sociable cycle rides for Easter weekend

[Sally Eva]

Over the Easter weekend we are planning 3 rides. Our usual 2 rides on Easter Saturday plus an extra ride on Easter Monday. Come and join us on both days if you can!

Ride 1. Art Nouveau Buildings. < https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/art-nouveau-buildings-cycle-ride-tickets-603165944577 >

Saturday April 8th. 9.30 start (not usual 10am). Hunting for Art Nouveau style decorated buildings in London! This ride takes us from London Bridge (Southwark Needle, S side of bridge, near LB Station) through some posh streets of Kensington and back into the City.

It’ll be a fairly slow ride, lots of twists and turns, but flat and with a coffee stop at the Park Sports Cafe in Hyde Park, in total ca 23km. Due to the expected stops it might take ca 4 hours. It is based on a ride from the LCC magazine, details available at https://lcc.org.uk/advice/art-nouveau/. Eva leading. Please note the earlier start of 9.30 am.

Ride 2. Dulwich to Vauxhall. < https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dulwich-to-vauxhall-southwark-healthy-ride-tickets-603190247267 >

Saturday April 8th. A flat route from Dulwich – yes indeed! Starting from Dulwich Clock Café in Dulwich Park at 10am, quiet streets to Brockwell Park, exit on to Brixton Water Lane, then take Effra Road to Brixton Central. Road takes its name from the River Effra whose valley we will follow. R. Effra not visible as it was buried in a sewer by Bazalgette in the mid-1860s. Long run down Brixton Rd to the Oval, bit boring but gets you there. On to CS5 at the Oval and follow this short segregated path to Vauxhall Bridge.

You used to be able to see the exit of the Effra into the Thames just upstream, but the Tideway Tunnel people have built lots of stuff concealing this. Apparently it is not where the Effra mostly entered the Thames anyway - find out more here (http://vauxhallhistory.org/river-effra-jon-newman/).

Short stop on Vauxhall Bridge then start the return past the new American embassy with its moat and defensive rampart. Take a look at the Sky Pool. Then past Nine Elms station, followed by back streets across Stockwell and on to Herne Hill. Finally Burbage Rd, past the Velodrome (maybe pop in if we have time) to Dulwich Village and the Park. Overall a mixture of quiet and busy streets, some cycle lane. Care needed at Brixton central, but we have done this ride several times without problems (report from Oct 2021). Simon S. leading. Route at http://tinyurl.com/y7ul6r9r ,

Ride 3. BBC Centenary 60K. < https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bbc-centenary-60k-cycle-ride-tickets-603174881307 >

Monday April 10th. 10 am start at Southwark Needle (S side of London Bridge, near LB Station). 6-7 hr ride with Werner leading. Stops for coffee and lunch. Bring water or sports drinks and snacks. We expect to do the lunch stop at Ealing where you can buy food. But feel free to bring a packed lunch. Route will include Ealing Studios, BBC Park Western, White City, Riverside Studios Hammersmith, Langham Place, Aldwych and Maida Vale (but not in that order!). Will use some of the quite extensive new cycle track on C9 in Hammersmith (map here, consultation on improvements ends April 3rd).

This is a considerably longer ride than usual. Average speeds will be at our usual modest pace. But you will need to be able to maintain this for 5-6 hours with only one longish break. Your bike also needs to be ready for the challenge so check it over, sort out any niggles and bring a spare inner tube.

These rides are organised by Southwark Cyclists and are part of a regular programme of Saturday rides, more information at https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/healthy-rides/. Southwark Cyclists are part of the London Cycling Campaign. This ride is organised by volunteers. If you have any feedback, good or bad, please get in touch with [email protected]. For details of LCC’s Safeguarding and other policies please see lcc.org.uk.

Link to all SC events: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/southwar ... 9281383873.