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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Shoot Story - Alderley Edge and Tatton Park

The current issue of Cycling Active includes my ride story, Made in Cheshire. It was the first photo shoots I did for Cycling Active after starting my job in Macclesfield and was in the area known as the golden triangle of Cheshire. This includes places like Wilmslow, Knutsford, Alderley Edge, Mottram St Andrew - some of the most affluent parts of England outside of London and the South East.

And yes, we certainly got that feel about the place while we were there. Our first area for the photo shoot was on the main road through Alderley Edge. That certainly had a Primrose Hill village feeling about it, with independent clothes shops, trendy cafes, and a few beauty salons. Like every high street in the UK there are a few charity shops. The ones in Alderley Edge are decked out like designer fashion shops! Who needs Zara when you've got the Oxfam shop selling the cast-offs of celebrities?

The street was flush with 4x4 Mercedes, BMWs some Land Rovers plus a number of luxury cars. Of course there were ordinary cars - Audis, VWs, BMW saloon cars, etc that are less than 2 years old.
I am not sure we quite fitted in rolling up in our hired 5 year-old Vauxhall Astra van!

We took a pic of me riding past a Bentley parked along the high street. Of course we were careful not to photograph the number plate. Some of the folks were a little bemused at the way I kept riding up and down past the same car. But they were amenable and some cars stopped for us while Aodan finished his shot. People may have been wondering what I was up to going up and down the street on my bike, but I have to say that I was a little bemused when we saw that same Bentley carousing up and down the road to Mottram St Andrew. We couldn't see the driver through the greyed out windows. So we just assumed it to be the chauffeur who just wanted to parade around out of boredom!

The Village Café seemed to be another hangout where people were there "to be seen". This wasn't just your greasy spoon or even Café Nero where you rock up to the joint at random. You needed a reservation to pick up your morning cappuccino. The women were either blonde or had highlights, while the men all seemed to be of a certain age and had that permanent tan to match their silver fox hair style. Some of them looked like actors from some northern based soap opera. It's been ages since I watched Coronation Street or Emmerdale so I wouldn't know who the actors were even if I tripped over them! Maybe they weren't so high profile but they certainly had that ac-tor way of speaking and they spoke in a way that tended towards Stratford-on-Avon rather than Stockport!

Later we were in Tatton Park, which for me was like Richmond Park in London, but with more stately homes and gardens and not as hilly. There were parking restrictions in the park to allow space for the guests of "James and Julia's wedding". We took a few shots outside the mansion anyway, managing to do this before the wedding party emerged, and we tried to snap shots in between the various families that were passing by. Families like this one consisting of George on his scooter, Poppy with her stabilisers, yummy daddy Rupert carrying baby Oliver in his pouch, and mum on her lady's hybrid. The kids looked at us curiously, while their parents hurried them along so that they could get to the Garden Café serving organic food.

Because the mansion was in the shadow and the light was not so bright Aodan told me I had to ride slowly during these shots to stop the photo looking blurred. Of course passers-by didn't understand this, and some kids passed me, giving a look of triumph as they managed to overtake this lady on a racing bike while they were riding their first two-wheeler. Ah well, let them have their day of "glory"!

Later on while in Tatton Park my mum rang me. I hadn't had the chance to talk to her since returning from Milan. (I'd only been back in the UK for a week at that point.) As ever she was surprised to hear where I was, and she was quite excited to hear that I was in Tatton Park. Even though we were in the middle of the shoot I took the time to talk to her because I hadn't spoken to her in a while, so I thought it would be nice to chat. Thankfully, Aodan kept himself busy photographing deer while waiting. She didn't know Tatton and had never been there before so I described it to her and where else we had been that day as the planes into and from Manchester Airport roared up above me. She was quite interested to hear about this plush part of the North-West. "You might even see George Osborne!" (the local Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer) she joked.

We took a few more photos in Tatton Park and then called it a day. It had been a fun day with nice weather, and we had enjoyed a very pleasant café stop at the Wizard Café on Alderley Edge.

My mum always liked reading the ride stories and other articles of mine that were published in Cycling Active and Cycling Weekly. I had really been looking forward to showing my mum the finished article on Cheshire in Cycling Active magazine. Sadly, on the day the issue was published my mum was critically ill and under sedation in hospital after a sudden illness. She died the following day, 27th March, aged 64 years. It's incredible how things can change so suddenly.

I dedicate my Cycling Active feature, "Made in Cheshire" to my mum, Esther David.
May she live in eternal peace and happiness in Heaven.
I hope that when I write future articles she will look down and continue to enjoy them.

The Richmond Park of the North-West!

For keen cyclists based in London one of the key focal areas to ride a bicycle is Richmond Park. Go there on any Saturday or Sunday and you will be struck by how many people are riding around. 

The perimeter road of the Park is approximately 7.5 mile in circumference, so it is a convenient distance for any cyclist.
For the novice 7.5 miles could be a challenge, especially when going anti-clockwise and tackling the climbs up to Richmond Gate and from Kingston Gate. Racing cyclists enjoy practicing chain gang training rides over multiple laps of the park and challenge themselves to complete a lap in under 20 minutes (without being caught for breaking the 20mph speeding)!

I used to really enjoy going to Richmond Park, both for cycling and for running (the park is popular with hundreds of runners too!). Being there is like being in the countryside despite being less than 5 miles from Chelsea. It is peaceful, lush and there is even a bit of wildlife in the form of deer which have been there since the time of Henry VIII.

I miss Richmond Park, with its lovely trees, nature reserves and beautiful views over the suburbs of London. But the great news is I have now found the answer to that here in the Northwest - Tatton Park!

Just after the pretty, upmarket town of Knutsford is Knutsford Gate, which leads into a vast area of parkland, that gave me the same feeling of openness and freedom as Richmond Park. There are quite a few similarities between these two Parks. Both parks have listed buildings and stately homes with bijou tearooms. Both have nature reserves and green spaces where you can lose yourself away from the madding crowd. Both of them seem to be under flight paths to major airports!

There a couple of small differences. Richmond Park has a few hills, and Tatton Parks has a couple of long lakes (or meres). However, there is no doubt that on any Saturday or Sunday both parks become awash with walkers, runners, horseriders, people fishing and cyclists doing laps.

So that's where I was last Sunday with a group of cyclists from Manchester Wheelers. This club, which is quite active in the North-West had organised a women's training ride in the park. Although it was the first time I was meeting the other riders everyone was very welcoming and I felt quite at home with them within a short time of starting the ride. One lap of the park measured five miles and was largely flat, with a section of the lap going outside of the park boundary.

Around 15 of us turned out for the ride and we split into ability groups. Acouple of guys were there to give tips and advice on "through and off" and "holding the wheel". It was all useful stuff, especially as I was a little rusty on all of this given my lack of road racing activity last year.

Riding around felt like the good old days - enjoying a training ride, seeing other local cyclists and saying hello and returning home feeling motivated and invigorated to do more.

So, I think I will be back in Tatton Park before long. I get the feeling that this could become one of my local hangouts over the coming months.