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Fast Evening Ride
22 September 2005

Yippee! Another faster Thursday ride and as Steve can't do it I get to lead and go where I want. As a result I have decided that we will do about 60K and head into the wonders of north London that are Barnet and Enfield.

Four of us met on the Green Bridge and as promised we sped off very soon after 17.30. The fab four being, Andy, who I met on Steve's insanely hilly Chilterns ride; Dave Halpin, who I met last night on the easy after work ride and Matt who I had previously met on Buzz's unexplored London after work ride and myself.

I almost had a major navigational disaster as we set off by aiming for the canal immediately after telling everyone that as I had stated it was a road ride we would not be doing any towpath or stuff like that. We soon hit the road and despite the distressing sight at Grove Road, of a bike being loaded into an ambulance after a road traffic accident we made good progress through the rush hour traffic and found our way to Lea Bridge Road. From there we then turned westward and after a short hold-up at Blackhorse Road we turned north again and went speeding up and away from Tottenham. At times I checked my computer and found that as we carried on pedalling furiously through the industrialised parts of Tottenham, Edmonton and Enfield we were doing a steady pace, mainly in excess of 30 Kph on the broad and flat roads which still had plenty of rush hour traffic to ensure that we concentrated on the task in hand.

Eventually we turned off at Enfield Highway and after a brief delay at a level crossing we worked our way across Hertford Road and soon after that The Great Cambridge Road. From then on it was clear how different the eastern and western parts of Enfield are. To the east of the A10 it is mainly light industrial and the residential parts are small, mainly, terraced properties. However, onn the western side we were truly in suburbia.

We continued to make good progress and soon came to the more undulating parts of the ride as firstly we went along Clay Hill and past the many Garden Centres of Crews Hill. Shortly after we made a stop to ensure that we all had lights on as sunset was rapidly approaching. That stop was at Botany Bay, yes folks, there really is such a place in England and it is in Enfield. Afterwards we crossed the M25 and got to the northernmost point on the ride at Potters Bar.

The return journey was like riding the outward part in reverse as firstly we sped through fields and lovely rural vistas in the rapidly fading light. Once we got to Hadley Wood the scene changed and we went through more and more built up areas until by the time we got to Whetstone, after enjoying the descent of Barnet Hill, we were once more, clearly, back into the urban sprawl of outer London.

The rest of the ride passed uneventfully as we came down the A1000 the A1 and finished the ride with a swift half at the Rosemary Branch as it was very convenient for me to end the ride within 200 metres of my apartment.

I hope everyone enjoyed the ride and the only pity is that as we move fully into autumn the pleasures of riding in the daylight and especially for this ride warm evening sunshine will disappear until April or May.

Scorecard:
Riders 4
Mechanical issues 0
Distance travelled 56.86 Km
Average speed 24.3 Kph
Maximum speed 41.5 Kph

Ken Peters

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