We’ve written about this ride here. If you’d like to join us on a similar future ride please do get in touch.

Are you thinking about joining a bike club but not too sure what it would be like, or how fast you need to be? Perhaps you enjoy sportives but haven’t thought about joining a club? Or maybe you’d just enjoy an afternoon out riding with some other women?

If you’re a female cyclist who can answer ‘yes’ – or even ‘possibly’ – to any of the above, why not join London Phoenix for a 50km social road ride from Hertford North station this Bank Holiday Monday 4th May. We’ll be setting off after the 14:07 train arrives from King’s Cross / Finsbury Park. A very nice tea stop has been identified for the route, and we won’t leave anyone behind, whatever your pace.

For women, the only qualifications are that you have a road bike of some description and are reasonably confident of riding 50km.

Men are allowed to join the ride too but there are two extra conditions:
1. You have to bring at least one woman along too
2. You have to ride behind, or within 5 metres of the woman you invited – so you’re allowed to help out on the front, but you’re not allowed to leave us behind!

If you’re interested, or have any questions, please drop an email to liz [at] londonphoenix.co.uk

Stuart Jones completely blew apart the opposition this weekend with a stunning solo effort at round 7 of the hotly contested SERRL summer series at Hog Hill. He was joined at the start by Matthew Harper, Matthew Webber and David Murrell, but the day really belonged to Stuart who broke early on and went on to a solo win after nearly an hour of keeping the group at bay.

David said:

“From my view it looked as though Stuart was involved in all the early attempts at breaking away before he got fed up and did it alone. An incredible ride as it was very windy in places; but you’ll have to ask him about it as no-one saw him after about 30mins. Matthew Webber and Matthew Harper did a good job of being a nuisance at the front whilst I played the ultimate team-mate role of hanging on at the back of the main group.”

“Despite the best efforts of the other riders to split us up the three of us lined up across the main bunch at the bottom of THAT hill for the final charge to the line. Sadly we all caught poor wheels, and I think we all had to check our sprints at least once as well as avoiding a rider who had broken a chain, but despite that we managed a blanket Phoenix finish for 14th, 15th and 17th (David, Matt W, Matt H). Not a bad effort in what I thought was a hard race (if you weren’t called Stuart Jones); and I reckon if any of us had got a clear run to the line we’d have bagged another top 10 finish to add to Stuart’s win. But really the race belonged to Stuart who was head and shoulders above everyone else.”

In a further demonstration of his pure class Stuart simply added:

“I didn’t really mean to get away, especially that early in the race, but as I did end up with a gap I just kept on going.”

Well done everyone, especially Stuart, who is now a mere bike length from his 2nd Cat licence. And once again thanks to Taka Wu for the fantastic shots, with more here.

London Phoenix took a well earned break from international racing commitments this weekend and headed to Brighton beach for beer and chips. By the time we hit Croydon we were 10 strong and it was at that point we decided that an extra couple of loops of the East Croydon overpass would be the perfect way to soak up the atmosphere and culture on offer.

Robert Moore and Nathan Smith had to be sent to the back after repeated attempts by them to pull a gap, and newcomer Nick Sinfield then took over at the front with an impressive demonstration of his TT abilities.

The first ever QuadroPHOENIX Ditchling Beacon Prime was won by newcomer Ben Dixon who pulled an early gap on Nathan Smith, with Robert Moore not far behind in a really impressive 3rd spot and Annabel Rootes the fastest woman of the day.

At Brighton we celebrated the end of our social ride with plenty of beers and bountiful portions of chips as the sun blazed down and beat us round the head. An off-road (and possibly overnight) London to Brighton is currently being planned, more details to follow soon.

We are just back from the first Merida mtb marathon of the year at Builth Wells in mid Wales.  Hein, Werner, Abi, Lizzie and David were all there, along with 900 other mountainbikers enjoying the sun and the dry dusty trails.  The route was a new one and featured endless lung-busting ascents, super-fast descents and precipitous natural singletrack – probably the best course in Builth for some time.  It was a great event and fantastic weather and included a 50km night ride on Saturday night and a 65km marathon on Sunday.  We are all looking forward to the next round to be held in Crickhowell on 17 May which will take us deep into the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons.

Thanks for joining us on our Easter Classic, and thanks to Bikefood for sponsoring the event. It was thrilling to see hundreds of you turn up and ride with us on the day and the response since has been overwhelming. We had a fantastic time and it really did look like you did too!

See you again next year, if not sooner!

London Phoenix Easter Classic Date and Oat bars

Makes 16 bars

• 250ml water
• 200g dates (stoned weight), chopped
• 175g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 175g soft light brown sugar
• 100g porridge oats
• Good pinch of salt
• 175g butter, room temperature, diced

Get a 20×20cm square cake tin

Preheat the oven top 180C (350F, Gas Mark 4). Butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

Place the water and chopped dates in a medium-sized saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes uncovered, on a low-medium heat until the date mixture is very soft and thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add the sugar, oats and salt and mix well. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, run it in until moist clumps form.

Press half of the oat mixture evenly over the base of the prepared tin. Spread the cooked date mixture over this, then sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture. Press gently with the palm of your hand to flatten it on top.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown at the edges and set in the centre.

Allow to cool completely in the tin, then turn out and cut into bars to serve.

Go on a massive ride, you deserve it!

This recipe is taken from Bake by Rachel Allen.

An eventful day of racing at Hog Hill this Easter weekend. Joss (Miller), Matt (Webber) and myself (David Murrell) raced in the 3/4 Cat race which was run clockwise for a change. Matt featured heavily through the race, helping chase down a group and getting in the mix for one of the primes. I felt good with the shorter distance and less steep hill to my liking, and by the end it was clear it was going to be a big bunch sprint.

Matt was somewhere up front looking very likely to feature in the points and on the last bend I did my best to join him by sweeping round everyone at speed and sprinting to the finish. Sadly my front wheel had other ideas and just as I picked up at the apex I went down in a heap. Matt stormed on through and finished in seventh spot.

A quick inventory revealed I still had 2 of everything I started out with, although my flying dismount had cost me a bent rear gear hanger, a broken spoke, and a lot of skin off my right hip, knee and hand. The good news is that my new race steed (Hilda) looks ok apart from the bent gear hanger and few war wounds to the campag bits.

Well done Matt – nearly a 3rd Cat! Next time I’ll wear my lucky red socks.

Once again thanks to Taka Wu for the great photographs, more here

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