metSept10

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING

Tuesday 7 September, 715 for 7.30pm
Held at the home of John Griffiths, 122c Edith rd, West Kensington, W14 9AP

PRESENT: John Griffiths, Ayse Kardes, Julie Askins, Paul Saunderson, Marta Wojcik, David Marsh.

APOLOGIES: Gerry Berridge, Susie Gretz, Roger de Freitas, Ruth Mayorcas,

REPORTS FROM SKYRIDE

The Central part of the route which was closed to other traffic was organised by Skyride. The feeder rides were organised by the LCC for TfL. A representative from Limelight, the Skyrides PR people, was at Ravenscourt Park to hand out bibs.

The signposted route from Ravenscourt Park to Buckingham gate had been devised by Gerhard Weiss from LCC with modifications suggested by John Griffiths. Routes through Hyde Park would be closed that day due to the Adidas 5K breast cancer run, so a route via South Kensington was used. Ride leaders could use that route or another if they preferred. A few static marshals were on the marked route.

Marta Wojcik led the first ride and had ridden the route the route a couple of days before. The ride left soon after 10am. There were about 110 riders on the ride, including some very young children. At one point the guiding team discussed whether it would be better to split the ride into two groups or leave one marshal to guide the family with the youngest child. However we kept the group together and the ride went very well. It took about an hour to get the group to Buckingham Gate. Some photos from the ride taken near the Royal Mews had time stamps of 11am. See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/rides.htm. The return ride left at 3pm.

Paul Saunderson led the second ride at 11.30am. There were about 80 riders on this ride. This ride took somewhat longer to get the central zone. At one point a child was exhausted and crying and that family dropped out of the ride. Paul was not very happy with the route taken. They returned at 4pm by a more direct route and the route through Hyde Park was now open.

We hope everyone enjoyed the rides and that it would encourage people to take up regular cycling and to be involved with further LCC led rides.

RIDES, EVENTS, ETC?

There were suggestions of rides to pick mushrooms as it now that time of year.

Sunday 12 September
Ayse will lead a ride going to Richmond Park this coming Sunday 12 September. Leaving from the platform overlooking the river at the end of Queen Caroline street at 11am promptly. This is on the corner of the riverside walk and almost under Hammersmith Bridge. Bring a picnic for lunch. We will spend some time hunting and foraging in the woods. This ride is suitable for all the family, but children should be advised not to nibble. If anyone knows what they are doing I hope they will come along. John has some idea of what a cep and a death cap look like. Please let Ayse know if you expect to be coming on 020 7371 1290 / 07882 093 489 or ayse_kardes@hotmail.com.

Sunday 19 Sepember

Ben Owen from Ealing is organising a ride for the forthcoming New Bridge Charity Bike ride tour.

It will set out from Feltham Young Offenders Prison on Sunday 19th September at 9am sharp. If you are starting from Feltham, please arrive at 8.30am for a 8.45am briefing. Directions: http://tinyurl.com/2vxrcnf

You can also meet en route at any prison or at The Grange Pub, The Common, W5. The whole route is mapped out on www.bikely.com . Type in any of the London prisons (Feltham, Wormwood Scrubs, Holloway, Pentonville, Belmarsh, Brixton, Wandsworth and Latchmere House and you will find the leg that either arrives or departs from that prison.

Your bike needs to be roadworthy and you should be capable of being able to maintain an average speed of 10mph over two hours. We will be riding for no more than two hours at a time and we expect to get to the last prison, Latchmere House, at around 7.30pm.

Contact Ben for more details - Ben Owen 020 8840 3991 / 07974 40 77 66 (please note I get a poor signal at home, so best to try me on my landline first)
bjowen@tiscali.co.uk

10 October 2010
Julie is organising a picnic for World Homeless Day from 1 - 5pm at Victoria Tower Gardens opp the House of Lords. www.worldhomelessday.org/

CYCLE TRACK AT LEAMORE STREET JUNCTION
A cyclist was injured at this point recently by a car turning from King street across the cycle track. It is especially dangerous for cyclists cycling the wrong way on the track, ie with the traffic, as a car driver may not notice a cyclist appearing from behind him. The council will be looking at ways to reduce the danger, but any suggestions welcome.

LIP - LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
We have made some suggestions so far. See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/lip.htm
Chris Bainbridge from LBHF is on leave at the moment, but we hope to have further discussions and input later. Anyone who wants to be further involved in our input please contact John.

This response from CTC Crawley to their Local Transport Plan includes numerous useful links to documents that support cycle use (cost benefits, health etc) . It may be useful in responding to Local Implementation Plans or Local Development Frameworks.
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/1023557/388093253/name/2010.08_CTC_LTP3Response_v1.0.pdf

LCC MEMBERSHIP
Paul suggested that as our constitution requires that the Chair be a member of the LCC, this membership should be paid out of group funds. John, the Chair of hfcyclists, did not think this a good idea. Ideally all the members of the management committee should be members of the LCC. And in a voluntary organisation paying expenses for one person may tend to diminish the effort put in by others. The constitution of some other LCC groups requires that all members of the management committee be members of the LCC.

EXPENSES
John had expenses of £23.29 for tonight's refreshments. We are grateful to Paul for the pies and dates he brought along.

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 5 October, 7.15pm for 7.30pm, at Julie Askins place.
105, Henchman St, East Acton, W12 0BN, 020 8740 5453, 07796 163 187,
Please let Julie know a few days beforehand if you expect to be coming.

John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator]
020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
OUR WEBSITE www.hfcyclists.org.uk