Here's this week's news and reports including the missing report from
last week where the group found a very interesting new cafe. Every
ride really is a mini-adventure!

===

RIDE REPORT
The Mad Ride Pt2 22/11/09

There were 7 brave souls with their bikes at the leisure centre this
morning, almost all of whom had withstood a light shower on their way
to Carshalton. It wasn't raining as we set off but we were wary of the
fact that it would get dark (whatever the weather) by just after 4pm.
We initially detoured via the Barclays cashpoint in Carshalton. Once
we'd got back onto the planned route, we followed it all the way to
Orchard Hill. The path around Stanley Park Rec Ground has 3 zig-zag
barriers where one rider, trying to get the hang of some new clipless
pedals, shrieked and she fell off! No damage done so we kept going.

The Orchard Hill site has 24/7 security, but I told the guy at the
little hut at the entrance that we were going to the Banstead Mobility
Centre which he seemed to think was ok (Banstead Mobility Centre is
about the only part of the site which is still operating [so a bit of
local knowledge helps ?!], but even that is closed on Sundays!). We
pedalled around the mostly flattened site, passing the mobility centre
on the way out. We'd just stopped at the top of the site when a
security guard in a van came past but he also seemed pacified by the
Mobility Centre excuse! It's being cleared to make way for the new
£38m Stanley Park high school.

We followed the planned route as far as Fairlawn Road by Banstead
prisons whose buildings formerly housed the local asylum. I gave the
rider some details about the Banstead asylums, mainly dates of
operation, plus the tale of Vincent Crane from the the early 70s band
Atomic Rooster who wrote a song about it after being forcibly admitted
by the band's manager. It was starting to rain so we didn't bother
with the short muddy path between Fairlawn Rd and Highdown Lane to
look at the prison entrance and just headed down Downs Rd, past the
Royal Marsden hospital on our way to Belmont.

There's not much to see at the site of the Belmont Asylum, but the
drizzle had stopped again, so we paused for some history about Belmont
(which was a school, asylum, workhouse, POW camp and psychiatric
hospital in its 130 year life). The housing on the Belmont site seems
to have been built by a Kentish house-building firm(?), as there is a
Kent theme to the road names (Sevenoaks, Cudham, Westerham, Riverhead,
Chiddingstone and Brasted)!?! This is followed by a royal palaces
housing development, in Buckingham Court, Sandringham Court and
Balmoral Way.

We rolled down the hills on the planned route to Cheam and, forced
along the A232 by the roadworks, we went onto the A232 for about 150m
before turning right into Nonsuch Park. We got to the cafe there in
good time for elevenses. Unfortunately, the rain didn't seem to be
stopping after our break or even easing up, so we decided not to head
further from home and try to get to ANY of the Epsom cluster of former
asylum sites and abandon the ride. About one minute after the first
couple of riders headed out for Cheam station to catch a train home,
the rain became torrential for 2-3 mins. When the it had almost
stopped again and the remaining riders were getting cold so we set off
too.

See some pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157622731403247
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc086

Report by Jim

===

RIDE REPORT
Jubilee Greenway 15/11/09

After 'The Worst Two Days of Rain Since Records Began' - From The Sun,
the day began with clear blue skies and three riders met at Mitcham
Eastfields station for the short journey to Victoria. The trains were
already backed up due to a broken down train but we got into Victoria
only a few minutes late. We were joined at the Victoria station
concourse by 7 other riders for a total of 10.

Leaving Victoria station we headed towards the Thames via Horseferry
Road and crossed the river at Lambeth Bridge heading past Lambeth
Palace and St.Thomas' Hospital using Sustrans' Route NCN4. Tucking
behind County Hall and past the London Eye at Jubilee Gardens. We had
to briefly dismount to circumnavigate roadworks on Upper Ground before
Blackfriars bridge. Crossing Blackfriars Rd, we go down the strange
mid-road fenced cycle lane before a short stretch on a busy Southwark
St then around the back of Tate Modern and the Globe before passing
The Clink and Golden Hinde. Past Southwark Cathedral and under London
Bridge towards the river. Here the leader realises he has a soggy back
tyre and we decamp on the Thames Path to fix the first of five (5)
punctures. A new inner tube is applied and we soon head off. We head
through Rotherhithe towards our first scheduled sustenance stop at
Surrey Docks Farm.

