I've had a love/hate relationship with the Whitstable ride, for much the same reasons as with the Felpham (Bognor Regis) ride. They both have long stretches of the most perfect cycling lanes, but they each also have a stretch that saps my will to live (Whitstable: dual carriageway + roundabouts + massive lorries as we approach the Dartford crossing; Felpham: the long slow grind of the A217 around Sutton).
And I don't have good form on the Whitstable run: this was my fourth time to start, but only my second time to finish.
As it was, finishing this time was not a foregone conclusion.
As some of you know, my grumpy left knee has wrecked havoc with my attempts to get some long rides in this spring. Last night I was just a bit apprehensive as to what my knee might do. As it happened, the ride was one of two halves. Up to the halfway stop in Strood, there were some twinges and grumbles from muscles that somehow didn't want to work very efficiently. In the past, if that doesn't settle down within a few miles, severe pain in the joint soon follows. Somehow this time I got to the halfway stop without it reaching that point. And then.... after some diligent stretching in the warmth of the ladies' toilets, I was surprised to find, on setting off into the dawn, that my legs felt like they'd been re-set. I felt fresh and strong and at one with the bike, such that I enjoyed every single second of the ride til we arrived at the Waterfront. One of the best times on a bike I've had in a long time. Just perfect.
Knee worries aside, the ride itself was just superb. The weather had a lot to do with that: warm, dry, with a tailwind. Nothing there to mar one's enjoyment.
We gathered at Hyde Park Corner from about 11.15pm onwards.
We participated in the roll-call and safety briefing (yes, it's interactive!), and then set off promptly at midnight.
We followed our usual route via main roads through central London (Buckingham Palace, Parliament Square, a bit of Embankment, the Monument) then over London Bridge and off through southeast London (Jamaica Road, Greenwich and Woolwich). We picked up a residential route that runs parallel to the main roads, skirting around Erith, as far as Gravesend. From there, we took a diversion onto a stretch of Sustrans cycle paths. We reached the path at 2.45am, just in time to peer heavenwards and watch the passage of the International Space Station overhead.
Then onto the Sustrans route. The first stretch of this was in fact a towpath alongside a canal. This was packed gravel and nearly wide enough to cycle two abreast (with the occasional tucking back in to avoid the worst of the potholes). The second stretch was on a much narrower dirt path. The trees forming a tunnel overhead was just magical.
We had a couple of tricky gates to negotiate. Stephen and Rachel on their tandem didn't enjoy them much! This one I managed to get through without dismounting from my bicycle.
We were treated to an almost melodious choir of marsh frogs. Later on, we heard nightingales and cuckows. And Susie saw her first owl! Not much spotted in the way of wildlife though.
At the halfway stop, Simon gave us our usual briefing for the second half of the ride and then initiated a rousing Happy Birthday singalong directed at Adam (who officially turned the Big Five-Oh as we departed Hyde Park Corner at midnight). He was embarrassed but touched.
Periods on main roads are mercifully brief though at 5am we have these mostly all to ourselves.
We passed by a listing and derelict Russian submarine in the Medway and then we're out into the countryside, pedalling past fields and farms and through small villages.
At Faversham (where the Saturday market was setting up), Simon pulled us up for another quick briefing on the roads ahead, and then gave us our head to make our way to breakfast.
The group quickly dispersed. Sonia and I (with our matching Carradice Barleys - of which there seemed to be more than a dozen about!) kept company across the Graveney marshes, talking about our plans for next weekend's unofficial Dunwich Dynamo ride. We reached the Waterfront restaurant at 7.40am, where Adam (who'd been a TEC at the back all night) soon caught up. Up on the balcony, some of our crew were already tucking into their Full English Breakfasts! We joined the queue to order ours, then relaxed indoors for a while until the sun had warmed things up outside enough for us to join the others on the balcony.
As ever, it's the people who make the Friday Night Rides what they are. We had nearly 80 people on this ride but somehow we kept mostly together in a long snaking ribbon of blinking red lights. I did get a couple of peaceful periods of pedalling through the night alone but also really enjoyed times chatting and laughing with friends old and new. Simon's organisation and care is superb, and the Wayfinders and TECs make sure we don't lose our way or get left behind.
We also are blessed to know the most wonderful people who are prepared to get up at stupid o'clock to serve up hot drinks, sandwiches and cakes to a bunch of blurry-eyed dishevelled cyclists at 4am! This time, they even came outside to wave us off. Apparently, they all think we're mad... "in a good way"!
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I've taken the liberty of including links to photographs taken by Tim Hall and Tim Decker, who each captured moments I didn't, using photographic skills I lack. I hope they don't mind. I highly recommend clicking through to see them and then perusing the other shots in their Picasa albums.
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