Ride Report A’s to Knaphill 12 February

When planning this ride a couple of weeks ago I had hoped we could enjoy some signs of spring, early flowers, maybe a little warmth in the air, even a little sun. On the day we had neither rain nor wind which is excellent for cycling, but otherwise continuing cold and grey, grey, grey.

For the route from Teddington I had looked for the least urban roads out of west London, which took us to Chertsey, leaving only the selection of a pub for lunch.

And so I found The Garibaldi at Knaphill, last visited by us under Dave B’s leadership in 2019, and ripe for reappraisal, supported by its inclusion in this year’s CAMRA Guide. And as it turned out, it was the most organised pub I have ever visited, although it took us a few minutes to realise the organisation would only work if we sat in our allocated seats and didn’t move around too much.

My group of Dave F, Diane, Sue C, Richard and back-marker Jennie (thanks Jennie) set off first and arrived at lunch just after Neil C’s last group. The morning had passed pleasantly and uneventfully, just what a leader needs; the highlight being the yellow gorse blossom on Chobham Common, the only colour in a vista of grey and mist.

The excellent lunch was swiftly served and just a quickly consumed, meaning we were back on the road after only 43 minutes (a record?). On the way out the landlord spoke of his experiences riding the Downslink Challenge charity cycle ride, Knaphill to Brighton and back off-road, which the pub organises in support of Woking Hospice. No mean ride.

 

After lunch we had a short, swift-ish, ride back by-passing Woking, and across Wisley bridge to tea at Cobham, where I left the remaining riders at Gail’s warming themselves with hot drinks.

Dave W’s Group left next.

I am pleased to report that the 10.40 group (Janice, Dave B, Steve D, Patrick, Clive and me) had an event-free ride, unless you count essential nose-blowing stops as events!  I just about managed to keep up with the others as we cruised along Dave's clever route which integrated familiar and less-familiar sections into a bit of a mystery tour!  Patrick detached himself from us after Chertsey, alleging he had to get home for work (I wonder if hadn't found the pace a little too fast....?!!!), but, apart from that we were thankfully free of excitement until we reached The Garibaldi at 12.30.

After the briefest of delays while we got ourselves in the landlord's mindset, lunch was astonishingly well-organised - this must count as one of the fastest 'A' group midday turnarounds ever - and I did a double-take when paying my bill which was very reasonable to say the least!

To avoid frostbite, photo stop delays were kept to a minimum when leaving the pub, but it still struck very cold as we set off on the shorter ride back to Cobham and tea.   Once again, Dave surprised us with a route which combined familiar and unfamiliar bits in an unexpected juxtaposition, but we kept our heads, and a steady pace, and were at Cobham at about 2.30.

It is always a pleasure to sub-lead (if you can call that what I did!) on a well-organised ride, so many thanks to Dave V for master-minding the whole thing.   Definitely one to repeat, I would have thought.    Thanks to Clive for back-marking all day, and thanks to my group for putting up with it all, for keeping 'incidents' to a minimum, and for their company!

And then Neil’s group.

I had the pleasure of leading the third group (Simon, Ged, Mike, Brian and Peter). We may have been the last away but we were a disciplined and experienced team. Dave had arranged for dry weather and empty roads and we made good progress. Peter S had volunteered to back-mark and a mere glance over my shoulder or in my mirror rarely failed to show Peter's hi-viz overshoes. Even the traffic lights seemed to be on our side.

Occasionally I would wonder if I had been down a road before, but usually after a while I realised I only knew it in the other direction. The weather was good for February but too cold to stop on Chobham Common and take in the enchanting views of central Woking. After the quiet sweep around the lanes to avoid Chobham we just had one more hill to take us up to The Garibaldi.

Lunch was served promptly with military precision and we were on our way again within an hour. Ged escaped from the group and so does not feature in the obligatory photograph.

 

Now the roads descended gently all the way to Wisley and so good time was made. After a couple of short rises it was more downhill to a leisurely tea at Gail's in Cobham.

Thanks from me to Dave and Neil for so-ably leading their groups. And to everyone who came out to share the experience.

