Today's news and stuff for the future....

===

RIDE REPORT
Surrey Lanes: A PHC+ Ride 13/01/08

From very early on, I've been asked if PHC could do a longer and
faster ride. I'd never felt it would work so early on in the club's
life. However, when I was asked again on our first ride of 2008, I
finally felt the time was right and so PHC+ was born.

12 turned up to give it a go although one new rider was only joining
us for a few miles before peeling off. Although the rain stayed away
and the weather was mild, the wind was ferocious. You can deal with
the rain if you have the correct clothing but the wind is a cyclists'
worst enemy. It blew against us all the way and made for very hard
work on the legs.

The morning stop was going to be Headley tearooms (if it's still
there?) but a puncture took an age to fix so we pushed on to Rykas,
the Box Hill motorcyclist mecca, for a swift coffee and toilet stop.
The wind had affected our descent of Lodge Bottom Lane by blowing us
back up but when we faced the steep incline of Punchbowl Lane near
Dorking, a couple of riders were completely defeated. I worried that
we'd never make it to the pub but a straw poll revealed a true Dunkirk
spirit to achieve our first PHC+ mission and we soldiered on, finally
getting to the Surrey Oaks at Newdigate at 1pm.

The pub had good food at reasonable prices but a few felt the landlord
was giving us a frosty reception because we hadn't rung ahead. That's
a tricky call on a ride like this as you never know if you're going to
make it to the planned venue or if you'll need to cut short. I'd
prefer to take a chance rather than book tables and not show up. It's
less of a problem on the regular rides as we only once failed to make
our destination (our first trip to Downe was a bit of a disaster...)

Coming back was a different story. We picked up the Surrey Cycleway,
lightly trafficked signposted lanes recommended for cyclists, and the
tailwind blew us along at 20mph with very little effort. Before long,
we were passing Reigate Heath with it's amazing windmill church and
into the town centre. An earlier suggestion to try Wray Lane instead
of riding up the A217 with fast traffic seemed a good idea. Despite a
1950s signpost proclaiming "Dangerous Hill", we chugged up, thinking
we were doing ok until the final push to the top which is really steep
and once again defeated one or two with no low gears.

We caught our breath at the Reigate Hill viewpoint cafe whilst the
wind nearly blew us over. There's a great poster on the noticeboard
that has a picture of the nearby Inglis Memorial and a caption
explaining that the North Downs Way runs through the car park. So many
people just drive up there and sit in their vehicles with a cup of tea
that they've no idea what's around the corner. Imagine how much they'd
see if they got out of their cars and actually got on a bicycle!

After negotiating the M25 junction roundabout and dashing over the
A217 dual carriageway, we got to the final stretch of the ride, a
wind-assisted descent along the Chipstead lanes that lasts for miles,
right into the heart of Carshalton. It was a real highlight and we
felt we'd earned it as the remaining riders picked up the road back
into Mitcham. Tough but we judged it a success. Next one is Feb 24th
when we go along the Pilgrims Way.

45 miles, out for 7.5hrs. Not many pix today because of the wind but
there a few on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157603706772223
or
http://tinyurl.com/2b6q5h

===

POLLARDS HILL BICYCLE FUN DAY

About 100, mostly young, people enjoyed Commonside's Fun Day on
Saturday. I manned a PHC stall, TfL were there collecting pledges for
walking & cycling and PHC-recommended mechanic Ian McCormick was very
busy on the Dr Bike stand. Free healthy food was dished out for lunch
but the biggest hits of the day were the mobile skate & BMX ramps
installed in the car park and Blendavenda, a bicycle powered smoothie
maker.

It was nice to meet a couple of people from this list and we recruited
a few potential riders. I think we'll have a PHC introductory ride at
Easter when the weather improves to try and get more local people
involved again.

===

FREE STUFF

Whilst sorting out the literature for the Fun Day, I came across some
unsold items from the cycle jumble at the original Love Yr Bike. These
have been languishing at the back of a cupboard so if you want any of
the following, just email me:

Metal bottle cage
Bar Ends (used)
Size 4 - 5 Ladies Overshoes
Size 6 - 7 Ladies Overshoes

===

CYCLING FILMS

If, for some unknown reason, you're not riding with us to Bletchingley
on Sun 27th Jan, there's a chance to see The Condor Years at the
Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Details here:
http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/page.pl?l=1196180570

===

Next week is a nice easy amble up the Waterlink Way, one of the best
routes in South London. It's virtually flat for the entire ride (one
hill by the Crystal Palace ground) and we'll be lunching the other
side of the Greenwich foot tunnel at the highly recommended Mudchute
Farm cafe. 9:30 depart from the library.

It's also the 3rd Saturday of the month so there'll be a short
afternoon ride from Beddington Park (in Hackbridge) which will be
suitable for families. Meet from 1:30pm onwards at the park cafe for a
2pm sharp departure. More on: http://www.beddingtonparkcyclerides.com

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189