The Bike Show feeder ride for #TheBIGRide

Tomorrow’s the London Cycling Campaign Big Ride, which aims to be the biggest ever mobilisation of cyclists (and pedestrians and rollerstakters) on the streets of London. There are feeder rides from every corner over the capital, read about them here.

If you want to join a probably small but perfectly formed Bike Show peloton, then join us for a gentle roll into town, with a cafe stop en route and a pint and a bite afterwards. There’s too much fussin’ and fightin’ on the streets of this city. To bring a little peace and harmony we’ll meet at the wonderful Buddhist Peace Pagoda by the River Thames in Battersea Park, at 10am.

If you’re coming, let us know in the comments. Or over on Facebook.

Friends Ride: The Oyster Run – 14 April 2012

alt=”East Mersea beach Essex” width=”500″ height=”374″ />

The next Friends of The Bike Show ride will be on 14 April 2012 – an “Oyster Run” to Mersea Island.

Morning trains from Liverpool Street take just over half an hour to get to Chelmsford. From there we’ll ride on quiet back lanes through rural Essex to Mersea Island. A lunch of oysters and other shellfish at The Company Shed (bring own bread and wine, and possibly an oyster knife if we go for a picnic option because it’s busy inside). Suitably refreshed, it’s just a short ride across the island to the Mersea Stone where the brave might take a dip in the salt sea before heading back up the River Colne to Colchester and a return train to London.

The ride will be at a leisurely pace and in the region of 45-50 miles.

With Group Save tickets or Network Railcards the train journey will cost about £13-15 per person for the round-trip.

Photo credit: Andreas-photography

If you’re coming, let us know by filling in the form below.

Friends Ride: 15 September 2012 – To Ripley (and back?)

Ripley is a beautiful village in Surrey that has a special place in the history of British cycling. The Ripley Road was a popular course for bicycle rides in the late 19th century and the Anchor Inn at Ripley was the favoured haunt of early wheelmen. Read all about it in Carlton Reid’s feature-length article on the Ripley Road.

The Anchor at Ripley - Courtesy of Send and Ripley History Society

Nearby Wisley Woods was the scene of women’s bicycle rallies in the first decades of the twentieth century.

Wisley Woods - Courtesy of Send and Ripley History Society

Ripley is also home to the best cycle jumble in the country. The next one will be on 15 September and we’ll be riding down from London for the occasion.

An early start is needed to ensure a good pick of the bargains at the jumble, so we’ll depart from underneath Admiralty Arch (near Trafalgar Square) at 8am, following an efficient route through South West London, more or less the Olympic road race course (View & download GPX etc) which is on entirely passable but sometimes busy roads. It’s 45 kilometres and it’ll take a couple of hours. We’ll arrive at Ripley for mugs of tea, bacon sandwiches and bread pudding.

For those who prefer to get to the jumble early or don’t fancy a brisk Saturday morning ride, you can take the train from Waterloo to Woking (20 minutes) from where it’s a gentle 8 km ride to Ripley. Anna and Fenn will lead the ride from Woking. Meet under the clock at Waterloo Station at 9.15 for a train shortly after.

After a browse of the stalls at the jumble we will take loop around the lanes. And a pint at the Anchor. We’ll make a lunch stop but do feel free to bring a packed lunch. Then a return ride to London, by the slow route. Or, if you’re laden down with bargains, take a train back from Woking. Feel free to decide on the day.

If the start is too early or you don’t fancy the ride through London, then by all means take train some of the way down or meet us en route.

If you’d like to come, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

Morning mist

Morning mists on the road to Ripley

Cake!

Cake at the jumble

Eric the Collector

Finding a bargain at the jumble

Friends Ride: An East London Excursion

Join other listeners and friends of The Bike Show on a leisurely 35 kilometre ride this Saturday 24th September.

We’ll meet at Look Mum No Hands! at 49 Old Street at around half past nine and set off not long after. We’ll head east along the canals, through Victoria Park, over the Lea Navigation and up onto the Greenway, past the Olympic stadium and the Joseph Bazalgette’s nineteenth century temple of sewage (pictured above). With the Beckton Alp in view we’ll turn south and ride through a park, past pylons and horses and around the Royal Albert Docks and the University of East London. The Woolwich free ferry will take us across the River to lunch by the river at the Anchor and Hope in Charlton. Then it’s upstream past the Thames Barrier, through Greenwich, Rotherhithe and Bermondsey to end up at Resonance FM for a quick studio tour and perhaps a lemonade at a nearby pub.

Bring a bike with pumped up tyres, a spare inner tube and some wet weather clothes if it looks like it might rain.

If you are joining us, please drop an email to bikeshow@resonancefm.com. If you can’t make the start, try to join us en route. Email for a mobile phone number.