Unfortunately the farm was closed 'due to unforeseen circumstances' -
(It's unfortunately lack of trade - Mark). A suggestion that we go to
the Wetherrspoon's in Greenwich was approved and we quickly head off
over Greenland Dock and towards Greenwich past Deptford Wharf.
Arriving at The Clock Gate Weatherspoon's we sat outside in the Autumn
sunshine whilst puncture number two was mended (same wheel). After a
short stop for teas, coffees, a few beers and a sausage sandwich were
consumed we headed out through historic Greenwich past the Naval
College.

At Greenwich NCN4 joins with NCN1 and we carry on this hugging the
Thames. We avoid the narrow Thameside path around the O2 and go
through the Millennium park alongside The David Beckham Football
Academy. Past the impressive Thames barrier and then onto the Woolwich
Ferry. First time crossing for a few people and slightly unnerving as
we are packed up against a juggernaut. Third puncture (same wheel!!)
is noticed but we are not far off the lunchtime pub stop so just pump
up the tyre and on the North Bank we trundle along the wilds of
Factory Rd in Silvertown. Over the docks towards The Fox at Connaught
for food and drinks where we sit outside in the glorious sunshine. The
puncture is given much more attention this time and a small shard of
glass is found which seems to have caused the slow punctures.

After lunch which seemed to be universally approved and at it's usual
breakneck speedy delivery we head off along Royal Albert Dock. The
leader forgets the turn off and we come to a complete dead-end luckily
only a few hundred yards further on than the bridge over the road and
into Beckton Park. One rider slips off his bike unbelievably in
exactly the same spot where a PHC rider took a tumble last year.
Fortunately the rider is okay and we proceed to Beckton. Here another
puncture is detected and and we stop to deal with it before
negotiating the convoluted cycle path around the former ski slope and
under the Newham Way. Here we join the Greenway (or Northern Outfall
Sewer path) and from here on we negotiate a series of pointless
barriers each time the path meets a road.

One of the highlights of the Greenway - apart from being traffic free
- is the view of the 2012 Olympics site. Of course we hadn't realised
that due to this massive construction that part of the Greenway is
closed and we followed the alternative route rejoining the path at a
new cafe at the View Tube
(http://www.ltgdc.org.uk/news/news_releases/a_constantly_changing_view.aspx)
overlooking the massive construction site. This cafe had only been
open for six days and was a great find with real coffee and handmade
cakes. Due to the clear blue skies it was still light when we left the
cafe and we followed the Greenway into Victoria Park in Hackney. We
take the Canal Path and shortly afterwards our fifth and final
puncture is called. Lights are on by this time but due to expert
bikemanship the tyre is refitted quickly. The intention was to come
off the Canal at Kingsland Rd and head through the City. Due to the
fading light this was missed and we carried on to Angel and over City
Rd through Barbican and on to Smithfield market area.

Here it was a quick ride down Fleet Street and The Strand, round
Trafalgar Square and down the Mall. A few riders left to go to
Waterloo and another few at Charing Cross.  We arrived at Victoria
soon after and the day's ride was done.

Out for 8 and a half hours - 32.5 miles. There are a couple of pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157622849180706
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc085

Report by Jezzer

Thanks to Jezzer for leading this ride. Jezzer is doing a charity bike
ride in aid of MAG (The Mines Advisory Group) in February through
Vietnam and Cambodia - it is a very worthy cause and if you wish to
donate or find out more please go to
http://www.justgiving.com/jezzer-cambodia.

