Wrap up and ride this Easter with our long weekend cycling guide!

It might be the coldest Easter since Christ was on the cross, but that's no excuse not to wrap up and ride out this long weekend, and enjoy all that London has to offer you and your bike.  Here at ibikelondon we're here to give you the low-down on all the cool (and cold!) things two wheeled this weekend...

Herne Hill Velodrome Good Friday Meet

London's only surviving finals venue from the 1948 Olympic Games will tomorrow host the 110th Good Friday track meet (that's a good ten years older than that young upstart Le Tour de France, no less)

Gates open at 9.30AM for a 10.30AM start to a packed day of racing, with some of the best track cyclists from around the world riding the newly-resurfaced banking of south London's historic velodrome.  148 riders from 11 countries will compete, including Paralympic loud mouth Jody Cundy and Herculean German track giant Robert "the thighs" Forstermann.  As well as top-class racing, there's a cycle jumble, food stalls and a real ale bar.  The Good Friday Meet moved away to Manchester a few years ago when Herne Hill began to fall in to disrepair.  The track has been offered a reprieve by the concerted efforts of local campaigners, but there's still much to do.  Why not make friends with the Friends whilst you're there?  London is lucky to have the Good Friday Meet back; wrap up warm and go; you're guaranteed a great day out in a unique historic cycling venue.
Herne Hill Velodrome Good Friday Meet: no car parking is available on site; come by bike or public transport (nearest station; Herne Hill or North Dulwich)  Tickets are £12 on the door. 

< Robert Fostermann eats bunnies for breakfast.

Eat, Ride, Sleep Repeat; bike the Victoria and Albert Museum at V&A Friday Lates

Everyone who is anyone on two wheels in London will be heading to the Victoria and Albert Museum tomorrow night; the (heated) galleries of this great museum will be turned over to all things bicycle related and will play host to a series of exciting one-off cycling events.  Expect a wheel-spinning DJ, drinks, illustrations, film screenings, BMX stunt demonstrations - even bicycle life drawing classes! - and a series of talks by cycling acolytes such as Nick Hussey of Vulpine CC fame and Jack Thurston of The Bike Show discussing bicycle cultures.  All the info you need to know is here.
All events are free, and run from 18.30 to 22.00 in the main museum.  Don't forget your bike lock; parking a bike on the Exhibition Road is a bitch!

If wrapping up warm and just looking at bikes isn't enough for you this bitterly cold bank holiday weekend, then there's also plenty of opportunity to get on an actual bicycle and go for a ride!  Take your pick from our Easter weekend highlights..

The Shoreditch WI are not just about jam and Jerusalem - they also quite like bicycles!  Their cycling wing, affectionately dubbed the Radiant Riders (here they are on Twitter!) are organising a free ride for women to Richmond Park from Royal Festival Hall on Saturday at 11AM.  All the details are on their Facebook page here - what's not to like?

Also on Saturday, those irrepressible t-shirt printers and sharers of our moniker IBikeLondon are hosting a free cycling tour of East(er) London, ending in the launch of a brand new cycling-street street party in Lambeth.  Again this event is free; just turn up at St Paul's churchyard in the City of London at 10.30AM prepared for a leisurely 2 hour ride out east along the Thames.  All the details you could ever think to ask for are here (plus a terrifying illustration of easter bunnies and a chicken in a cycling cap.  Groovy.)

On Easter Sunday, pack a baguette and a shellfish knife; the LDN Bike Kitchen is hosting a ride from Colchester to enchanting Mersea Island (or as I like to call it, the fish hut at the end of the world).  If you like bird watching, bring your binoculars and if you like eating (and let's face it, what cyclist doesn't?) take a little wine wine or a nice salad to accompany the mountains of oysters up for grabs there.  Did I mention that the ride will stop by a beer festival?  Meet at Liverpool Street Station at 9AM for the train out to Colchester; check out the plans on their website and email to let the organisers know you're coming.

Easter cards; the stuff of nightmares 

On Sunday afternoon if you like swimming in the Thames rowing, it is the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race.  There are big screens in Furnivall Gardens and Bishops Park, but unless you like fighting off cabinets of Eton school boys (and their Mums) on the Hammersmith & City Line then of course the best way to get there is by bike.  The Boat Race website has all the details of the best places to spectate - wrap up warm and get down there early.

If you've over-indulged on chocolate over the Easter break and are desperate to get back in shape before spring actually arrives and everyone strips down to their shorts to reveal they spent less time eating chocolate over winter than you did, then the London Phoenix Easter Classic is for you.  This veritable cycling club invite you on their Easter Monday sportive out along either a 112km or 54km route through the laneways of Essex.  "Fast times for those with the legs" claims the website, so get to Fairlop Country Park in good time to warm up, shape up and show your mettle.  Route maps, course details and online registration are on the British Cycling website here - register sooner rather than later to guarantee a place (£12 entry fee).

Lastly, Easter is all about Jesus, and the Good Lord wouldn't want you to get fat, which is why Hot Cross Buns are zero calories (which means you can have as many as you like).  If the weather gets really cold its not too late to curl up on the sofa with a pot of tea and catch the Spring Classic Highlights from sunny Corsica on the ITV Cycling website.

Happy Easter everyone, and enjoy your cycling-filled long weekend!


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