Women's ride

Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 10:30am - 3:00pm

We are teaming up with Tower Hamlets Cycling Club, the Fieldgate project and the East End Women's Institute to offer a women only ride. This will be suitable for women that have perhaps done some basic training and cycled maybe around the park, but would now like to explore a little further on their bike. And of course any women who already cycle confidently but would like a social ride will be very welcome too.

Our plan is to go up to Victoria Park (contact me if you prefer to meet the group there and we will try to arrange something) then do a sociable lap of the park to check everyone is OK and all bikes are functioning as they should!  Then we will follow the towpath to the Waterworks cafe near Leabridge road and stop for a late elevenses/early lunch. The cafe offers relatively cheap food and drink (mug of tea 80p), also there are loos at the visitor centre and you should be fine sitting outside eating your own food if you want to bring something along. After the break there will be a choice to return directly to Victoria Park or to carry on cycling further north up the Lee Valley. Depending on the wishes of the group and the weather this can be a shorter or longer extension. Then finally we will turn south again back to Victoria and Mile End parks, maybe with a tea or ice cream (optimistic!) stop.

Total distance to Waterworks and direct return about 12 miles, for longer route between 15 and 20.  Return time obviously depends on which option you choose. Pace will be very easy, most of the ride will be traffic free but you will need to be confident about cycling next to water (although you can get off and walk for those nasty cobbled sections under the bridges - your ride leaders don't like those either!) and OK to tackle one or two minor quiet roads for short distances. If you just want to come along to meet everyone and do the Victoria Park lap, then leave, that's fine with us as long as you tell us.

We hope that this will be the first in a series of women only rides, probably one a month, with some future excursions slightly further afield but still all easy pace and relatively short.

Ride difficulty: 
Easy
Ride distance: 
12 miles
Number of riders: 
23
Ride report: 

Our inaugural THW women’s ride was held (somewhat inappropriately) on 1st April. However it was anything but an April fool – the sun shone and 23 women came along from Wheelers, the East End WI and from Tower Hamlets Cycling Club. We started with a gentle ride from Mile End to Victoria Park where we just happened to meet Tom (LCC’s Senior policy and development officer) who took our photo and seemed impressed by the great turnout. A couple of minor bike problems, namely a slipping seatpost and a wobbly saddle, were identified and rectified quickly.  From the park, we cycled along the canal towards the Olympic Park and then turned north up the Lee. The traffic free riding allowed plenty of opportunity for us to mingle and chat. We stopped at the Waterworks visitor centre for a tea/coffee/early lunch according to appetite and taste.

After the stop there was a parting of the ways as the ladies from THCC had to get their borrowed bikes back to Mile End by 1pm. The rest of the group carried on further, using shared use pavements, the “Black Path” cycle route and some minor roads to Coppermill Lane. The WI ladies left us at this point as one of them lives there and I am sure they were stopping for tea and cakes! The rest of us carried on alongside the sewage works (Wheelers can show you all the best sites!) back to the Lee Valley. We made a brief detour to view Leyton Marsh complete with “Occupy” camp and local protestors (an area of the marsh is being built on to provide a basketball practice arena for the Olympics). South of Lea Bridge road we detoured into the Middlesex filter beds - originally part of London's water supply treatment but now a nature reserve. As we enjoyed the sunshine we were lucky enough to spot a newt swimming around in the pond. We retraced our route as far as Eastway, and then took some quiet roads through Hackney Wick leading back to the footbridge over the Blackwall tunnel road into Victoria Park. We will soon need to use this route regularly as the towpath alongside the Olympic site will be closed most of the summer “for security reasons”.

All in all a very successful day, with much better weather than the forecast. Stand by for more women’s rides – we will aim to do one every month or so.

Caroline

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