Ride report - London to Maldon, 20th Sept 2024

Report by: John
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WNwkMK9uCzfRFybU8

Introduction

Dateline: nearly midnight, 20 September 2024; a group of fifty two Fridays riders assemble in the diffuse light reflecting from the pale concrete walls of the National Theatre adjacent to Waterloo Bridge, greeting old friends and welcoming newcomers in an atmosphere of suppressed excitement and anticipation of the adventure about to unfold.

Nick registers who is present, reminds us all of the Fridays rules of the road and navigation system, and introduces Martin who is tonight playing the crucial all-upper role. And on the stroke of midnight, we think about getting on our bikes. Two minutes later we are underway, passing the bars, the food outlets and the flashy advertising displays of a London evening as we pick our way through the crowds enjoying their own version of a good time on a fine Friday evening.

Our group must have made a fine sight, comprising an astonishing range of different bikes including fast road bikes, heavy gauge mountain bikes, folders, tourers, single-speeds and of course the obligatory cargo bike complete with dog who was obviously just as excited as the human riders.
## The Ride

With Martin as all-upper and myself as tail end charlie, equipped to help with (almost) any rider or mechanical problems, what could possibly go wrong? It didn’t take long for us to find out. Traffic lights soon separated the group of fifty two into several smaller groups, but all significant turns were reliably waymarked by other riders pointing the way and waiting for Martin to release them from their duty. Bishopsgate is always busy, but tonight it was a nightmare of roadworks, temporary traffic lights supplementing all the normal ones, long lines of stationary vehicles and cyclists not going to Maldon mixing in with our groups. We felt lucky to get through that lot unscathed and made our way through East London, past Victoria Park and on towards the Olympic Park when Martin got a phone call.

A solitary Fridays rider had somehow missed the turn off Bishopsgate and continued into the terra incognita of Shoreditch with no map to guide him back to the known world. I phoned Nick to hold up the ride and went on to sweep up all the intermediate waymarkers in order to reassemble the whole group. Once we were together minus one the awesome magic of shared google maps enabled one of the group to guide Dan back into the fold; instructions when to turn were relayed to him as we watched his dot on the map approaching with an impressive turn of speed, and soon we were friends reunited following a much less frantic route to the North East.

Once we got beyond London the party town, traffic was very much lighter. Some parkland and short off-road tracks interrupted mostly urban roads under street lamps until we were well beyond London. And so it was that urban Essex became darkest Essex, following unlit roads through country villages.  

44 km into the ride we reached the village of Doddinghurst where flashing lights in the middle of the road operated by welcoming scouts guided us onto a track leading to the local scout hut where the scouts had laid on a very welcome selection of sandwiches, cakes, biscuits and drinks for our mid-ride refreshments. The organisation was impeccable, and in the middle of the night in darkest Essex seemed quite miraculous; we relaxed in the warmth of the scout hut for quite some time.  

Back on the road it seemed darker and colder now, but not uncomfortable and we soon warmed up again. Country lanes led us through the evocatively named  Pigstye Green and onwards to Cow Watering Lane where we turned onto the rather less evocative off-road EV2 track, noteworthy for the cats-eye studs picking out the way on the narrow, unlit tarmac track. A gravel track led us to a garage on the Roxwell Road for a well timed comfort break at km 65.

More car-free country lanes led us into a dawn with some mist drifting off fields as sparse clouds above gradually turned from smudgy grey to pink. Dawn is always a special moment on a night ride and this was a perfect autumn morning.

It was soon light again, and the lanes towards Maldon were delightful.

Quite soon the lanes became urban roads again as we approached Maldon, one of the oldest recorded towns in Essex, and on the main street we reassembled at the Oakhouse café that provided a really excellent breakfast with an efficiency that should be a model for all cafes.

After breakfast a few of us completed a Friday Morning Ride to the Coast, or in this case the Blackwater estuary and harbour complete with its fine collection of heritage Thames barges.

Overall the ride was easy… the weather was very kind, there were no significant hills and the distance was relatively short so the pace was relaxed. My personal thanks go to all the riders who prepared their ride so well that we had no significant mechanical incidents, and nobody fell asleep. The only issue of note is to ensure that lights have sufficient charge to last through the night (and carry a spare).

Supplementary

Huge thanks are due to Nick for organising such a superb night ride to a great destination, and managing such a large group.

Photography by Mark Woolard, Dan Herring, John Rosbottom and Claire Geary.

More photos are available at https://photos.app.goo.gl/WNwkMK9uCzfRFybU8