Here's this week's news and updates.....

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RIDE REPORT
A Morning On The London To Brighton Ride 21/06/09

18 riders met up this morning in Carshalton with the avowed intention
to hijack the popular London to Brighton charity ride. With 27,000
official entrants and about half as many again tagging along, it's the
biggest mass participation ride in the UK. The plan was to sample the
atmosphere and then veer off to enjoy our own circular ride. We
concocted a plan to meet up at the Chipstead refreshment point if we
separated but set off intending to ride together.

Because of the sheer volume of numbers, the ride uses proper roads
whereas we would normally cut through parks and up alleyways. I
wondered if the relentless climbing from Carshalton Ponds to
Woodmansterne would have a detrimental effect on our riders but I can
honestly say that I barely noticed the climb, simply because of the
amount of riders pedalling along at a sensible social pace carried you
along. Even so, the descent on Rectory Lane was still welcome,
especially as it was closed to motor traffic which meant you could
ride on the wrong side for fun!

How Lane is a notorious bottleneck on the ride and we'd advised prior
that this would be the case. It's the first narrow country lane and
it's a bit of a climb so everyone, without fail, has to dismount and
walk. A couple of riders bypassed this section but I felt it was part
of the whole experience and most of us walked up, all the way to the
top of the Chipstead ridge and onto the pre-arranged meeting point
where we planned our attack on Fanny's Farm for elevenses.

Fanny was having the best day of the year, serving sandwiches, bread
puddings and teas to hundreds of cyclists, most of whom didn't noticed
her excellent kitchen garden and treehouse. We parked the bikes by the
Vietnamese pot bellied pigs and plotted our escape from the charity
ride madness and onto Godstone for lunch, by turning left at the
bottom of the lane instead of following the thousands going right.

Although it was a relief to be away from the hectic charity ride, it
was disappointing to be back amongst the cars although fortunately
we'd chosen a very lightly trafficked route that crossed the motorways
a couple of times in the shadow of the North Downs. A puncture on a
picturesque corner of Sustrans' NCN21 route meant we had to slightly
curtail the planned route due to time constraints but no problem as
we'd already enjoyed some great lanes and a stretch of sandy but
passable bridleway through a field.

The board outside the Hare and Hounds at Godstone was attempting to
drum up business for Fathers' Day but we'd rung ahead. Fortunately, it
seems the fathers of Godstone had been taken elsewhere so we pretty
much had the pub to ourselves. Food is great and good value but a huge
gap between the first two meals coming out and the remainder had some
starting to worry.

The unfortunate reality of dropping off the North Downs is that you
have to find a way back up them. We tempered the climb by starting
with a scenic ride past the Bay Pond up to the village church. But
then the climb started, a mile of tough uphill, our own version of
Ditchling Beacon. Some walked, some rode but we all rested at the top.
And then one rode back down again without saying a word. Looking for a
rider presumed missing but actually resting with everyone else!

The benefits of the climb were the views, either across the Weald to
the South Downs on our right or a very distant London skyline to our
left. We stayed on the ridge as long as possible, using the cycle path
alongside the B269 before a very welcome descent towards the afternoon
tea stop. I did forget about one small climb after promising it was
all downhill but short and sharp was achievable, especially as we were
heading to Farleigh's medieval church for the traditional summer
Sunday afternoon teas.

it was such a good idea that all the locals had piled in before us and
used up virtually all of the outdoor seating. There was a worry that
the cakes might be running out but the church ladies had excelled
themselves with a never-ending supply of wonderful homemade fayre, to
the extent that it seemed bad manners to pick just one variety,
although the suggestion by one church volunteer that I go for
"thirds", was a step too far.

A slight retracing of steps saw us tackle the wretched High Hill Road
bridleway but if you know what's coming, it isn't too bad. Plus it
leads to Featherbed Lane and two miles of gentle downhill, leaving
only Gravel Hill to be tackled on the cycle path before the ride
started splintering. Those who made it back to Carshalton had 33 miles
on the clock.

Out for 8hrs. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157620116043790
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc052

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TRAIN DATA FOR CTC

Next week is our first train assisted ride since South West Trains
unceremoniously kicked 13 riders off a train because we had exceeded
the official limit for bikes. Today, Southern had banned bikes from
their entire network all morning and all day for any part near the
South coast for fear of having to deal with the London to Brighton
charity ride. Obviously that's unacceptable to any sane person and so
I took up the matter with CTC. Since then, they have already made
headways into a resolution with SWT now having a system in place to
allow a greater number of cycles on services from Brockenhurst in the
New Forest.

A couple of volunteers have offered to collect next week's data. We
are noting how many bikes we squeeze onto the train, the numbers of
carriages and how busy it is. This will be used to eventually
demonstrate that the '4 bikes per train' rule is pointless because
staff are regularly dealing with much larger numbers from the weekend
leisure market. With a bit of luck, the train companies will be forced
to rethink their policies.

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NEXT WEEK

Laurence is offering another ride that hijacks a charity event, this
time the Capital to Coast that links Thames Ditton with Hove, a sort
of funky, alternative London to Brighton. We'll be jumping the train
to Horley where the ride will start on Sustrans' NCN21, passing the
Beehive at Gatwick and on towards the South Downs where Devils Dyke
will play the part of Ditchling Beacon. Then it's a nice descent into
Brighton for chips on the beach. Mileage will be somewhere under 40
miles. Meet outside the CEX shop at East Croydon station before 9am
for the Group Save ticket buy. Tickets as low as £6.50. We're getting
off at Horley but buy a return to Brighton. We'll be catching the
9:18am which arrives at Horley at 9:38am. Don't be late for the ticket
buy because there are often long queues at East Croydon. Expect to be
back a bit later than normal.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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