Boxing Day Family Walk

Fancy joining us for a family walk on Boxing Day? For any parents who think they may be feeling a bit too delicate to face loading up all the bikes and paraphanalia, we're planning a gentle walk starting from The Druid Inn at Birchover to go and look at the standing stones on Stanton Moor. Meet at 10 for 10.30 am outside the Druid. The walk is about 3.5 miles, has 'glorious views' across the Derwent valley and on the way there are standing stones, caves and burial chambers to see - some prehistoric and some done by an eccentric 18th C clergyman apparently. More info. As ever might be good to bring picnic/snacks to eat on the way; there are also two pubs in the village as another lunch option. If the weather is dodgy and you want to check if we're going you can phone Sophy on 07967 144230 or check the blog. Normal cycling services will be resumed in 2010.

No news

No posts recently as there have not been any rides over the winter. Feel free to post on the blog if you would like to meet up for one though!

Last year we did a Christmas ride ... it was freezing, but the mince pies were good.

Tram assisted ride reminder ...

The Tour de France route has been announced for 2010, but if you can't wait then meet at the Catherdral in Sheffield at 9.45 oro 1045 at the Rother valley Cafe for a 10 mile picnic ride on Sunday 1th.

leader is Tony Cornah - 0114 272114

£5 rtn with a bike

£10 for a tandem

£2 for a child plus bike

Tram back from Waterthorpe stop at 3.00, back in town for 3.30 .... will also pick up and drop off at Gleadless Town End.

It's a great experience and impressive that it happens at all.

Indian summer

Bright sunshine, paddling in rivers, climbs to Thor's Cave (no bears ... this time), duck feeding, ice creams, blackberrying and 14 miles of cycling on the Manifold Trail from Hulme End.

2 children on solos, one chilback tandem, one tag along, one tailgator, one burley trailer, one child seat, one brompton ...

The intention is to carry on doing a family ride on the 3rd Sunday of each month, but make it more of a gathering of like minded families who meet and go for a ride, as oppose to their being any particular leader. We should meet at some stage and agree wehre we would like to ride and then details can be put on this blog. They won't be advertised in the newspaper.

Having said that; On 18th October there will be a family ride in conjunction with a CTC ride and a Women's ride, all Tram-Assisted. You can join the ride by meeting at the Cathedral tram stop for a 10:00 prompt departure (adults £5 return, children £2) to the Waterthorpe tram stop from where we'll cycle, traffic-free, to Rother Valley.

Alternatively you can meet the ride at Rother Valley cafe at 11:00. From there we'll ride north through the country park and Woodhouse Washlands, all on good off-road tracks, to Treeton Dyke for a picnic. The woods around the water are lovely and there are boardwalks we'll cycle on across parts of the reedbeds.

We'll get back to Rother Valley for about 2:00 and then ride back to Waterthorpe for a 3:00 tram pickup, arriving at the Cathedral at about 3:45. We can arrange to pickup/drop off at other tram stops between the Cathedral and Waterthorpe by prior arrangement - just let us know (polytone@doctors.org.uk) where you want to get on or off.

Hope you can join them: its fun taking your bikes on the tram!

It is back - Manifold Valley - not exhausting

Sunday sees the return of Sheffield Family Cycling on the Manifold Valley trail starting at Hulme End in the Staffordshire Moorlands ... just down the road from Hartington.

This is a great ride, with a cafe (but, bring lunch anyway) at half time and at the end and lovely scenery and wonderful weather (we hope).

Meet at 10 for a 10.30 grand depart ... hopefully the Tour of Britain has inspired you all, though bunch sprints are discouraged.

Here is a link to a route to the start from Sheffield on the wonderful gmap-pedometer.

Look forward to you joining us ...

10 for 10.30 at Endcliffe Park Cafe - 19th July

Inspired by the Tour de France? Got the next Mark Cavendish in your family? Or just fancy a trip out on the 1st Sunday of the long summer holidays?

Either way see you on Sunday for the Sheffield Family Cycling ride at 10am for 10.30 ride in the Porter Valley - from Endcliffe Park Cafe.

Great ride from Old Moor to Wosborough ...

Seven 6-8 year olds on their own bikes, a wheelchair duet bike, childback tandem, 18 month old on a bike seat, a 3 year old in a trailer, a 12 and 14 year old on a visit from Bristol and numrous adults on a variety of solo bikes.

Only one puncture and only 2 people who had a dip in the reservoir ... the kids enjoyed a break to watch some classic bike racing at Wombwell circuit and splashing through the puddles.

Old Moor ride on June 21st 10 for 10.30 ..

The longest day and the longest ride? Well, no it will be the usual 8-10 miles max from the car park at the Old Moor Wetland RSPB reserve near Barnsley. This is the first time the Sheffield family cycling collective has ridden from this venue and we hope that you all think it is worth effort to drag yourself out there for 10 o'clock for a 10.30 departure.

As always bring a picnic and waterproof layer ... and remember to keep good tempered when you are wrestling with your bike rack in your dressing gown (hopefully in bright sunshine).

