Central London CTC blog

After a week when travel anywhere, by road, rail or air, proved well-nigh impossible, it seemed unlikely Bob’s ride to the Chilterns would take wing. More in hope than expectation, and driven on by a feeling of torpidity and indeed cabin-fever, I set out in the misty chill and found several other hardy souls at Euston Station.

Our train was running, and soon we were running for our train. The mist was thicker, danker, and colder at Tring and as we set forth, I asked myself if this made sense; of course it didn’t! With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Chilterns, Bob marshalled us this way and that, avoiding the lanes likeliest to be snowbound. But with the temperature at only just over freezing, it was hard to tell where the hazards of icy surfaces lay. more »

Despite suffering from a month long bug, yours truly dragged himself to Marylebone to find Naomi, Keith, Jon McColl, Steve Taylor and Charlie Keep, along with (relatively) newbie Monica. Martin Hayman was also there to provide me with the news that he too had had a month long virus: nice to have confirmation I wasn’t the only one, in an odd sort of way.
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Nine riders left St Albans station. The purpose of the ride was to visit Mill Green Museum, a restored watermill run by Welwyn Hatfield council. The roads in the centre of town were closed as it was Remembrance Sunday but a kindly policeman got on his radio and we were let through. We left via Sandridgebury Lane passing the fortifications left by the Belgae who occupied the area before the Romans. I made the mistake of relying on my memory not a map so that we got to our coffee stop at Wheathampstead but not by the route I’d planned. There is a newish café in the village called T. Potts which provided us with refreshments before we exited the village on a bridleway.
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This ride promised “Low mileage but it passes the highest point in the Chilterns”. Six riders set off on dry but cold morning but only got a few hundred metres before stopping at a café for morning coffee. Suitably refreshed, we rode along the towpath of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. The Wendover Arm was a technical and commercial failure. It was designed to provide an additional water supply for the Grand Union fed by springs in the Chilterns. In the event, it suffered constant leakage problems. It ended up draining water out of the canal system and was eventually abandoned. Today it makes an attractive linear nature reserve and is widely used by walkers and cyclists. more »

In contrast to the previous weekend’s balmy temperatures, it was on with the overshoes and long gloves for the first time since spring ahead of a chilly departure from Finsbury Park station. However the sun was already out, and the Little Green Riders were in for a delightful autumnal day in the Hertfordshire lanes under bright blues skies.

Nine of us set off from Knebworth, climbing first to Datchworth and then taking the valley road north from Watton to Walkern. more »

A brief note of thanks to Jon for leading another 3-star Essex lanes wander out of Highbury Corner on Sunday.

The forecast was promising, progress brisk through the outer reaches of east London, and the vista of the the green, green grass of home (for some) never more verdant as we shook free of Chigwell.

Our route took us past the Moletrap PH at Tawney Common (too early for that) and well before midday we were seated at the caff in Hatfield Heath. En route we had crossed several clubs out and about profiting by the wonderful conditions and noticed almost all were in uniform club jersey. Ours, by contrast, was a motley crew, with several snob brands on show (Assos, Campagnolo, Castelli, Gore, Rapha) but the club colours nowhere to be seen. Could do better, perhaps? more »

Quite a few us signed up for this well-known sportive, so it seems a pity not to have a ride report up here. So, better late than never, here it is.

The Ride of the Falling Leaves is a traditional Dulwich Paragon CC promotion and covers much of their patch on the Kent/Surrey border. It starts at Herne Hill velodrome, so I met the usual suspects at Bank and we proceeded thence together. Like many others, I had severe misgivings about starting (despite the non-trivial advance cost, £20) because the weather map was pretty apocalyptic, showing a great turquoise blot, shading off into dark blue, obliterating north-west Kent.

But the day dawned with milky sunshine and we were spared the downpour for the outward leg: past Dulwich College, New Addington, over the North Downs at Warlingham, on to Lingfield, turn east to Edenbridge and Hever. By Chiddingstone Hoath, the furthest point, our posse was down to 4: with Stephen keeping the still-recovering Keith company and Mike having punctured, Charlie, Jon and I wallowed along in Kirsten’s narrow wake. more »

The short notice decision was for me to take the three stars on to the Aylesbury plain, with one aim being the retracing last year’s National Time Trial course based on Botolph Claydon to see how we would do compared to last year’s winner, Bradley Wiggins, whom Geoff Thomas and I had watched crush the opposition in 2009. As this Sunday was the 2010 National Time Trial Championships (held in Wales) it seemed an apposite time.
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