Epic Epping & pushing the envelope again!

Once again the London Brompton Club (web | fb group) had a great ride planned with David P leading as always. I had been looking forward to this ride as it goes right past my local area and also further north and into Epping Forest.

This morning I made sure I was FULLY fueled up and ready to go.

Legendary fuel

 Also packed a couple of bananas & cereal bars just to be sure.

Looking at the weather, it was going to be slightly mild but may drizzle for a few hrs on and off before some heavy rain in the evening. This ride would be finished before the evening no problem in needing heavy waterproofs. My small waterproof jacket and my big over trousers that I always have packed in my Carradice Zipped Roll Saddle Bag would be more than enough. I need to get some compact overtrousers as my Altura Night Vision Over Trousers are heavy and take up ALOT of room in my Zip Roll bag.

Off we went to the meeting point of Charing Cross Station, commuting to my local station I could see the weather being overcast and hoped the rain would hold off till we had finished the ride and back home at "The HiVE" 

Arriving at the station I saw a familiar group of faces & of-course Bromptons. A group of Bromptons always draw attention and as I was walking towards the group I over heard a few passers by commenting on seeing the Bromptons, some even wishing they had one as they looked like alot of fun. 

I piped up and said "Hell yeah, ALOT of fun :D" with a big smile on my face. 

As always big smiles and greetings to everyone attending the ride, there was supposed to be a decent amount on this one but a few couldn't join us at the last min for various reasons :(

The LBC has gathering

Graham's IRONMAN

On seeing me David gave me Anne's present which I was very curious about.

Latex gloves oo-er misses

I had to laugh as I wasn't expecting this but Anne remembered when I helped her with a puncture on the LBC Ride: Gravesend Loop ride we was on that I said about getting some bigger gloves to carry when on a ride in case of emergency repairs. If no one knew about that they probably end up with other ideas to why I would need large latex gloves. :D

With a short briefing from David about the ride we was heading we headed out of Charing Cross Station to Epping Forest & back

Master Jedi Navigator David P

Off we rolled wondering though central London, even though it was dull we all had smiles on our faces as we was all on our Bromptons.

Near Spitalfields Market

Smiling all the way

Passing Look Mum, No Hands

The roads I noticed where abit slippery in places so was glad we finally got on to the Regent Canal system.

This part of the route is one I know very well as its my local haunt for riding in the summer time along the Regent Canals from central London to northeast London past the Queen Elizabeth Park and beyond. I was looking forward to heading further North this time to Epping Forest as I haven't been that far yet.

Just before Londonfields Park we passed though a very what I would consider POSH market. All kinds of cheeses, olives, cakes, designer clothes (made by the sellers themselves I would guess), cold & hot meats.

Local market place

As we approached Londonfields Park. I remembered a couple of years ago The Dunwich Dynamo started here and the Legend and I came down to the start point to see some of the hardcore London Brompton Club riders off on their 120 mile night ride to Dunwich Coast. Yesterday I had bought my return coach ticket for Dunwich Dynamo XXIII on 4th - 5th July 2015, yup I've bitten the bullet all right.

Another little toilet break here and I noticed that Francis M's Brompton with his new Blue rimmed wheels he got from overseas. I have to say they are pretty damn sexy and when BBB's rims need replacing I would love to get a pair of black ones with yellow spoke nibs (is that what they are called?) & black spokes. I think that would look awesome.

Thank you John M for correcting me "nipples"

Francis's sexy blue rimmed front dynamo hub wheel

All ready to get going?

As we was along the Regent Canals I noticed there was ALOT of people rowing and appeared to be in training as well. Sometimes we would come across their trainers on the path shouting out advise/orders to the rowers while cycling to keep up. As soon as I saw this I instantly thought of Chris Bridge who is a Rowing Cox and has a pretty loud voice. From what I heard of these Cox's Chris Bridge could easily outshout them without even trying.

Rowers in training

Short break at Tottenham Lock

David Parkinson leading the way

Not long after this I felt BBB's rear brake doing something odd. I've felt this only once before and I was hoping it wasn't what I thought it was. I had been worried about my rear rim as it looked pretty worn and have actually ordered a new rear wheel a few days ago because of the hub issues.

Well I'm afraid the rim failed on the drive side of the rim.

