Cycle rides from Epsom

The Kingston Phoenix Road Club is a friendly cycling club encouraging new members of all ages to join. We currently have 60 members aged from early 20’s to mid 80’s, some of whom take cycling sport seriously whilst others come along for the social rides. Our members are mostly based in the Kingston, Surbiton, Chessington, Epsom, Ewell, Worcester Park and Sutton areas of South-West London and Surrey.

We are more than a road cycling club as our regular activities comprise social, road and off-road rides on Saturday mornings and longer rides on Sunday mornings. These weekend rides start at Horton Country Park in Epsom and are split into slow and fast road groups whilst our off-road group remain as one and explore the Surrey countryside via bridle paths and woodland tracks. We usually ride for 10-15 miles before meeting at a café shortly after 11, and after a well earned rest and chat we venture back to Epsom by lunchtime.

Social evenings are held on Thursday at 9pm at the Worcester Park Athletic and Social Club, in Green Lane, Worcester Park, well hidden behind Worcester Park station. In addition members get together for the occasional BBQ evening and curry nights, our annual awards Dinner and Dance and we are involved with a barn dance organised by another cycling group.

During the warmer months many of our members enter 10 and 25 mile time trials and a few others do longer distances of 100 miles and 12 hour events. Our members have varying abilities, including tri-athletes who have joined the club for training, whilst others enter Sportives or compete in open time trials. In 2010 one of our lady riders became the Southern Counties time trials champion, setting the fastest times over distances of 10, 25 and 50 miles. There are also opportunities for riders to enter road races organised by the Surrey League and the League of Veteran Racing Cyclists.

Last year a group of our mountain bike riders spent two days cycling the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne and this year they plan to cycle from Guildford to Eastbourne and back, all off-road.

We organise a handicap points league based on our time trial events which include evening 10 mile time trials every other week in the late spring and early summer months. These are held at Holmwood near Dorking. Our most prestigious event is the only remaining point to point time trial in the country, from Kingston to Worthing. We start at 6am and we meet for breakfast on the coast before driving or cycling back home. We are rightfully very proud of our results pages which can be found on this website for all to see how many members participate and the times that they do.

Of course cycling events do not happen without many hours of volunteers time so to put something back into the sport of road racing we organise the Women's South East Regional Road Race Championship and have done for several years. 15-20 of us are involved in this event providing marshalls, support cars and refreshments. This year’s event will be held on Saturday 21st May and is open to all categories of rider. The event kicks off at 12:30 and is organised by the Kingston Phoenix RC. The race length is around 43 miles/68km's with the HQ being at North Hall, Loxwood in Surrey. We also have our own Open 10 mile Time Trial, available to members of other clubs.

Our club history goes back to 1936 when the club was formed as the racing arm of the Kingston Section of the Cyclists Touring Club. Sadly, the Kingston Section is no more, but we now have links with the Cheam & Morden Section. This group is part of the South West London DA of the CTC which has many rides for all abilities during the week and at weekends, for the fitter riders looking for an all-day steady ride of over 50 miles. The Cheam & Morden has its own website where you can find information about their rides, and the other CTC sections can be found here.

If you would like further details about our club or wish to make contact with a specific member then please email the Secretary. New members are always welcome, whether you wish to race or not. We welcome members of any age over 18 and under 18 if accompanied by an adult. Please don’t be put off by the fact that the Secretary lives in Maidenhead and the Time Keeper lives near Wembley. This is an indication of their loyalty to the club despite having to move away due to other aspects of their lives. Which reminds me, we have an Assistant Timekeeper role to fill, especially for our evening races near Dorking, so if you are interested in knowing more about this please email the Secretary.