Sunday the 1st Nov

 A change to the advertised lunch venue due to the probability of the cafe being overwhelmed and only inside seating. So lunch will now be at the Rural tea room Goulds Green, about 11 miles from 11's and tea TBD. Some slight off road. I will take a sandwich. A suburban ride to pastures new, for most.😁😈

Changes to Programme - Sundays 1 and 8 November 2020

Tony's planned 8 November ride to Pinewood Nurseries has now been brought forward to 1 November but the elevenses meet will be at the Pleasure Grounds Cafe, Runnymede (instead of Magna Carta Tearooms).  

Details for 8 November will follow next week.

Sunday October 25 2020

 Maybe we looked at the wrong forecast; it suggested that overnight rain would ease by early morning. At times this seemed to be true. So at least five set off from home in steady drizzle! and surface water; only three made it to the Cobham rendezvous.  The "Waitrose" bus shelter was dry but surrounded by a veritable moat of standing water so I continued to the cut-through where Simon huddled under an archway. Sometime later Pam arrived.

By 11 the rain had stopped and Simon headed home. To rebut accusations of two easy points, Pam and I rode through Downside, Ockham, Send and Cartbridge to Old Woking. After a safari into suburbia we emerged in Woking Park beside the bandstand. Soon it commenced to rain attracting a mob of unruly kids.

Hurriedly finishing our snap (as they say in Yorkshire) we headed for the station. The subway is no friend to Pam so we veered onto Victoria Way to inspect the improved Chobham Road bridge (not quite finished!). Leaving the canal at Monument Bridge Sheerwater, Woodham came next and then Liberty Lane where we went our separate ways at the A318 junction.

I was home before three which rather wasted a perfect autumnal afternoon. 40+ miles door to door.

Scam email

Dear All,

A cautionary word.

Today I received an email purporting to be from one of our former members, saying ’hi’ and inviting me to click on a link.

This member’s name is Harold Fifield. Some of you may remember him.

I mention this only because he died several years ago.

Beware!

Jeff

 

Cycling UK AGM

 If you're interested in what Cycling UK is doing and what its priorities are, this presentation from the AGM gives a good indication.  The voting results are here.

October 25 2020 New Start

The first ride of winter will start from Cobham. After that extra hour in bed I'm hoping you'll arrive earlier rather than later.

If it's dry we'll assemble on the "cut through" between the main road A245 and the RBL where there's seating. If wet there's a bus shelter opposite Waitrose but if October 4 is anything to go by...

Ride will go through Woking to Addlestone or Walton Bridge. Once again lunch will be the bandstand beside the Woking Leisure Centre.

If there's any interest we could try out the new bridge over the canal in the town centre.

Change of lunch venue for 18th Oct

Change of lunch stop. Lunch will now be at the small tea caravan inside Blacknest gate at Windsor Great Park. The original stop would not now be viable.

 Tony..

Covid Guidance

Thanks to Janice for finding this.

Who said life was easy? Let's honour them both

 This is just for the nerds

For a long time, the CTC/CUK has worked to a financial year starting in October and ending in September, though for the rest of us our financial year starts on 1st April. That is why our attendance record has been Oct. to Sept. and our AGM dated accordingly. Way back on Sept. 27, 2020 we were notified by CUK that the end of its financial year had been moved to 31st March. So it seems that our attendance record should be shifted accordingly. Yawn! MWW already works to April to March. In the interests of harmony, it seems that we should adjust accordingly. At least, we have the track and trace statistics, however we use them.

We might commission the Office for National Statistics to audit and adjudicate accordingly. However, consultancy charges might dent our bank balance. For me, both Graham and Dave have served C&M valiantly and deserve all our support and appreciation.

Both deserve a free virtual meal on the house at our 2021 virtual annual lunch, for which I am more than happy to give them virtual support. How about you?

Jeff

New Covid-19 Restrictions - Bad News and Good News!

From 17 October residents of any London Borough or Elmbridge Borough will no longer be able to meet anyone who is not from their own household in any indoor venue, not just within those areas, but anywhere else outside them in England as well.  This will cover many, but not all our members, but the restrictions will also apply to anyone from outside when visiting the restricted areas.   Complicated, isn't it!

