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

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RIDE REPORT
July's First Saturday Of The Month

9 riders out for the monthly half day ride. There was no fixed route
so it was agreed to head for Dulwich Park. We tried some new
backstreets routes to Streatham Common where they were setting up
their annual festival and then carried on picking various bits from
the map as we went along, taking us through Norbury Park (not the one
near Norbury Station but near Gipsy Hill) and on towards Dulwich
Village. The return involved a steady climb up to Crystal Palace and
then a huge downhill sweep that takes you virtually all the way back
without pedalling!

Come and join us next month. We go at the same pace as a normal ride
but we stay local and try to find interesting routes or interesting
places to go to.

Some pix:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157621002556582
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc056

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RIDE REPORT
Jubilee Greenway 05/07/09

A sunny flat city ride organised jointly with Bromley Cyclists meant
we were always going to get a good turnout. 36 riders turned up at
Victoria which is about the maximum we can cope with whilst keeping
the ride comfortable. We're very well drilled in the mechanics of
keeping the group together and that means we can generally keep moving
without having to constantly wait at every junction.

The route is under-publicised and unsigned but aims to link all 9
London Olympic venues together using a series of parks and waterways.
The official launch, which slipped under my radar, was at the end of
April when HRH The Duke Of Gloucester rode part of the route. I'd
downloaded the 36 page instruction guide to finding the way around but
was glad of some help from one rider who'd already tried the route a
few weeks back, especially trying to get on and off the canals.

Because we'd started at Victoria, we rode past Buckingham Palace and
up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park, using its cycle paths all the way
to Kensington Gardens. We accessed the canal network near Paddington
and into Little Venice, a route that has quite a large No Cycling
section. We ignored that because there weren't many people around.
What we couldn't ignore was the fact that the route drops you into a
one-way street which you need to go up the wrong way. That was quite a
serious failing. Then, once back on the canal network at Lisson Grove,
we had to get off and walk past all the moored boats although that did
give you chance to see their cute little gardens on the towpath. We
finally got to legally ride a section of towpath as we went past some
amazing villas on the south side (it's said the Sultan of Brunei owns
one) and past London Zoo where you can see some of the animals,
although the path was very busy with pedestrians. By this time, we
were ready for elevenses so we diverted into Regents Park.

There are a choice of cafes in Regent Park but we chose the Honest
Sausage as they serve fairly quickly and have a lot of seats, although
toilets are a cycle ride away. The park offers little in the way of
cycling provision but the Broad Walk (clue in the name!) is still
undergoing its 'cycle trial' whereby bikes are allowed on if you don't
exceed 5mph. As most people walk at 4mph, this is clearly ridiculous.
However, it does demonstrate the Royal Park's poor attitude to
cycling. To demonstrate our contempt, we rode at double the speed
limit!

A short section of canal takes you to Camden Lock where you need to
dismount and pick your way through the punks, goths and tourists to
swap sides and then swap back again. As soon as we were free of the
market, the towpath became much quieter. We admired St Pancras lock
with it's pretty gardens and the exclusive canalside developments at
Kings Cross. You have to leave the canal as it disappears into the
Islington tunnel and so we regrouped on the road and after a short
gap, news filtered through that a passing cyclist had fallen into the
canal and had to be hauled out by several of our group. She was
unpeturbed about her and the bike going right in but annoyed that a
book in her panniers had got wet. An awkward join between the concrete
and the grass had caused her wheel to stick and thrown her in. We'll
email British Waterways and ask them to look at that section.

The fussy section through Islington back to the canal required us to
walk the bikes. As soon as we were back on the towpath, the crowds
died down again and we had a fairly free ride all the way to Victoria
Park. However, it was now 1pm and we'd only covered 12 miles in 3.5
hours due to constant dismounting and negotiating pedestrians. We
decided to split the group so some ate at the Victoria Park's Pavilion
cafe, some picnicked under a tree and others went to the Royal Inn On
The Park pub. A long wait for food at the park cafe was worth it
whilst the pub served quickly but not all diners were happy with
portion sizes or the cost of a pint.

