FREE Westminster Christmas Lights and Shop Windows Rides

Over the Christmas period I'm leading rides on Sunday looking at Westminster's Christmas decorations and shop windows. Details of the rides are on Cycle Confident's website.

Here are a few photos I took on tonight's ride

 The Bond Street decorations are particularly impressive, and our luck was in as carols were being played on  the Atkinson Carillon. Cartier and many of the other shops looked suitably lavish.

I lead with a co-instructor controlling traffic at the back, so children can join in

Here's a little close up of one of Fortnum and Mason's windows

 and this is the Christmas tree in Covent Garden

 Here's Winter Wonderland seen from across Hyde Park

 and here it is a little bit closer

FREE RIDE Public and Street Art in the City of Westminster - Sun 16 November 2014

When: 16 November 2014, 10:00-13:30
Where: Start point is the Cycle Hire docking station in Rampayne Street (just along from Pimlico tube station) at the junction with Vauxhall Bridge Road, SW1V 2PU
Price: Free        

Officially placed (though sometimes controversial) works by renowned sculptors such as Rodin, Moore, Epstein and Frink, are interspersed with unofficial street art by artists such as Banksy during this ride.
Bikes can be checked over before the rides starts. If you don't have a bicycle you can hire a Barclays hire bike at the meeting point - bike hire isn't included in the free ride.
Come and join us for a fun relaxing half-day exploring Westminster!
Book here onto this Cycle Confident ride on behalf of the City of Westminster.

FREE fun ride from the Ovalhouse Theatre - Sunday 5 October

As part of the activities during the Ovalhouse Fun Palace weekend I'll be leading a sociable cycle tour zig-zagging madly around north Lambeth in pursuit of quirky places and curious stories.

En-route we'll visit the true centre of London, see the grand entrance to the Necropolis (the railway for the dead), spy upon astronauts in trees, inhale the latest spray-can art, gaze up at an enormous folly, witness the birthplace of circus, go vulture spotting and much, much more.

Taking place on Sunday 5 October, setting off from the Ovalhouse, 52-54 Kennington Oval, SE11 5SW, the two-hour, gently-paced 8 mile ride is mainly on quiet back streets. It's suitable for all ages, all you need bring is a bike. There's no booking needed, just turn up on the day.

FREE Clapham and Stockwell Ride - Sun 21 September, 2014

10:15 - 13:00 | Sun 21 September 2014

Meeting Point: Clapham Common Bandstand , Near Windmill Drive, SW4 9DE

This gentle 8-mile ride features recent place-making developments: Van Gogh Walk (Winner - Design Excellence - Placemaking awards 2013), Venn Street (Highly Commended, Excellence in Walking & Public Realm, London Transport Awards 2012) and the Edible Bus Stop as well as the brand new 'The Pavement' Clapham Old Town. Buildings include the new Clapham Library, looking like a row of books, by Studio Egret West and the Grade II concrete modernist Stockwell Bus Garage designed by Adie, Button & Partners (1952), plus deep level air raid shelters and the home of Sir Charles Barry.

To book a free place click here.

A Cycle Confident ride for Lambeth Council

FREE Tick-Tock, Ding-Dong, Keep Calm and Carillon ride - Sat 6 September 2014

Meet at 11.45am just outside St Clement Danes church, WC2R 1DH. The ride ends at 3.05pm.

A carefully timed ride seeing many of London's best clocks and sundials and listening to peals of bells. We'll meet the Queen of Time and the Royal Grocers; hear Oranges and Lemons, and learn to tell the time on a sundial with many faces.

Dr Bike will check bikes before the rides starts. If you don't have a bicycle you can hire Barclays bikes at the meeting point. To book a free place click here

A Cycle Confident ride for the City of Westminster

FREE Alphabetical Adventure in Vauxhall and Waterloo - Sunday 20 July 2014

Join me on a sociable ride that zig-zags madly so we chance upon 26 and more historical and quirky places in alphabetical order.

We'll ride from Architecture to Blake

via the Canterbury Music Hall 

to the home of Drugs

 and beyond.

En-route we'll visit the true centre of London, see the grand entrance to the Necropolis (the railway for the dead) and spot astronauts in trees.

Accompanied by experienced cycling instructors the ride will cover a dozen or so miles within a very small area, mainly on quiet back streets.

To discover the full alphabet book a place on the FREE ride, meeting at 10am for a quick bike check before departing at 10.10am, to finish by 1.30pm. The ride starts on the segregated cycle track by Lassco, 30 Wandsworth Rd, SW8 2LG. Book this free ride through Cycle Confident, Lambeth Council's cycle training provider.

