Message from Geoffey Shields - Bike for Sale

Having disposed of my singlespeed Genesis and Trek bikes this is the last of my bikes for sale.  I sell in order to have sufficient space for my 3 Pearson bikes and a gravel bike for my wife.  I will resort to ebay if necessary

Pearson “Hammer and Tongs”, carbon fibre road bike, L size, £500.00

Ultegra Di2 groupset, 11speed, 50/34 with 12-32t cassette

Traditional set up: rimbrakes, traditional skewer arrangement, regular tubed tyres, 23/28mm

1st wheelset: Fulcrum Racing 6 or Racing 3

2nd wheelset: Mavic Aksium One with almost new cassette.

An endurance bike that offers excellent all day riding for someone around 6ft.  A good bike for Mt Ventoux and other vertical challenges.  Not set up as a tourer but versatile; Tim, my son, comfortably rode LEJOG Spring 2021, carrying all that was required for an unsupported hotel-hotel ride, using inframe bags.

Professionally maintained, limited amount of obvious wear and tear.  The bike was refurbished (new chain wheels, chain and cassette) and thoroughly overhauled in 2022.  V little use since then.  Surveyed by Pearson on 01.05.2024.

View and test ride in Fulham/Richmond Park.

GEOFFREY SHIELDS

07768 045 698 geoffrey.shields@outlook.com

    

 

 

 

London-Edinburgh-London encounter

I had an interesting encounter while returning on the train late last night from a trip to Wales.   An Indian lady got on the train around Maidenhead, with a bike box, saw my bike and said hello.   She asked whether I'd ridden LEL.  I was flattered but said no, definitely not!   It turns out that she had ridden the event - to Richmond, N Yorkshire, where she had been stopped, held until morning, and then told to return south.   Just like our hero Neil C.   I didn't ask her whether she had met Neil, as I believe there were about a thousand people there, but perhaps I should have, because I expect Neil would have chatted to most of them!

It turns out that she had travelled from India for the event.   She lives in Gujarat, to the west of India.   It's very flat and very hot.  If you ride 500 km you will ascend about 500 metres.   So they practice by riding circuits up a local 50 metre hill.   At night - because it's too hot in the day time (48 degrees) and also too dangerous to ride on the roads.   Such dedication.   She was typically modest about her achievement.   By the time she returned to the finish, she had ridden 970 km, so she added on a bit more to make it up to 1,000 km.   She was staying a few days to do some sight-seeing (including riding round the Isle of Wight) and travelling home next weekend.

Impressive.

PS.  Nice little video here of what Richmond Control looked like when everyone was held there.  I didn't spot Neil but you might.

 B GROUP RIDE 13/08/25 FROM GUILDFORD 

The ride from Guildford will meet for elevenses at Frida’s Coffee House, Fays Passage GU14SQ, which is located  in the New House Art Space & Gallery. Come out of the Station, go down to the traffic lights, turn left and then first right, down the ramp, going past the Odeon Guildford and onto Bedford Road.The New House building is on your right, access either through the Bedford Road Surface Car Park or by turning right into Fays Passage from Bedford Road.

We shall then ride to Leatherhead for lunch at The Penny Black pub, North Street, Leatherhead. After lunch we shall go north for afternoon tea at the Five At The Bridge cafe, Hampton Court.

The pub wish us to pre-order, details of the menu can be found online at

http://www.the

pennyblackleatherhead.co.uk, a copy of the menus will also be sent to the B Group WhatsApp.

Please register for the ride and give me your lunch choice by 18.00hrs on Monday 11th, my email d.jackson49@aol.co.uk, details of the groups and timings will be sent out on Tuesday.

Most of the ride is on roads but with some off road on paths and tracks, all rideable.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday.

Yours

Jennie J

Do Join Me on the "A's" Ride from Guildford on Weds 13 Sept

It's our annual train-assisted spree from Guildford, and we'll be leaving from the forecourt of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.    From there it's 19 miles to lunch at The Holly Bush Inn, Headley (the one in Hampshire, that is), which we will reach via the Devil's Punchbowl.   It's then a further 15 miles via scenic Hampshire and Surrey villages and lanes back to tea at the Watts Gallery, Compton, and then another three miles (and a steep hill) back to Guildford station.

720 metres of ascent are involved altogether, so it's about averagely hilly for an "A's" ride, I reckon.  It's all on tarmac (and a short length of hard-packed gravel) with the exception of the final mile or so from Shackleford to Compton, but this section can be avoided if preferred.

Just in case numbers are higher than I'm expecting, I am asking for advance lunch orders as a precaution, please - see https://www.thehollybushheadley.co.uk/_files/ugd/fb37f5_c1af3c76111d49d2810efdd92e47a16b.pdf.    

If you'd like to join the ride please e-mail me at cycledave23@gmail.com not later than 6.00 pm on Monday 11 Aug.     If there are more than about 10 of us I'll be asking for a volunteer to lead from .gpx (it's a very easy route to follow), so please let me know if you'd be willing to sub-lead if required.

B RIDE REPORT - Weds 6 August 2025

Perfect weather for a cycle and a great route lined up for the 18 riders signed up! Not a day to wake feeling decidedly unwell and hoping it will pass after a cup of tea! It didn't, so, after some early morning rearrangements, I had to pass the reigns over to our two sub leaders and to Dave F who stepped up as third leader. It was his route we were due to follow so who better? Thanks Dave! Thanks Paula and Christina!  Gill 

Here are the reports…. 

