Random Tandem - 24th October 2010: OP UPDATED

[Polar Bear]

Anybody fancy taking on TEC duties please?   

[Polar Bear]

I have some tickets to Birmingham!

Excellent news.   

[Paul]

Can I just post to put this thread on my rtu radar?

[Polar Bear]

I think that you just have.   

Are you coming?   

[Paul]

Well, it goes like this:

Tandem: Yes
Interest: High
Availability: tbc
Stoker: ditto (need to speak to Suzy, but tentative approach to Andrij (if Suzy's not up for it/baby sitters cannot be arranged) acknowledged).

[Martin109]

I'm going to book tickets for me and my bike and see what happens.  If there's a stoker seat available then I'll leave my bike at home and turn up with a bag of cake.  If there isn't I shall turn up with my bike and a bag of cake.  And if I'm not sure, I'll go for the Manningtree strategy i.e. turn up with a bike, a bag of cake and a big  bag of lock.  Covers all eventualities

CL, if you end up bringing your bike and then not riding it, you'd be very welcome to store it in my car.  I will have transported Bertie the Tandem in it, so it'll swallow up a CL bike no problem.

[Polar Bear]

Just a bounce to remind all you tandemistas that the Random is growing ever nearer.   For those tandemistas and soloists yet to sign up, stick your proverbial X in the reply to thread box please.    

The weather over the past two Sundays has scuppered recces.  I will be out this weekend though checking another route.   I might even do it on the tandem just for authenticity!  

Could those coming please indicate if they are coming by rail and what time then will need to be catching any booked return services.  

If you have any questions, please ask.  

[CrinklyLion]

I'm coming on a train from Brum - don't know what time, I probably ought to check (but I'll be with Kim and she's dead good at trains so I may get to abdicate responsibility ) and I have a train booked leaving brum at a time that utterly escapes me right now, but I seem to remember that it allowed for several fairly sensibly times possibilities from Rugby.  That wasn't really very useful information, was it?

Must go find where I put my tickets.....

[Martin109]

I shall be coming by car.  Please organise weather like we're having now...

[Kim]

CrinklyLion and I will be... ah, scratch that, just seen her post.

To quote the informative PM I was just consulting:

The latest cheap ticket out that I could get was the 19:30 from new st, which would work with the 17:15/18:15 midland services from Rugby or the Virgin one at 17:49 - I think/hope that one of those ought to be feasible!

That any help?

(I'll be on the same train, but only travelling as far as Mordor on a day return, so don't have to worry about specific trains.)

[Polar Bear]

The 17:49 Virgin would require reservations whereas the two London Midland do not.   

I would imagine we should be able to get you on the 17:15 if necessary.

For cyclists arriving at Rugby by train, platforms 1, 5 and 6 are served by stairs and lifts.   The lifts will only take one solo bicycle at a time.   I usually shoulder or bump a bike down the steps.   Platforms 2,3 and 4 have ramped access to the underworld!

Ride departure still planned for 10:30.   Any issues with that?

[Kim]

The 17:49 Virgin would require reservations whereas the two London Midland do not.

The Eastcoast website seems to think otherwise.  Unless you mean bike reservations, of course.  We weren't planning on bringing bikes, in our capacity as stokers.

Ride departure still planned for 10:30.   Any issues with that?

I was going to say "sure, no problem", but I just checked and discovered that the local trains between here and New Street don't start early enough on a Sunday morning.  We'll probably have to use a *shudder* bus (a subject on which I shall have to consult with barakta), or re-think the not-bringing-bikes approach (especially if Martin109's car is available for storage thereof).

Either way, I don't think a later start is going to improve anything, as we'll just get tighter for time at the end.

[dasmoth]

My train-fu is is dreadful, we'll be bringing the car.

Plenty of room if extra bike-stashing space is needed.

[CrinklyLion]

Acksherly, I doesn't have a stoker seat at the moment (to the best of my knowledge) so am currently planning on bringing cake+bike.  And possibly asking Martin if I can leave my jammies and toothbrush in the car when we all go out to play on out bikes.  I mean, I wouldn't want to be carrying excess weight round would I?

(looks in mirror and falls off chair guffawing)

Kim, assuming I have a bike with me, you could always bring the comedy folder to get to New Street to give a better chance of me keeping up with you be sure of bike trainage/storage being less of an issue?

[Kim]

Kim, assuming I have a bike with me, you could always bring the comedy folder to get to New Street to give a better chance of me keeping up with you be sure of bike trainage/storage being less of an issue?

My thoughts exactly.

[Andrij]

Though I earlier expressed interest in this ride, I've just realised it clashes with this month's FNRttC (Whitstable).  Sorry, maybe next time.
 

[Martin109]

Ride departure still planned for 10:30.   Any issues with that?

Absolutely none, but I shall be aiming to arrive earlier (ideally 9.30) to allow enough fettling and test-ride time so that team Martin-Kim are truly up-to-speed and ticketyboo.

[Polar Bear]

Though I earlier expressed interest in this ride, I've just realised it clashes with this month's FNRttC (Whitstable).  Sorry, maybe next time.
 

That's a shame.    

[Kim]

Though I earlier expressed interest in this ride, I've just realised it clashes with this month's FNRttC (Whitstable).  Sorry, maybe next time.

Some of us are stupid enough to attempt both...   

[CrinklyLion]

Though I earlier expressed interest in this ride, I've just realised it clashes with this month's FNRttC (Whitstable).  Sorry, maybe next time.

Some of us are stupid enough to attempt both...   

But Kim - what could possibly go wrong?

[Kim]

But Kim - what could possibly go wrong?

It's okay, I'm having a trial run by doing a WARTY off the back of the FNRttS this weekend.   

I reckon I'm either going to die, get arrested for stabbing some railway jobsworth with a titanium spork, or get sucked into audax.

Which of these is the optimal outcome left as an exercise for the reader...

[Andrij]

Though I earlier expressed interest in this ride, I've just realised it clashes with this month's FNRttC (Whitstable).  Sorry, maybe next time.

Some of us are stupid enough to attempt both...   

I've opted for the après ride conviviality in Whitstable that weekend.

If my bike was in better condition, I would be doing the same rides as you tonight & tomorrow.

And you want to aim for getting sucked into Audax — it's so wrong it's right! 
 

[Martin109]

But Kim - what could possibly go wrong?

It's okay, I'm having a trial run by doing a WARTY off the back of the FNRttS this weekend.   

I reckon I'm either going to die, get arrested for stabbing some railway jobsworth with a titanium spork, or get sucked into audax.

Which of these is the optimal outcome left as an exercise for the reader...

It's alright, Kim, it's OK to fell asleep as a stoker, as long as you don't loll to one side (lol!) or stop peddling, or fail to stop peddling when the captain stops peddling.

[L CC]

I'll be there. Coming by bike. Not sure if I'll be tandeming, the stoker is away this week but at the last ask he wasn't sure.

[Kim]

Wowbagger confirmed his non-attendance to me earlier.  This means there's a stoker going spare...