===

NEXT WEEK

There are still folks who haven't ridden the Waterlink Way. On Sunday,
you'll have another opportunity to try this mostly flat, mostly
traffic free, mostly tarmac, clever route through parks and alongside
rivers from South Norwood Country Park to Greenwich. We'll carry on
towards the Dome and lunch at the isolated Pilot Inn. We could have
lunched at the Dome but they're notoriously anti-cycling and won't
allow bikes anywhere near the place. 9:30am departure from outside
Pollards Hill library.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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

Whilst we're waiting on news on last weekend's ride, here's some info
on what's happening next weekend:

===

SATURDAY - BEDDINGTON PARK CYCLE RIDES

It's the 3rd Saturday of the month so why not join the CTC's steadily
paced afternoon ride leaving the cafe in Beddington Park (near
Hackbridge station) at 2pm? It's always an intricate maze of clever,
lightly trafficked local routes to a cafe and back. Bring lights.

===

SUNDAY - THE MAD RIDE Pt2

Before I tell you about this ride, please note it starts in
CARSHALTON!!! Hopefully that will stop people going to the wrong
starting point.

Today's ride continues the theme of visiting the impressive Victorian
asylums, described by Enoch Powell in his famous "Water Tower" speech
as "isolated, majestic, imperious, brooded over by the gigantic
water-tower and chimney combined, rising unmistakable and daunting out
of the countryside" They're not all there, some are now converted to
other uses such as housing or jails or being demolished to create new
schools. These rides are a great way to see these historic sites
before they disappear from the landscape.

On the way, we'll visit the familiar territories of Oaks Park and
Nonsuch Park cafes and have lunch at the picturesque Cricketers pun on
Epsom Common.

Be outside the Westcroft Leisure Centre in Carshalton for a 9:30am
start. Bring lights. Led by Jim.

===

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

Hi Folks,

I've been reminded that the Victoria station ticket office is now
outside. We will meet inside under the clock where the main ticket
office used to be.

Cheers
Mark

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

===

RIDE REPORT
Farnham Loop 08/11/09

10 riders set off from Farnham station at 10.20am, 5 mins after the
train arrived and followed Sustrans NCN22 route all the way to
Puttenham. After the tarmac of Moor Park Lane ended, we rattled along
a wet but firm farm road and had to open a gate to take the right turn
by the farmhouse (as the gap for walkers next to the gate was too
narrow). The last section of this Greenway on Rock House Lane was back
on tarmac again. We got to Seale at approx 10.55am, just in time to be
silent as the church chimed 11am and a bugler played the Last Post for
Remembrance Sunday.

The lanes through Shackleford and Gatwick are nice and quiet, taking
us to Charleshill. We diverted slightly just to have a look at The
Tarn (see photo), one of umpteen bodies of water we saw today. At
Charleshill, we paused at the junction by The Donkey pub, weighing up
its slightly downhill tarmac access road bridleway vs continuing on
the main road which went UPhill. We decided to try the bridleway
route, and as we could have guessed, the tarmac finished just after
the pub and its car park, and the wide vehicle track got progressively
muddier until it actually improved a little when the vehicle tracks
stopped. Then it went up and over a small hill on a narrower muddy
path. A few quite enjoyed it, but others were less keen! After using
some serviettes liberated from the Seale tearooms to clean our wheel
rims, we went down the hill into Tilford to the lunch pub, arriving
just before 1pm after 14 miles (but just BEFORE a bit of a rush at the
pub !). We put the bikes in the deserted beer garden, saw a (garden)
hose there and asked at the bar if we could use it to hose down bikes.
The bar staff/manager/landlord said yes, so most of us used the hose
to clean the mud off our wheels and tyres before/over/after lunch.

The pub was quite pricey (my pint of beer cost £3.30 and meals were
£10 to £11 each!). But those who had food said the food was good,
portions large, and even the vegetables were quite crisp and not mushy
(cooked to "within an inch of their lives", as they normally are!).
There was a choice of three roast lunches, a fish dish, an
unprecendented 3 vegetarian menu options and a vegetarian soup
(Curried Pumpkin soup).

