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Oh and the less said about my bib shorts with no-longer-elastic leg grippers that wouldn't hold my knee warmers up the better.

No other photos from me I'm afraid - I was too busy suffering.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10550628808

I've not been riding very much over the last year or so - since Covid my usual 100 miles a week traipsing up and down the A10 has reduced to just 10, which is not enough to stay fit.

Add to that a dwindling number of ThNRC rides as people do inconsiderate things like have families or move to nice parts of the country and I've turned into a bit of a slob.

My only real efforts have been the DunRun last year and Fixed Beers Tour De Fixed which does not a comprehensive training program make.

Right, excuses in early, what about today? I don't know how many normally show up but it seemed like a good turnout - around 10? Everyone looking fit, lean and fast which it turned out was definitely not a charade. The first 18 miles were uneventful until I punctured both tyres on some tiny flints.

The weather was good, but the roads were still covered in that classic grimy gritty winter gunk, with the odd bit of field runoff. Thankfully @youramericanlover's frame pump made fairly short work of getting me back up to 120psi and we pressed on.

After just 25 miles or so I started to flag (hence the excuses). Perhaps 48x15 was foolish and at 30 I decided enough was enough and told everyone to press on and I'd see them at the cafe in Rye - it was only another 20 miles or so and with a bit of luck they'd still be analysing the menu by the time I rolled in.

Then the cramps set in. Ended up walking most of the remaining climbs and myself and someone else (sorry, I have already forgotten all names but thanks for the extra spare tube!) decided to form a more leisurely chasing group - it's always a relief to have a wheel to sit on. Suddenly a road sign - 6 miles to Rye, although it turned out we were on the scenic route, via Winchelsea.

That turned out to be a ride through flat marshland with what I think were a pair of marsh harriers flying overhead, soon followed by a couple of miles along the shoreline with Rye Harbour nature reserve on the left and the beach and sea to the right. At this point I was truly flagging even on the flat and I started to drop back, praying to the gods of the Garmin purple line that the cafe was right around the corner (narrator: it wasn't).

Finally we made it into Rye and found the promised cafe which just happened to have an empty table right by a fan heater. Everyone else was there, looking like they were on a cafe ride and wondering when it was going to start getting difficult.

I ordered the largest full english they had and declared my day done. Rye station had the world's least effective fan heater and when I got to Kings Cross, engineering works meant no trains going north so I just rode back to Enfield, summiting the cols of Finsbury Park and Wood Green albeit rather unwillingly.

All in all, pretty much exactly how I'd expected the day would go. 10/10 would suffer again.

Careful what you ask for

Lived up to its title. Made it to Rye and I'm very done.
Can't believe I washed the bike for this

Good?

It's quite likely - something funny about the fit means that the metal frame for the cleat is grinding a nice groove in the axle

Well the bike is clean, the chain is quiet-ish and I even regreased the speedplays.

What could go wrong?

Can just go back to page 1 of this thread

This is a fingerless gloves and shorts ride, right?

You're going to need a new roof. That'll be £12k+VAT please

Happy new year to me, thankyou old house.

Sadly not. It got archived though: https://archive.org/web/geocities.php

there's also a twitter bot which posts GIFs from Geocities: https://twitter.com/geocitiesgifbot

One that's on iPlayer at the moment

Totoro brought a tear to the eye. The main singer, Ai Ninomiya is really great.

the stage production of My Neighbour Totoro

It is class. There's a stage version of Spirited Away at the Coliseum later this year too.

I'll need jungle, I'm afraid
https://twitter.com/spinscott/status/1744943790689751133

The last few days have seen many a remix of this University Challenge question:
https://twitter.com/nathanfiler/status/1744350725654634877

Azumanga is a stone cold classic. The OP lives rent free in my head.

If you liked that, see if you can find Atashinchi or Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.

anyone up for an afternoon memorial roll/burrito beforehand?

https://www.lfgss.com/events/9035/

You could've probably guessed

Alternative post ride event
https://www.lfgss.com/events/9276/

Give me a page number

Check that the fence is actually built on the boundary and that the neighbour is indeed building on their own land. If they aren't, then a right stink could be kicked up.

Oh yeah, I should do that too, whether I make it or not

Only from the unlucky ones

Sad news.

Could you please make sure that Jenne knows about https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment
Even if they don't think they're eligible, they should still claim and the government will assess eligibility.

Does anyone know anything about stamps? Our family inherited a collection of commonwealth stamps (30-odd albums, 2,000 pages) and we don't really know what to do with them.
Tried Stanley Gibbons but they weren't interested.