DAVE

I was keen to join  Gill’s ride which borrowed a route I had led  month ago, when poor visibility obscured the several delightful  views that I had advertised.
It would also be nice to be a passenger rather than a leader. However when Gill contacted me early Wednesday to announce she was unable to ride, I happily agreed to sub lead a group, with Paula taking Gill’s. So our compact residual  group including Fixie, Francis, Neil W and urban Pete ( not to be confused with the suburban variety), set off punctually. We decided we probably did not need a back marker.  We made a great few hundred yards before we had to stop to help solve a potential lost keys problem with a rider in another group, but thankfully the problem was resolved without much of a delay. 
It was well trodden lanes to East Horseley before the first of 3 major climbs up Chalk Lane and GreenDene. We then switched onto the less frequent section. This included gentle decent along North Downs way to Newlands corner and other bridleways to seldom visited Pewley Down. We were then on fast tarmac all the way to lunch, apart from an eye bulging ascent of Farncombe  hill to Charterhouse school, the Genesis of Genesis. From there we were in lovely shady lanes , and after a final more gently hill we arrived at lunch. Thanks to the preorder system service was incredibly efficient but certain riders weren’t impressed with the garlic chips. The landlady apologised and remarked next time say you don’t want them seasoned, but it might have been an idea to mention they were serving garlic chips on the menu. The pm route equidistant but much faster in nature. The last grunt up to the footpath to the hogs back was followed by a long fast decent before a bit more off-road along the Christmas pie trail. It was then more familiar territory back to Cobham. Many thanks to my group for being great company  and cheerfully maintaining a slightly brisker B group pace. Big thanks to Gill for all the hard work in organising, but not benefitting from it.

PAULA

The day started badly with a text from Gill to say she was poorly and gutted that she wouldn’t make the ride. Some quick thinking and a few texts switched Paula (who was leading the first and faster group) to lead the second group, and Dave F (whose route Gill had stolen 😂 but needed to be home early) filled in to lead the first group. 

So Nigel, Brenda, Jane, Alan, John, Julie (trusty back marker) and I set off on schedule but were fairly quickly caught up by Christina’s group. We stayed ahead until their slight error and arrived at the pub for a delicious and speedy lunch. Some of the group might have used one of those words to describe their leader 🤭 but we didn’t loose anyone and the sun shone ☀️ so the day ended well and I’m pleased to say Gill is on the mend 😊
Paula

CHRISTINA

Gill H choose a great route for our ride from Cobham on 6 August. The route was followed on 2 July for A/B ride, designed by Dave F with 2/3 sections of off road both before and after lunch. My Garmin Connect informed me that 12% was off road and 88% on road for yesterday's ride.

Dave F reminded me at the 11s what a glorious day it was becoming with sunshine throughout the day and ideal low 20s Celsius temperature. Indeed it was fantastic weather throughout the day.

My group consists of Tim G, Mick A, Terry, Mags and Grant. 

Thanks to Tim G for being a reliable back marker, he is always leading, subleading or back marking. He is good at navigating too. 

It was my 3rd time riding this route, buoyed by the good weather, an effective "training ride" at Richmond Park the previous day, and a "pacy" lead ride to 11s on the day, I was leading at a fairly "speedy' pace, only to be slowed down by navigational mishap nearer to lunch.

Terry left us at Green Dene due to knee pain, he never intended to go the whole way to lunch in the 1st place. Hope you enjoyed the 11s and got back home safely.

Lunch was served efficiently with good grubs and drinks in the pub garden.

Mags left us at Wood Green Lane to ride to Guildford station for home.

We made our way back to Cobham around 4.30pm for tea.

I would like to think everyone in my group enjoyed a challenging ride in the sunshine.

'A' ride Wednesday 6th August 2025

 Nine assembled in Cobham in various cafés, but at 11am we all came together for the 'off'.

Plough Lane & familiar sights to Burnt Common where there used to be a 'Happy Eater' at the roundabout.

A regular 11's back in the day, it was where I first came across 'free hot drink refills'.

Defunct in 1996, the 'Little Chef' brand took over only to go out of business in 2018, but the trademark now has a Kuwaiti owner, Kout Food Group.*

Happy to get the A3 'cyclepath' behind us, Jacobs Well took us to the all too brief calm of the River Wey towpath & the lumpy bit of Guildford to the climatic road called 'The Mount'.

We all managed to claw our way up & were rewarded with a lovely view!

Steve D, Andy C, Guy D, Fiona B, Dave B, Andy H, Simon W, Patrick W, Hans F

The surface was acceptable to all (I think) & in no time we were relaxing in the rear garden of The Cricketers - a Fullers pub.

The service was quick in this quiet location in amongst the dwellings of Farncombe & we were away before 2 o'clock.

We encounted two 'Road Closed' signs before Combe Lane, the first just past Shalford where the workers were on a break......which is actually a very good time to sneak past!

The next just past Albury on the A25 where we met the nicest 'Road Construction Operative'......as the government likes to call them.

Road resurfacing is what exactly?......I'm no expert so I looked on the SCC website:

Surface dressing involves spraying bitumen binder (a sticky tar-like substance) on a clean, dry road surface, over which stone chippings are spread (small, consistently-sized aggregate).

The surface is rolled to embed the stones into the bitumen although some loose stones will remain on the road surface for about a week. The weight of vehicles passing over these loose stones will force them in to the bitumen to finish the new road surface.

To be successful, surface dressing relies upon warm dry weather, and for this reason work is usually carried out between May and August.

So with the above mentioned loose stones attached to our tyres, up Combe Lane we clambered frequently passed by vehicles caught out by the closure - westbound of the A25.

Five stopped at Bocketts Farm for tea (£1.60 with a reusable cup).

Thanks to Hans for backmarking, Steve & Andy for offering to sub-lead & everyone else for their company.

Ride data from plotaroute.com:

Uphill - 12%

Downhill - 14%

Flat - 74%

*Source Wikipedia