Rode down to our cafe meeting spot earlier than usual for a Sunday morning meet, expecting to have to sit outside and munch my own pot of muesli on a street bench rather than have my preride breakfast inside. But, contrary to information received, Le Delice was open and happy to serve. So, I stuffed the muesli back in my saddlebag and enjoyed a big cup of good coffee with… Read More »A Kent Out and Backer
Parks Ride Sunday 1st March 2015 Such a different sky as I stepped outside the door this morning, than that under which I had ridden out the day before. No drizzly rain, no steel grey clouds, just blue sky and a few white wispy bits drifting across it, and a bright, yellow brisk, early spring sun. And a brisk, early spring breeze to accompany it. Already at the café around… Read More »Parks Ride Sunday 1st March 2015
The forecast wasn’t for rain until later in the day, so I felt a bit misled as I rode through Beckenham Park, taking the quiet route from Lewisham to Bromley South Station, today’s ride meetpoint. It was that dull, drizzly mizzle, the kind of day they call dreich north of the border. I hauled up the steep little rise that takes you almost opposite the station and could see Andrew,… Read More »Ride to Meopham Saturday 28th February 2015
When I woke up and looked outside at about 6am this morning I groaned quietly to myself. Heavy rain was falling and it was bitter cold. If I hadn’t been leading a ride I would have left the bike under the stairs, made a log fire up and settled down with a pot of hot coffee, breakfast, then a book by the fire. As it was, I finished the ride… Read More »From Farthing Down through Surrey and Kent
There were already people waiting in Le Delice cafe, our friendly meetpoint in Ladywell, when I arrived for my breakfast at 10am. By the time we rode off on the Waterlink Way towards Lewisham half an hour later there were 16 of us. Three more at Greenwich, including one who had just missed the Southwark Healthy ride and decided to join us instead. We managed to cram about 16 bikes… Read More »Hackney, with Victoria and Olympic Park Ride
I arrived at Le Delice for my breakfast at 9.30 am on a bitterly cold Sunday morning, and already 3 other riders had arrived. While I consumed my porridge and coffee, riders continued to gather inside and outside the cafe and by the time we left, there were 17 of us! Impressive in the deep mid winter. With the two that joined us en route, that made 19 riders. We… Read More »Severndroog Castle Ride Report
We usually run this ride in the last week of the old year, but this year it slipped a bit and became our first countryside ride of the New Year. Although, for some if us it was already our third ride of 2015 as we had done the New Year’s Eve ride which straddles the old and new, and, then, as we were still wide awake on New Year’s Day… Read More »The Annual Pudding Buster 2015
A beautiful, clear morning as I rode out to Blackfriars had clouded over by the time I reached the station. Over the next ten minutes or so, I was joined by three riders from Kingston Cyclists, then a Bromley rider, then two Lewisham rides regulars. The seven of us obtained our bargain tickets, £5.60 each. I was surprised to receive only one ticket for the groupsave deal…this seems a new… Read More »Hertfordshire Lost Lanes Ride November 16th
18 of us at Ladywell on a lovely sunny morning, rode off along the Waterlink Way, through Lewisham, over the winding bridge which crosses the railway at Elverson Rd, up a steep hill which a few of us walked, but one fixie rider managed in one go, across Blackheath to Greenwich Park and its viewpoint in front of the statue of General James Wolfe. Our Anarchism, Socialism and Revolution ride… Read More »East London Anarchists Ride
A 7am start deterred some of you (as I thought it might) and after a flurry of texts on a beautiful Easter Saturday morning, just as I was about to leave, from people who had overslept or were otherwise unable to make it, just three of us left the cafe to head through fairly quiet South London streets. We soon realised we had a slight tailwind, which lifted my spirits… Read More »Surrey Hills Ride: The Tough One