Central London CTC blog

Its that time again, when I gather around me those around that have decided that too much turkey has to be ridden off, and we go for a ride between Xmas and New Year. This year the add humour of the rides list organizer had persuaded several others that the ride was fixed friendly so in addition to my ride we had another three fixed gear bikes so we had a double fixed event with the date being ”fixed” also as I had led the final ride in the previous two years. more »

Geoff and I went to La Lavandou on the Cote d’Azur by Eurostar, TGV Ter (local train) for 10 days, ending last Thursday. We had nearly three days of constant uninterrupted rain leading to the worst floods in living memory, as well as another crap day - but overall weather was better than here. Here are some pictures of me and Geoff plus views over the sea. more »

Flooded lanes in Hertfordshire, on Michael Belcher’s two-star ride last Sunday.

I knew that it was likely to be a big ride after two wet weekends and so it turned out. The prospect of dry weather and the leadership of Geoff Thomas were too much to resist for most of the usual suspects who come out on 3-star rides.
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Walking along Icy Lane

Today was one of those crisp winter days with barely a cloud in the sky, and the illumination of the low sun brings out the texture in the landscape.  However, wet weather earlier in the week had washed debris and hedge clippings onto the lanes, and they were still wet last night when they froze under a clear sky.  The result was not simply a hard frost, but icy surfaces.  It was a beautiful day, but we had to proceed very carefully.

Instead of the planned 45 mile circumnavigation of Stevenage, we managed 11 miles to Lilley.  We were also hampered by three punctures, and so the last contingent didn’t reach the pub until well after opening time!  However, the Lilley Arms are well versed in the ways of cyclists, and looked after us very well.

The temperature never got above 5°C all day, so the road conditions didn’t improve after lunch.  A late departure from the pub dictated a direct route back to Harpenden.  However, at least the B road through Kimpton had been treated and was ice free.  We got back to the station as the sun set.  Only 24 miles, but we all got back in one piece. Oh, and somebody got a pheasant for their Christmas dinner!

Pheasant

…what more do you want?! A decent turnout of five on such an unpromising day made our way to Wendover and set off up a nice steep slippery, chalky track with leaves clogging the brakes, coming off every ten years and walking half of it, brilliant!! The woods were somewhere between atmospheric and spooky, fog lying thick and cool in the still air. A couple of steep descents and a couple of gradual climbs led us to an early lunch as the Rising Sun in Little Hampden (by way of an ”over the handlebars and into a freezing muddy puddle” manoevre for me) where almost all of us had roquefort and tomato paninis - good move as it turned out, they were lovely.  We made out way back towards Wendover on a different route with a long, leafy, rooty descent the highlight, after which we dropped people back at the station in stages as we took in a couple of extra loops around a brutal climb up a road on the other side of the town which gives access to a cracking long rolling descent, with the remaining two getting on the train just as dusk was falling. I always worry that the train staff might declare us “too muddy to travel” on the way back from off-road rides, but thankfully not this time!

Thanks to all for a great day out!