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

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RIDE REPORT
SkyRide 20/09/09

London's annual mass participation cycle ride is into it's 3rd year.
We've led an official ride up to each one and this year was no
exception. We started with around 25 riders, none of whom had come to
us via the official website but instead all members of this list,
probably because the organisers insist on putting the start down as
Pollards Hill instead of Mitcham. In all honesty, unless you live
there, nobody knows where Pollards Hill is! ;-)

We gained a few more at the Clapham Common morning stop where our
arrival was swiftly followed by the Croydon ride whilst the Lambeth
ride assembled itself, despite the Common not being an official "hub"
this year. I bet the bandstand cafe has never had it so good! We
followed the quiet backstreets London Cycle Network Route 3 all the
way to Lambeth Palace, with all junctions brilliantly held by our
volunteer marshals until it all fell apart at the trickiest roundabout
on the approach to Lambeth Bridge, when two ambulances with sirens
screaming split the group up and left the marshal's stranded on the
wrong side. Fortunately, there are traffic lights so everybody made it
over eventually.

I'd asked for experienced riders planning on coming on this ride to
make themselves known in advance as I didn't want any poorly trained
GLA marshals interfering with our progress. Those that made the effort
to let me know were rewarded with what can only be described as a
backstage pass. There was a small marshal's tent at the top of the
Mall with secure bike parking, free food, drink and goodies and
upmarket toilets in the outside patio area. We also got a free ticket
to the Cycle show at Earl's Court. It also proved to be a great focal
point for group leaders to catch up with other groups.

The tiny 6 mile central circuit of closed streets was packed with
bikes. At least double the official capacity of 50,000 had turned up
which hampered progress around the Mall where all the activities and
food stalls were based. The various vacuous announcers blasted their
banal comments through loud PA systems at strategic points around the
circuit although one did point out TV personality Kelly Brook riding
her stylish city bike with a wicker basket on the front. Drummers and
loud music filled the Embankment underpass and a town crier o'yea'd as
we passed.

We allocated 3hrs for everyone to grab food and do a lap but it was a
slightly reduced group that met up at the back of Downing Street to
return via a quicker route over Chelsea Bridge and through Battersea
Park back to Clapham Common where we tried the rarely open hippy-ish
cafe on Rookery Rd for a change. It's a bit Clapham-expensive and
they'd run out of cakes with the exception of brownies but coffee was
reported to be good. As with most rides, numbers dwindled further
after we'd left until just two headed back to the library.

About 30 miles. Out for 7hrs. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157622294441989
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc077

Here's a bad phone photo of Boris:

http://twitpic.com/ifogs

===

THOUGHTS ON SKYRIDE

I'm passionate about the idea behind Skyride - the mass participation
cycle ride. It's not a London idea. Paris closes a busy road in the
summer to create a beach and has rolling roadblocks for the 15,000
strong Friday night skaters. New York has 3 Summer Street events which
aren't cycle-specific and cater for all forms of non-motorised
transport including those on two feet. Portland's Sunday Parkways
follows on from similar events in San Francisco. Chile has a Ciclovia,
Melbourne has a tiny one - they're everywhere.

However, they're all based on the daddy of them all, the weekly
Ciclovia in Bogota in Columbia. Started way back in 1976, these really
began to take hold when Mayor Enrique Peñalosa started to chip away at
the car culture in the 1990s, starting with the removal of 10,000
on-street car park spaces. It's now regarded as the most advanced city
in the world for public transport, with an amazing 2 million people
taking to the streets for the Ciclovia each week (that's 30% of the
population!)

I can't see a single reason why London cannot follow Bogota's lead.
The entirety of Zone 1 should be shut to motor traffic every summer
Sunday. Why does anyone need a vehicle in that area on Sundays? Need a
delivery? Get a bike to bring it in. Need a taxi? Use a pedicab or a
rickshaw. No bike? The 'velib' hire scheme starts soon with bikes free
for the first 30 minutes. I defy anyone to come up with a decent
reason why you'd need motorised transport outside of the emergency
services. A larger area would decrease the cycle congestion we saw
today AND allow more people to take part. It's the most civilised
event any city could ever hope to have. London needs it.

I've asked Boris twice, once though Mayor's Question Time and once at
at State Of London debate. The answer was the same both times - the
mechanism is there but there needs to be a good reason to do it. That
translates as a big fat No. I've plagued his Twitter account today to
make sure the message isn't forgotten. From next year, these events
should be weekly.

Check out the following info:

Great 10min film about Ciclovia
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/ciclovia

NYC's Summer Streets
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/html/home/home.shtml

Mexico City's Cicloton
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/26/world/fg-mexbike26

If anybody fancies the £450 flight, I'm keen to go to Bogota to
experience Ciclovia firsthand. Let me know if you're interested.

===

SKYRIDES

Some were confused as to Sky's involvement in today, preferring the
old Hovis days when free sandwiches were the order of the day. It's
the Rupert Murdoch Sky of Sky TV fame and they have clearly offered a
bottomless pit of cash to Boris to pay for the infrastructure and
advertising. Those who picked up a goodie bag will have noticed a
flier for the Sky Led-Rides programme which offers a variety of
recreational rides over the summer, some of which are expertly led by
myself and Steve Watkin. Sky are also in the process of putting
together a professional cycle racing team with the aim of winning next
year's Tour de France. Somebody has to pay for it all!

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/skyride/local/events

===

THE SOUTH LONDON INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED CYCLISTS

The first meeting on Tuesday night is now sold out with enough
interest to hold a second meeting very soon. We'll probably try the
next one on a Saturday morning. Email me if you're interested

What is it? A paid-for social event where experienced qualified riders
try to pass on as much information as possible in 2.5hrs. Think the
Reduced Works Of Shakespeare with an hour on a bike! There's no
classroom, no silly compulsory hi-viz tabards, no helmet rules, no
patronising patter and two lifetimes worth of knowledge to tap in to.
There's nothing like it and at the moment, it's an experiment. If it
works (and there's no reason why it won't), we'll look at introducing
themed events and running more evenings. No website yet but hopefully
there will be when it launches to the wider world.

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BALHAM CYCLIST SETS WORLD RECORD

Congratulations to James Bowthorpe from Balham who arrived back at
Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon, 18,000 miles and 150 days after he
left, smashing Mark Beaumont's recently set Round The World cycle
record by an astonishing 20 days. Maybe he'll fancy a 30 mile
'warm-down' ride next Sunday!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/cycling/article6840678.ece

http://www.globecycle.org

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THE ULTIMATE FOLDING BIKE

http://www.toxel.com/tech/2009/09/20/cool-portable-bicycle-concept

Note the comment about getting off it when it stops!!

===

NEXT WEEK

Sunday's ride starts at the newly re-opened Pollards Hill library (new
cafe disappointingly not open on Sundays...) and follows a new route
out to Chislehurst, via Peckham Rye Common. We'll aim to lunch at the
pub near the station but if anyone is interested, the caves are around
the corner and depending on our arrival time, you might have time for
the recommended guided tour. It takes about 40 minutes so if you're
hoping to do this, please bring sandwiches as you won't have time to
do that and get a pub lunch. The route isn't flat but there aren't any
mountains.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk
http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk (use it or lose it!!)