Month: August 2021

August Catch Up

As we will not be having an August meeting this is a catch of of what has been happening and a preview of what is going on in September.

Our Fix your Ride facility has been in great demand. Whilst we were not able to do our usual Woodgrange Market stall this month we have been on the road with two sessions in the Royal Docks with Newham Wellness on 3 and 4 August, for a Sikh charity ride on 8 August (see picture) and with Dovetail on the Carpenters Estate on 20 August.

Green Street was the mid point in a 60 mile charity ride. We provided some mechanical aid.

There is great demand for Fix your Ride. If you would like to help in fixing or simply advising on cycling in Newham let me know. Our normal Fix Your Ride service resumes at Woodgrange Market on 11 September and there will be a Further opportunity at the Ambition Aspire Achieve Charity Festival (to mark their 5 years and as a tribute to their founder Kevin Jenkins). We have been working with AAA for a number of years supporting their Children’s Cycle Club.

Our ride calendar has been disrupted by the pandemic but there will be a Newham Ride on 29 August – see events section.

Finally there are a number of important infrastructure developments.

  • We have suggested ways of alleviating the dangers caused to cyclists by the long term diversion of heavy goods vehicles from Stratford High Street.
  • We have supported Redbridge Cyclists in respect of (poor) proposals for Centre Rd, Aldersbrook Rd, Lake House Rd – important connections to the north of Newham.
  • We are considering a raft of “bus enhancement” proposals for the Barking Rd and Plaistow High Street which do little if anything to improve cycling along what are recognised by TfL to be among the most important strategic cycle routes in London.

Please get in touch if you would like more info on any of the above.

Arnold

Forest Gayte Pride Ride

On Saturday we were delighted to lead our first ever Pride Ride as part of the events of Forest Gayte Pride! Less than 10 miles of easy riding, but we managed to take in 4 historic LGBT venues in Stratford & Maryland as well as the only one still existing in the borough as we passed through the Olympic Park.

Numbers were a bit lower than hoped, as less than half of those who had booked actually turned up, but everyone who joined us – most of whom hadn’t ridden with us before -had a great time and the sun shone upon us!

Most riders really embraced the spirit – wearing rainbow colours (beautifully demonstrated by Steve and Anita!) and flags decorated our rider leader and all our marshals’ bikes.

Most of our route was on quiet roads – other than a small section on Romford Road and Woodgrange Road, where we were reminded of the lack of good infrastructure for cycling! However, we really enjoyed the majority of the ride which took us through LTNs and were a delight!