2023 was the centenary year of Southend Wheelers Cycling Club. This is a notice that appeared in the Southend Standard on the 10th May 1923:

TO CYCLISTS

Next Sunday May 13th, there will be an

Invitation run to Epping Forest. All riders 

welcome. Start Victoria Corner 8 am. So

muster up and see if we can’t get a club in

Southend. Full particulars A. Holmes 50,

Inverness Avenue, Westcliff

Sunday 21st May “The ride that never was” NRTNW, is now the Ride that eventually was!

A club run was completed to replicate the ride that Wheelers founder Arthur Holmes planned 100 years ago, but this time we got to Epping Forest as advertised, rather than just Hockley Woods!   We "mustered up"  at "Victoria Corner" for the start  where Tommy Heath’s bike shop was (see images below), adjacent to Odeon cinema Southend SS1 1TJ at 9:00hrs. The destination was the Kings Oak Cafe, High Beech, Epping Forest IG10 4AE. It’s an 84-mile ride there and back, so suitable for orange and red groups. Green and blue groups had a one-way option, with transport provided back from Epping Forest. There is no record of the exact destination Arthur Holmes had planned, but as the Kings Oak PH is a Victorian building, it could have been their intended stop? This is the gpx file for the ride that never was! Mike Street was the photographer at the start of the ride! This ride was organised, and the route checked by Kevin Smith and Terry Butcher.

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A Centenary deserves a Century ride - completed!

Martin Harris led one of the Centenary Rides to Epping Forest and turned itinto a Century Ride - and he meant miles not kilometres! Target average speed was 17 mph - meaning a a 3 hour ride to get there, 30 minutes for lunch and 3 hours home again.This was the Century ride gpx file.

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