One day one photo - 9: Richmond Park - the cyclists' (and maybe the prisoners') choice

Rider hang-out at Roehampton Gate, Richmond Park

It's been a couple of months since I was last in Richmond Park, so I thought I'd make the most of the good weather and my bursting energy levels to make the trip across into South-West London and do a few laps of the cycling mecca for London-based cyclists. Sure, places like Box Hill and Regents Park are also popular, but Richmond Park is the place for all cyclists - not just club riders. Recreational riders family bike riders and small children all like to come out to this expansive green space, the biggest park in London.

First thing in the morning from about 7 am it tends to be the hard core club cyclists as those mini pelotons want to be able to get a clear uninterrupted path around the circumference of the Royal Park situated between SW15, TW9 and KT2, without having to slow down for or even scare away non-club riders! 

Not being hardcore, I arrived at the Roehampton Gate entrance at around 8.30am and began my three laps. By this time the park was beginning to get busy as more club riders arrived as well as recreational riders. I enjoyed just being among a large loose community of people powered by pedals.

The area around Roehampton Gate where there is a cafe and a cycle hire hub is a prime meeting point for cycling groups and it's always an area where you can bump into familiar faces. I saw different cyclists from London Dynamo, a large local cycling club that organises rides there.

Apparently, the police had also been in Richmond Park searching for an escaped prisoner who had apparently absconded from Wandsworth jail a few days earlier. You do see some dodgy bike riding sometimes, but I can't say I saw any signs of shifty behaviour! Who knows he may have been hiding in some secluded bracken or among the deer.  

Although I cycled there alone, I ended up riding close to other riders who were of a similar ability to myself. Sometimes they were stronger than I on the flat, while other times I pushed myself a bit on the hills and would catch or overtake them. Then on the descent of Broomfield Hill, it was a question of who had the strongest nerves when it came to the fast descent and the sweeping right-hand curve. Generally, they were more confident than myself as I was slightly out of practice and so used my brakes at the top of the climb in order to not pick up too much speed. I wasn't in the mood to kiss the tarmac.

Since the time of lockdown, vehicular traffic has been a little bit restricted and there are a lot fewer cars than before - particularly on Sawyers Hill and Broomfield Hill - which makes it very pleasant to ride. 

In the end I cycled two full anti-clockwise laps, then did one small lap via the ballet school and Pen Ponds, then a clockwise half-lap from Roehampton Gate to Kingston Gate before exiting the park and returning home. I always feel inspired after riding around Richmond Park - the sight of the beautiful, varied woodland on undulating terrain as well as the deer in the background doing their thing always gives me a feelgood factor which gives me wings as zoom through Kingston, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, and Mitcham to reach my manor in Crystal Palace. I hope not to leave it too long before I am back in Richmond Park again.

Rapha Festive 500 - Park Life tour: Day 1, Richmond Park

Stats
Kms ridden: 80
Kms left: 420

Weather: Overcast with sunny intervals; 8 degC

Parks: Richmond; Wimbledon; Norwood Country

Route on Strava


Another year, another Festive 500. It's great to get in with the spirit of this event, which has been going for 10 years now. I know some folks are a bit sceptical about it and aren't into this sort of global fad of riding 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

I have to say I have a penchant for it because it's a sure fire way of getting me out of the house to ride my bike every day - especially as I'm at an age where even sniffing at food makes me pile on calories.
So I am in favour of anything that counters the middle-age spread - especially at a time when the Christmas binge is de rigueur.

Sawyer's Hill, Richmond Park

My theme for last year's Festive 500 was disused railway lines.  This year it is parks. So I will aim to get around city parks, country parks and national parks.

Today was quite straight forward as I visited parks not too far from home.

Christmas Eve is always a difficult day as I have to fit it in around last minute Christmas preparations, so my mileage tends to be fairly average.

I was glad to get in 50 miles by doing a few laps of Richmond Park and then making tracks via Wimbledon Park, and passing my local South Norwood Country Park to reach home.

I would have like to have done Bushy Park, but time caught up with me.

