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

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RIDE REPORT
The Vanguard Way 06/09/09

It's not often the Ramblers do something for cycling but their long
distance Vanguard Way route from East Croydon station to the coast at
Newhaven links up a nice series of bridleways that we set out to
follow today. It's also not very often that we do a ride that is
mostly suited to mountain bikes but those can came on hybrids or
tourers coped well.

At East Croydon, the route is well signed but we had to make an early
detour to avoid a couple of no cycling passageways but before long we
were shooting down the grassy bank on Lloyd Park heading for a
remarkably early morning stop at the newly refurbished Coach House tea
room in Coombe Wood. It's a vast improvement on the old Pond tea room
and I'd recommend it, especially as it's set in such beautiful Green
Flag grounds.

Although we were barely a couple of miles from central Croydon, the
bridleways now started in earnest. Conduit Lane has acquired a kind of
wood chip surface and lost it's sea of mud. Littleheath Woods gave us
a couple of great descents and a jammed chain. Then it was the
bridleway slotted in amongst the houses at Forestdale and the
impossible steep and imaginatively named Bridle Way to Baker Boy Lane.
Whilst these might sound like roads and they probably were years ago,
they're now dirt tracks and take you right out into the countryside.

We weren't sure how to get out of the beautiful Halliloo Valley,
fearing a murderous ascent on the Vanguard Way's chosen bridleway.
Indeed, it looked pretty fearsome so we cycled past to Southfields
Road which was a more manageable ascent on a mostly tarmac road all
the way to the top of the North Downs, bringing us out on The Ridge,
not far from the lunch stop.

It's been several years since we visited the Botley Hill Farmhouse,
possibly because it's almost the highest point in Greater London and
the thought of the hill up from New Addington is off-putting. However,
we've definitely found an easier way up and it's a worthy destination
with well priced, quality food. There's often live music there but
nothing today.

We needed to alter the route a bit after lunch because the Vanguard
Way switches to footpaths. Instead, we dropped off the Downs on
Pitchfont Lane, a loose byway through the Titsey estate. The mountain
bikes whizzed down but those on thinner tyres needed to take more
care. However, we were all stopped in our tracks by what amounted to a
ford at the bottom, a 1ft deep permanent puddle that required
bypassing on foot.

By now, the signs had run out and a bit of dodgy map reading turfed us
out of Limpsfield Chart onto the pretty High Street rather than
further along the A25. We suffered a bit of the A25 on its cycle path
but couldn't locate the bridleway we were after. Instead, we found the
next one along which dropped through cornfields and presented us with
another bit of orienteering at the bottom until we spotted the route
through Loampit Wood.

A fantastic descent on the tarmac Trevereux Hill bridleway marked the
end of our traffic-free riding as we rode the rural lanes onto the Yew
Tree Way and along to Edenbridge where we'd just missed the hourly
train. We passed the time by scrumping apples from the trees adjacent
to the platform!

25 miles, out for 7hrs plus travelling time. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157622284381106
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc075

More here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezzer/sets/72157622146189295/

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RIDE REPORT
First Saturday Of The Month 05/09/09

Septmber's half day ride had promised a secret destination. I
suspected it wouldn't have sounded as attractive if I'd said we were
going to the 10th floor of a multistory car park in Peckham. What most
riders didn't know was that for the past couple of weeks, there's been
a very trendy 'pop-up' cafe on the top floor. Franks Cafe is part of a
sculpture park that has taken over the top couple of floors of
Peckham's under-used car park and is constructed solely from old
scaffold boards, including the tables and benches.

We'd ridden out on a route that hoped to minimise the hills, skirting
around Streatham towards Dulwich, through the park and down to Peckham
Rye. We seemed to find every closed road in the area but still made
good time, so much so that the cafe wasn't even open when we arrived.
Unfortunately, once the staff had opened the gate, we discovered we
were too early for any food and we didn't have time to hang around
until they were ready. Instead, we just had a drink and checked out
the great view of the London skyline where you could see everything
from Big Ben to the Dome.

