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

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RIDE REPORT
Birthday Cake Ride 26/07/09

Weather warnings across the country had spared the South East and the
11 riders who joined the Dorking bound train at Mitcham Eastfields
anticipated sunshine and showers. Mitcham Eastfields is unmanned on a
Sunday and we couldn't therefore purchase Group Saver tickets.
Unfortunately neither could the ticket machines dispense Permit to
Travel tickets. Pressing the information button gets no response
except a few mute buzzes. On arrival at Dorking, the official in the
ticket office joked about the fact that the ticket office at Mitcham
Eastfields won an award - and as they are only open for a few hours
each morning, it was quite galling for him. We didn't leave Dorking
until about 10:30 as the train was a few minutes late and also the
single toilet was in need by most of the group. Two more joined us and
we headed out towards our first cake stop of the day at Shere.

Two missed turnings early on meant retracing our steps but soon we
were on the Pilgrim's Way and climbing towards a great view over the
village of Westcott and the surrounding valley. A few riders had
difficulty with the loose gravel path but most enjoyed the long
descent down to Hole Hill. Here we pick up the cycle route into
Abinger Hammer and again some riders found some sandy narrow stretches
difficult and slow going. Crossing over the busy A25 we joined the
farm tracks through Gomshall into the picturesque village of Shere.
Shere is the self-style prettiest village in Surrey and has had many
so called 'chick-flick' movies made here (such as Holiday, Wedding
Date and Bridget Jones) but also the 1965 Sci-Fi/Horror classic, The
Earth Dies Screaming. We located the Village hall which hosts a twice
monthly quaint Antique market and more importantly refreshments
including home-made cakes. Only a small selection but most welcome.

We headed south towards Peaslake and then from there the longest climb
of the ride up to Holmsbury Hill. All riders managed this quite
comfortably and then enjoyed a long winding descent the other side to
join the Ockley Road towards Forest Green. It was 1:15pm when we
arrived at Forest Green and a decision was sought to whether we headed
on towards our preferred lunch stop of The Crown at Capel or to go to
the more up-market Parrot Inn on the green. We phoned The Crown and
decided to head into Capel.

Capel was a thriving Quaker community in the 17th and 18th Century and
still has a Friends Meeting House as one of it's most prominent
buildings. More prominently for us was the Crown pub. Food was
generous and cheap although the only real vegetarian option was
'off'(no mushrooms for the Mushroom Stroganoff!). After a good
refuelling we headed off towards Newdigate. With the bulk of any hill
climbing now behind us we made good progress through Newdigate and
Parkgate where one rider left. Unfortunately rain had started during
lunch and waterproofs were needed most of the way towards our final
cake stop of the day at Brockham.

Famous for it's Guy Fawkes bonfire and fireworks Brockham with the
river Mole running through it is only a very short distance from
Dorking and our end point so we relaxed with a great selection of
handmade cakes and fancies. As it was our Birthday ride we even sang
'Happy Birthday' whilst scoffing down the teas and cakes. The old
Coach Road took us traffic free through Betchworth Park golf club and
into Dorking.

Out for 8 and half hours. 32 miles. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezzer/sets/72157621718163867

Report by Jez

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RIDE REPORT
Cycle Bingo and Birthday BBQ 25/07/09

15 riders pioneered the world's first ever game of Cycle Bingo. And it
worked! Everybody had a different bingo card worn around their necks
for easy access and a pencil in their pocket. We basically used the
bikes as transport to move to various vantage points where numbered
items of interest could be seen. You had to wait for the 'bingo
caller' to read out each number and point to the corresponding item
before you could cross it off your card. The 55 numbered points ranged
from the oft-overlooked terracotta bridge in Beddington Park to the
magnificent Carew Manor to mundane objects such as a postbox.

We had our first winner before we left Beddington Park with a full
line but it was a while before the 2nd prize for all 4 corners was
claimed. Remarkably, we were down to the last 5 numbers leading to
high anticipation before we finally had a full house and an overall
winner. Bars of chocolate were awarded to the first to get a line and
first to get all 4 corners but our overall winner was able to choose
from a variety of donated prizes.

Once the prize was claimed, we rode up to the Stanley Park allotments
for the Carshalton Lavender open day. It was fairly busy with visitors
cutting their own lavender, several stalls selling all manner of
related items and a large temporary distillery on site extracting
lavender oil. It's worth checking this annual event out and we're
happy to support it.