As usual, there were quite a few people riding laps of Richmond Park,  though numbers were a little down partly due to Christmas commitments I imagine, as well as a dodgy weather forecast.

We've had a lot of rain recently, and today also had its share. Throughout the ride, the Kingston side of Richmond Park had angry skies above it. Everywhere looked grim, and there was a sense that the rain would come bucketing down at any moment. Conversely, on the Roehampton side of the park everywhere was bathed in glorious sunshine. Commonly, both sides were pretty cold and I didn't even get hot as I huffed and puffed up Sawyer's Hill and Broomfield Hill.

Having a break at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park

The cold weather was a little downer on the day as I hadn't been expecting it, and I had become accustomed to warm rain!

The forecast for this week is once again changeable, so I may also amend my itinerary to benefit from the least unpleasant weather. I guess that's a perk of having a parks-based theme. There are parks everywhere!

Here's hoping for nice weather for Christmas Day.


Related posts
Reflections on Rapha Festive 500

Why I like the Festive 500

It's official - Richmond Park is Britain's cycling Mecca!

So Strava has released its insight report on cycling and running activity in the UK for 2015. Some of the statistics confirm our perceptions: the most number of cycle commuters are in London. The hilliest cycle rides are done in South Wales (though I thought Yorkshire and Cornwall would be up there as well); the fastest rides were done in flatter regions like Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

The statistic that is most salient are the 65,000+ rides uploaded within Richmond Park during 2015, easily surpassing the second most popular area for cycling, Box Hill, Surrey, the main battleground during the London 2012 Olympics cycle race.

This South-West London park (also included in the routes for the London 2012 Olympics cycle races) registered the highest number of uploaded Strava segments in 2015, with 33,226 rides recorded on Sawyers Hill - the climb up to Richmond Gate from Roehampton Gate, Broomfield Hill on the opposite side of the park, with 17,409 rides, and 15,042 rides uploaded for the Tour of Richmond Park.

I, like many riders have been going to Richmond Park for cycle rides for years. It's a great place to do circuits of this vast green space. For a club cyclist the 7-mile loop on the perimeter road is a good mini time trial to measure fitness. Multiple laps of the park make a great training ride or a club run. 

When I go there, I cycle the 10 miles through South London to reach Roehampton Gate, do three laps and then ride home again, thus making it a decent 50-mile work-out.  For newer riders one lap is a good start-point when getting into cycling.

Furthermore there are various family rides, including the Tamsin Trail which is an off-road route completely removed from traffic, so great for less confident cyclists.
If you don't have a bike there is a place that hires out a variety of adult and kids bikes at Roehampton Gate.

And as you ride around there are places to stop for tea, say hello to the deer or marvel at the landscape and the views from near Pembroke Lodge.
What is there not to like about going to Richmond Park?

Well, in recent times the police have cracked down more in reinforcing the 20-mile-per-hour speed limit to all vehicles including cyclists (much to the annoyance of amateur racers). Indeed, there have been cases of cyclists being fined for speeding through the park.

In addition, disputes between motorists and cyclists have been on the rise as the roads become ever increasingly congested, particularly on sunny days at the weekend. In fact the local MP (and London Mayoral candidate), Zac Goldsmith held a meeting just over a year ago in an effort to resolve tensions between the different park users.

So with that in mind I thought that the number of cycle trips around Richmond Park would be on the decline in favour of other areas such as some of the quieter scenic roads in Yorkshire, Cheshire or the Lake District. Wrong.

All of the most popular Strava segments in this report are in the South-East of England, with the top 10 being completed by roads around Hampton Court and the Surrey Hills, plus Ditchling Beacon - a climb ridden during the popular London to Brighton cycle event. 

Perhaps the publication of this "ranking" may make people in other regions stand up for their local popular cycling areas and come out in support in order to gain "league table promotion"! Afterall, Tatton Park in Cheshire easily rivals Richmond Park in the cycling attractiveness stakes.

I have no idea if this article has incited more people to ride in Richmond Park, fewer people to ride in Richmond Park, more people to defect to somewhere else.
Mind you, looking out of the window on this grim rainy day I think it is the couch and the turbo trainer that might just be the winners!


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