Worn out 2013 Brompton rim

2013 Brompton (Double rim wall) BWR 6 Speed RearWheel:
Born: Apr 24, 2013
Died: Feb 28, 2015
Mileage: 6,617.4 miles


I've basically worn out BBB's rim & it can't handle the pressure of the tire and pushes out. Every time the wheel goes round I can feel it rubbing the brake block on that side. It isn't has bad as when I wore out the 3 speed rim back in 2013 though when I actually broke though the rim itself.

3 speed rim back in March 31st 2013

Lucky though as we was only a couple of miles from HiVE so we didn't have far to limp home.

The LBC gang continue without the legend :'(

Seeing my club cycling off into the distance I couldn't help but feel disappointed by failing to complete another ride. I know there was nothing I could do about it as it was a mechanical failure not a person failure like the LBC Ride: Gravesend Loop.

I hate not completing things that I have started to do, I like to focus totally on that task till I have completed it. If I have failed at certain things I learn from my mistakes, try again and at the very least go further than I did before. Bumble B will be out of commission till I have the replacement wheel which will be in around a week or so. While his out of commission I may take him to my local Brompton dealer to get his rear hinge replaced & could even see about a loaner Brompton.

I even heard that just after I had to retire that someone had a puncture, infact by the end of the ride there was 4 punctures & a leaky value. This ride had a big "body count" as it where. Had we angered the cycling gods in someway? who knows......

Until the next ride.....peace
BBB

Garmin Data: LBC Ride: Epic Epping

A poorly but well loved Brompton

Well yesterday I had to leave BBB at my local bike shop as his rear hub was grinding and making alot of noise etc. The hub normally does this every time I clean but goes away after a short time. This has been going on for over a yr maybe longer after a clean. I finally had enough and took BBB in to my guy at Londonfields Cycles for him to have a good look at it. I thought if anything it just needed taking apart and re greasing.

How wrong I was.

First of all it seems that I've got water & MUD inside the hub. But not from a recent ride, from what he says its been like that for over a yr atleast. One set of bearings & cradle have rusted pretty badly and had to be replaced as well as the cone on the drive side. Also seems there are some worn out parts that would need replacing at some point as well but its ok for afew months. If I can source those internal parts the hub will be as good as new. But also the rim is taking abit of a beating too, which I already knew.

Even though I thought I was pretty careful in not getting water inside the hub it still can. I will be even more careful in the future on this.

Rusting bearings with cradle

The chain and cogs where worn out so those got replaced. I was actually going to buy a chain and cogs when I went to pick BBB up anyways as I knew that needed doing.

Another problem is also the rear hinge which is actually the biggest concern as its needs replacing in the next month or so. Had that rear frame changed back in April 2013 under warranty as I found a crack in the rear triangle. From what I've read about that rear hinge should be changed every 2/3 yrs anyway. Been recommended that to increase the life of the rear hinge to use a solid suspension block so there isn't so much movement at that point when riding. I shall be looking into this.

Also one of the gear cables needs replacing which I will probably do myself. When I have some spare time I'll probably do all my cable.

Rear Hinge

I have to say I was abit shocked as I thought I was taking pretty good care of my boy but then again we have been doing a hell of alot of mileage & riding in all kinds of weather, so I shouldn't have been too shocked.

The unexpected LBC Gravesend ride

Yesterday I turned up for work but found out that I had the weekend off. I was early enough for me to be able to get home, changed and do the LBC Gravesend Loop ride. As I left work I was in 2 minds whether to do the ride as I have a "preparation" for a ride that I do. By the time I got home I had a few messages telling me I should go on the ride so I had a hearty porridge, got dressed, checked the weather and headed out from The HiVE at lightening speeds, probably breaking a few speed limits in the process.

I was so much in a rush that when I left Waterloo Station I was putting the power down as I didn't want to keep the others waiting. This meant I was "coming in HOT!". I had visions of a fighter pilot being waved off landing on a aircraft carrier as he was coming in to fast. I could hear the flight controller say, "Wave him off, wave him off, he's coming in to hot!"

The legend was on final approach.....

I made my approach it was way to late for me to be "waved off" so I did the only thing a legend could do, a long skid. I didn't calculate the traction of the surface or lack there of and as I whipped the back wheel around the front also started to slide. I had to compensate with putting my leg down and nearly ended up doing the splits but no one noticed and just thought it was all planned I let that one go & just smiled, glad that I didn't rap myself around the nearby tree & kept myself composed, as legends do ;)

Good to see my cycling buddies as always and I was looking forward to a decent ride as it felt that I haven't been on a long ride in ages.

