Sheffield FridayNightRide

we have nothing to lose but our chains

2010/10/22 Sheffield and Its People

Next Sheffield FridayNightRide
Sheffield and its People
Friday 22 October 2010
Start 6.30 pm Park Hill Square (by tram bridge, towards bottom of South St)

Brief Ride report
23 nightriders with at least six new to nightriding and one latecomer reeled in at Grimesthorpe.
Weather threatening but in the end mild, very light spotting of rain and the moon appeared briefly
Lovely ride up to Tinsley through Darnall and back through Brightside, Grimesthorpe, Fir Vale and Burngreave.
Surprising range of wealth and poverty on the route.
Great pub stop in the Riverside
Back through town, and then rain did start and after Edward St flats (where some drunken ‘yoofs’ were a bit threatening) we split and I ended up in the Stag not the Sheaf View.
I was off on holiday next day so didn’t have time to do full report.

Route: Park Hill up Norfolk Park to City Cemetery down on to TPT, bridge over Parkway to Darnall, through Greenland onto the canal at the Arena, along canal towpath to Tinsley, subway back under motorway and then cycle across Tinsley viaduct (on the lower deck!) to Brightside, through Grimesthope to Fir Vale and Page Hall, up through Osgathorpe Park and down through Burngreave cemetery and Spital Hill, along Wicker, up Waingate left through to Campo St and down and up through the Crofts (crossing Broad Lane) into Edward St and up Beet St to Mappin St across West St and then through Devonshire Green into Broomhall, through Collegiate, up Ecclesall Rd a bit and into Sharrow to London Rd back through Sharrow to Abbeydale Rd and then through snickets over to Heeley to finish at the Sheaf View! Lots of fun and strange places to cycle at night!

Heads up! The ride is a long one about 17 ½ miles but we did a short one last time and the chip shop ride in November will be a short one too. No huge hills and lots of cycling on quiet-ish roads or paths with lots of different places that we can cycle through at a steady pace to just soak up the atmosphere or find something different from dereliction to brightly lit vibrant ‘barrios’ in this city. Fantastic! Probably wouldn’t suit ultra-narrow rims. Can be clusters of broken glass so tough tyres recommended.

Map: The map is up at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108988473108626980428.0004910c586766f3e557b&ll=53.382752,-1.468391&spn=0.009036,0.027788&z=16
If I’ve got time I’ll get one up on bikely.com as well

Refreshments: Not sure where yet, but we wilol find somewhere. We’ll stop to regroup and catch-up at different venues but I don’t propose to have many explanatory stops, just enjoy the ride and seeing your city with all the different people in it. End at the Sheaf View.

Background: This is a ride to mark UN day on the 24 Oct. For an ‘insular’ city, Sheffield has played host and welcomed many waves of immigrants into the city whether as economic migrants, refugees or exiles – all of whom add to the wellbeing and culture of this place. Let’s ride to see the sites and locations which mark or have been touched by these migrations. (Full moon on 23 Oct). Most of the ride locations have been based on a 2006 report on Sheffield Community’s Profiles (http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=66035&mtype=print) and a 2009 Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_Sheffield)