International Women’s Day is coming up on Sunday 8th March, and we’re celebrating with a set of rides open to all women and non-binary cyclists – DPCC members or not!
The Schedule
- We’ll meet at Herne Hill Velodrome at 9am for a pre-ride coffee, aiming to roll out at 9:15-9:20
- There will be 4 different pace groups (details below) following different routes
- All routes will finish at the top of Crystal Palace Park Road, with the opportunity for another coffee post-ride
After the rides, you may find yourself wanting to head back to HHV, who have a variety of other events running to mark IWD.
The Rides
- A super-steady (<20kph ride) ride, led by Cath, going along this 57km route.
- Two pace groups will head out along this 84km route
- Steady (20-22kph), led by Kathryn
- Intermediate (22-23kph) led by Sophie
- A faster chaingang (27-30kph) will head along the classic 64k DPCC Summer CG route, led by Lina & Jess
No need to book in advance, just ask for your ride leader when you turn up at HHV, and you’ll find a warm & welcoming group ready to take you in.
The chaingang will aim for a faster pace, but you don’t need to have chaingang experience and we encourage anyone interested in a pacier ride to give it a go. We’ll go through how it all works in the pre-ride briefing, and our route takes us the same way as the 84k rides up to the top of Layhams so there will be groups behind that you can drop back to if you decide you fancy a more social pace home.
For your own safety…
- Make sure you have a roadworthy bike with working gears and brakes, straight and true wheels, properly inflated tyres, and (ideally) mudguards if it’s wet.
- Drop handlebars are ideal but not mandatory – the super-steady ride in particular will be much more relaxed about this.
- Wear appropriate clothing – for example a jersey or jacket with pockets, padded shorts or tights, gloves/mitts, and a jacket or gilet if it’s wet and/or cold. But wear what you are comfortable with – if Lycra isn’t for you, that’s fine.
- We strongly advise wearing a helmet but it is not mandatory.
- Bring at least one full water bottle, and we’d advise a snack as well for mid-ride refuelling.
- Bring a spare inner tube in case you have a puncture, and if you have tyre levers and pump, bring those too. We will be taking emergency contact numbers before we start in case of any accidents.