Here's this week's news & reports....

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RIDE REPORT
Brentford & Syon Park 28/12/08

9 riders for the final PHC ride of 2008 on a bitter cold winter's day.
We headed out to the Wandle Trail through Myrna Close Nature Reserve
for what felt like the first time in ages. On the Trail itself, the
boards are down by the Plough Lane stretch which means you can see the
new flats on the site of the old football ground. No access to the
riverside for residents though as a big steel fence has replaced the
wooden boards. That's a bad planning mistake which will do nothing to
increase the footfall of the Wandle Trail on a part that allegedly
suffers from illegal motorbike use and anti-social activity.

A morning stop at Wimbledon Park cafe saw everyone huddle inside for
warmth. We then returned to the Wandle Trail in King Georges Park, one
of the contenders in Boris's great Park Vote scheme, hoping for a new
riverside path and community cafe if they win. We'll use that cafe a
lot if that becomes a reality (and it's any good). No mention of
whether the riverside path will be shared use for cyclists to benefit
too.

We hit the Thames at the Wandle Delta and crossed at Putney Bridge to
follow the far more interesting northern path to Kew Bridge. Craven
Cottage was gearing up for a football match with fans spilling into
the street. Cyclists need to vary their route on this side of the
river so you're forever losing sight of the water before nipping back
down an alleyway to regain the riverside views. There are some lovely
buildings upstream of Hammersmith as you approach Chiswick.

The researched pub was right in the middle of uninspiring Brentford
and although it has rave reviews for the ales, only offers Thai food.
We passed a Fullers pub opposite the Steam Museum offering 2 for 1 on
Sunday lunch and spur-of-the-moment decided to give that a go instead.
It had the makings of a rough and ready boozer but it's hard to tell
when you're the only customers. Food was passable pub fare but there's
a certain appeal in having the whole place to yourself.

As soon as we were warm, it was time to move on, through historic Syon
Park, past the Duke of Northumberland's substantial gaff and back onto
the riverside at Isleworth, all the way down to Richmond Bridge. The
route had been entirely flat until this point but a small climb up
Richmond Hill wasn't unwelcome as it gave us a chance to warm up. We
rode clockwise round Richmond Park to pick up the traffic-free NCN4
route past the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge with great views
over Penn Ponds. It was pretty chilly up there though!

We opted to avoid a second climb on Wimbledon Common, choosing to head
for Merton Abbey Mills on the A3 parallel cycle route and cutting
through the pretty Merton Park conservation area. A random photo of
the old Merton Park railway station has been drawing-pinned to a
wooden fence beam and covered with polythene. That's one way to
increase local knowledge. After hot drinks at the revamped Abbey Mills
cafe, the ride dispersed along the Wandle Trail.

31 miles, out for 6hrs. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157611783337622
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc024

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SPENDING YOUR CHRISTMAS MONEY?

If you're planing on buying anything from Wiggle or Amazon, don't
forget that you can click through on our affiliate links and it won't
cost you a penny extra but we'll receive a small percentage of the
money you spend. We've already had a cheque from Wiggle but we're yet
to reach the minimum amount for Amazon to pay us anything, despite
quite a few people clicking through and buying stuff. The links are
here:

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk/help.html

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SOUTH LONDON CYCLISTS FORUM

It's still broken. We'll have lost a bit of momentum by the time it
starts working again so do make an effort to use it. Hopefully it'll
be active by the new year.

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NEXT WEEK

For the first Sunday ride of the new year, we'll start from one of our
new starting points, the Westcroft Leisure Centre at Carshalton. This
means we can reach a new destination for lunch - the village green at
Godstone. We'll also be able to try out a new afternoon stop at
Marlpit Lane Park. It's not a flat ride but hills will be minimised as
much as possible. There is, however, a whopping great hill on the way
out and another one coming back. Walk if you don't fancy riding.
Morning stop will be at Fanny's Farm, a quirky collection of farm
buildings popular with cyclists. Be ready for a 9:30am departure from
the car park of the Westcroft Leisure Centre. Map available on the
website. If you found the library at Pollards Hill, you'll easily find
this place!

There are two other rides to mention. Bromley Cyclists have a 20 mile
Christmas ride tomorrow (Monday) but you'll need to transport yourself
to the start. There's a contingent of PHC folks planning on going as
it is being led by Steve who most people will have met on PHC rides.

Next Saturday, I'm leading a CTC 2 star ride from Guildford. This is
at a faster pace than normal PHC rides and it's hilly so think
carefully whether it's right for you. However, if you do fancy it,
meet up at Wimbledon station at 9am for a Group Save ticket buy. We'll
need to watch the pace or we'll get stuck on a forest path in the dark
but anyone who kept up on PHC+ rides will be fine. Monster of a hill
at the start.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk
http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk