The View From Here - a blog

It may be of interest to note that, of that first 100 David Mentioned, 8 are still members.

Big shout out to, in order of joining, to:
Aidan Farrow @aidan
Jim Shaughnessy @ShauNuff
Chris Tsen @ChrisTsen
Steve Knattress @SteveKn
Robert Valdes @RobV
Plus of course Richard May @RichardM David @Sir_Shannonball and me

Some of you who've been here 10 years may remember me leading the B rides before I got a Garmin, so using paper cue sheets. I'd streetview the entire ride the night before - I had a very patient girlfriend - and write the notes, then have them in my hand the entire ride. Over the subsequent years I got a bit better at all that, hopefully helped with some things around the place, then moved to the US so dropped out of the club. Still a member though. Got diagnosed with epilepsy last year so my riding has taken a serious knock, but I'll be an ICC member for life, I'm enormously proud of what we did and what you all continue to do. And sorry for being fussy about the consistency of the kit in so many committee meetings, but I still maintain its importance

Ali and Laura don't ride with us any more, Rob Jones moved to Kent, Jamie moved to Australia. Basically a decade of London, people leave, people go and do other things, but lots of them were extremely vital to building the club

I remember well. Great rides, and you've really undersold the part you played, even when overseas. A true star of our club, thank you!

I think I also spotted @JanV in the 1 year group photo

+ShauNuff - Your role in the development of the club (and of its kit) is impossible to overstate.

Regarding kit, do I recall correctly that you were also involved in/responsible for the infamous Ugly Kit Ride, when members were challenged to come along one Sunday wearing their most ghastly items of club clothing? I am glad that any photos of that episode seem to be absent from +Sir_Shannonball's album.

More generally, good blog, +Sir_Shannonball

Not only was I not involved, I turned up 2 minutes late and you'd all pissed off so I had to do the Radlett Loop alone in rainbow faded kit sponsored by a Belgian plumbing company

Ha! I am very glad that you do not bear grudges. You were spared a sartorial horror show.

As you well know my grudge holding is borderline unparalleled, and I love awful retro kit

Love the photos of the first club run. I was riding the same bike that I will be riding this coming Sunday, which is not bad for longevity (the bike, not me).

Thanks @Sir_Shannonball - great blog and pcitures. Here are details of our plans to recreate that very first ride on Friday 28th April, 10 years to the day after it took place.

Our official ride celebrating 10 years of ICC will be our club outing to Brighton on Sunday 23rd April.

So, I had a great catch up with Jordan yesterday and he solved one of the ongoing mysteries of Islington Cycling Club. Where exactly did the colour palette for our kit come from?

This has remained a closely guarded secret, until now. Many had thought, because of the green, it came from the Islington Council branding, which at the time included a swoosh with two greens in it. But you'd be wrong.

Jordan put these colours forward because they were on his favourite calculator - the Rockwell Financier 204 Minus .

Well, now you know!

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Never would have guessed. I'm an accountant and I don't have a favourite calculator!

David @Sir_Shannonball please pass on to Jordan on our invite to our anniversary rides.

And here's one more very early days club ride at the rest stop in Whetstone.

+RichardM +ShauNuff and +AndrewCass are there - can anyone name the others?

I recognise Claire front right, the guy behind Andrew was a scouser named Ben if I remember rightly. It's not Luke up front left is it?

@ShauNuff - that looks like Luke, but also looks a lot older than Luke back then.

Actually it's the bloke who came on our first few rides who worked at Evans maybe?

+ShauNuff I can almost taste their toasted panettone served with lashings of butter. They had a special deal - £2.50 for coffee and panettone.

Followed by the sad realisation you still had 10km to go to get home

I've really enjoyed reading this. I looked back to see if I had any pics from the early days, but the oldest I have are all from the club's second year;
@Sir_Shannonball in the 2014 Hardriders
Me at Hog Hill
The Way of the Roses near York

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This photo of the group that set out on this ride - 19th May 2013. (I only have this and the cafe photo).

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+Aidan thanks for these - a bit of a teaser for Part 3.

Can't resist another Rockwell Financier 204 Minus image - after all, cycling is a numbers game, as someone once said.

This is me and Richard on a very early ride, but it might be a couple of years in

Edit: yeah that's the second round of kit. Not sure how I've made such a terrible mess of posting it. I have another from the same day of me getting dropped badly but can't find it

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A search on the forum unearthed the "Photos of ourselves in action" thread (in Club Matters) from mid-2014.
It includes a number of photos from the first year, including those below.

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