 20th July 2008 | #560 |
 | Ah, just got back and had a much needed bath... We passed a few people I think were from here (maybe hippy, jonny etc), they were just arriving as we were driving away from Dunwich. Should have drafted someone faster ;) Lovely weather for it... A wee bit warmer would have been nice. |
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| 20th July 2008 | #563 |
 | Just got back! Started little before nine, did few stops to sort out lights etc and of course at the feeding station, arrived in Dunwich 5 o'clock, think my average speed was 16.88 mph. At 5 o'clock mostly of the guys there were on road bikes, i reckon only 3 fixed riders were there. Went on a road bike with compact chainset (50/34) and a 11-23 cassette. Oh and a 135mm stem! When having breakfast, met this guy who was going to get a train from Ipswich at 8. I was supposed to get the train back at 11:40 but decided to take the risk and use the same ticket but get an early train. We rode from Dunwich to Ipswich in about 1 hours 45 minutes - i was having a hard time to keep up with the guy! Hope you guys had a nice ride as well! I think for next year will consider saving a bit of money and get some better lights!  |
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| 20th July 2008 | #569 |
 | I feel like someone gave my knees to some kids who mistook them for the game Operation. The one with the buzzer. First time in fixed 48-17 maybe a little hard going or lack of fitness. An awesome ride and fantastic to be greeted by the sun on the beach. Warmed me up a treat after breakfast. I hope everyone got there ok and had a jolly time |
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| 20th July 2008 | #570 |
 | Just about to have a well deserved bath! Great ride! Massive thanks to all the boys, hippy, aroogah, jonny, moose, brett, sam, stompy, ma3k, hillbilly, whose faster than most riders, even when he's hungover and working on zero sleep, and still able to do the dynamo, and the australian boys whose forum names I don't know. Hard work, and big round of applause to those that did it fixed, not sure if I'da made it riding fixed. I'll need to drink a big cup of HTFU next year. So much to say, but so very tired, got a couple of pics, which I'll post up later on. Ps. Big big acknowledgement to the forum massive who rode it last year in the rain, and the cold, this year was hard, but it was dry and we had a tailwind, the forumengers who did it last year deserve props, proper legends you are. I'm off to have a bath and make a full english breakfast If I awake in time, see some of you at south beers tomorrow Last edited by cornelius blackfoot; 20th July 2008 at 16:17. Reason: had forgotten hillbilly, bad cornelius, bad!!! |
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| 20th July 2008 | #572 |
 | Guess who just rode his first ever 300k.. fixed.. with a fscking bag on? Yeah.. this mofo. I was fucking wrecked. Actually feel good now I've eaten everything in sight. I got home with 290k on the clock (WAC!), said hi to Mal, grabbed a mouthful of sweets and raced around Ealing until I'd added another dozen to make the 300. :) Over 3000 members and we only get 20-30 riders doing this? Unless you have a good excuse.. there's a shitload of HTFU missing from you bunch of weaklings! If kids can do it.. no reason you can't. Miss it next year and you should consider trading your bikes for chess sets. :P Thanks everyone for smiling and making the riding fun. Nice to meet some new peeps (Moose and Jacqui spring to mind). Special props to Stompy who appeared to be shitloads faster this year and to Sam, who, with fsck all training, joined me for a ride back to Ipswich. He was on 250k+ when I left him at Liverpool St. Well done mate! This year was fucking cool. So much nicer riding! Lower gearing, better weather, still got a sore arse but nowhere near as bad, actually light due to the moon, candles were out. Sweet! |
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| 20th July 2008 | #575 |
 | Good going kids. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done on a bike. Massive props to everyone that came along. Thanks to MA3K for waiting when I got my puncture, and then making me sprint to catch the rest of the crew(it was FAST!), well done Hippy for manning up with 300KM your a beast of a man! I'm trying to remember stuff that happened but I'm SO knackerd that my brain wont work proper. Maybe next year I'll not get too drunk the night before and get some sleep. Once again thanks to everyone who was there and made it so fun. More people have to HTFU next year, and get it done. Oh, brainflick did you make it home OK? my phone died so was unable to call you. Let us know how you got on. Rock on people and nighty night! ;-) |
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| 20th July 2008 | #580 |
 | Couldn't have been much better really, could it? clear skies, tailwind, good road surfaces, hardly any other road users after the first three hours. @ Roberto - of the three fixed riders who got there by 5.00am two were from the forum: Australian Will (fourm name Texas) and Australian Gavin: Nice meeting you guys; announce youself here and claim your accolades. The coach back was all very convenient and that, but next time I'm going to aim to do what Roberto and Hippy did: get to Ipswich, or maybe even further. I truly can't believe I got there in the time I did compared to last year's sapping slog in freezing rain. But what truly made it an epic was all the japes with you lot at the beach (once you finally turned up!). Ta again, guys. |