Author: Dave Vine

Wednesday 12th Feb B group ride to Ace café

 Gill and Maddie had kindly agreed to sub-lead for this ride on what turned out to be a rather chilly and damp day. Suitably fortified with  excellent sausage rolls at Elleray hall, our biker groups departed; me leading the Harleys, Gill leading the Vespers and Maddie with the BMW’s.

With Tim G kindly back- marking, my group of 7 (Julie B, Jane F, John A, Mick A and Dave E) made our way through west London via canals, river banks and quiet roads. It is always astonishing to experience how far you can travel  around London without encountering busy roads. Much of our route in fact was on the C40 cycleway.

Reaching the Ace we re-charged our batteries with very promptly served grub and were on our way again, taking a shorter and more road -heavy route back to Bushy Park. Navigation had been going reasonably well on the route to the Ace however Garmin gremlins kicked in on the way home and my map and directional arrow changed from the usual north up display to point back the way I had come thus showing all the turns in reverse! Time to call upon group members to lend a hand with navigation which they duly did! Thanks to all who came along yesterday and especially nice to have Dave E with us on his first club outing in a while. Hope you enjoyed the B group banter, Dave.

Garmin post script: the very helpful person in customer services at Garmin talked me through restoring the north up display so fingers crossed all sorted!

Gill's report:

A winter’s ride to the Ace Cafe sounded perfect and so it turned out.  Sue’s route, modified from a Simon route, was spot on with enough challenges to keep us entertained and happily for the most part without traffic.

Our buzzing band of Vespas comprised myself, Liz, Ray Y, Carolyn, Karl, Anne W, Grant, Bob and Tony.  Unfortunately Tony left us early, but Liz’s wrist managed to survive the lumps and bumps of tree routes on the Grand Union Canal and she was able to complete her first ride with us for 6 months.

The Ace Cafe lived up to its reputation, and has no problem catering for large groups.  The food was served almost before we sat down. The jacket potatoes were a great hit on our table!

Despite every traffic light turning red for us on the pm ride back to Bushy park we made good time and 3 of our group enjoyed tea and cake with the first group.

So pleased to have got to the Ace Cafe at long last. Thanks Sue!  Thanks to my group and especially to Bob for back-marking. 

and Maddie's group:

Tim C, Maggie & Paul J, Gill, Pam and Ray W all followed Madeleine on an intricate and interesting route through the back streets and canals of NW London. As a treat, Maddie added a couple of extra diversions in the way - including an unfortunately-muddy steep rise and an extra snippet of canal. We were slow but steady, Ray acting as back marker and sweeping along Tim - who we were all delighted to see back with the B’s.

A puncture for Maggie at lunchtime was efficiently sorted by Paul - fuelled by tea. The lunch at Ace seemed to be enjoyed by all. Ray was miffed that we weren’t labelled as the Harley Davidson’s, since he owns one (as well as a BMW). So, inspired by Ace’s motorbike display, the last group did a bit of re-branding. How much better is ´Triumph Bonneville’s than BMW’s?’ 

Author: Sue F

Hilly 50k - Saturday 26 April - Save the Date!

This year’s Hilly 50k will be on Saturday 26 April 2025 from Ryka’s, Dorking. Sign on from 9.30am. Finish at the top of Box Hill.

You will be pleased to hear that the route, and all the hills you love are unchanged. For full details see our Hilly 50 web page.

If 26th April is not suitable, you are welcome to do the ride alone or with friends at any time of your choosing.

If you've not yet experienced this memorable ride, this is definitely the year for it! And check out the video by Charlotte Barnes who rode the 2010 Hilly 50 on fixed wheel.

Last year we were successful in attracting a good number of female riders. This year we hope to continue that trend and also attract a wider group of riders who might not normally attempt such a ride.

If you are not familiar with the route, or nervous of the hills, I plan to organise a sensibly paced group ride, including a welcome (for me at least) mid-ride coffee stop at Kings Head Shop on Pitland St, Holmbury St Mary. Please let me know if you are interested (d.vine207@btinternet.com).

As in previous years we ask riders to support St Raphael’s Hospice, a cause close to the heart of our late organiser, Mike Morley. Donations of £10 (or more if you prefer) via our JustGiving page to this most deserving cause.

 

Author: Dave Vine