysides and took in the sounds, and smells of the Estuary. Little boats sat quietly in the channels and I played the ancient game of finding where land turns to sea and then to sky and back again. In the soft, misty light, it's hard to tell one smudge from another.

Riding uphill from Tillingham, the road opens and looks dramatically down on the Blackwater. This was another, "Oh, Wow", view. The Blackwater twinkling in the bright sun and the triangles of sailing boats moving slowly along it. Like colourful petals in a pond.

Into Maldon I was unexpectedly greeted by the banners and bonhomie of a festival. The quayside was filled with Thames Barges carrying their bunting and signal flags aloft. As I took the worlds worst picture of my bike, a couple riding bikes stopped to ask about the bike. We had a lovely chin wag, and it turns out they also ride fixed at times.

I was growing accustomed to bumping into the fixed riders at controls, but then a perfectly ordinary fellow, in his 70's, entering a shop said, "Nice bike. What gear inches?" - this is the secret handshake of our order. Essex is clearly the spiritual home of fixed gear enthusiasts.

On logistical matters - this was my first ride using e-brevet. I prefer riding slower, and lingering in places of interest. With e-brevet I can just keep trundling through smaller controls which gives me even more time to linger. It's ace.

I really enjoyed my day awheel in Essex. I had no idea it would be such a visual feast.

Thanks to the organiser and the merry band of ACME riders. It is a brilliantly run event, on a good route, with cossetting arrivee.

Hello to the riders that came and went - I saw LWaB OTP 3 times powering up hills like his trike was filled with helium. Some fella that had done 9 PBP's also leaving me for dead when I must have two decades youth on him! A bloke on a unique sjs cycles fixed bike that was about similar pace - redshift stem is the thing I recommended to reduce road buzz. Felsted at the Abberton control and many others. It was a tad hot at times, but much cooler than last week. A tiny hint of rain near the end but never a wet road. I didn't stop at the compasses, but I probably should have. The happy, raucous din from the garden was probably 50% audax riders enjoying their well earned cool pints.

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #42 on: 18 September, 2023, 01:50:43 pm »
Great writeup Trundle, you have very nicely captured the atmosphere of the area and the towns that the ride went through. That was me on the sjs cycles fixed bike, I found the route absolutely perfect for fixed, nicely rolling, just enough hills, and nothing too steep, and such quiet roads in-between the towns. And perfect riding weather, dry all day, a lot of blue sky, but never too hot.

I have used e-brevet before on a few rides, but this is the first time I have done it without collecting receipts as a backup. It worked really well, and avoids having to stop and buy things just for the sake of getting a receipt, when you don't actually need them (I would probably still collect backup receipts for anything over 200k though!)

Cracking event - thanks to the organiser and helpers.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #43 on: 18 September, 2023, 02:01:45 pm »
I rode a while with Tom Jackson, one of two 9xPBP Brits. Not chatted with him too much before, despite moving in the same circles for quite a while.

I thought I was the only trikie doing the brevet but I started a bit late and may have missed somebody. Not a Nick unfortunately.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #44 on: 18 September, 2023, 02:25:47 pm »
I rode a while with Tom Jackson, one of two 9xPBP Brits. Not chatted with him too much before, despite moving in the same circles for quite a while.

I thought I was the only trikie doing the brevet but I started a bit late and may have missed somebody. Not a Nick unfortunately.

Not sure why I called you Nick - duly fixed!

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #45 on: 18 September, 2023, 03:15:42 pm »
Thanks for the colourful write up, trundle, if only I could pin it to the top of this thread as the advert for the ride! I'll just have to provide a link to your post each year to enthuse prospective entrants in to enjoying some R&R too  :thumbsup:
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

felstedrider

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #46 on: 18 September, 2023, 05:21:27 pm »
Nice to see you again Pete L.

There was another SJS fixed, belonging to Howdee but he was in the 100.

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #47 on: 18 September, 2023, 06:13:23 pm »
Out of interest, those who rode fixed, what gearing did you use?

Tomsk

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Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #48 on: 18 September, 2023, 07:14:44 pm »
Out of interest, those who rode fixed, what gearing did you use?

Still on my 66" PBP gear - a bit spinny for Essex, but the Parkes (currently on 75") doesn't have a rear rack and I needed to lug the ACME shop over to Witham in two large panniers.

Re: Essex R&R
« Reply #49 on: 18 September, 2023, 07:32:44 pm »
Out of interest, those who rode fixed, what gearing did you use?
I was on 74” for the 100+ECE