Sheffield FridayNightRide

we have nothing to lose but our chains

2011/10/14 Now 42! I love SHF

Now 42! I love SHF ride. Ride report
Just a quickie: got illness in the family.

It was a cool, clear, dry and moonlit night for the the ride which formed part of the cycling conference programme. In all we had 60 riders and I think the mix was half and half of conference delegates ‘new’ to Sheffield and Sheffielders. We started with the usual lantern parade strung out from Barkers Pool; we did a bit of stuff around town, spinning through Tudor Square past theatres, and then up Norfolk Row and down Fargate to pass cathedrals, cutlers hall and then on to Castle market and over up to Park Hill flats where we went in one of the sections of occupied flats. Really welcomed by the residents and two kind girls made sure we went the right way on the exit and bid us all hello and goodbye. The city centre looked fabulous from the Cholera Monument and then it was on upward through Norfolk Park, and then over to City Rd past St Aiden’s Church Hall (where Peter Stringfellow had his first club, The Black Cat Club, don’t ya know) and up Manor Lane for communal bags of chips at Wheatley’s whilst gazing across the orange dotted hills to the North and West of Sheffield. Spun some yarns about Mary Queen of Scots at Manor Lodge/Castle and then it was the thrilling descent of Manor Lane to go under the Parkway on Woodbourn Road. It was getting on by then so we cut the ride a bit short and followed the cycle paths round through Attercliffe and round the back of stadia and sports institutions, stopped at the tundish and then looked at the effigy of Spence Broughton rotting at the Noose and Gibbet before heading for a drink at Carbrook Hall

Well that was a madhouse with pissed yoofs and general mayhem so instant decision was to keep cycling so 60 cyclists sped through the beer garden and past all the smokers and the pissheads (the string of riders like an art installation really!) before hitting the 5 weirs walk back to town. Came off the path at East Coast Rd and went round to Princess St where stainless steel was invented/discovered, over the Bailey Bridge on the Don up Effingham Rd to the spider web bridge and out into the Wicker. The through the back streets over the Don again and over to Kelham Island where I had lashings of beer – and it was not the ginger kind. A pleasant chat was had with and amongst all and sundry

I think a successful initiation for many of the conference delegates into the pleasures and value of fridaynightriding

Next Sheffield FridayNightRide
14 October 2011
Now 42! I love SHF!

Start 7.00 pm Barkers Pool
Slightly later start to accommodate conference delegates arriving in Sheffield

Heads up! Mostly on roads, some paths. Broken glass willl be around so tough tyres recommended

Map

View Now 42! I Love SHF! in a larger map

Theme: Sheffield is hosting a cycling conference on 15th October. The conference is about how cycling campaigns can respond to and work with ‘localism’.
There is a ‘social’ strand to the prog and this SFNR is part of that and is for us to show visitors some aspects of Sheffield by coming on a SFNR
So we will visit places we have visited before (but visitors may not have) like cycling through Park Hill flats, having some chips, visiting Carbrook Hall and so on as well as zip round some of the city centre sites – ooh it’s jam-packed with delights
I’d be delighted to see some of you there otherwise it will be me saying, “When 35 of us came here last …”, and they’re all looking round scratching their heads!

Why Now 42!?, well 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything and this is also the 42nd SFNR
I love SHF? I think SFNR makes the best of SHF – but in a critical manner