FREE Westminster 'Firsts' Ride - Sunday 6 July 2014

Join me on a sociable Sunday morning ride finding out a little about Westminster 'firsts' - inventions, discoveries and innovations, such as the first public building in the world to be entirely lit by electricity

 the London home of Benjamin Franklin, ‘The First American’ and inventor of the lightning rod

the site of the world’s first demonstration of Television

 the incredible institution in which Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Strontium, Barium, Boron, Chlorine, Iodine and Argon were discovered

the home of the pioneer of computing

and the place where the first traffic lights in the world were installed, the building from which Dracula first emerged and much more

The free six-mile led ride starts and ends at the bottom of Northumberland Avenue, near the Thames, which has Barclay’s Bike Stands and is close to Embankment tube station, and Charing Cross Rail Station and tube station. Meet at 10am to depart at ten past, returning by 1pm. Book your free place here

Dickens and Shakespeare in Southwark - Sat 28 June 2014

Join me on a free, leisurely five-mile ride around the Thames area of Southwark, exploring the links with Shakespeare, Dickens, Keats and Chaucer.

In Jacob’s Island, the warehouses are roofless and empty; the walls are crumbling down; the windows are windows no more; the doors are failing into the streets; the chimneys are blackened, but they yield no smoke. Thirty or forty years ago, before losses and chancery suits came upon it, it was a thriving place; but now it is a desolate island indeed. The houses have no owners; they are broken open, and entered upon by those who have the courage; and there they live, and there they die. They must have powerful motives for a secret residence, or be reduced to a desitute condition indeed, who seek a refuge in Jacob’s Island.”

The free two-hour ride is part of the Bermondsey Carnival and will set off from (and return to) Southwark Park at noon, and again at 3pm, from the Cycle Parking next to the Park (cycles cannot be taken into the Carnival). Book at http://cycleconfident.com/courses/led-rides/ or just turn up on the day.

Catch glimpses of Shakespeare's world

Discover sites that featured in Dickens' novels

and places Dickens passed

 see where Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims set off from

and take a selfie sitting alongside the poet Keats in the shadow of the Shard

 This is a Cycle Confident ride for Southwark Council

FREE London Festival of Architecture London Villages ride - Sun 22 June 2014

London Villages: Clapham and Stockwell

14:00 - 17:00 | 22 June 2014

Meeting Point: Clapham Common Bandstand , Near Windmill Drive, SW4 9DE

This gentle 8-mile ride features recent place-making developments: Van Gogh Walk (Winner - Design Excellence - Placemaking awards 2013), Venn Street (Highly Commended, Excellence in Walking & Public Realm, London Transport Awards 2012) and the Edible Bus Stop as well as the brand new 'The Pavement' Clapham Old Town. Buildings include the new Clapham Library, looking like a row of books, by Studio Egret West and the Grade II concrete modernist Stockwell Bus Garage designed by Adie, Button & Partners (1952), plus deep level air raid shelters and the home of Sir Charles Barry.

To book a free place on the ride email charlie@capitalrides.co.uk with LFA Ride in the header and the names of participants in the message. Numbers are limited and you will receive an email letting you know if you have a place. Bikes are not provided so you will need to bring your own. Should you or any of your party need to drop out subsequently please let me know so I can offer the place to another person.

Sponsored by Lambeth Council

FREE Brixton Neighbourhood Ride - Sun 18 May 2014

All are welcome on this free family-friendly ride on Sunday 18 May gently exploring Brixton and its neighbouring area.


We'll see a few of Brixton's fantastic and long-lasting murals and rock down to Electric Avenue (as Eddy Grant sang); and touch upon sugar lumps and ice cubes. We'll discover the planned route for an urban motorway, cross an underground river, see the last 'old style' windmill in inner London, and pass by houses where Charlie Chaplin and David Bowie lived.

The ride starts at the junction of Brixton Road and St John's Crescent, SW9, by Max Roach Park. Arrive from 10 am onward for a bike check; the ride will set off promptly at 10.30am and cover about four miles over a couple of hours.Riders of all ages are welcome on the ride, but under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. To book a free place visit the Cycle Confident website.

FREE Chelsea Fringe Ride, Sun 18 May 2014

Join me on a bespoke Chelsea Fringe at Nine Elms on the South Bank Cycling Tour – stopping off at a number of fringe projects as well as pointing out places of interest and pop-up bits of guerrilla gardening.

Meeting outside the Garden Museum by Lambeth Bridge at 2pm, the gently-paced 11 mile ride starts at 2.15pm and will amble down towards Battersea Park and back, ending up at the Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall around 5pm

 Along the ways we'll visit a Doorstep Green

explore a community garden

mosy around Bonnington Square

spy upon rooftop gardens

gaze up at wall gardens

visit an edible bus stop

and see much more

To book a free place on the ride email charlie@capitalrides.co.uk with Chelsea Fringe Ride in the header and the names of participants in the message. Numbers are limited and you will receive an email letting you know if you have a place. Bikes are not provided so you will need to bring your own or use a Cycle Hire bike (docking stations nearby). Should you or any of your party need to drop out subsequently please let me know so I can offer the place to another person.