Adam's Super Power

Adam has the magic touch. After a month of heavy rains and gale-force winds -- with much less hope for an actual glimpse of the sun -- he seems to have done it again: ordered in some sunshine for a Luton & Dunstable Cycle Forum ride and yet again it arrived on time and lasted all day. No threat of rain and mercifully only a light breeze!


The Forum alternatives the starting points for its group rides. This time it was from Luton Town Hall. It's then a straightforward and fairly quiet route out of town on Park Street to pick up National Cycle Route 6 near Luton Airport Parkway train station.

Early arrivals Christine, Harry from My Bike Shop, Robin the ride leader
and his nephew Jack, Adam, Don and David

An early puncture plus identification of some steering problems,
easily sorted by Adam and Harry

NCN6 was our gateway to nearly 15 miles of rural cycling on a combination of asphalt-surfaced cycle paths and quiet country lanes. The first re-grouping point was at the Portrait Bench at a high point along the Upper Lea Valley Way.

We left the Upper Lea Valley Way and crossed under the railway line to go up towards Someries Castle. This road is a long drag up to the top of the ridge. Our group of mixed-ability riders valiantly fought their way to the top, but it wasn't very pleasant to suddenly encounter a lone "roadie" hurtling at speed down the hill towards us shouting "GET OUT OF MY WAY", scattering everyone like startled pigeons. Some weaker riders barely managed to stop their bikes without crashing and were reduced to walking the rest of the way up.

<rant mode on>
Shame on him! If he's local, I hope he's reading this and feels even just a little sorry for treating fellow human beings so arrogantly and selfishly. Sadly, this is much the same 'social disorder' manifest by people who, insulated in their metal boxes, treat their fellows on foot or bikes as merely obstacles that could slow them down.
</rant mode off>

Once to the top, we turned right. This road is what we call "un-made-up" -- it's not classified and and may not, as in this case, even have a name! Crucially, nobody has official responsibility for maintenance, so surfaces can be rather grim. On the other hand, this often means the roads are unattractive to motorists -- you may encounter the odd tractor but little else!

Right on cue, the first "hurdle" on this "un-made-up" First up was a still-flooded bit of road. Robin gave out a few tips: take a central position -- for two reasons. 1. The camber means the road is higher and the water level therefore lower than at the sides where vehicles wheels have worn down the surface; 2. For the same reason, there are much fewer potholes down the middle! We all heeded this advice and made it through smoothly. Except for Harry, who revelled in pounding down the lefthand side, getting himself and his bike wet and muddy and discovering a couple of very nasty submerged potholes that nearly had him off!

We then spied a herd of red deer in a field off to our right. This land is part of the Luton Hoo Estate.

We dropped off the ridge towards Kimpton and then climbed up again, crossing the same ridge at a different point. Kudos to Robin for his route-planning. He certainly selected the gentlest gradients I've been on for crossing this particular ridge!

We passed a number of sheep farms. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of young lambs but did not see any. Lambing is due to start any day now! It's certainly mild enough for newborns to be let out into fields with their mothers at a very tender age, rather than being kept in barns waiting for kinder weather.

Crossing over the busy Lower Luton Road, we skirted Harpenden and were soon back on the NCN6. The Amble Inn is conveniently located just off the cycle path and provided a welcome comfort stop.

The sun was arcing lower and lower in the sky as we made our way back to Luton on the Upper Lea Valley Way. We were delayed by another puncture but this gave us a chance to notice how many other cyclists were out this way today -- most of them families, often with children ranging from 4-7 on their own little bikes, in one case also a toddler in a childseat behind his mother, in another an even smaller child in a Burley trailer.

We reached the Town Hall at 3.15pm, having set off at 11.15am.

*********************************

I'd just like to close this post with some information about the Forum Rides.

The Forum itself has been around for years as the local campaigning/advocacy group.

Last summer, several members who were also active Sustrans volunteers benefited from Ride Leader training, which allows them to organise and lead groups of up to 12 people. They reccie their routes thoroughly and submit risk assessments to Sustrans so that the rides can be run under Sustrans' liability insurance. The first such ride was held in late September 2013. In fact, we did rides on both Saturdays and Sundays over two consecutive weekends. Each ride attracted 8-9 people, although to be honest about two-thirds of the participants were Forum members and/or Sustrans volunteers -- i.e. they were already regular cyclists, usually commuting by bike daily.

However, from this small start of essentially "preaching to the converted", the Forum rides have garnered a steady following of brand-new cyclists, a few of whom came out on one or more of those first four rides. In some cases, they turned up in September on bikes that had been abandoned in garages for years. Dusted off, they seemed initially ride-able, but the rides were often interrupted by unscheduled stops to attend to repairs, roadside bodge-jobs and advice to get the bike properly serviced ASAP!  Now, those same riders are cycling several times a week and in some cases have purchased bikes that are better quality but, crucially, far more suitable and practical.

Every month we attract more new riders. While the winter rides have been designed to get those September starters out on longer rides (which in our area inevitably also means hillier!), new riders joining us right now have at times found that they have "bitten off more than they can chew", being in the position that the by-now-regulars were in 5-6 months ago!

One of them deserving a big "Chapeau" today was Dawn. If ever anyone had an excuse to procrastinate coming out with us, she did! It was her first time out on a bike in years. She has a bike of her own but it's in a dreadful state, so she borrowed her dad's for today.  She was often at the back, with Adam for company, and she walked up a few hills. But she remained cheerfully determined and optimistic the entire day and was so pleased with herself to have completed it!

These are the people we started the L&D Cycle Forum rides for! Oh, and today -- including four Sustrans-trained Forum Members who worked as leader and marshalls, plus two experienced Cycle Trainers tagging along for fun -- our group totalled 18, an all-time record for us. Onwards and upwards!