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Ride Report: East London brewery ride 17 June 17

‘Very hot’ is an understatement of Saturday’s brewery  ride!

But great fun –we visited 18 breweries & indicated where another 4 were and made 4 stops for welcome refreshments (5 for those who made it to end!)

Route was off road when possible or on quiet roads and canal towpaths -except for a busy bit in Hackney (where I added some unintentional diversions!) -we even took in a couple of busy markets -Broadway & Ridley road! Continue reading “Ride Report: East London brewery ride 17 June 17”

Ride Report: River Ride of 11 June

We profited from the usual good weather to reprise our earlier River Ride, with Steve leading, despite this being a flatter and shorter ride than his usual.

We ventured very slightly south of the river overcoming all obstacles, notably a lack of a lift on the Greenwich side of the foot tunnel.

Instead of photos here is a video of the route taken.

Arnold

A Celebration of Cycling

On Sunday morning, thanks to the nomination I received from the group, I got to ride in a celebration of Women’s Cycling, on closed roads in central London as part of the events preceding The Women’s Tour.

It was a short ride but the women taking part were all there because of the part they play in inspiring other women to ride – whether by providing training, or leading rides, or campaigning to make the city a place where women feel safe to cycle with their children.  Some of the other LCC local groups were represented as was LCC HQ. There were bikes of all shapes and sizes – cargo bikes, side by sides,  an elliptical bike and even a penny farthing!

Both the Mayor of London and his walking & cycling commissioner, Will Norman, were there to wave us off as we rode out on part of the route that was ridden much faster later in the day by the elite women in the final stage of the Tour; along Piccadilly, Regents Street, Haymarket and around Trafalgar Square, before finishing on Pall Mall.

 

Update on tomorrow’s ride

From Robin:

Did a trial run from Ramsgate to Canterbury yesterday (it was very nice) and have slightly updated the route & tried to remember any notable features/hazards:

SRA ticket office opens at 09:00, we should be at the front of the queue with cash in hand! Very slow lift will only take 2 bikes down at a time, and there are a lot of stairs. Train departs 09:16, arrives 10:27.

From RAM station ~10:45, dip down to the seafront; a couple of sections here might be rather busy, but I don’t see much of an alternative and it’s not far. WC on the seafront before we climb back up on the shared path to the clifftop. We then follow an off-road path along the coast to Sandwich, passing the Viking ship (WC) and then skirting the Pfizer industrial estate. A quick go around the surprisingly picturesque Sandwich one-way system (WC), and then out into the countryside; relatively quiet roads should let us hear the skylarks. No hills in the first 2/3 of the distance, but don’t get complacent.

A brief diversion to the Mermaid pub in Bishopsbourne for lunch. I guess we will be there approx. 13:00-13:30. They have a couple of tables out the front, but more in the sun-trap garden at the back. Terrible phone reception here for some reason. Don’t know how busy it will be, but we should be able at the very least to get a beer / orange & soda with a packet of crisps. The menu is on their website https://www.mermaidinnbishopsbourne.co.uk/. If on offer, would be best not to have a full Sunday lunch with pudding, because after the pub ~14:30 are… the Duck pub, where we won’t be stopping, unless WC, Ian Fleming’s house, and…

…a couple of hills, both up and down; none are Mont Ventoux, but it would be sensible to check that both gears and brakes are functioning well beforehand. One section has grass up the middle and is adorned with some flint pebbles, and bonus potholes, but manageable on all bikes. Reward of the hills is a lovely long run back into Canterbury, with a view of the Cathedral in the distance.

We do have to cross a couple of big roads on the route, but the nastiest bit is probably the last few hundred metres into Canterbury including large roundabout.

I’ve ended at another Shepherd Neame pub in Canterbury, the Millers Arms ETA ~16:00, to refresh before heading to CBW and the ~1 hr train back to SRA. Trains: 14:43* / 15:25 / 15:43* / 16:25 / 16:43* / 17:25 etc (trains marked * require change at Ashford and take 15 mins longer). Could easily go straight to the station if the times don’t match up nicely.

Route is here, for some reason it comes up as 50km, but it’s really ~40km / 30miles: https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=kntddwmavaesqwvh

 

Readout from May Meeting

The meeting took place a week earlier than usual and in a new venue, the Terrence Brown Arc in Canning Town, currently the centre of the charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve (AAA).