On the way back, after the unusual opportunity to ride down the car
park ramps to street level, we stopped off at a fete on Peckham Rye
Common to quickly pick up some food. Then we retraced our steps
through Dulwich Park and tackled the steep traffic-free Low Cross Wood
Lane so we could freewheel the rest of the way back from Crystal
Palace.

I had my camera on the wrong setting so all my pix are blurred. So,
you can see someone else's pix of the cafe on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdodds/sets/72157621584990669

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THE SOUTH LONDON INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED CYCLISTS

Do you ever feel in danger from traffic on the road? Do vehicles pull
out in front of you or cut you up? Did you know there's a way to stop
it? If not, then the South London Institute of Advanced Cyclists could
be for you. It's a brand new venture that I'm proposing setting up
with Steve Watkin. It will take the form of a sociable evening where
we'll discuss tactics for safer cycling and go out on our bikes to try
it. There'll be lots of tips and advice on dealing with traffic,
positioning, your riding skills and route planning, all delivered in a
friendly environment. It's not going to be in a classroom and we won't
be treating people like school children on a course. It'll fun,
relaxed and informative.

We'll limit the evenings to a maximum of 10 people and there'll be a
£10 charge per person. For most people, one evening will be enough to
radically improve your cycling to a degree where you'll be much safer.
Having seen most people on this list ride, I can guarantee that almost
everybody will be able to gain something from the evenings.

In the first instance, I'm looking for expressions of interest. Drop
me a line by hitting Return if you might be interested in coming
along. As an incentive, I'll pick a couple of random names from the
replies who will get the first evening for free. Let me know if
there's anything in particular you'd be looking to gain from such an
evening.

Both myself and Steve are qualified cycle instructors, we're both
qualified ride leaders with British Cycling and we've both got a
wealth of experience to share.

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THE MAYOR OF MERTON'S RIDE

I've been asked to see if anyone is interested in volunteering to
marshall at the mayor's bike ride. This is a new venture and one that
I welcome. The previous mayor's office told me that it was ridiculous
to invite the mayor to come cycling so this is a move in the right
direction. Unfortunately, it's not very adventurous and the council
aren't prepared to enter the details onto their website because that
'costs time and money'. So, all I can tell you is this from an email I
had:

"The fun / quiz ride will be p.m. on 11th October and aimed at
children (8+) accompanied by their parents / carers. The intention is
they will ride part of the Wandle trail from Morden Hall Park (Surrey
Arms entrance) completing a quiz by visiting the national trust at
MHP, Deen City Farm, Merton Abbey Mills plus a few other bits en route
before finishing in Wandle Valley Park, a distance of about 3 miles."

If you want to help out, you'd need to email: roadsafety@...

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LONDON BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL

This year's Bicycle Film Festival takes place between Sept 23 - 27.
Visit their website for the details:
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/?p=london

Anyone who enjoyed the Danny McAskill video might like this one:
http://morvelo.posterous.com/ive-said-it-countless-times

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NEXT WEEK

We've a midweek ride on Wednesday. Details of late summer midweek
rides have been sent out to a separate list of people who expressed an
interest but several new people have joined this list since then.
We're meeting at Mitcham Eastfields station at 9:30am for the the
09:50 train which gets to Elstree & Borehamwood at 10.45am, then we're
going to follow London Cycle Network Route 5 all the way back. It's an
Explorer because we don't know what the northern section is like.
About 25 miles with lunch near Hyde Park (the route is the one that
goes through the park!).

Sunday is the first in our series of PHC Classics. These will be rides
that we've done before and that we feel are as good as they can be.
They're the rides that everyone should try at least once. This one
kicks off along the Wandle Trail, nips into BedZED and then goes
through Beddington Park towards the old lido on Purley Way where we'll
stop off at the garden centre cafe. A maze of quiet residential roads
takes us to the Wandle-Oaks link and up onto the exposed rural plains
of the black weatherboarded Little Woodcote Estate. Lunch is at one of
our favourite pubs, The Mint at Banstead, then it's the best view in
South London as we round Tattenham Corner to reveal the huge expanse
of Epsom Downs. After cakes at Nonsuch Park's Mansion House, we'll
finish with a lovely little stretch of the Wandle Trail that we didn't
do in the morning. 9:30am departure from outside the brand new
Pollards Hill library.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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