I Am Now... A VeloVixen!

(C) Phil Bingham/VeloVixen Rides

Last Sunday I went on my first VeloVixen Ride -- a road cycling club launched in November for ladies of all riding levels, especially those who have been "left feeling isolated, intimidated or simply bored by existing clubs".

To be honest, I don't feel at all isolated, intimated or bored with my long-standing club, The Fridays, but because we're a night-ride club, we don't do many rides through the winter as it's difficult to ask 60+ people to commit to a ride that may end up cancelled if there's any chance of ice.

Meanwhile, though, I'm keen to keep the legs going round right through the winter as much as I can, so have been looking around for rides on offer by other friendly groups. I've been a big fan and very pleased customer of online retailer VeloVixen (for women cyclists) since I met them at the London Bike Show last January, so was very interested when they announced they were organising road rides for women (via a new Facebook group) catering to differing needs if possible in terms of pace/speed and distance -- with the emphasis on enjoying the ride, making new friends, and always including a good coffee stop!

The first three rides have started from Croxley Underground station. When I first learned that, I wasn't too sure I could manage to get there by 10am on a Sunday morning without long train journeys and probably several changes from one train to another. And full-size bikes aren't allowed on the Underground -- right? As it happens, full-size bicycles ARE allowed at off-peak times (such as weekends) on outer portions of the network (which often run above-ground), including the Metropolitan line from Baker Street out to Croxley.

So with a little advance planning, I signed up for last Sunday's ride, setting off at 8am from home to Luton Airport Parkway station, by First Capital Connect to West Hampstead Thameslink station, cycling to Finchley Road tube station and taking the Met line out to Croxley. The train journey was 30 minutes' long, and the tube journey another 30 minutes, with 20 minutes' cycling from home, another 10 minutes waiting for a train, 10 minutes cycling between train and tube, and about 10 minutes waiting for the tube. So door to door took me about 1 hour 50 minutes. Not too bad and with easy changes. (A journey of only 1 hour but with 2-3 changes would be far more stressful!)

Several others -- Phil, Polly and I believe Leyanne? -- happened to be at the other end of the Met line train, so we all met up on the platform. Several bikes were draped in seasonal tinsel, while some riders wore flashing ornaments on their jackets!

(C) Phil Bingham/VeloVixen Rides

Over the next 20-25 minutes, the others arrived: Laura, Lucy and Emma, Kimberly, Lenora and Susan -- all on truly beautiful bicycles (Bianchi Infinito, Trek Madone, Trek Domane, Specialized Dolce, Specialized Tricross -- I ogled them all!)

We lost a few minutes trying to access the toilets (all locked) before deciding to set off together with a view to finding a suitable loo break within the first few miles. First though, Lenora led us through M-checks of our bikes to ensure we were ready to ride.

(C) Phil Bingham/VeloVixen Rides

We were soon out on swooping country lanes at a fairly brisk pace. I had a nice chat with Laura from Vancouver BC, as we cycled two abreast behind Polly and another (Leyanne?), with Lenora and another (Kimberly?) setting the pace at the front. We soon spotted a pub that was open and we all pulled in.

The initial blast had given each of us a feel for what sort of pace we might like to do, so we split into two groups, Lenora leading the front group and Phil the second. I was in the second group along with Laura, Emma and Susan.

Susan's bottle escaped its cage in the middle of a village and she had to go back for it. I waited for her and she and I spent most of the rest of the outbound half of the ride trailing off the back of Phil's small train, sometimes very nearly pulling ourselves back onto it, then falling back a bit when we hit an upward slope!

The morning had dawned with a very pretty sunrise with mostly clear skies. Clouds were gradually building up (with rain showers forecast for 1pm onwards) but we still had some sunny outbreaks when we set off from Croxley. Just before we reached Chesham, the skies went much darker and a few heavy drops began to batter us. Susan and I pulled over into a farm road and donned waterproofs.  This cost us a little more time but we found Phil and the others waiting for us at the top of the descent into the town centre. As we pulled in behind them, the rain stopped! We kept our waterproofs on, though, as insurance!

Traversing Chesham involved navigating two short stretches of dual carriageway and multi-lane roundabouts, then we were in the old town and very quickly on the road towards Great Missenden.

I am not entirely sure of the route we took but it did involve a long incline -- one of those upward slopes that really doesn't count as a hill but proves to be a long slog. I don't know why but these really sap my will every time (for instance, the stretch of A217 between Rose Hill and the Tadworth roundabout on the London-Felpham ride). I'd really rather climb a properly brutal hill!  Indeed, we got one of those as well, just for variety:  the road takes a steep fast dive downwards just before Great Missenden. (My friend Greg crashed on this last spring on a Fridays/Cycle Chat ride, earning himself an ambulance ride to the A&E.)  Phil then announced that we were simply going to ride around the roundabout at the bottom of the hill and go straight back up it! I'd not cycled this hill in that direction before but took a quick assessing look and thought "ah, just like Caddington Hill going home... brutal but short" and so it proved to be. I made full use of those lovely low gears on the Enigma and my legs spun up to the top quite easily.

And then we got to blast down that "soul-destroying slog" back to Chesham!  The rain by then was quite heavy but I'd got my mojo back and cranked the speed right up til I felt I was flying. Wheeeeeee!!

We rolled into Caffe Nero to find the faster group tucked up inside enjoying their drinks. We soon joined them -- thank you, Phil, for the coffee!  The chatter and laughter flowed freely for quite some time -- none of us were in a hurry to go!

(C) Phil Bingham/VeloVixen Rides

I had decided however that I was quite wet and cold enough to want to call it a day while I was still enjoying myself. So after posing for a photo with our bikes outside (see top), the others set off back towards Croxley while I chugged up the hill to Chesham tube station to make my way home.

Bikes allowed on the Tube -- who'd have thought, eh?

I enjoyed the ride very much, especially appreciating the leaders' flexibility and willingness to cater to the needs of a variety of riders. I am a tortoise rather than a hare, in the habit of settling into a pace that I know I can maintain for 7-8 hours. My winter goal is primarily to keep ticking over at a conversational pace, but there's no denying that I would benefit from being challenged by a slightly quicker pace for shorter distances. The VeloVixen Ride gave me that little extra prod to push myself a bit more than I do riding solo, accompanied by gentle encouragement and an air of cameraderie but a complete absence of competitive pressure!

It was an absolute pleasure and I hope to ride with the VeloVixens again soon.

Laura has also written a lovely report of the day's outing here.