  • We started with a discussion of the breakup of proposed Quietway 6 by side roads from the new Chobham Manor Development in Stratford There are four side roads cutting through the cycle track.  This is being taken up with Newham Council who are responsible for designing the Quietway.  We discussed the need to document  setting out the “critical fails” on this route to alert stakeholders in this route.  Since the meeting we have also been pursing an audit ride with Council Officials.The conversation also drew attention to the frequent closures in the QEII Olympic Park and the lack of information on alternative routes.
  • We discussed the prospect of working  with AAA who are running a cycle club for children on Saturdays between 10.30 and 2.00pm as part of their wider Saturday children’s activities.  AAA has good facilities and funding and working with them would fit with some key objectives of Newham Cyclists.  However any  offer from us must be sustainable and beneficial to us.  With this in mind we decided to put together a pilot programme of a some  “Fix My Bike” and advice sessions aimed at the children and their parents/guardians leading to a family ride in September.  If you would be interested in participating  please let me know.
  • The Forest Gate “Fix My Ride” stall (second Saturday of the month at Woodgrange market) has been a success on the two occasions we have piloted it.  Ways of improving it were discussed.  It will run on 10 June but the July session will be an enhanced stall 9with a Dr Bike) at the Forest Gate Festival on 15 July.  This may include a bike jumble.  Since the meeting we have received the GOOD NEWS that our application for a grant from Newham Council for equipment and publicity for this venture has been successful.
  • We will meet for our evening guided tour of Waltham Forest mini-Holland facilities at 7.15 on 26 June outside Coffee 7 in Forest Gate.
  • We are still seeking to arrange a meeting with Councillors Murphy (responsible for cycling) and Christie (with overall responsibility for strategy).
  • We were alerted to infrastructure issues at Bank Junction (a trial closure to motor vehicles for 18 months) and royal Mint St (developers restricting CS3).
  • We did not think it practical for Newham Cyclists to volunteer to be a pilot campaigning group for LCC in respect of TfL’s Living Neighbourhood initiative, given our limited resources and the uncertain response of Newham Council.

Arnold

Annual Meeting 24 April

This meeting was well attended and interesting.  We were particularly indebted to our guests, Councillor Christie,  Newham’s Cabinet Member for Strategy,  Terry Patterson from the Board of Trustees and Officers of Newham Council with responsibilities for cycling who have been so open and helpful over the year.  They promoted lively and interesting debate to follow the business section of the meeting – a good accompaniment to the excellent refreshments put on by the Greenway Common Cafe

For the record, the annual report was presented:

NEWHAM CYCLISTS ANNUAL REPORT 2016 – 17;

This includes a ride list and a list of consultation responses.

The Annual Accounts for 2016-17 agreed:

NC accounts report 2016-17.

The same Officers were voted in to the same posts for 2017 -18:

Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout – Joint Co-ordinators

Bill Bremer – Treasurer

Oliwala Ajibola – Local Schemes Lead

Steve Smith – Rides Co-ordinator.

Arnold

Bike stall success

We had a great day on Saturday at Woodgrange Market, helping a number of people of all ages and from all backgrounds get their bikes back on the road. One of our favourite visitors was Jan who had not ridden her bike for 4 years and wanted to get back on it.  She had a lovely dutch Gazelle bike which had a flat tyre & needed some general TLC.  We helped her replace the inner tube & get the wheel back on her bike.  She was spotted riding around Forest Gate the next day!

Our aim is to teach as many people as possible – especially women – to deal with basic problems, in particular fixing a puncture!

A few weeks ago, Woman’s Hour had a whole feature on cycling including this great video with Jenni from London Bike Kitchen which does just that, with some great tips & tricks!

Our next stall is on Saturday 10th June – see you there!

 

Newham Ride 7 May 2017

The weather had still not particularly warmed up for the start of the second in our consecutive run of three Sunday rides.  After Cake Mountain we were intent on a flat, leisurely off road circuit round Newham .  A goodly band of participants included  a contingent from the Forest Gate Women’s Institute assembled at the Greenway Common Cafe.  Our 15 mile route started down the Greenway, and continued through Beckton to the Royal Docks, stopping only for a breather/puncture repair.  We then took in nature reserves at East india Dock and the Bow Ecology Park.  The latter is newly linked to a back entrance to Canning Town Station.  Lunch at Trinity Buoy Wharf was swiftly followed by another coffee stop at Cody Dock, whilst all the time the weather was getting more cheerful.   We returned to the Greenway under a blue sky.

Thanks once more to Robin for some excellent photos.

P1040767

Arnold