Not to far from our start point, right next to the Transport for London Building we found a CycleHoop in the shape of a heart for Valentines Day.

We love our Bromptons

No matter what ChrisB knows when a camera is pointed in her direction and always got a lovely smile ready.

ChrisB knows

After a few miles we had our first puncture and ofcourse it had to be a rear wheel puncture. After a few minutes we had Anne's Hotlips all patched and ready to go.

Hotlips rear wheel all ready to go

Where we stopped to repair the puncture was uneven so I laid BBB down on his side to make sure he didn't fall over.

Not fallen over, just uneven ground

As we cycled though we came across more and more sights at have become very familiar to us, no matter how many times we cycle around the Thames we always enjoy the sights and sounds and its forever changing.

At the Cutty Sark & Greenwich Foot Tunnel

Heading along the industral sites where it was pretty muddy and a lakes in places.

Bright light, Bright light

Having made our way to the Thames Barrier we had a little  coffee break and re fuelling.

Taking in The Thames Barrier

ChrisB taking care of her baby

Seeing that I didn't fuel up as well as I should of this morning, I made sure I had something good and filling to keep me going.

Yummy toasted ham & cheese

There is a very short hill metal bridge next to what can only be described as a cement works a couple of miles down the road from The Thames Barrier. I've been up this little bridge a few times and the trick is to find the right gear and just "go for it" and I sure as hell did. Hell the speed we was going up it I thought we would take off like that famous moon scene from E.T: The Extra Terrestrial.

Tony & forever smiling ChrisB

While we was heading though some of the big parts of the Thames River Path that have heavy construction going on there was a few really muddy paths, in fact I would say the mud was actually cement & a small lakes. It was pretty hard going in places for me to be honest. For me its the muddy, sticky sand paths that really suck my energy badly. It was very tough going and by this point thought about taking the train back to London but would wait til I got atleast to Gravesend to see how I felt.

After about 20+ miles I was feeling the drain quiet badly.This was abit of a low point for me as I knew I was slowing everyone else down. I had put on too many layers as the day was a little warmer than I thought and also the forecast was rain but it seemed we was always ahead of the rain so with my waterproof jacket I was basically cooking. Tony D gave me encouragement and advise me to take off the jacket and waterproof helmet cover I had on so the heat could escape quicker. I do like my Nightvision Jacket but its only really good on serious biblical down pours & proper cold weather. Will be looking into getting something lighter with better airflow in future.

My cycling partner was waiting for me at the top of a short sharp hill on a cycle path, at this point I pretty much decided I was going to head back to London via train as I wasn't feeling to good. As always my buddy lifted my spirits & also mentioned that he would return with me to London by train if that is what I decided to do. I know for sure he could complete this ride with little effort and tried to tell him to carry on with the ride after we got to Gravesend but he wasn't having any of it.

Just after we came down the other side of the hill my partner suffered a rear wheel puncture, the second on this ride next to Ebsfleet Roundabout.

Second rear puncture

Didn't take my partner that long to fix and me, OrangeBrompton & Graham was on our way again and met up with the rest of the LBC gang a few miles out from Gravesend.

Finally made it to Gravesend, the rest of the LBC gang was heading to the ferry to cross over and cycle back to London on the opposite bank of the Thames. We said our goodbyes and me and Orange headed to the station.

As we was waiting to purchase our tickets a lady was very interested in BBB and asked where we had come from, I told her from the London Eye along the Thames. I don't think she could believe these small wheeled bicycles could do it but that's the thing about Bromptons, there is nothing they can't do.

Not the way I wanted to return to London

We didn't have to wait long before out train to Charing Cross Station arrived. I was disappointed with myself for not completing the loop but promised myself that I would do it when its organized again in the summer and take on much more water.

It seems when I took off the cover on my helmet the sun visor part broke and couldn't be put on again. Well it could have been alot worse.

Sunvisor eploded

We arrived at Charing Cross station and I noticed that the train did pass right next to the London Eye our starting point so pretty much completed the loop but not the way I had wanted. Just has we got out of the station it started to rain a tiny bit but not much. We cycled together the short distance past Trafalgar Square and part way down The Mall where we parted ways where I would catch the underground train back to the HiVE.

It was a good unexpected ride but very disappointed in myself for not completing the loop. I will make sure I do this ride again and complete it properly when it is organized again as I want to get photos while on the ferry.

Garmin Data: LBC Ride: Gravesend Loop

Til the next ride.....