The reserve is situated at grid reference SE422022 (View on OS), and directions by road from the M1:

Leave at junction 36 and take the A61 (Barnsley). At the small roundabout, continue straight ahead on the A6195 (Doncaster) for approximately four miles. After passing the Morrison's superstore, follow the brown RSPB Old Moor signs. From the A1: Leave at junction 37 (Doncaster), follow the A635 towards Barnsley, then follow the brown RSPB Old Moor signs.

We will be riding on the Sustrans National Cycle Network via the the Trans Pennine Trail which runs along the Southern edge of the reserve. Access to the reserve is via a bridge into the car park. View National Cycle Map. Look forward to seeing you there ...

5 Pits, 12 riders, 1 cloud burst, 0 complaints ....

A great loop on the 5 Pits Way made for a damp but, enjoyable May family ride. Proof if proof were needed that a bit of rain never hurt anyone.

The kids loved it, but so did the adults ... although to be quite so cold in May was a 1st for some.

June ride details soon - 21st June - a sunny one perhaps?

May ride - 17th May ... Grassmoor Country Park

Sunday 17th May for a ride along the 5 Pits Trail from Grassmoor Country Park near Chesterfield. 10am for 10.30 departure.

See car park on map here. Note there is another car park on the northern side, but you want to come to the south eastern one that is bigger.

Some people had trouble last year, so we have marked the route to take on gmap pedometer - an amazing site for route planning.

Take A61 to Chesterfield and the A617 towards M1 and then follow above.

Super sunny tram assisted ride

A super sunny ride to Renishaw Hall on the TPT, with picnic, tram-assists for many and only one broken chain, but plenty of home made brownies and flapjack.

A great turn out of kids on their own bikes, on seats, tag alongs, tandems all very excited by chocolate coin hunts, jet skiing show offs and the opportunity to whizz along in a wonderfully wack races-like fashion along a great traffic-free route. They all coped very well with a few hundred metres of busy road too and the adults all tolerated the moving feast that was the picnic. How could anyone ever say a bunch of feasting cycling gannets could make somewhere look untidy ...

Next ride on the 17th May from Grassmoor .... more details in the coming weeks

April Ride - with tram option ...

The next Sheffield Family Ride has the option of a tram assisted start on Sunday April 19th. Meet at 09:45 @ Sheffield Cathedral to catch the tram or meet us at 11.00am Rother Valley CP Cafe.

The destination for the ride is Renishaw Hall whether you catch the tram, cycle out to the Park or park there.

The tram option is great fun for kids - putting your bike on trams is not allowed on everyday trams. The costs for the chartered tram are:
Adult + bike return £5
Child + bike return £2

The ride from the tram stop to the Park is mainly on off-road through housing, but there are bits of on-road. The route from the Park is on traffic-free routes, apart from the last bit to the Hall.

Pic-nic at the halfway stage as usual. Look forward to seeing you all.

Next ride - Sunday 15th - Rother Valley

The next Sheffield family ride is on the 15th March at Rother Valley Country Park. 10am meet for 10.30 departure. Around 10 gently rolling miles, the majority of which are traffic-free.

Everyone welcome ... we've get a mixture of tandems, tag alongs, trailers, child seats and of course kids on solo bikes. All under 16s accompanied by an adult.

More details nearer the date.

CANCELLED - Sunday 15th ride ... too icy still

Apologies to everyone for late notice, but an inspection of the trails in the woods today suggested it would not be any fun cycling in there with families.

The snow has lingered, compacted and outstayed its welcome.

We are sure it will be gone soon and the normal light drizel and low cloud we all love will be back for the March ride ....

Snow much fun? 10am Sunday 15th ...

This months family cycle ride is planned for this Sunday, 15th February. Meeting at Millhouses Park Café at 10 am ish for a 10.30 start, then cycle through Ecclesall woods to Whirlowbrook Hall for a lunch stop (space to picnic in garden, or café) and back to the start.

This ride has got nice stretches of off-road cycling in the woods and is not too long or challenging, although can be a bit muddy if the tracks in the wood are very boggy or wet.

We will need the snow to have melted a bit more though before we can do it – the tracks are not very cycleable at the moment – so check this blog the day before and we’ll post an update on whether its going ahead or not.

Other planned rides for 2009 are (every third Sunday, 10 for 10.30 am):

15 March – meet at Rother Valley Country Park Visitor Centre
19 April – bikes on tram ride – meet at Cathedral tram stop at 10 am (nb note this ride starts a bit earlier than our normal rides)
17 May – meet at Grassmoor Country Park
21 June – meet at Old Moor Wetlands Centre car park
19 July – meet at Endcliffe Park Café
16 August – trip to Clumber Park

We’ll post directions and route descriptions on the blog - plus email them out the week before the ride.

Happy riding.

Sunday 18th ride from Endcliffe Park Cafe

Sunday 18th ride from Endcliffe Park Cafe - meet 10am for 10.30 departure ... all families are welcome for a ride up to Forge Dam up the Porter Valley.

This is the 3rd time we've done this ride and every time lots of new people have come and enjoyed it, even though it was raining.

We've also been planning rides for the rest of the year, including a Youth Hostel weekend in September. More details soon.

You don't have to be a Knight to enjoy riding your bike ...