After lunch, to speed things up, we stayed in the park instead of
getting back on the towpath and rode down to the Greenway, a long
traffic-free route on top of the Northern Outfall sewer pipe. Almost
instantly, you ride past the Olympic stadium which is looking
reasonably well advanced. In the distance, the velodrome is still just
a steel shell. A tyre blow-out gave us an extra 10 minutes to study
the Olympic Park progress.

Once off the Greenway, we followed the Capital Ring through parks all
the way to Cypress DLR and the University Of East London before
crossing the docks and picking up the riverside path to the free
Woolwich Ferry where we crossed the Thames. This was an event. Some
had never been on before, others hadn't been on for years. It's just a
5 minute crossing but it's nice that cyclists get priority for getting
on and off the boat. Time had dragged on so we decided to retire to
nearby Firepower before it shut at 5pm. Normally, a ride this length
would be over by this point but we'd only done 20 miles. The sheer
size of our group, the constant walking and the overall slow pace on
the towpath had cost us most of the day. We decided that everyone
would ride the river path to Greenwich where the ride would splinter.

This section of the Thames Path has featured on a lot of our rides,
around the O2 Dome where Madonna had about 36 trucks parked outside
waiting to shift her gear to the next venue. It gets very narrow in
places but there's rarely many people using it. It ends with a
magnificent new section through the grounds of the Naval College. At
Cutty Sark gardens (where's the boat gone!), some rode off towards the
Waterlink Way to return to Croydon, some went to Bromley, a contingent
jumped the train to Charing Cross to end the ride earlier whilst the
remainder carried on along the Thames Path.

Our longest ever day with some riders out for 9hrs. Nearly 40 miles.
See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157620873093215
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc057

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MORE GROUP RIDING TIPS

When we're regrouping, we need to be really careful that we're not
blocking paths or roads. I think where we go wrong sometimes is that
the leader pulls up in a place that can only accommodate a portion of
the group, simply because there isn't room for everyone. Don't follow
blindly, think carefully about where you can pull up. If we block the
road, we simply annoy pedestrians or motorists unnecessarily.

You will often hear a shout from the front about glass or potholes.
Please make sure you pass this along the group so that everyone
benefits. When we're in the countryside, there will sometimes be a
'car up' (from behind) or 'car down' (coming towards you) shout. This
is the signal for everyone to fall in line single file. We don't need
that shout on a road that has a lot of traffic because we expect cars,
only on the quiet roads where riders have drifted to the right or are
two abreast.

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MECHANICS

On the way back from the First Saturday ride, I broke a spoke and in
turn, blew my tyre and buckled the wheel. I fitted my spare tube but
the bike wasn't rideable because of the buckle so I caught a train
home. Because I needed it for the following day, instead of going to a
bike shop, I simply rang one of the friendly mechanics listed on our
website, dropped the wheel round and it was fixed within the hour for
£12. Do remember these guys next time you need some work doing. You'll
undoubtedly recognise them from our rides as we've invariably got a
mechanic on most outings.

I'd advise all those going to Bristol on the coach trip to get their
bikes serviced before we go as it's a long walk home if you miss the
coach back due to a mechanical breakdown. You should also pick all the
sharp bits out of your tyres the day before to minimise the
possibility of punctures. Those sharp bits keep working their way in
until eventually they pierce the tube. A small screwdriver will pick
them out.

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WEBSITE

The website is now firmly ensconced in its new home. However, some are
having problems seeing it because the old one is still displaying. You
need to hit your Refresh button, possibly with the shift key down or
in extreme circumstances, empty the browser's cache. The current ride
should be next week's.

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NEXT WEEK

We're going to ride the upgraded Hogsmill River Path. Never far from
home, lunch will be at the pretty Cricketers pub on Epsom Common. Lots
of nice offroad tracks on good surfaces including some good new
routes. Plus at 25 miles, it's going to give us time to enjoy the
scenery. One big hill in the afternoon. Departing Westcroft Leisure
Centre in Carshalton at 9:30am. Details on how to find it are on the
website.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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