Central London CTC blog

Down for a hilly **** in the Chilterns, we were forced to change venue at short notice after eagle eyed Richard Philpott noticed on Friday night that our train was cancelled . Other lines were closed or limited in a display of engineering works dramatic even by Bank Holiday weekend standards, so I switched to Kings Cross for Welwyn North with numerous e-mails and phone messages sent out late on Friday night.

With all that I was gratified when Mike Evans and Julia Moye joined me at Kings Cross, to be sent off by Uncle Geoff, who had arrived to do so on his town bike, attired as a gentleman should be on a Sunday morning. more »

On Sunday we cycled so far we ran out of road. Half a dozen of us set out from London Fields before 9am. Our plan was to reach the coast. This was a reprise of the ride I had led a few months ago when we had ridden out to Maldon. On that occasion we had managed a hint of the sea coming up the Blackwater Estuary and from our plates of fish and chips. This time we were hoping to get a little further … more »

Well, it didn’t get off to a good start. I’ve been down with intestinal problems which have clobbered my fitness level, so I wasn’t up to 4-star riding in the first place. So only a 3-star type ride was to be offered to my companions.

I turned up at Marylebone to meet Roger, Kay and Doug. Kay was obviously ill so decided to go back home. The three of us remaining trained to Princes Risborough, got out into spitting rain and cold winds, and Doug thought of going home.

Nope, not a good start.

But we are CTC and perseverance is our middle name. more »

Five of the 4-star hardcore joined the 09.00 train to Sevenoaks. Leaving the station in a northerly direction, we soon pick up a lively, even hectic, pace down the hill towards Riverhead. But reality bites the moment we cross the M25 and toil up the scarp of the North Downs to Knockholt. Surely one’s heart should not be thumping at so many BPM, so early in the ride? more »

“So how do you manage to keep your front light pointing straight?” Keith enquired awhile back, gesturing at my slim Cateye front light.

“Ah yes, I rebuilt it with a proper Cateye bracket you can buy as a spare. From Germany.”

Looking around, I noticed several of our squad had these lights. All but mine, I noted, hung down sadly, pointing at the front wheel rather than the road ahead. This seemed a sorry state of affairs, because we all use our bikes in town, in the dark, and in rain. more »

What does George mean by ‘Old-School’? Answer at the end. (Please don’t skip.)
Our rendezvous was a pretty relaxed 9:30 outside Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square. With no ticket finagles, we were able to loaf around in the sunshine, drinking cappuccino and deafened by St Martin’s Sunday morning peal of bells, until George arrived at about a minute before the published start time. A mere five us had shown up: Roger and Kay, Linus, Keith, and your scribe, a different proposition from the last old-school outing when, on a far less promising day, some dozen or more had shown. more »

Resolved to improve my form this year, I hit on the Chiltern Classics. Riding the series would, I figured, give me a good platform for summer fitness. It all got off to a late start however.

The first of the six 100-km events, which run on consecutive Sundays, was the Harp RC’s promotion on 25 January. This is stated by the organiser to be ‘particularly demanding’ and is known in folklore as the Harp Hilly 100. Apparently, back in the day when men were men, and boys and girls were men too, the course was Imperial. One dreads to think of the toll exacted on the riders, so early in the season, by 100 miles sawing back and forth over the toughest climbs the Chilterns have to offer. The event starts at the Hemel Hempstead CC’s base, which makes driving the preferred means of getting there. Entry on the line was a tenner — a pretty tall price. And on Saturday night, the weather forecast was atrocious. Awakening to a steady downpour at 6 am, I felt no shame in pulling the duvet over my head. more »

Having tried to get Stephen Taylor to both lead the ride (the dreaded cold had struck me down) at which he did great, and also to write up the blog but with less success, I would like to thank the 7 riders of a gentle, and half day 4 star kind of ride.

Due to my lack of energy and excess of cold we gentled it out of Highbury, and put in a mid-morning re-fuelling stop at the River Garden centre just outside of Hertford, a regular Saturday morning haunt of ours.