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

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RIDE REPORT
Windsor Explore 17/01/09

22 riders made their way to Windsor & Eton Riverside station, mostly
on the same train from Clapham Jct but a few adventurous souls had
ridden from home. A slight delay on departing (latecomers, toilet stop
at the posh public loos etc) meant we were pushed for time before we
even started so I skipped the loop of Eton, figuring we could do it
later if we had time before the train leaves.

There's a nice Sustrans' route from the centre of Windsor into the
Great Park. A series of quiet residential streets leads to a traffic
free path which takes you straight to the Rangers gate. We had a brief
stop at the village green inside the park, home to the estate workers
and looking like any other picture postcard village, except that the
public can't drive anywhere near it. Then we stopped off at the top of
the Long Walk, a dead straight 2 mile long path laid out by Charles II
leading straight to Windsor Castle. It'd make a great ride but cycles
are forbidden "ridden or otherwise" which presumably means you can't
even walk your bike. Nice one, Royal Parks.

There are huge gates on the roads in the parks which can be bypassed
by pedestrians but cyclists need to reach up for a button on a pole
designed for horse riders. Small or disabled riders would be a bit
stuck as they'd never be able to reach. We left the park and
freewheeled down Crimp Hill to Prince Charles' tea room at Home park
farm shop (I'm not entirely sure it's run by Charlie but it sells a
lot of Duchy products). As we'd arrived much later than I anticipated,
we decided to have early lunch and use the pub as an afternoon stop.
They only offer light lunches and ran out of baked potatoes half way
through serving us but everybody managed to get something to eat.

We climbed to the top of Priest Hill to see the Air Forces Memorial, a
huge white building dedicated to the 20,000 airmen who lost their
lives in the war but don't have graves. I'd hoped you could see the
Runnymede memorials below but the view is blocked by trees. They both
commemorate the Magna Carta which was signed in the meadow by the
Thames. The route down was disappointingly on a soft off-road surface
but that's the risk you take when you're following a Sustrans route.

A clever shortcut along Trumps Mill Lane didn't quite work out when,
instead of finding a T-junction, the road we needed was about 40ft
above us. We walked up a dirt path that hairpinned its way to the top
to rejoin the route. Ignoring the private road signs, we diverted
through the famous Wentworth golf course which brought us out at the
pub we had originally intended for lunch. Although it was
mid-afternoon, it was packed with diners. However, the manageress was
friendly and found seats inside for those who wanted to stay out of
the cold. Next time we'll hit the pub early and go to the tea room in
the afternoon.

I wasn't sure if we could actually cycle around Virginia Water, the
giant lake at the south end of the Great Park but even though it was
packed with families, we were able to very slowly pick our way
through. We followed the families past the huge totem pole, through
the Savill Gardens and then back onto the quiet park roads. Then we
went up past the oddly pink castle and down the hill to the estate
worker's village to exit through the Rangers Gate and back into
Windsor along the same route we used in the morning.

Arriving back at the station, we'd missed the train by one minute so
several of us did a lightening quick tour of Eton in the fading light.
The entire hamlet is dominated by the school at the one end and art
galleries at the Windsor end. That killed 20 minutes and the next
train was waiting for us when we returned.

Out for 6.5hrs plus travel time, 29 miles. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157612674734509
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc028

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PRESS COVERAGE

We had a nice spread in the Surrey Comet and Wimbledon Guardian. For
those that didn't see it, there's a scan here:

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk/press_jan09.jpg

It does imply that we only do two rides but other than that, it's
fantastic coverage. I can't tell if many people have visited the
website as a result because there's no real increase in the page
views. For those interested, on average we get over 500 new visitors
each month and nearly 300 return visits and between them they view a
total of just under 1900 pages.

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MURALS DOCUMENT

Many couldn't download the Murals document from last week. Try this new link:

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk/londonmuralsride.pdf

It's an A4 page with some background on each of the sites we visited.

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ST MARK'S ACADEMY

I've received an email from Alastair Findlay, one of British Cycling's
Go Ride coaches, to tell me about an exciting development at St Mark's
Academy, the school near the level crossing at Eastfields. A plot of
land adjacent to the school that was previously used for motorsports
has been converted to "singletrack" for the kids to cycle on. It is
intended to turn the area into a full cycling facility with a BMX
track, a MTB trail and a paved area to teach kids to ride. I think
this is a great idea, especially as BMX and Mountain Biking are
Olympic sports and kids coming through now have a fighting chance of
getting good enough to compete in the London games.

The other exciting development is the formation of a cycling club at
Easter. No details but Alastair was asking if anyone wants to get
involved. One of my original hopes for Pollards Hill Cyclists was that
all the local kids might want to come out with us and discover more of
the area. That, of course, hasn't happened and we're now settled into
a pattern of 30 mile day rides instead of the monthly shorter local
rides we used to do. I've suggested that any of the kids who have
passed Level 3 of Bikeability (modern version of Cycling Proficiency)
would be welcome to ride with us if a supervising adult comes along. I
hope that might provide a goal for some of the kids.

If anyone wants to get involved with the school's club, drop me an
email and I'll put you in touch with Alastair.

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SOUTH LONDON CYCLISTS FORUM

It's back for good!! In fact, the whole website has moved to a new
home. Doesn't alter how you access the site but is a better solution
for PHC as the server space has been donated by one of our members.

There are a few responses to the end-of-year poll but plenty of room
for more people to tell us about their favourites from 2008. Please
click through and add your votes.

A good comment has been made following today's train-assist ride. For
future train assists, it would be great if everyone could leave a
message on the forum saying which station they are going from. That
way, today's Clapham Jct riders could have Group Saved and the 2 at
East Croydon could have gone to Wimbledon where there was an option to
make a Group Saving instead of having to pay full price.

http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk

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HANDMADE LADIES CYCLE CLOTHING

http://www.ananichoola.co.uk

This recommended website is run by a local cyclist. Do have a look if
you fancy something that isn't lycra or bright yellow.

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FORTHCOMING RIDES

There's a full programme on the website. Of particular interest is the
ride on Feb 8th. We've negotiated a deal with Evans that will allow
PHC riders to participate in one of their Ride It events for free,
saving the £10 entry fee. It begins and ends at Sandown Park and
coincides with the Triathlon show taking place there. There's also a
try before you buy Gore store and the opportunity to try one the
latest road bikes (although this isn't free). The ride will be
leaderless as you get a map and the route is fully signed. It's not a
race nor is it a charity ride and as there's no pressure to finish,
we'll still be in the pub at lunchtime. As it's such a special deal,
it will only be open to riders who have done at least one PHC during
2008. Anyone else will be welcome to come along but they'll need to
pay the full entry fee. Full details are on the website.

Next week is the first PHC ride starting from Wimbledon. What else
could we do on our first ride apart from the classic ride over
Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park, the Thames Path and down the Wandle
Trail! You can't beat it - quiet, scenic and ever-changing. Lunch at a
riverside pub. Be ready for a 9:30am depart from outside Wimbledon
Station.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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