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| 20th July 2008 | #581 | ||
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So, a big well done to all, a big sorry to Brett for having to put up with my whinging from mile 25 to mile 68, and a big thank you for Hippy towing me the second half of the way to Ipswich. I did tell you which way to go though and had to put up with your god awful snoring on the train! | ||
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| 20th July 2008 | #582 | |
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He had his bike nicked?? That sucks major balls. One for the stolen list? | |
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| 20th July 2008 | #583 | |
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Yeah, parked it outside in his front garden, went in to get his bag, came back and it was gone. It's a white Decathlon B-twin (I think they're called) road bike with a Carradice clamp on the seatpost and a cable tie holding one of the brake levers on... Fairly distinctive! | |
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| 20th July 2008 | #585 |
 | was great meeting everybody at the pub in the park. i set of with a non-forum-but-fixed-friend i rode together last year. past by RPM and the stag party in Epping Forest, they seemed to have taken a different route out London and ended up climbing up Chigwell to High Road. RPM i am looking forward to the full ride report. once off the main road after Epping riding was very enjoyable. at that point i was still fiddling around with the gps but jam jars helped the navigation. with 20 miles to go to the feeding station it was finally doing its job. got there around 00:30, pretty roady laden setting at that point. Spotted Roberto, MA3K, Emil at the feeding station. Went on as team of two and tried for 30min to close the gap to a group of 8-10 riders in front of us. Sat in the pock for a while till they decided to take a different turn, was not to saddened to loose them as there it was a bit of chain gang. Went all pretty smooth with no navigational hick-ups. 3 more riders joined and we made it to the Flora Tearooms just after 4:30. chatted with Roberto, before he took off to Ipswich. followed a little later on which was probably the most tiring part of the ride. well done to everyone and i agree: a better turnout is expected for next year. |
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| 20th July 2008 | #586 |
 |  Photos Well done all photos of most people. Thanks to Hippy and Jonny for he regular tows, Thanks to evyone for the chat. seeyou all soon. http://www.flickr.com/photos/1229013...7606276012298/ Last edited by TheBrick(Tommy); 21st July 2008 at 09:54. Reason: tow not toe Sp is bad after not sleeping for 36 hr |
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| 20th July 2008 | #588 |
| | Ride Report, including my shitty pics and pics stolen from Tommy :) http://thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=1156 |
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| 20th July 2008 | #589 |
 | cheers all - few ciders in the morning a bit of sun on the beach was brilliant. buses going the wrong way to drop off point and scrabbling to find bike worst part. everything else great. (stat's = approx 1034m ascent, 6400kcal,8hrs,3powerbars,4bulmers,2fosters,1 x ful english & two bottles of red...to date). also found out that no matter how many LEDs you strap to your bike (24in total) it doesn't equal good battery pack lights! |
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| 20th July 2008 | #593 | |
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  Pic courtesy of Wobbly John Gutted I couldn't make it, still too sore from road rash and bruising after coming off last week. | |
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| 20th July 2008 | #595 | |
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Not met many of you guys in the flesh - think I kept drifting in and out of your group, though, bunch of guys on fixed wheels and some faces that seemed kinda familiar that I thought must be from here... Was running geared with some fat lights I borrowed from a friend - made for some very fun fast descents in the dark with the lights blazing, but I still don't have the knack of climbing on the geared bike, can't seem to get quite as nice a rhythm as I can fixed. Had a shower and went and sat in the pub with a friend trying to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime so that my bodyclock isn't too fucked up. Now feel like a zombie! So hitting the hay. Good riding all! | |
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| 21st July 2008 | #599 |
 | ...well apart from my lupine packing up before epping (blown bulb) what an amazing ride, 48/18 got me up and down all but one hill. Into dunwich at 6.30'ish and well knackered but so glad to have done it! Thanks Pete for the gps. And to all that did it last year, big respect! |
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| 21st July 2008 | #600 | |
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well done everyone. fixed or not, that's an epic ride for anyone. good to hear there were no mishaps. | |
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