Women-only Rides
Most rides are on Saturday mornings and start from Morrisons, St Albans. We meet under the store canopy, opposite Woodstock Road - we stay away from the cycle stands to avoid congestion.
You do not need to be a Cycling UK member to try these rides. Please fill in the Contact Us form if you would like to be added to the list and mention 5MTF. Thank you.
For more information about club rides please see the FAQ page - it is found in the Info section of this website.
Experienced riders are very welcome on our Fabulous rides, your support and advice is appreciated! However, as we will be going fairly slowly you might want to have an extra layer on when it's cold.
If driving to the start, do not use Morrisons car park. We cannot guarantee we will return within the time limit.
RIDE SCHEDULE UPDATE - March 2024
We are riding again! As usual, we started back after our winter break with a ride on the Saturday closest to International Women's Day. Reports of our rides can be found in our blog (link below).
During our riding season we try and have at least one ride per month, subject to leader availability, hence slightly irregular pattern of ride dates. We continue to use our very simple pre-booking system, which we started as a Covid precaution. We have kept it going as it saves a lot of faff at the start of the ride.
If you are signed up for South Herts emails you will be receiving ride dates and booking details. Please use the Contact Us form if you are not yet signed up or if you want to find out more about us.
The ride format is a gentle morning ride with a coffee stop, nice easy pace. We have a trio of fabulous ride leaders. This means we can usually offer a Further, Faster Fabulous option - sometimes as a stand-alone ride and sometimes on the same day as the 'usual' fabulous offer.
We welcome new riders - please get in touch using Contact Form as above. South Herts Cyclists is part of the national Cyclists Touring Club, which rebadged a few years ago as Cycling UK. If you like riding with us, please join Cycling UK.
Our Covid-19 precautions remain in place for everyone's wellbeing, see Cycling UK guidance. We do what is sensible for our group, this may not be the same as other clubs or sections. Our precautions are:
We are limiting the size of the group, pre-booking is essential - although we have to date never exceeded our capacity for ride numbers and had to decline a booking. Bring a guest entry form if not a Cycling UK member.
We are doing shorter and easier rides.
We are favouring outdoor coffee stops.
Bring face-covering, hand sanitiser, spare inner tube, pump, tyre levers and basic tools.
Don't come on a ride if you have tested positive or have symptoms, have been asked to self-isolate or think there is a risk you might be infectious. This is very important. There will a ride for you another day, but not if the leader is incapacitated as a consequence of Covid infection.
Our reports right back to 2010 are all in our blog.
Chester Fabulous Ladies have a very similar approach to our group. Their leader, Sue, runs an excellent blog which I recommend to you; it has lots of useful advice.
We are sometimes asked why we run women-only rides - here is an explanation via Isis Cyclists, women-only cycling group in Oxford.
Chris Boardman explains why riding two abreast actually makes it easier for faster traffic to overtake a group of cyclists in this video.
Here is a link to have map reading explained by Steve Backshall on the Ordnance Survey YouTube channel.
Top three basic cycling tips from Global Cycling Network YouTube channel - being good at riding slowly is the top tip. Be able to ride one handed and look ahead are the other two. I would like to add being good at looking behind.
A really good video from Sustrans showing you the M-check. This is how you look over your bicycle to make sure it is safe and efficient.
"Transport cycling can’t properly grow in the UK while the conditions suit only the young, male, fit and fearless." Cycling UK article by Dr Rachel Aldred on improving conditions for the old, the female and the disabled; groups that are currently under-represented in cycling.