2009-06-28 Sun 10am - Attack of the 50 Fixed Women!

Dear Ladies of the forum

I would like to announce plans for a Ladies ride on Sunday 28th June!
Whilst we all love the boys, I and some of the other ladies here thought it would be nice to organise a small ride round London. We'd like to welcome all you lady lurkers on the forum, and in fact any ladies in general - as long as they have a bike - we don't care if its fixed or not!

Its not going to be a long ride 10-20 miles, the route will avoid as many nasty roads as possible, no-one will get left behind. If you hate riding in heavy traffic and want to gain a bit more confidence out there, then this is the ride for you! All abilities welcome.

This is going to be a fun pootle around town on a (hopefully) sunny day ending up with a picnic in Richmond park (or the pub if the weather isnt great). A chance to catch up, talk bikes, drink beer and have fun riding round town in a pack.

Route to be confirmed, I will post it up once I've had a chance to recce it.

Start: Buckingham Palace 10.00 for a 10.30 depart.
Lunch: Richmond Park.
Finish: Coach & Horses Pub, Clapham (South Beers Venue)

Buck House to Park: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2936365
Park to Pub: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2936376

Also now in mapmyride format:

Buck House to Park: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/london/945124557721154148
Park to Pub: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/wandsworth/179124541146029982

Now with added awesome spokecard courtesy of Donut! All attendees will receive a shiny laminated one on the day.

Top Tips for a Great Day:

1. Check your bike over before you set out, make sure you're brakes work and your tyres are pumped up.
   
2. Pack a spare tube at the very least - I will be carrying tools as will some others, but the more tubes we have the better - hopefully they won't be needed.
   
3. Most of this route is on quiet roads, however there are a couple of places where we are crossing busy roads, please keep together.
   
4. There are limited obstacles/pinch points on this route, but I will be shouting back when we are coming to a point where we need to slow down, etc - please pass this back through the ride so everyone at the back knows whats going on.
   
5. This is a pretty slow paced ride, there are a couple of fairly easy inclines and 1 short sharp hill on the way back to the pub.
   
6. Some of the route is on towpaths, whilst the surface isnt too bad, I wouldn't advise riding tubs!
   
7. Find my number in the phone numbers thread and put it in your phone.
   
8. Bring a picnic! Obviously this is dependant on weather, if the weather is not picnic friendly we will be having a short stop in Richmond park then back to the C&H for 2-4-1 Burgers and beer, there is plenty of room for bike locking and we will have some reserved space. Note that this is also a route back to central London, for those that need one from RP
   
9. We expect to be hitting RP around Lunchtime for those that want to join us there at the ponds.
   
10. Any partners/boyfriends/stalkers who wish to welcome their ladies back can meet us at the C&H later on in the afternoon.