Central London CTC blog

Though bereft of any founder members — Roger Cline is celebrating his own anniversary on LEJoG — a large group spilled out of Witham station blinking in unaccustomed sunlight. The 16 comprised regulars, a few unreliables, even a couple of new faces. A brief pause whilst some splashed cream on lily-white skin, whilst others prepared their lungs. Due to some late-day alterations, we had a lead committee. It was John Snuggs’ ride, but I myself had prepared the route to lunch. Now my navigation has somewhat of a reputation, though I say so myself. An element of surprise, the joy of discovery. I got us lost again. Thankfully, Richard Philpott, whilst watching the tail, would correct our course with a barely perceptible sigh of resignation. more »

Last year when I did this ride we were blessed with glorious spring sunshine but this was not to be repeated. OK, well that is what the weather forecast said. I had spent the whole of the week leading up to the ride looking at forecasts that said rain and was expecting the worse. Others were similarly afflicted by the impending deluge so I lost a few who had expected to ride. Nevertheless there were 10 hardy souls who were prepared to join me and defy the elements.

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Fuelled by The Big Chef’s toast and marmalade, those following the basic plan broke out of suburbia and shot north. By Potters Bar there was a steady trickle of early competitors and spectators heading home, and once onto the B158 and course proper, a vast array of bikes and riders to distract us.

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For those who don’t see the point of getting up in the dark to brave the mountainous wastelands of north London and reach the Big Chef by 0800, I’ll be getting the 0906 from Kings Cross. arr 0921 at Potters Bar. It’s 6km from there to Essendon, where we can meet Nick. Meet Kings Cross @ 0845.

At some time, most of us have been passed by a road club - a tight pack of riders, singly or in pairs, blowing through. Some may have been tempted to jump on the back, hanging on to a wheel to be pulled by the draught, keeping an uncommon pace with surprising ease till the rate begins to bite.

Now why can’t we do that? Why do we insist on riding strung out along the road like the ragged end of a road race, rather than keeping in one ot more tight bunches - the racing paceline, which helps pull along the tired or weaker rider. There will be times when a couple want to charge a hill or spin off the front for a short while, but then must accept a wait for the slower group to catch up. Far more efficient to stick together, to let the leader lead the ride and set the pace.

So, time for some back to basics lessons. Find a Guru - Rocco Richardson, stalwart of Willesden CC, Audax organiser, PBP Veteran, sometime Velo Club St Raphael racer. Rocco suggests Hillingdon track - no traffic, open to all on Sunday morning but free to use and a good layout. Located in one the less appealing London suburbs, ringed by unfriendly roads, there would only be one reason for this visit. more »

We spun out on a beautiful sunny Sunday through Hertfordshire and along the Essex borders to Furneaux Pelham for lunch. With a very non-dictatorial (read ‘idle’ if you will) leader, Stephen and Ken (the only fixie on show) lead for quite a bit of the day, and the rest of us just bowled along in the January sun, soaking up tea and cake at the Westmill tea shop and then back to Stevenage.

With only one puncture the four mad folk who cycled out clocked up 140km, the others did about 100km, which seemed about right for the day as the sun began to set over the picturesque landscape of Stevenage as we reached the station.

SWTrains decided we couldn’t start from Basingstoke, so we ended up on the very slow train to Liphook. Perhaps Farnham might have been a better option, but then we’d've missed out on some of the better bits of the ride.

Nine decided to place their Sunday in my hands - Nick, Camille, Linus, Roger Cline and Kate, plus Chris and Julie, Sophie and Omar from Serpentine CC.

When we finally got to Liphook, we headed north and west at a wind-assisted pace more »

The weather on Sunday was a bit better than had been forecast earlier in the week, which was a relief as I didn’t much fancy a proper drenching. We had a decent turn out of 12 to start with only one early abandonment meaning that the attrition rate on the ride was a healthy 8.33%.

There are a couple of points at which the route got “a bit cyclo-cross” in the morning as we wended our way from Amersham up to Wendover before turning southwards to go past Chequers and towards Great Missenden. There were even a couple of impromptu water features to keep everyone on their toes, more »