Our Club Rides

Our club rides are fun and friendly and we have a nobody-gets-left-behind policy. They range from long Sunday rides to intense laps of Regent’s Park and take place six days a week.

Our rides are open to all members. Before we can accept your application you must attend a free session where we can introduce you to club riding. You will find the next Intro Rides here and the next Group Skills rides here and you can sign up on the event page. We aim to hold one of each every month.

We have a mandatory helmet policy on club rides, so please make sure you wear one - no helmet = no ride.

Please take a moment to look through our Group Riding Guide if you are new to club rides.

Here are details of our regular club rides and how we categorise them by pace. Many club members also like to take part in races, TTs, sportives and audaxes, and members can find more information on the club Forum.

RIDE GRADES

We aim to make it as easy as possible for members to find rides at the pace they are looking for. We use five colour bands to indicate target speed on the flat (not average speed over the whole ride, which is affected by traffic, hills and weather).

• Green: 20-25kph
• Silver: 25-30kph
• Blue: 30-35kph
• Black: 35-40kph
• HC: 40hph+

Some rides may be additionally labelled “Fast” or “Easy” to indicate the upper or lower end of that band. A “Fast Silver” ride would be in the 27-30kph range. An “Easy Blue” Ride would be 30-33kph.

We also hold regular step-up rides at the top boundary of each colour led by an experienced rider. The aim of these rides is to build practical awareness of the boundary between each colour band and give members a chance to test whether they are ready to progress to higher pace bands. Green to Silver Step-Up rides will aim to ride at 25kph on the flat. These rides will normally be shorter than average to accommodate riders who may be riding faster than they are used to.

We advise riders who are new to club cycling to start with one of our Green rides.

CLUB RIDES

Our Sunday club rides leave from Highbury Fields at 0830. We normally have a range of rides available, going different distances, in different directions and at different speeds. The shortest are usually 50km and many are 100km or longer. We often have a midway coffee stop.

We encourage ride leaders to post their rides on the forum in advance. This allows people to sign up for the ride and download the route to their bike computer. However, it’s also possible to turn up on the day and find a ride.

Ad hoc club rides on Saturdays and other days are advertised on the Forum.

The meeting place is close to the centre of Queens Walk which runs directly across the centre of Highbury Fields.

REGENTS PARK LAPS

Many members enjoy riding laps of Regent’s Park in close formation to develop speed and stamina. Saturdays are particularly social and many people stay for coffee afterwards.

All club rides meet at the zoo entrance on the Outer Circle.

Saturday
• 0700 training pace (fast)
• 0800 social pace (not quite as fast)

Tuesday
• 0615 training pace
• 0630 Women’s laps

Fridays
• 0630 social pace

Our Group Skills sessions are a good introduction to Regent's Park laps. These meet on the south side of Regent's Park Inner Circle.

WEEKDAY EVENINGS

We offer a number of weekday evening rides, all starting at Highbury Fields unless otherwise stated, except for the Velopark session which starts at the Olympic Velopark. In summer members often stop for a drink at the end.

These may not all routinely take place, particularly when it’s cold and dark. You may want to check or post on the Forum to see if others are planning to ride.

Tuesday
• 1815 - Radlett Revolution - A 70k route with lots of straight sections where groups can ride in formation and get up speed.

Wednesday
• 1815 - North London Hills - A 50k route offering plenty to build up climbing strength

Thursday
• 1815 - Gritty Fifty - A 50k gravel loop out into Epping Forest
• 1815 - Fixie Loop - A 60k ride out to Brookman’s Park and back
• 1830 - Velopark – Laps of the Olympic Velopark.

Routes can be found here https://ridewithgps.com/groups/Islington-CC

Hi! @DavidMason I just renewed my membership.

I last checked the forum in (April 2022) and it looks quite different.

Do I still need to sign up for the group rides?

Is there anything happening tomorrow?

hi @Federico.Varri - welcome to another year of membership. for sunday group rides, we do recommend signing up on the forum. for tomorrow there are a variety of rides posted already. for example both an intro and normal green ride at https://forum.islington.cc/microcosms/1352/. if you're not able to sign up on the forum, it's still possible to join the rides on sunday morning, just head to highbury fields just before the 8:30am start.

Hi @ChrisTsen

I would like to test if anyone would be interested in starting *weekend*afternoon rides.

I love mornings but definitely prefer afternoon personally…

Short rides obviously (50-60km) to be back before sunset.

What do you think?

@Federico.Varri - i'm sure there would be some interest given the size of the club, i would suggest talking to a few other members, and perhaps posting this to the appropriate ride (colour) group.

Any members with gravel bikes?

Hi @iainrhill, yes and so does @AndreM (and others)!

The club midweek gravel ride (Gritty Fifty above) seems to have quietened for the season (lack of daylight) but I've done it on the weekend before and may put a ride on sometime.

I'm also half considering this gravel sportive on Sunday though it does clash with another club ride: https://gloriousgravel.com/product/gravel-sportives/salisbury-plain-autumn-gravel-epic

thanks Richard for the reply, I have done some Glorious Gravels before.

Yes indeed. Did a short Epping ride on my own last Sunday and weather was lovely. Signed up for Cambridge this Sunday. Let's see if we can plan something!

Hi @DavidMason and All,

I've joined the club last October, but due to family commitments haven't been able to do any other club rides than the intro ride since then!

I've still been out cycling on groups, I was just wondering if I needed to do the intro ride again before coming to a club ride?

Thanks!

Hi @RiccardoB, I'll send you a PM

I've been taking a little break from cycling in favor of skiing :D, but am eager to get back asap. I haven't used the forum in a hot minute, but somehow can't find any of the club ride posts I used to see. Am I doing something wrong?

You'll find them here https://forum.islington.cc/microcosms/114/

I am having the same problem and can't access the link

Have you just joined? You won't be able to see them until your membership is processed.

OK, thanks but that was processed on April 6th

Hi Michael, your membership is only processed once you’ve completed and Intro or Group Skills Ride and paid your membership fee via BC. It can take up to a week. Does that help?

Hiya, I renewed my club membership 8 days ago and it was accepted yesterday, but I still don't have access to the full forum. Is anyone reading this able to give me permission to view the full forum? Happy to PM over my email address if so. Thank you.

Hi, I’ve signed up, done an introductory ride, become a member, but only have access to the intro part of the forum. Any tips or ideas please let me know. Thank you!

Hi! I would like to join the Radlett Revolution, do I need to book somewhere? Also where do people meet?
Thank you :)

@Rafe @Robby92 - it can take our membership secretary up to a week to process new members and give you full access to the Forum. In the meantime you are welcome to join rides.

Our Radlett Revolution ride starts from Highbury Fields at 1815. You don't have to book but there's normally a post on the Forum from Monday or Tuesday with people indicating that they are riding it and at what pace.

Hi Rafe - when did you join? Your membership processing can take up to a week. You can turn up to rides in the meantime.

Thanks @GeoffP and @DavidMason, I got my welcome membership email on the 11th May, and have been enjoying some fabulous rides, but I still only see only the intro part of the forum. A couple of fellow newbies I was riding with today experience the same thing. Its not a big deal, and TomLeVelo gives me a preview of the rides, but I just wondered if I was doing something wrong or if there was something on my profile that needed to be clicked from your end. I joined many years ago, then relapsed, maybe that is the cause of the glitch? I've messaged Jimena and the membership email too. Thank you! Rafe

I think @Jimena has been away so it may be taking longer than usual to process new joiners. If she confirms that she has processed you then escalate to @Theo our IT supremo.

Thanks so much, good to know. Rafe