Once back in the park, several more joined us for the Birthday BBQ.
The Friends of Beddington Park had arranged for 3 permanent BBQ stands
to be installed last year. They're very popular and we were lucky to
get one with 2 other parties taking place at the same time. All the
food had been stored on ice whilst we were riding which meant we had
some nice, cool, fresh juice to return to. One person volunteered to
man the BBQ (thanks Paul!) and we sat around to enjoy sausages (meat &
veggie!), burgers, kebabs and fruit parcels.

We awarded a few more prizes from the stash which gave us an
opportunity to recognise a couple of our longest standing members who
have been around since the 3rd PHC ride back in 2005 as well as our
chef. We packed up about 5:30pm.

See the pix on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezzer/sets/72157621700375993

The next social gathering will be at Morden Park (not Morden HALL
Park!) on Aug 31st when we'll have a picnic at the rear of our stall
during the Change 4 Life event. Our next competition will be Cycling
Photo Crossword!! Being devised as I write....

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THE STATE OF THE UNION

We're four years old. We have 387 members on the email list. We are,
without doubt, the largest and most successful leisure rides
organisation in South London, even though some of the racing clubs
such as Addiscombe and Kingston Wheelers have equally impressive
membership numbers.

A lot of people think it's me that runs this club alone but there's a
brilliant support network that often goes unnoticed. At the risk of
missing anyone out, we should all thank the following, without whom,
the club wouldn't exist in its current format:

Jim F, despite not being able to ride with us as often as he used to,
still attends to all our online publicity, submitting the rides to the
LCC rider email list and informing the local papers. Time Out
unfortunately scrapped their leisure section but it was Jim who was
responsible for getting us so much coverage in the magazine.

Jill has been with us since the 3rd ride and is always prepared to
offer to lead rides with Philip when we're stuck or volunteer to help.

John G, Jez, Nick, Jim B and all the others who send me photos as soon
as they get home, which enables me to choose from a huge pool and
upload the pics the same day. They are our biggest selling point and
the speed of delivery is crucial in keeping the interest of those on
the list.

Jim B has a wealth of knowledge of local routes which is invaluable
when planning rides.

Jez hosted our website for several months and helped to get the South
London Cyclists forum up and running.

Special thanks should go out to Suzanne who co-founded the club with
me but now lives in Scotland and to Charlie Philips who worked so
tirelessly in the early days to ensure we had people turning up on the
rides.

Thanks too to everyone who has ever led a ride. We have a very strict
set of guidelines for leading rides to ensure consistency and it isn't
easy to remember all of those points when you've got 30 people on your
rear wheel. We rely on the leaders to continue to present the club in
such a way that everyone is made welcome and the pace is kept
constant.

Sorry if I missed anyone!

Somebody recently asked where the 'club funds' came from as nobody
ever pays to come on a ride. It's a good question. Back in 2006, we
did what can only be termed as 'corporate work', organising Bike Week
for Croydon Council and arranging rides for local organisations such
as church groups. To cover costs, we charged an administration fee and
banked this money. We also won a CLPP grant to do Merton Cycle Quest
amongst other things and delivered under budget which meant we had
another surplus. These days, money comes in from the two affiliate
links we have with Wiggle and Amazon. It's been hard to reach the
minimum amount with Amazon but Wiggle have sent several useful
cheques. Use the links below if you're buying something from either
company:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/default.aspx?cat=cycle&ReferID=POLLARDS
http://tinyurl.com/pollardsamazon

We use club funds to pay for the website hosting, the domain names,
the Flickr account and our 3rd party insurance. It costs us about £150
a year to operate.

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KINGSTON CAFE

Who knows Kingston well? Is there a town centre cafe open on Sunday
mornings that wouldn't mind a bunch of cyclists descending? Let me
know. Otherwise it's going to be expensive Italian coffee at
Carluccios on one of the forthcoming rides!

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FREEWHEEL

This event is now called The Mayor of London's Skyride. It's on Sept
20th but rather painfully, there's still an utterly pointless
registration process. Whilst you're not obliged to register, those who
wish to do so should visit:

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/skyride/london

There are no hubs this year so we don't need to pick up hundreds of
other riders at Clapham Common. Instead, we'll do our own ride there
and back.

I still maintain that this event is too small and should be weekly
through the summer months.

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NEXT WEEK

Those going to Bristol on the sold-out coach trip have had an email
explaining the final details. Robert has offered to lead an ad-hoc
ride from the library, leaving at 9:30am, for those who don't have a
ticket to Bristol.

If all goes well, we may run another Away Day in the next couple of
weeks. Watch this space!

It's also the first Saturday Of The Month so join Jill at Pollards
Hill library at 9:30am for a half day explore of excellent local
routes, finishing at 1pm.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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