On Sunday 5^th March around 1000 cyclists, mostly women, assembled at Marble Arch to cycle around Central London in celebration of cycling by women and to demand better and safer infrastructure so that more women can gain the freedom to cycle without harassment and road aggression. 

This is such an important motivation for us at the Redbridge Cycling Campaign. We firmly believe that cycling is for everyone, all genders, families, novices, returners and more. No matter what your level of fitness or cycling skills, we are here to help you. On our rides, no-one gets left behind.

We want everyone to use their voice to join our campaigning effort to encourage the council and demand better when it comes to getting around our borough on bikes. We are passionate about encouraging and empowering women and girls to ride!

About Redbridge Feeder Ride:

On Sunday around 40 of us set off towards central London on quiet roads and cycle paths. It was fantastic to see so many of our Redbridge riders that also represent many other fantastic cycling communities in our borough such as Redbridge Cycle Sisters, JoyRiders and Black Women On Wheels! For the first time ever we were led by a UNICORN, otherwise known as Julia who is one of our experienced cycle leaders as well as a ride leader with JoyRiders, who co-organised last Sunday’s Women’s Freedom Ride.

This was a team effort – Haydn and Jeremy planned the route and took care of admin processes behind the scenes that each of our rides for LCC has to have. The ride was expertly marshalled by our marshal team, who deserve a huge applause for helping everyone on our rides to gain confidence and get to important events by bike – without them we wouldn’t have any rides in Redbridge. We solute you marshalls! 

Some of our marshalls

To say it was an eventful ride, is an understatement! We had quite a few punctures, medical emergencies, flying fall into daffodils, sudden bus reversal, loss of panniers to name a few!!! But we had a marvellous bunch of riders that took it all in stride! Some made their own way from Victoria park, some returned home by train, some brave souls cycled with us back to Wanstead Park, Valentines and Fairlop. We made it to the Hyde Park Corner just in time to join the main ride. Thanks to everyone for all their support on quite a challenging but hugely exciting day!

OUTRO: A Note about Punctures:

Given the range of wheel sizes on bicycles these days it is always worth carrying a spare inner tube for your bike. Even the standard 700 tyres come in different widths these days. We will always do our best to help you continue your journey safely and our marshalls definitely had a busy day of trying to fix as many punctures as possible! We also recommend that you look to buying the best tyres you can afford. Many are puncture resistant, but they are more expensive than a standard tyre. And of course don’t forget to check your wheels for shards of glass regularly, pump them to the right pressure and have your bikes regularly serviced – all helps to be puncture free for a very long time! Happy Riding!

Until next time!

If you’re quick, places are still available on tomorrow’s Women’s Freedom Ride in Central London. London Cycling Campaign increased the number, so if you tried before and didn’t succeed, it’s worth trying again. And we’d love to see you on our ride from Redbridge to join the main ride (and bring you safely back!) Don’t forget to book places on both rides if you need them. Booking links are on our rides page here.

It’s going to be cold like today so dress accordingly. There won’t be much time to stop at a cafe, so we’re recommending you bring something to eat. And one correction: the Elizabeth Line will be closed east of Stratford, so come with us or cycle part of the way.

See you tomorrow!

The Women’s Freedom Ride is a London wide event that will begin at Marble Arch on Sunday 5 March at 11.30.

We will be leading a ride from Redbridge, with a choice of three starting points in the borough, to meet up with the main event and of course bring you safely home afterwards.

Details and booking links are on our rides page here.

We look forward to seeing you on the ride.

You’ve joined LCC so that’s a start … If you have the time and want to do a bit more, you can:

• Come on our rides and meet other cyclists, share experiences and pick up local knowledge.
• Become a Ride Marshal.  Without marshals, we can’t put on our rides. 
• Become a Cycle Buddy.  Cycle buddies help people, for example:
  • Find quiet roads and cycle paths around your neighbourhood
  • Build up confidence on busy roads
  • Plan and test out a route to work

Full details are on the LCC website at Cycle Buddies | London Cycling Campaign (lcc.org.uk).

• Take on a task on behalf of the group, e.g. help put up posts on the website, monitor local papers for cycling related articles and letters so that we can respond accordingly.  .
• Help with campaigning. The sort of things we might ask for your help with are to:
  • Email a councillor on a specific issue
  • Meet the Head of a school to talk about School Streets
  • Respond to a consultation on a Road Safety improvement scheme
  • Carry out a junction assessment (it’s very easy)
• Become a warden.  Wardens are the eyes and ear on all matters cycling for a patch of the Borough.  They report on what is happening on their patch and feed into the discussions we have with LBR officers. 

In all cases simply contact us via redbridge@lcc.org.uk

Redbridge Cycling Campaign’s 2023 rides season is about to kick off with more rides planned than ever.

The first big event is the Women’s Wonder Ride in Central London on Sunday, 5 March. International Women’s Day is the following Wednesday.

For a major programme of rides, we need more marshals, so if you fancy your hand at marshalling, please come along and have a go. It’s fun and really isn’t that difficult.

Redbidge Cycling Campaign’s own marshal training session will start from Wanstead Park Tea Hut on Sunday 19th February at 2 pm. Please just come along, or email us at redbridge@lcc.org.uk. We especially want to put in a plea for female marshals to help with the Women’s Wonder Ride.

There is also marshal training organised centrally by the London Cycling Campaign:

26th Feb, 10:00-12:30, Clerkenwell https://lcc.org.uk/default-events/ride-marshal-course-clerkenwell/

26th Feb pre-ride recce starting at Marble Arch, meet at 12:50 for 1pm start https://lcc.org.uk/default-events/pre-ride-recce/

If you live in Redbridge and sign up for one of the central sessions, we’d love to know about it, so please email us on redbridge@lcc.org.uk.

Come back to this page for more details of our rides programme as it unfolds. We hope to see you on your bike soon!