The good news is simpler - there are still no restrictions on meeting outside (with or without refreshments), or riding in socially-distanced groups of no more than six, so we can carry on cycling!

At this time of year weather can often be the deciding factor anyway, so I suggest we don't bother attempting to change all our existing programme formally, just take it week by week and see nearer the time whether the next planned ride is okay as it is, or needs changing to an all outdoor affair.

Please therefore note that the rides list is subject to change in the light of new Government regulations, and check this blog for changes.

C&M Attendance Record - 1st October 2020 to 30 September 2021 (and 1st Oct 2019 to 30 Sept 2020).

 Nature Abhors a Vacuum

 The good news:     We now have a new attendance record sheet from 1st October 2020 to 30th September 2021, hungry for attendances.

The disappointing news:   We already have an embarrassing gap where attendances on October 4th should be. This may be because of the reference in the Rides List to an AGM.  Our old friend 'covid' has already wiped out agms. Does this mean 'nul points'? What happened on 4th October?

The challenging news: Oh dear! I cannot believe that this has happened for the third year on the trot!

After all those gruelling miles ground out in the past year, the record shows once again a near dead heat between Dave Ward and Graham Hill with 71 for David and 70 for Graham. This does not include attendance at the Annual Lunch on 9th February, which I believe was attended by Graham and not by Dave = dead heat. Subject to audit and appeal!

Life is never easy.

Jeff 

Ride Report - Sunday 11 October 2020

 

Harris & Hoole at Tesco's, New Malden is a bit off the beaten track for us and I wasn't sure how many members it would tempt out, so it was great to be joined by Bob, Tony, Pam, Gill, Ray, Graham and, making a welcome return after a long absence, Chris.  Harris & Hoole proved to be quite a good venue, and not too busy, once you had managed firstly to find your way into the Tesco car park, and then, secondly, to find where in the store the coffee shop was hidden!

After elevenses all of us except Bob set off in the sunshine to meander through the leafy byways of Horatio Nelson country, then along the banks of the Wandle, before the long drag up to Wandsworth Common.   We stopped for lunch by an open air cafe on the western fringes of Clapham Common which wasn't too busy.

The skies had clouded over by now and we didn't linger too long as it had become quite chilly, and we headed off across the Common proper, a very busy spot today, but positively quiet in comparison with a heaving Battersea Park which we negotiated very gingerly indeed before crossing the Thames by the Albert Bridge.

Our route was then along NCN4 towards Putney and Richmond Park.   NCN is quite fiddly in places with sudden, random turns in residential roads, and by Putney Common I was feeling quite pleased that we kept together on the trickiest parts, but pride always comes before a fall!  Most unfortunately, a spur of the moment decision to veer off and inspect the rear side of the unofficial Marc Bolan memorial at Barnes Common led to us unintentionally parting company with Gill!    Worse still, despite our best efforts, we could not track her down!   Mea culpa, and sincere apologies!   The moral is that a ride leader you must never relax your guard!

Anyway, we eventually carried on across Richmond Park, still hoping in vain to be reunited with Gill (the story did have a happy ending and Gill was very nice about it all).   We ended up at the Flying Cloud, Teddington Lock, where some stopped for tea, and some headed straight home.

Thanks to all for your company, and to Graham and Tony for your help.

Loyal member

Plans for Sunday 11 October

Elevenses will be at Harris & Hoole, Tesco Extra, New Malden.   It's on the ground floor of the store and we can get take-away drinks to take outside.  Toilets inside.   Easily accessible from the New Malden - Raynes Park cycle route.

Lunch stop is at La Baita Bandstand Cafe, Clapham Common (or bring your own), which we will reach using as many quieter roads and cycle paths as possible.   Toilets nearby.

After lunch we'll zip down to Chelsea Bridge (passing Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations), and, once over the Thames, can then turn west to ride home via Putney Bridge and Richmond Park, or else east to head for Waterloo for a softer option!

One caveat - I'm familiar with most of the route, but not necessarily in this order (the exception being Tesco's itself, which I haven't visited for years)!   I couldn't do a recce last weekend because of the foul weather, but don't foresee major problems, just a bit of a stutter here and there!

CUK 2020 Summer Raffle

And the winner of the first prize is: 

https://www.cyclinguk.org/summer-raffle/winners

... but Raleigh haven't yet been in touch!