We left the pub just after 2pm (the only rain we felt all day was when
it was spitting slightly as we left the Barley Mow, but even that soon
stopped, although it was cold in the morning and even colder in the
afternoon [as it often seems to be in winter?!]!) and followed the
route down onto Surrey map 6, passing Frensham Little Pond (which was
quite big - see photos) and then Frensham Great Pond (which was even
bigger - see photos). I then tried to look at the much smaller
Wishanger Lake, but although the road seemed to pass the end of this
tiny lake, I didn't even see it at all. After several miles, we took
the left turn into Alice Holt Forest, confirmed with someone getting
back into a car there that the cafe was open (but not WHERE the cafe
was!) and headed into the forest.....

We followed the route past the first crossroads, but then we came to a
T-junction, turned right and went up a hill, saw a couple of muddy
routes on the left before coming across an adventure playground in the
trees, so one rider asked some people there and we followed some
walking paths around the large adventure playground until we
eventually found the visitor centre. When we were lost, we'd agreed
that what we really needed were the toilets at the cafe, and we
couldn't stop for long as it was already after 3pm. We found the cafe
at 3.20pm after 23 miles and only stopped for about 10 mins.

I had picked up a couple of Holt Forest leaflets at the Visitor Centre
so we could actually follow the forest's cycle trail on their map
round to the road we entered on and soon found our way out of the
place. We turned left onto Boundary Way again, had to climb another
hill to Rowledge and a complicated 5 way junction. We went straight-on
on Cherry Tree Rd, until we got to Fullers Rd, which seems to be where
the Surrey NCN22 signs start/end. A map error took us onto the busy
A325, "taking the lane" to deter the motor vehicles overtaking us
(which didn't seem to bother them much as the traffic ahead was
queueing back from the A31 roundabout!) and we turned right about
10secs later into Weydon Lane. We got to the station at 4.10pm, just
before today's sunset (at 16.22) and in plenty of time for the 4.30pm
train. Only one rider had switched her cycle lights on by that stage.

The whole route was nearly 29 miles long and took nearly 6 hours. See
the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157622643941469
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc084

Report by Jim

===

RIDE REPORT
First Saturday Of The Month

6 riders on this fine day for the monthly half day ride out to a cafe
along the best local cycle routes.

Some of you may have seen Sustrans talk about their GOAL project. It
stands for Greenway For The Olympics and London. A Greenway is a
traffic free route. They've bandied around their consultation
documents but you can't work out where the actual routes are. I asked
for a map but they don't have one(!). Instead, the Area Manager drew
the routes in highlighter pen on a TfL paper map and sent it to me in
the post. Disappointingly, all they do is link up Greenways which
already exist such as the Wandle Trail, Richmond Park and Wimbledon
Common. We already use these routes all the time. However, there's a
flurry of new activity on the Merton / Sutton border so we decided to
go and check them out.

We rode across Three Kings Piece (the large expanse of grass just
after Mitcham town centre) on the way to Church Rd via Cold Blows.
Then we nipped into Morden Hall Park from the Phipps Bridge estate and
rode out to the Surrey Arms entrance and over into Ravensbury Park
where the nice new but possibly pointless bridge over the river sits.
We assumed the pavement must be shared-use and made our way up to
Peterborough Rd.

The Greenways really start here. There's an existing tarmac path with
a poor surface that is due to be upgraded heading towards St Helier.
There are cycle paths behind the hospital and we chose the one to Rose
Hill and used the short new path over to the A217 which has a bike
path alongside it. The new path through the park parallel to
Glastonbury Road is nice but it's accessed via steps through a gate
with a strong self closing spring.

The next section looked utterly pointless on the map so I found a
better route past the allotments on Holne Chase to Morden Park where
the cycle route is part of the main road sign but there's no dropped
kerb to get you off the road and into the park. We got a bit confused
in the park as the where the path will eventually end up but finally
found ourselves needing the services of a cafe at the door of the
Lower Morden Garden Centre.

