Woke up early as I was excited to be finally going on a ride. Made sure I had a good breakfast but then I looked over at Bumble B and saw that he was a little dirty. Few squirts of Muc-Off and a wipe down and he was ready to impress. This in turn made me a little late getting to the starting point of
Achilles Statue, Hyde Park Corner.
So about 15min to my local station and 30mins by tube & I was getting off at Hyde Park Station. The meeting point was easy to spot as it was a very impressive piece of art. When I arrives there was 1 nice young lady that of-course recognised Bumble B straight away. Seemed I was the first to arrive. Well in time others finally turned up but mostly road bikes but no Brompton's.
Had my clan abandoned me?
Was I at the wrong meeting place?
Did have the wrong date ?
Fear not dear reader, we are the right people, at the right place, at the right time.
First I spotted which I found out was a very nice American couple that of-course recognised The legend. Said our hellos and ofcourse had a good look at each others Brompton's. I noticed the charming lady Nancy had some great knitted top tube cover which she knitted herself and from what I could see if she wasn't riding she was knitting :D
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| Nancy's Knitted Top Tube |
Other members of the LBC turned up and we had a full house & ofcourse my cycling buddy Mr Orange :) woop woop
Ofcourse we had a Brompton Line up for photos, Thankfully one of other riders helped us out so we all could get into to shot :)
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| Members of the London Brompton Club |
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| Orange Brompton & Brompton Bumble B having a conversation |
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| The Brompton Bumble B standing out in the crowd |
I checked out Mr.O's new saddle bag which I have to say I'm VERY impressed with and may well be looking to get myself one as I only have my Brompton O Bag to carry things and sometimes I don't need a huge bag like that. I inspected Mr.O's Carradice Roll Saddlebag and already getting a few design ideas I would like to put to the makers if they are willing. Anyways I'll make another post about this later and maybe a few images of my idea.
Back to the iBikeLDN Ride
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| A little talk of how we are going to proceed |
After getting a little talk on where we are going, also given maps, and badges >:)
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| Hitting the tarmac in Central London |
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| Our first stop |
At our first stop I got to talking with a fixie rider and he mentioned that he did the The Dunwich Dynamo. This is something I have been thinking about doing when it comes on the 20th July 2013. Talking with this guy and Mr.O and comments on this blog is making me want to do it, I'm about 75% there, I just want to get ALOT of training in but this is basically what I'm going to be doing as there is alot of events/rides I'm going to be doing in 2013.
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| The Garthering |
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| The Brompton Bumble B & Me |
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| Hammersmith Bridge |
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| Cousins? |
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| Waiting for folks to catch up |
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| Entering Richmond Park |
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| Nothing to see here just cyclist |
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| A few deer, not impressed with us though |
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| Deciding where to go |
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| A little muddy patch |
Not long after this shoot there was a parting of the ways. There was a short cut to the route we was going on which was on roads but the other longer route which went along the river would be a little muddy. I didn't want to get Bumble B muddy so me, Mr.O & couple of others took the short cleaner route.
We headed off to Richmond Park but none of us could understand the map properly, so in comes my Garmin Edge 800 rescue. I typed in the name of the pub, The Old Ship which told me it was 2.5miles away. So I ended up being the leader. This is the first time I have used the Garmin this way and it was VERY easy to follow and we got there in good time, even before the other group of riders. We even picked up a couple of riders that got lost after the first 20 mins at the beginning that actually involved with iBikeLDN.
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| Dirty Glasses? |
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| Inside "The Old Ship" |
I ordered up the Fish & Chip dinner and very nice it was too, I was even toying with the idea of having a pudding but I got guilt tripped out of it, gotta keep my training up I guess :P
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| Most excellent Fish & Chips with mushy peas and Tar Tar sauce |
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| Bumble B & Orange Brompton in The Old Ship pub |
As you can see having a Brompton is great cause me and Mr.O had ours right next to us and tucked into a nice little corner without any problems.
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| My freebie Badges :D |
I would like to say it was a great afternoon of riding even with my nemesis of Richmond Park with its hills. Always I luv riding with other cyclists from different walks of life and having a good ride out some place different.
As always here is my cycle log from my Garmin Edge 800.
Roll on the LBC: Greenwich Ride in 2 weeks >:)
