On Saturday I had my first opportunity to meet the London Brompton Club who had scheduled a Brighton visit and a nice couple of loops to include a coffee (and cake) stop at Shoreham airport, lunch at Velo Cafe and then the undercliff pass by the Marina.
We met at the station at 10:30am, it certainly wasn't hard to spot all the LBC riders and their multi-coloured Brompton bikes as they started to arrive. A number of the faces were very familiar as I have been following the Club riders via Facebook, Twitter and some of the great personal blogs.
Everyone was really friendly and it was great to be introduced to the Club members. I felt in the presence of 'Brompton Royalty' when I met with Mr O (check out www.myorangebrompton.com) and Bumble Bee (www.bromptonbumbleb.com).
I was most impressed how organised the ride was and before long we were off and even selecting roads that I hadn't been down before - considering I was the 'local rider' this was a little surprising.
It was all relatively leisurely, which gave me plenty of time to introduce myself and chat to some of the riders, however, I could see at least one or two of the riders were quite 'bike fit' and could quickly accelerate if the need took them.
I learnt a few points about the bikes from the experienced group. Firstly, I was looking to upgrade to narrower wheels on the back, just below the seat post. Some of the riders had already changed from the standard solid wider plastic wheels to the Brompton approved 'Easy Wheels', which benefit from being narrower and better from transporting the bike ('wheeling' the bike).
I also found out from Mr O that 'The Friday Night Ride to the Coast' is actually a separate group that a number of the LBC riders have also joined. Check out the details via the following link:
Unfortunately I had to leave the jolly little group at the planned lunch stop (Velo Cafe) as I had a family commitment and so missed the final loop via the undercliff pass.
All in all a great chance to meet the London Brompton Club - hope to join them for another Brompton adventure soon.
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| At Shoreham airport for coffee and cake |
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| Bumble Bee and a Kodak moment |
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| Nearing Shoreham |
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| Some of the gang and Mr O with camera in hand |