We tried to find the rest of the route after morning coffee and cake
but it seemed to disappear behind residential garages. I knew where it
was heading so we made our own way to Green Lane, a cart track that
comes out by the Hampton's development of pseudo New English colonial
houses. The route between the fields here has a very rural feel. It
ends in the Joseph Hood Memorial Park where we found a better route
out if the barriers could be removed.

The return leg was all familiar territory past the football pitches
and through the John Innes Conservation Area to Merton Abbey Mills and
along the Myrna Close Nature Reserve back to Pollards Hill. It's got
the makings of a really good ride but I'm not entirely sure which
Olympic venue Sustrans think is out that way. Still, if it gives us a
great local traffic free route, perhaps we should grumble about the
odd design fault.

===

RIDE REPORT
Muddy Hell on Halloween at Herne Hill

Only three riders turned up at Pollards Hill for the easy ride over to
the Velodrome. There were stands for various bike bits ans clothing
and BBQ hot-dogs being served in the beer-tent. We bumped into another
couple of PHC members who'd walked to the track and we stood together
to watch the cyclo-cross riders kitting up and practicing. The cider
was cheap and tasty as were the hot-dogs.

The practice period for the cyclo-cross lasted for about an hour after
which the more 'junior' grades of competitors did their run. The
barrier of two logs suitably placed created quite a novelty since all
the competitors had to jump off their bikes to skip over the logs and
then hop back on again the other side - some were doing it very
smoothly. The other barrier was in the beer tent section of the course
and also had to be negotiated on foot due to it's height. The
cyclo-cross continuous-route made creative use of the central grassed
over part of the velodrome by putting the route-barrier tapes in a
zig-zag format and then leading to the far side of what would normally
be  the spectator path to come back round to the grassed area, through
the beer tent and thence onto another lap. It was fun to watch, but
there didn't seem to be a great deal of other activities so the three
of us who'd pedalled to the track came home at about 8 pm.

Report by Mike

===

INSPIRED RIDING

As Danny MacAskill's amazing freeriding video approaches 12 million
views on YouTube, an ad has just been released featuring some new
stunts. Bizarrely, he's advertising a car....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4fs8gS7ANA

===

LORRIES & OTHER WELL MEANING EVENTS

No one on a bike in their right mind should ever pass a lorry on the
left. If you're unsure why and want to live to tell the tale, there's
a chance to sit in a stationary lorry and see exactly how bad the
sightlines are from the drivers seat. The demonstration is at Carphone
Warehouse Car Park, Unit 7 Priory Road, SW19 2PP. Times: 7.30am -
9.30am & 3.30pm - 6.30pm on Saturday 21 November 2009. For those who
don't navigate by postcodes, it's near the retail park at Colliers
Wood by the ugly big brown building. Carphone Warehouse is actually
right under the ugly tower block. You know the one - the blot on the
landscape by the tube station!!

Merton Council are also running some extremely vague event called,
"Safer cycling initiatives with cycling clubs and enthusiasts" which
is at York Close Car Park, London Road, Morden, SM4 5HW. Time: 10am -
2pm, presumably on the same day as the lorry event. They'll no doubt
wonder why no one shows up for it....

===

NEXT WEEK

We're riding the Jubilee Greenway again. As it's not summer, we might
stand a better chance of getting around it, especially as we're doing
it in reverse and skipping the ridiculously busy bit by Camden and
Regents Park. It's a great, mainly traffic free, flat route that
passes the Olympic Park where you'll have a clear view of the stadium.

The ride leaves Victoria station near the main ticket office at
9:35am.The train from Mitcham Eastfields leaves at 9:11 but it's
impossible to Group Save unless you do it at Excess Fares at the other
end. The 9:11 from East Croydon will also get you there on time but
arrange your own Group Saves. Don't be late and expect the person in
the queue to add you to the ticket buy. Be on time or buy a full price
ticket. It's not fair on those who make the effort to arrive on time.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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