Central London CTC blog

It might have been the alarm that woke me at 4:50am but it could equally have been the rain hammering on the window. A glance outside confirmed metcheck’s forecast - heavy rain… and some. There might even have been animals forming pairs in the street for all I knew, for it was biblical out there.
Bed beckoned. But this was an event. Maybe even a one off. So the urge to clamber back in was dispatched… not with ease, more like tackling Huez on 120″… in a rubber clown suit.
On the plus side, it resolved my clothing decisions - though sou’wester and galoshes seemed more appropriate than pertex and overshoes. After a bowl of porridge, the bike was loaded into the van and off I set to Greenwich for a 6:30 start. Thankfully, the rain was easing off. more »

Registering on the Saturday was a nightmare - it was utter chaos. The queues were miles long, it was pouring with rain and there was no shelter, and we queued for over an hour for our timing chips and numbers. Up till then I’d been mentally congratulating the organisers for not wasting rainforests and doing all the newsletters etc via the internet instead of the post. Bad idea guys! Anyway, we just prayed the race itself would be better organised. more »

Six of us (Alex, Pauline, Jonathan, Maria, Lisa and Elizabeth) met with Charles at St Albans (City) to join his Mill Green ride on Sunday.The threatening weather held off and a history themed ride followed, with talks on 15th Century battlefields, Iron Age forts and 17th century ruins. And of course part of our route was along a roman road. more »

It has not been merry bicycling weather. As last week went by, the forecast stayed resolute, and come Saturday, I was relieved work kept me indoors. But, just as predicted, the rain stopped in time for there to be no excuses. 08.32 Liverpool St to Chelmsford, slight deviation to find the start, Camille and I are signed to go, the only fixers on the ride, the only ones without mudguards. I inhale, Camille eats a banana. Then, once more exactly as forecast, it began to spit. And splot. A steady rain became a driving rain. more »

I was unexpectedly excused grandfather duty on Saturday and went to meet the hordes I was led to believe would be on Ken’s ride.

It started raining at the station. The horde consisted of Inez “The Dormouse” Thorn, formerly notorious for diving back under the duvet (and the cat) if it’s raining at 8am on a ride day, and Ken himself.

By the time we’d reached Flitwick the rain had stopped and a warm sun was beating down and lighting up the wide fields of sunflowers and fragrant lavender rows of Bedfordshire. more »

Saturday 30th June
Ken’s Big Birthday Ride
In my book big birthday’s are ones that end in 0 but some poetic licence must be allowed for when listing rides so all I can say is that it was certainly not one of those birthdays. What else is there to fill in as background apart from the fact that the weather has been bad and the forecast was not showing any signs of major improvement.

I almost forgot. Regular readers of this blog know I always write lengthy reports so here goes with a brief one for a change. more »