I.O.W. Randonnee

darkhairedlord

I'm in for the isle of white randonnee. Never done this before and wondered what the queues are like for the lymington ferry. Surprised there's not 14 pages of thread on this but I suppose it's not London, no collecting cr@p the day before and its free. I usually only bother to shave weekly so should be able to grow a beard and will keep my mudguards on

littledove44

darkhairedlord wrote:

I'm in for the isle of white randonnee. Never done this before and wondered what the queues are like for the lymington ferry. Surprised there's not 14 pages of thread on this but I suppose it's not London, no collecting cr@p the day before and its free. I usually only bother to shave weekly so should be able to grow a beard and will keep my mudguards on

Steady on there, you are talking about my homeland!

Queues highly unlikely. There are several starting points and Lymington is only one of them. Loads of room on the ferry anyway for bikes. If you are bringing a car you need to book then you have a guaranteed spot.
Leave your mudguards behind. None of us locals use them.

By the way, the Isle of Wight is not flat.

And, if the chain ferry isn't fixed pretty quickly the route will be longer than advertised.

elbowloh

Me and a few friends are "doing" IoW during the second Bank Holiday Weekend in May.

What's preferable, CW or CCW? We might do one of each on the Sunday (Cycling down to Portsmouth from London on Saturday).

dave in swansea

Also from the IoW a long time ago, but on recent trips have not managed much riding.
I would chose anti clockwise, so as to have the prevailing westerly wind behind you when on the exposed south west coast (military road). The northern roads are much more sheltered.
Enjoy yourselves, I keep promising myself more time on the bike when down their, but still too many people to see and too little time.

bikergirl17

I did it last year ... I came through ryde & it wasn't overly crowded but we started rather late, probably 2-3 hours after most. There was a little queue at the chain ferry and I suspect one may have had to wait for a few ferries if arrived during the peak period.

Overall thought it was a lovely day out but nothing spectacular enough to do it again this year. I think if I had been out when there were others on the road it would be better as overall atmosphere was great -- people looking for a good day out, not really concerned about the time in which completed.

phreak

elbowloh wrote:

Me and a few friends are "doing" IoW during the second Bank Holiday Weekend in May.

What's preferable, CW or CCW? We might do one of each on the Sunday (Cycling down to Portsmouth from London on Saturday).

I tend to do anti-clockwise whenever I do it. I don't tend to go in a strict loop however, as I find the road from Ventnor to Bembridge to be awful quality and not very inspiring, so when I get to Ventnor I come back up through the middle of the island to Newport, then head off to Ryde, before going on through Bembridge and back into Cowes over the downs. Makes it around 110km.

darkhairedlord

The Randonnee route is clockwise only this year. Should avoid confusion with riders going all over the place. "official" places limited to 2000.

darkhairedlord

Apparently the chain ferry at cowes will be out of action so I will be forced to use my evel knievel rocket bike..

bianchimoon

Mm doing a circuit of IoW 9 May and was looking at some vids of the Randonee. This guy running red lights at roadworks, overtaking cars queued for a roundabout and going , ignoring a horse rider telling them to slow down. Surprised how serious they take it :roll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39hEcnv1qJ0

darkhairedlord

bianchimoon wrote:

Mm doing a circuit of IoW 9 May and was looking at some vids of the Randonee. This guy running red lights at roadworks, overtaking cars queued for a roundabout and going , ignoring a horse rider telling them to slow down. Surprised how serious they take it :roll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39hEcnv1qJ0

The guy's a menace, just more ammo for the bike haters

darkhairedlord

Best....day....ever....
Ok it was my first visit to the island for 40 years and ride was really good. Perfect weather and the recumbents didn't get in the way too much

littledove44

darkhairedlord wrote:

Best....day....ever....
Ok it was my first visit to the island for 40 years and ride was really good. Perfect weather and the recumbents didn't get in the way too much

Agreed it was great, even enjoyed the ten minute wait for the hundred or so mini motor bikes going the other way round.

darkhairedlord

Yep, saw them while I waited for bro' just after the whitwell stop. I was respondent in my pale blue smurf leg-warmers.

elbowloh

"Did" the IOW on Saturday, nice ride, but feck me it is hilly. Nothing overly taxing on its own, just constant up and down, up and down! Had to do a detour as there had been a landslip somewhere round Blackgang and St Lawarence and there was no longer a road! Lots of condemned houses there all cracked and ready to fall down the cliff.

Got absolutely drenched the day before riding down to Pompey, then across to Totland where we were staying, then again cycling back from Totland to Fishbourne for the ferry.