Ride and Stride 2023

Ride + Stride is back on Saturday 9th September when you can join in the enjoyment of visiting the historic church buildings of the area. For example there are currently 29 churches participating in the Whitchurch area.

During Ride + Stride people all over Hampshire walk (or cycle, or scoot or ride) between churches, exploring and enjoying the countryside. 

As there are over 400 due to be open you can have fun choosing which will be part of your cycling itinerary. Many will have refreshments, some will have loos open, and all should offer your group a warm welcome.

Funds are raised through sponsorship that helps fund repairs to historic churches.

Full details are here:

https://hihct.org.uk/ride-and-stride/ 

A Draft Cycling Charter

Whitchurch Cycling Charter – Draft
Draft Charter for cycling has been put together by Whitchurch Cycling Bicycle Users Group.

It is hoped that given the increasing population and the expected growth of housing numbers, schooling, employment and business needs, that the importance of recognising all means of transport will be given the attention it deserves.

It is hoped that local councils, organisations, businesses and residents can adopt the aims of the charter as part of improving the town of Whitchurch.
If anyone has any comments or suggestions on this Draft it would be extremely welcome, whatever your main means of road use.
Please use the Contact Form or email whitchurchcycling@gmail.com
Very many thanks.

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A Vision for Cycling in Whitchurch and its surrounds — Connecting People to Places.

"We, residents, businesses, organisations, schools and colleges of Whitchurch and its surroundings, want a safe cycle network in and around our rural town, connecting surrounding villages and helping to create a sustainable, healthy and vibrant place for our living, working, leisure, health and education."

Whitchurch and its surrounding should be a place where:

• Children and students can cycle to school or college safely.
• People of all ages and ability can feel confident to cycle to places of work, shops, businesses, amenities and for leisure uses.
• Cycling will be the safe, natural choice for a large proportion of everyday journeys.
• Road dangers are removed. 
• Cycling is given equal consideration in all highway planning considerations.
• Visitors and residents using cycles are welcomed and feel safe.

We believe that prioritising cycling would:

• Address the challenges of pavement parking, constricted residential streets, noise and air pollution, inactive lifestyles and the impact of a rising population.
• Help to create a calmer, friendly, carbon-neutral town where people will want to spend more time shopping and socialising, bringing benefit to shops and businesses.
• Enable visitors and residents to more fully enjoy our rich cultural and community heritage.
• Support business by boosting physical and mental health, well-being and productivity of the workforce, bringing local economic benefits and reducing the burden on local health and care services.
• Help achieve Climate Change goals and improve the environment by reducing carbon emissions, air pollution and noise.
• Help to support Neighbourhood Planning by creating better places to live and making it easy for people to move around.

We want cycle amenities to:

• Be an integral part of all highway design.
• Be convenient to users and locations. 
• Provide safe and secure cycle parking throughout the town.
• Include provision for tricycles and non-standard cycle designs including adapted cycles for the mobility impaired and for cargo and family uses.
  
• Comply with current cycle planning legislation including DfT's LTN 1/20.
  
• Comply with all Equality legislation.

We want cycle routes to:

• Link housing, workplaces, shopping and business areas, schools and community amenities across the town and surrounding area.
• 
  Link our local villages and countryside with the centre of Whitchurch.
• Utilise the easiest and most direct routes.
• Be designed to cater without hindrance for non-standard cycles including disability adapted cycles, cycle wheelchairs, hand cycles, tricycles, tandems and cargo cycles.
• Be planned and designed to safely accommodate other users including families with buggies, wheelchair users, disabled people and those who may be visually or hearing impaired.
• Include dedicated cycle infrastructure that ensures safety for unaccompanied 12-year-olds and is designed in line with best practice from around the world.
• Complement public transport to ensure excellent connections within and outside the area.
• Include comprehensive direction signage to localities and facilities in the town and surrounding area.

We want to work with and support our public and private bodies in delivering this better future for the people, businesses, organisations, services and schools of Whitchurch and its surroundings.

Whitchurch Social Cyclists – a Message

A Message:

My name is Grant and I live in Hurstbourne Priors.

Are you a local road cyclist and want to join a riding group that isn’t too serious?

Whitchurch Social Cyclists

Me and some other locals run a very informal cycling group out of Whitchurch called the Whitchurch Social Cyclists (or WSC).
There are no rules, no club fees and no discrimination. Anyone can join with just one proviso (I’ll come to that).

It’s just a social group with the aim of getting people on their bike so they get some fresh air, exercise and have a chat as they go.
We plan routes that are away from main roads as much as is practical and usually try to offer a destination worth going to; like a nice café or a country pub.

Group Rides
The group rides are advertised using a WhatsApp group and we try to ride on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. You’ll need to be self-sufficient i.e., know how to repair your own punctures and have suitable cycling gear (helmet, gloves, spare inner tube, water bottle etc).

Thursday rides are about 20 miles and we tend to set off at 7pm. Sunday rides are about 45 miles and tend to set off at 8:30am. 

Further details will be provided once you make contact.

The proviso 

Whilst we try and accommodate everyone, it can be frustrating if the ability range is too great. We have tried to accommodate really slow riders before, who do not have a road bike, and it just doesn’t work. 

As a result, we kindly ask that you can maintain the following minimum speeds on flat smooth ground: Thursday rides 10mph and the Sunday rides 14 mph. These are nice steady paces (no ‘Tour de France’ contenders here!) and they should be possible for anyone that rides a road bike occasionally and maintains a basic level of fitness.

Join us?
If you’d like to join us one Thursday evening, or Sunday morning, to give it a go, please contact me by text message, WhatsApp message or call me using 07818 057588.

 
You will be very welcome and it would be great to see you.