Central London CTC blog

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I met Rory at Golders Green, Angela set off before us from Tally Ho, and we met Nick Dean at Barnet Hill.

Off to Hertford North (the cafe at the station has been revamped, and veggies can now NOT enjoy the bacon rolls. Seriously, it is a lot better).

Roger and Kay, david Colussi and Derek Chiles arrived and we were off to Westmill - Rory decamped after 15 minutes to go back to the Freewheel. more »

It was not a good morning as I woke to heavy rain. Oh good, I thought, I can stay in bed and get out for a ride with my local group if the weather clears up later but I remembered that I had promised to ride shotgun for Angela so I reluctantly rose and got ready to ride. more »

We gathered, in dribs and drabs, to watch some surprisingly big names race – some of whom brought their own clouds. You could get close enough to hear locals Bradley Wiggins and David Millar wise-crack at the signing on, while the Europeans smiled and obliged with a few words. The course was 8 laps of what was pretty much my commute - but at least for them it stayed dry. Our chosen vantage point at the Embankment corner gave a great view of the riders as they singled out to round it safely, and Hungerford bridge a bird’s-eye view of the rainbow peloton streaming along by the river.

It was classic criterium racing - after a lap spent checking out the road surface, the pace was upped then a break of 8 got away from the bunch. Eventually they were reeled in, apart from a solo Italian bid for glory, to be quashed by the efforts of CSC. So the bunch stormed together towards the finish in the shadow of Big Ben, with star sprinter Petacchi taking it.

Then they were all whisked away to Milton Keynes ready for the next stage, and some of us piled back to Italia Uno to catch the last hour of the Vuelta a Espana on TV.

…is the only mass-start ride I’ve ever been on where I lost the entire field within 15 minutes and didn’t see them again until the pub at the finish!

I had carefully studied the route promulgated on the Rapha website and memorized it. West London is my patch and, apart from a little vagueness near Chelsea Harbour, I knew where I was going without referring to instructions. That meant I didn’t take the route sheet at the start at Smithfield, so I don’t know what was indicated for Hyde Park Corner. What I do know is that Grosvenor Crescent is mos def left, not right, so I was astonished, after reaching the top of Birdcage Walk at the head of a pretty untidy peloton and plunging into the roundabout, to look over my shoulder and see everyone streaming through the Wellington Arch. more »

As you may know, the Hon Sec has something of a fix-ation. And a fondness for audaxes. So what better than the ‘Fixed Wheel Challenge’? Target:25 fixed points, a point per 100km of audaxing completed sans derailleur. Sort of like a coffee-shop loyalty card, except no free coffee. Thermos of tea, maybe? After a very very long time, he’s done it, with the ‘West London 3/4’. A rolling Rocco special. Not flat. Ouch. And over-distance, natch (legit this time, it was 150km). When presented with his award by the men in white coats, Nick commented ‘I just couldn’t stop’.

Fortunately, we had no repeat of the problems of the 2007 ride. The trains were running normally and there was no need to find another ride quickly without proper reconnaissance. It was raining when the train arrived but the weather forecast said the weather would improve so we rode into Princes Risborough for a coffee. Sure enough, by the time we had finished coffee the rain had stopped. We rode on the Phoenix Trail, a Sustrans route along a former railway line, for about six miles to Towersey, spent half an hour at an art exhibition linked with the nearby Towersey Folk Festival and then rode on to Thame for lunch.

After lunch we visited the Thame Museum before riding via Moreton to Tetsworth on a route that started as a paved road but became an unsurfaced byway. Then it was via Adwell, Postcombe and Sydenham to a tea stop at the Inn at Emmington before returning to Towersey and the Phoenix Trail back to the station.