STOP PRESS - NOW WITH ADDITIONAL SLOWER RIDE - see end for details

The second outing for this ride after last year’s successful if rather mad inaugural run, described by one of the group as one of the best rides of the year.

So we’re off again to follow the London to Brighton Veteran car run, familiar to some from that old favourite wet Sunday afternoon film Genevieve. None of the cars were made after 1905.

Last year I made no apologies for the rather early start so in a spirit of sheer perversity befitting this mad escapade this year’s start will be half an hour earlier. A sort of logic to the madness – we aim to be in the thick of the field for longer and have to do a bit less chasing.

If you want an idea of what the ride is likely to be like, hold on tight and check out the report and pics from last years ride here

If the link doesn’t work, go to “Gallery” for November 2007 and click on “Mixing it With the Cars”

The pace of the ride will probably depend like last year on an informal consensus of the group, though the route is brilliantly signed so you shouldn’t actually get lost.

Two main stops are planned. Like last year we will stop in Crawley where the cars park up for a while. I recommend that you bring your own food but if you don’t, dash into the Asda there as soon as we arrive. We won’t be stopping en route for a sit-down meal as it will slow us up, but like last year we may well have a bite and a beer once we hit Brighton.

This year, by popular request, we will also be pausing in Ansty to watch the field go past and there’s a handy pub here if you fancy a swift one.

Total distance a mere 55 miles - it’s a very direct route to Brighton. No climbing over Ditchling and you’ll hardly notice the North Downs.

"You'll be intoxicated by the exuberance of your own velocity" says a character from the film. For the less exuberant, opportunities to drop out at various points and return by train. The rest of us will train it back from Brighton.

NEW ADDITIONAL SLOWER RIDE - in order to widen the appeal of this ride from last year's somewhat manically paced ride (it just sort of happened that way) William and Jo will be leading a slower paced group following the same route and we will all aim to meet up in Brighton.

Timings remain the same but we'll split into initial groups OUTSIDE East Croydon railway station at 08:15.

So either make your own way there (your responsibility to check trains/possible engineering works) or join me at Cutty Sark Gardens or Forest Hill. The ride from Cutty Sark Gardens to East Croydon will be fairly fast (but we won't leave anyone - I'll get you all to East Croydon) in order to stick to the timetable and this may help you to decide which group you would like to join.

Any questions on slower or faster ride, contact me - Paul - on 07957 209322

Official site of the event:

http://www.lbvcr.com

Meet 7:15 Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich PROMPT DEPARTURE

7:45: Forest Hill Station forecourt

8:15: In front of East Croydon railway station

We’ll be riding fast between these pick-ups. Be there on time. We won’t leave before these times but won’t hang around either. If you get there before the time and can’t see us, just wait – we’ll be on our way.

More info from Paul: 07957 209322. NO TEXTS PLEASE

Report

After last year’s inaugural run when eight of us sped to the coast with the cars, this year’s innovation was a slower paced ride to open it up to other riders who want to experience the sheer fun of this special day and also take a shorter and less hilly route to Brighton than our normal jaunt. 

A few of us at Cutty Sark Gardens at the unearthly hour of 7:15, including Oliver from Hackney who had read about its delights on the Southwark list last year and decided that he just had to do it. 

By the time we left Forest Hill there were 9 of us and when we joined up at East Croydon there were around 15 or 16. From here we split into two self selected groups – slower and faster. And we were away, with a flurry of impressions.

 South from Croydon High Street I’m sure we all broke into a manic smile as we passed, carefully, what can only be described as a mobile coal scuttle – belching great clouds of smoke and placing its faith in the fevered attempts of its stoker to feed its appetite for coal and wood – a supply hung from the back but there didn’t seem anywhere near enough to last to Brighton. Surely setting a record for the number of law infringements from environmental cleanliness to health and safety and most in between, this thing apparently, remarkably, actually managed to make it to Brighton. See end for pic link.

 Picked up a fellow traveller just after this and two more were to join along the way, boosting our field to something approaching 20.

 Purley  - a fairly normal looking blue car which turned out on passing to have a fire raging in what I would have taken to be the boot/trunk.

 On and on, cheering crowds, not as many as last year due to murkier weather, but still no rain the entire day. Folks of all ages out to enjoy the event and encourage the cars up hills. As usual some previously impressive looking cars started to suffer on the inclines, belching smoke, wheezing, giving up. Near Redhill saw some poor guy looking for a puncture in the biggest tube I’ve ever seen; later followed and gave due respect to a car with what appeared to be a spike hanging underneath.

 Folk in cars very amiable towards us sharing the road and as we slip-streamed cars we often exchanged words with passengers. And spectators. “You’re not an antique” one shouted at one of our group.

 Paused in Crawley for loos, a natter and some snacking. Waited for William’s group but they had had two troublesome punctures so eventually we pressed on.

 More craziness. One guy on a penny farthing, a fire engine that looked like something out of Trumpton, though I think this may have been post 1904 (all official entrants are well over 100 years old) as was, probably, the fearsome looking charabang which, after last year’s experience, I kept well away from.

 Official entries included the thing with the passenger sat immediately in front of the driver, an arrangement that never seemed to catch on, and some surprisingly powerful contraptions that would have been firm favourites of a rampaging Mr Toad, various machines with exposed flywheels - ties and long flowing garb maybe not advisable unless you want to do an Isadora Duncan.

 This year, with more time in hand and less need to chase, we left the cut-across and followed the cars down though more towns to Ansty – more crowds and, wahay, several pubs open early for the day, including the Ansty Cross, which it turned out had been open since 10.

 Waited here for a fair while watching the spectacle, drinking and munching, and by now the sun was out. Met up with William and his group and then on to Brighton, with, thanks to William, a neat detour round the hellish bit of semi motorway. Some things are just a little too exciting.

 Hit the pier to catch two of our faster colleagues, then met up with William’s bunch. Then a bunch of us went for the post-ride sunny-beach-lounging natter, none of it about gear ratios and some maybe best not repeated here.

 Below, link to some pics and interviews. A cyclist in an early shot – maybe not one of us. After about 48 secs a shot of the coal scuttle.

 www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/latestnews/Soundslide-report-London-Brighton-Veteran-Car-Run/article-445439-detail/article.html

 Thanks to William and Jo for leading the slower ride and to Bill for sorting a feeder rice from Bermondsey Square – particularly handy for north of the river folk who don’t want to descend into and climb out of the foot tunnel.

 A great day – well over double the turn-out of last year, not a drop of rain I noticed, and clear blue skies and sunshine in time for Brighton. We’ll definitely be doing this ride next year with both fast and slow rides – Sunday November 1, 2009. Make a date with us. Or sort your socks.

 honk honk tootle pip

Paul