Saturday Ride: 27th October 2017

 

Dear oh Deer!

There were 3 of us at the start, Karen Graham and Pete

Perhaps setting a new club record leader Pete manage to lose his entire ride within 1 minute of setting out. He turned right at Purley Cross to head through the Web Estate, however the peloton headed straight down the Brighton road. Fortunately with the wonders of mobile phones we were in touch within a few minutes and back on track.

We planned to venture north west exploring new routes out to Cobham and back via Richmond park.

The web estate does make a very nice start to a ride, no traffic, wide, well surfaced roads and mansions to rival and probably beat the Kingswood estate. If you don’t know it you should meander around there sometime.

Our route included a brief spell on a bridle path cutting through to Woodmansterne. It was about 300 yards long and probably rideable on road bikes in the summer but as it was covered with fallen leaves and twigs we decided to walk it on this occasion to avoid puncture risk

Passing the outskirts of Chessington and Epsom we headed towards Cobham on pleasant enough B roads but traffic volume is definitely greater out this side of London.

The tea stop at Bronte’s, Cobham was pleasant and upmarket but certainly dear at £2.75 for a pot of tea. The waitress had obviously taken a shine for Graham as his cappuccino arrived with a subliminal message.

With this being his first ride for many weeks Graham decided to take a more direct route back while Pete and Karen headed towards Richmond Park. At this time of year it is very busy and full of walkers and cyclists. The deer were very photogenic too.

The park is certainly a great place to ride round, it’s just a shame that to get there we needed to ride some busy roads. Maybe there’s a better route for off road bikes? Any tips from other members would be appreciated.

Karen reported after the ride had split at Croydon that she had an altercation with “white van man” at a mini roundabout and was knocked off her bike. Fortunately no damage or injury, but a reminder of how vile some road users can be towards cyclists.

Total distance 55 miles at 12 mph.