Origami Phoenix Ride
April 14th 2001
Saturday's Origami Ride saw a change of venue -
partly because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak. Phil and Lorna Wray
arranged a ride for us at Milton Keynes, home of the concrete cows, which
are fortunately immune to F & M. For me this meant using a Virgin
train to get there, rather than a local, so I decided to take the old
T5 Brompton - maximum portability and quite adequate for a gentle
ride like this. I also decided to ride to Sandwell and Dudley
station, rather than Tipton, which had three advantages:
- I could leave home at least 15 minutes later.
- It gave me a longer ride all of 4km more.
- It saved changing trains.
The only drawbacks were the hill up into Dudley,
and having to negotiate the Dudley bypass and Burnt Tree islands.
The ride to the station was uneventful, though a
few spots of rain were falling as I arrived, and I was rather early
having allowed too much time, especially as there was a following
wind. The train journey was equally
uneventful, and we made excellent time to Coventry, though as a
result of slow running around Rugby we were nearly 10 minutes late
by the time we got to Milton Keynes. Nevertheless, there was
plenty of time to spare, and in the end the start of the ride was
slightly delayed while those who had arrived by motor vehicle
found a suitable place to park!
There were 10 riders, but all the local contingent were
on conventional large wheeled , non-folding machines, and it was
left to Graham McDermott (Moulton 'Pylon' Speed), Peter Evans (New
Series Moulton), Chris Dent (Bike Friday Airglide), Peter King (SP
Brompton) and myself (Brompton T5) to represent the folders and
separables.
We rode gently on paths, tracks and quiet roads out to our
lunch stop, troubled only by a light drizzle during the latter
stages.
The elite, the Moulton New Series, Speed and Bike Friday
Airglide, stayed together during the lunch stop. 
The Brompton at Stony
Stratford, pictured in splendid isolation as it was the only
machine to go there!
After
lunch we continued along quiet roads, paths and a short stretch of
towpath. Lest anyone is wondering, there were a number of signs
relating to Foot and Mouth, but the only one affecting a path we
used was to state quite explicitly that the path was open. All the
roads we used were carrying normal traffic, and there were plenty
of walkers, many with dogs running free, on the paths.
This was supposed to be a group photograph, opposite a
reputedly haunted mill, but Peter King had ridden off into the
distance, along a road which did not form part of the ride, so he
is missing from the picture! Note to Graham - we really needed the
XPan camera for this one.
Bridges
can provide photo opportunities. If I had a Speed, I wouldn't do
this with it, even for a photograph. Don't worry, Shaun, Graham
didn't actually drop the bike!
We got back to the station at about 4:00pm, which allowed time
for those who had travelled from further afield to get back home
in daylight. The distance was measured as about 35km, although I
had done 57km by the time I finally got home. All the bikes
performed faultlessly. Graham seems particularly enchanted with
his new Speed - despite what the rather alarming photograph above might
suggest.
Right: Graham does not like curry, but nevertheless we
persuaded the Speed to pose with some trishaws near the station.
For the record, both the Moultons and the
standard Brompton arrived by train, two locals rode to the start, and the rest came by
motor vehicle. Graham and Peter came from
London on a Silverlink train, so had no problems with the
Moultons. Although I found the Brompton more than adequate for a
short and very leisurely ride like this, I think I might opt for
using Silverlink from Birmingham another time - it takes longer,
but it does leave the choice of cycle more open.
Folding Society Home Page
Copyright (C)2001 Ferrets Anonymous
URL: http://www.foldsoc.co.uk/origamiapr01.html
Last updated: 15 April 2001