Central London CTC blog

At 10.20 riders gathered at Welwyn Garden City for the 1* ride to Lilley. Previous 1* rides had attracted small numbers, indeed the last ride I led attracted only 2 people. This time it was different. The sun shone and 16 turned up for the ride. I’d already had an idea that it might be a big ride when Tom rang in to let me know he’d got 18 starting the 3* ride. Janet then rang in to say she had 19 on the 2* ride and finally Damian let me know he had 5 on the 4*. Beforehand we’d come up with 40 as the likely number to come. I had badly underestimated our number – we now had 58 riders all heading for the Lilley Arms.

At the Lilley Arms

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In 1979 I joined Paddington Cycling Club, a traditional cycle racing club based at the cycle track – a velodrome – in Paddington Recreation Ground, Maida Vale. I raced for some years with great keenness, but little significant success apart from personal satisfaction. (I won just one road race, although it meant a lot to me). I competed  in road races, circuit races at the Eastway Cycle Circuit (which now lies more or less underneath the site of the Olympic Velodrome), time trials, and a bit of cyclo-cross, with training sessions at the track and long club training rides outside north and west London.

By the late 1980s my commitment to racing, which at its peak had involved a good 10,000 miles annually of racing and training, was waning. My support for the club was now as an organiser – amongst other things, running the first ever mountain bike race at Eastway – and editing the club newsletter, as well as other administrative roles. The club founder, coach and secretary, John Austin, retired to Wales, the track was due to be demolished, and the club was beginning to decline. more »

As promised in my blog on the Tour of Flanders cyclosportives, I entered the Paris-Roubaix cyclosportive on June 10. This event is the same recipe of following the course of a famous classic race – this time over a flattish course, but with far harsher stretches of “pavé” – bigger and less uniformly spaced cobbles. Unlike the Tour of Flanders it is a much smaller and informally organised (by the local cycling club), and run every two years.

Me on one of the smoother cobbled sections

As with Flanders, I had a choice of two rides: 210 km or 120 km, more »

This ride was something of an experiment as its details only went out online. I only learnt that I was available to lead a ride on 1st July after the rides list had already gone to the printers so it appeared on the website and went out as a LCCRider email but was never in print. I was interested to know if 1* riders got their ride details from the rides list or the website and/or LCCRider.  I got my answer on Sunday – only one rider turned up, Pat Wheeler. Clearly, the rides list is still important.

We went ahead anyway. more »