Will the Nocturne return for Brompton racing?

The Nocturne was an annual cycling event held in the heart of London, that in addition to professional riders competing in a road cycling criterium, had a Penny Farthing race and for me the big draw - a folding bike race. The event didn't take place last year - I don't actually know why - and it seems as if there might have actually been an event this year which was sadly scuppered by the 'C' word.

I think that my racing days are over but it was very good fun and certainly an adrenaline rush. If there was to be a future event I would enter, merely with the hope of cycling around like a peacock in my orange finery! 

Below is a link to some footage I took back in 2015. I was able to get a tremendous start and you can then see lots of the front runners and riders glide past me.

Link to Nocturne video

Stay safe out there people!!

London pop up cycle lanes for the Brompton user

In the game of Monopoly here in the UK, Park Lane in London has always been one of the two most expensive things to buy and if you are able to put some houses and hotels on it, things get painful if the opposition land on it! The real Park Lane is a rather exclusive but very busy road in London and for a few weeks has a pop-up cycle lane installed.

I have to confess that I would much prefer cycle through Hyde Park which runs more or less parallel to park Lane but it would certainly make me happier about cycling on what can be a very congested road. 

Car traffic in London is supposed to be 75% of what it was before lockdown. I have to say that it has got steadily busier and seems more or less what I remember it to be before people more or less stopped using four wheels for all those weeks. From 4th July I would imagine things will get busier still as more and more businesses open up.

Sadly, plans for a pop-up cycle lane on Oxford Street seem to have come to nothing which I would have liked. I hope that some of these pop-up lanes become more of a permanent fixture however it still seems as if the car is king above all other forms of transport - no matter what politicians say -  which is a shame.

Stay safe out there people!!

Contemplating more Brompton adventures

The Box Hill adventure last Friday was a lovely, lovely ride...perhaps too lovely! There were times on the ride back to Kew Gardens where things felt a little like a night ride to the coast. The season for these rides was set to begin at the start of March and naturally you can guess why they have been abandoned.


The photo below was taken on 6th July last year at 04:22 in the a.m. As we cycled along this quiet country lane the air was fresh but it was still warm enough for short sleeves. No one else apart from us occupied the winding lanes we cycled on. The dawn chorus was in full flurry and a variety of songs could he heard, almost providing a free concert to those crazy enough to be up to hear it.

A little further on, probably less than 10 minutes earlier, we the sun shining though a gap the trees, rendering such a pretty scene we felt compelled to stop, take a few photos and simply stand there watching while we had an impromptu pit stop.

Not long after that we arrived at the base of Ditchling Beacon and even when we had made our ascent the scene that greeted us competed with everything we had seen before.

I do miss this ride and the company of Dr John as we clock up the miles and cycle along chatting away for hours - taking about Brompton bikes, cycling in general, the world and what is going on it it and winding each other up with friendly banter the way friends do. There are no Strava records to beaten, just the simple pleasures of a challenging but highly enjoyable social ride.

So, I now wonder when it would be safe to embark upon such an adventure again? We would need to get on a train bound for London and wear face masks but the time we would leave Brighton, or wherever it was we were leaving from, would be so early it is going to be just us, a couple of other passengers and the driver!

I will have to look into this a little more closely and see when it is feasible to go on another nocturnal adventure.

Stay safe out there people!!