Here's this weeks news & updates....

===

RIDE REPORT

After last week's complete mess, two of the riders who were waiting
for me at Clapham Jct had gone out on their own ride to make the most
of the day and discovered an excellent riverside pub near Surbiton.
When no one volunteered upfront to participate in this week's mystery
ride, I thought it would be good to head back out to this particular
pub and Mike offered to take the reigns. Here's his report...

Eleven riders turned up at the library on a morning that promised good
weather. We set off on a quick route to Richmond park, going past
Wimbledon, through Raynes Park and along the cycle-path that parallels
the A3 to Richmond Park, where we stopped for hot drinks and muffins.
Out of the park and through Richmond, we crossed Richmond bridge and
picked up the north Thames tow path, heading westbound. The sun was
out in a clear blue sky as we leisurely rode alongside other cyclists,
dogs and families to the point where the tow path ends. Using a
selection of quiet-ish ordinary roads & a short section of the A308 we
came past Hampton Court and over the bridge to pick up a
cycle-path/back-streets route to the edge of Surbiton and our
lunch-stop, The Ferry pub.

The weather was good enough to sit outside where we enjoyed good food
from a varied menu at reasonable prices. Everyone seemed to approve of
this pub as a lunch stop. After a leisurely lunch break for over an
hour we set off through Surbiton and onto a cycle-friendly version of
a 'Kingston-by-pass' route through New Malden and back into Raynes
Park. Decision time! Four riders split off to go home whilst the other
seven went up to Wimbledon common for ice-creams and a lazy
lounge-around in the sunshine by the pond. After about 3/4 of an hour
we came down Wimbledon hill and used a quiet back-street route to
return to Pollards Hill, with some riders turning off to take a
quicker route home.

About 30 miles, out for six hours. No pix.

Many thanks to Mike for this ride and to Jill and Phil for assisting.
Without this kind of help, the club would crumble when situations like
this arise. If you feel you can help on future rides, do let me know.

===

GREAT FREERIDING VIDEO

I saw this video just after it was uploaded last week but since then
it's been all over the Twitter social networking site, plugged on the
South London Cyclists forum and featured by CTC in their weekly email,
resulting in over 2 million views. If you've not seen it yet, it's
Danny MacAskill doing some amazing street riding on a stunt bike set
to a great soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

===

ANOTHER CYCLING NEWS WEBSITE

The London Paper, the freesheet that litters the tube during the
hometime rush hour, have jumped onto the cycling bandwagon with a
dedicated news page on their website. Worth bookmarking:

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/topics/cycling

===

NEW RIDES

I need to plan the May rides. They'll hopefully be on the website
during the week. We'll be doing mostly local rides starting from one
of our 3 starting points but discovering some new destinations. If you
know a great destination / pub / cafe / tearoom that you think we're
overlooking, let me know. Needs to be open on Sundays (obviously!) and
suitable for a large onslaught of bicycles.

===

NEXT WEEK

We're joining CTC on the Sunday for one of their countryside rides.
There's no need to be a member of CTC but you will be required to pay
a 50p donation towards the cost of running the Central London Section.
However, as this entitles you to receive the rides list for a year,
it's well worth it. Meet outside the CEX shop at East Croydon station
at 9:30 to partake in the Group Save offer. We're catching the 9:53 to
Horley which arrives at 10:22. Fares could be as low as £3.20 using
Group Save.

Sustrans have a ride on Bank Holiday Monday. Starting at the Beehive
at Gatwick, they're heading up their notorious Route 21, all the way
to Greenwich. The first part to Redhill is great, then it goes a bit
bonkers as it climbs the North Downs and then, at South Norwood
Country Park, turns into one of London's finest cycle routes - the
Waterlink Way. Unfortunately, that's the bit we're intending to miss
out!!. Once we hit the park, the ride will head back towards Pollards
Hill until everyone knows where they are and can make their own way
home. Meet outside the CEX shop at East Croydon station at 8:00 to
partake in the Group Save offer. We're catching the 8:26 to Gatwick
which arrives at 8:40. Fares could be as low as £2.75 using Group
Save.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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