Please vote for safer cycling in London

This is the link to the petition campaigned by the London Cycling Campaign.

http://petition.lcc.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1745&ea.campaign.id=13331

Do nothing and nothing will change.

Drive-in cycle shop

A new retail idea in the USA...!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms0NawosQFs&feature=relmfu

The Olympic Velodrome

Today, Maggie and I went to the Olympic Velodrome to see some of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. It was a bit of a consolation prize, as, like millions of others, we have failed to get tickets for the Olympics. So this was a chance to see what it would be like, and to see the Velodrome used for its first serious competition.

Getting there was a bit of a faff, as the trains went wrong, but once we got to Stratford it was fairly straightforward. There was quite a bit of queuing, as security is airport-style, and we had to take a bus to the Velodrome once we had checked in. I don't think that this will be the case for the Games themselves, but it is necessary at the moment because of the large amount of building work still going on. The advantage of the bus is that you get a tour of the entire Olympic Park.

We only saw a couple of hours of the competition, as even the 'London Prepares' events are hot tickets, but we did see Chris Hoy and the lads qualify for the final, being just pipped to first place by the Australians; and we saw the Australian women set a new World Record in the Team Sprint. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon.

To know what's going on you need either to really understand it or to watch it on the television. But for the experience, you have to be there. We're glad we went.

Mark

Hour Record for a 100 year old

From the twitter feed of the blog "inrng":

"Track world cup in London today but 100 year old Robert Marchand has ridden 24.251km in an hour record attempt in Aigle, Switzerland. Bravo!"


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Petes memorial trophy

A very pretty trophy with a lovely daffodil engraved on the front.

Pete loved spring flowers. It comes with a dark wood base rather than plastic and looks quite classy!

Thank you to everyone who donated money. I think the total was nearer £1500! Too much for a single cup, so the money is in a separate listing on accounts to be used later. Anyone think of a good use for it? Something for Souwesters maybe?

Herald of Spring Show

We have booked and paid for a stand at The Herald of Spring Show in Bourne Hall Ewell village. Sat 3rd March and Sun 4th from 9am to 5pm.

We have the usual picture board to promote our rides and lots leaflets and business cards to hand out.

 All we need now is help on the day from our lovely members!

Me, Steve and Simon will do the Saturday morning slot as it involves putting up the board, etc.

We have Andy Pearce and Dave Brentnal so far for Saturday pm and Brian Sunday morning; and Grant Sunday pm.

We need 3 members for each session just to talk to public and answer questions and hand out leaflets to interested parties!

Can you email me or post on blog or Forum if you able to help either day, first come first served.

If you are passing by come in and see us, wearing your club kit, and join in for a bit so we can nip off for a wee! The show is craft stalls, flower stalls and local organisations.

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Sunday coach ride

Our regular Sunday riders were not out on Sunday; Luke catching up on sleep and additional housework duties, Dave dreaming of being on his bike and Jake collecting another trophy to add to her marvellous collection. So I texted Nick at 0900 to find out if he was up for a ride and despite not receiving a reply I ventured out in the arctic conditions. After a few minutes on the bike, my eyes watering, nose running, ears...my ears...where were my ears?...numbed! I started to quietly hope that Nick couldn't make it and I would be able to do a short ride back to my cozy home. My hopes were dashed when I arrived at Horton and met up with Nick. We did a quick roll call and decided to head east and ventured into new territory for a Sunday morning. 

Our route took us to Ewell past Luke's house (to tempt him or to catch a glimpse of him in his maid's outfit?), and then we headed through Nonsuch Park, Cheam, Sutton, Royal Marsden, past the prison, Woodmansterne, Chipstead and its valley before turning left to climb the heights of Chipstead and down past Fanny's farm. It was too early for a stop so we continued on to Merstham, the edge of Redhill airfield, Outwood, Smallfield before heading west via Crawley and Ifield with the plan of raiding the Addiscombe club cafe at the pine shop in Charlwood. 

A mile before Charlwood as we approached a motorcycle shop (Adrenaline motorcycles) we spotted a large sign to a bus cafe. Thinking that this would be quieter than the pine shop we turned in to find that it wasn't what we had in mind. There in front of us was an old coach converted into a cafe! We caught the coach and were soon  very comfortable sitting in comfy chairs in the warm coach. The menu was very much geared to motorcyclists rather than cyclists but I did try to encourage Nick to go for the Bikers Belly Buster Breakfast which comprised 3 eggs, 4 sausages, 4 bacon rashers, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes....and so it went on. Unusually Nick wasn't up for the challenge so we settled on some sandwiches and mugs of tea and hot chocolate and joined in the banter with the cook and the owner of the shop who also owns the coach and a few dozen motorcycles from the 70's and 80's. The location of the coach is within a few hundred yards of the end of the Gatwick runway, so we could enjoy a bit of plane spotting as the planes came into land flying just a few hundred feet above us. Having regained feeling in our toes we continued home via Leigh, Betchworth and up Pebble Hill. I completed 52 miles and Nick must have cleared 60 miles by the time he got home to Worcester Park.

Note that the cafe opened in December, is only open Saturdays and Sundays until later in the year....and there is probably enough seating at tables for 12 people.

Here is a link to more photos:

http://www.thejailhousecafe.com/gallery.html