Recently in London Category

Out for a Sunday constitutional walk to Richmond, I spotted strange looking metal channels running up the sides of the various flights of stairs around Barnes Railway Bridge

Initially I was a little baffled as to what they were for, but as you can guess from the title I found out that these are "bike channels" to help people wheel their bikes up and down the bridge and to the station platform.

Ingenious solution? I think they are, not just because it means not having to carry your bike up the stairs with the attendant risks of getting mucky.

In the bigger picture of managing the flow of people around the bridge, it means bicycles become far less of an obstacle as they flow up one side rather than being moving obstacles that get in the way of other people. Now some of you might bridle at this suggestion but, let's face it, no one likes having to negotiate their way round a cyclist lugging their bike up stairs.

It's also good to see a local authority working towards solutions rather than ignoring an issue, so well done the Hounslow!

You have to take advantage of the hot days when they come. So after work I rushed home to get changed and head out for three laps of Richmond Park which should be the best place in London to ride a bike.

It's got everything you could ask for

• Largely uninterrupted lap of decent length with a cafe
• Variety of terrain including a couple of hills, a couple of fast sections, a swooping descent
• Nice selection of wildlife, primarily red and roe deer but also loads of pooches being exercised
• Plenty of other cyclists to laugh at/nod at/chase/get dropped by
• Borderline central London location

But there is one thing that ruins it. It not

• The plums (primarily lycra based) who weave in an out of the cars at speed like intellectually subnormal salmon
• The clowns (all costume options) who expect everyone on the road to give way to them, even when they don't have right of way
• The drivers who try to run oncoming traffic into the ditch
• The pedestrians who seem to have less understanding of how to cross the road that the deer
• The utter nimrods who seem to think that they can park anywhere they like

No, it's

The road surface

The resurfacing work undertaken in the last year has been an unmitigated DISASTER.

Whereas before it was a bit bobbly between Ham and Kingston Gates, now it's one long rumblestrip travelling anti-clockwise.

From the East Sheen roundabout up to Richmond Gate is a gravel-strewn, puncture alley in the wet and on a hot day, like today, a sucking tar pit.

The big hill on Broomfield Drive now has a dangerous rough ridge down the middle of the tyre tracks which could cause problems if you get your line wrong or aren't expecting it.

Did I mention that in the wet the flinty aggregate - "too sharp" apparently - makes the resurfaced sections puncture pits and sprays up loose tar that gets everywhere?

Well in the hot, the road surface hasn't held enough aggregate resulting in a sticky tar track, the sort I've not experienced since riding the newly surfaced Port de Bales in the Pyrenees in 2007.

I still love riding in the park, but it's not been the same since the new surface.

The flow of a lap is gone, broken up by unfamiliar sensations in sections which I used to be able to recognise simply by the feel of the bike against the road.

I know I'm not the only person who rides in the park and feels this way about the new surface. It's been a bone of contention for some time and the rumour is that remedial work is planned to make good the original resurfacing.

SPRINT! DAMN YOU! CORNER, DON'T TAKE ANYONE OUT! SPRINT! CORNER! BRAKE... NO DON'T BRAKE! PEDAL HARDER! HILL!!!!! PEDAL HARDER! *SPORZA COMMENTARY VOICE* "OY-OY-OY-OY-OY!" BREATH DAMN YOU LUNGS. (REPEAT X25)

And that's pretty much how it goes for roughly an hour. Fun, yes? HELL YEAH!

Hillingdon, you go for the tea and cake and pottering round trying not to get knocked off on an entirely innocuous circuit where you don't need to brake if you're riding it properly and there's only one corner of any difficulty.

You hope to get lucky in a bunch gallop and probably spend most of the race waiting for the three laps to go board. It's all good stuff and if you attack enough it amounts to a decent workout. It's a bit like waiting for Bon Jovi to play Livin' On A Prayer.

Crystal Palace on the other hand is like AC/DC: deafeningly loud, relentless hit after hit. No sneaking off to the back for a rest because if they're not playing Thunderstruck, it's all Dirty Deeds Done Cheap, Back In Black, you name it.

Let's take a trip round the lap...

180 degree left-hand hairpin round tree with metal post exactly where you'll end up if you don't get round.

Sprint out of that and up to a sharp downhill right hander running away down the hill and about the only place you can get any recovery.

Touch of brake then blind, flat out 90 degree left hand round a bush with tree and grass bank to fall down if you get it wrong.

The hill doesn't look much but when you ride round it before the race. Then you hurtle through the left-hand corner at race pace on the first lap and every part of your body laughs in your face at the folly. Big ring, little ring, it all hurts like hell and it's a fight to get on top of the right gear.

Recover across the top section while trying not to let a gap go and then it starts again.

I think I lasted all of three laps before I got shelled out the main bunch and joined a small grupetto that enjoyed its own race within a race up until they pulled out the lapped riders. I think I got lapped at least twice, maybe three times.

I say "I think" because frankly I was a dribbling mess just trying to keep going. And the worst thing is I know I'll be back, work permitting, to take another beating. Damn you Stu for persuading me this is a good idea.

It works out quite well as the ride there and back plus race works out at around a 3 hour ride. Perfect midweek stuff really.

Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of year for cycling in London and this weekend promises to be a particularly fine one.

First, there's the finale of the Tour of Britain on Saturday.

It's running along the same Embankment course as last year but sensibly finishes on Whitehall instead of the riverside, making for a much better spectacle and better viewing for the fans.

Then on Sunday it's the snappily titled Mayor of London's Skyride which follows a similar route along the Embankment from St James and includes a loop into the city via St Paul's.

It's the only chance you'll get to enjoy the sights and company of friends and family on closed roads this year. The very antithesis of a race, despite the best efforts of some, it's a proper cycling event.

With Sky's money most definitely on the table, there's also bound to be plenty of the GB Olympic team in attendance, and I'd hazard that some of Team Sky's new signings will hang around after the Tour of Britain to meet the public.

Incidentally, we haven't heard what bikes they'll be riding next year, or seen anything about the kit design. The rumours seem to be that:

• The kit will be adidas branded, if not necessarily manufactured by them. That would tally with them looking for a way back into the market, although no indication if it'll be Mavic making their stuff again.
• Pinarello will supply the bikes. Would fit with the Sky need to have an Italian angle for their market there. Although I'm not clear why they'd want to fork out for another team when they're essentially a high end specialist.
• Alternatively Giant seem to be in the frame, which would fit better given the breadth of the bikes in their range.

And where will I be this weekend? Newcastle Upon Tyne. Don't ask.