HHV Women’s Newsletter – December
Our festive social | Riding in and around HHV over Xmas | Solidarity Ride | Want to become a coach? | Trails fundraiser | Get strong this AW | Other sessions and events
Hey HHVW community,
I hope you’re all doing ok with less daylight, I know it can be a tough few months for the mind. Hopefully there is something below to get you outdoors and connecting with others – whether it’s our festive party, racing track or cyclocross, a yoga class or even giving one of my routes a go…
If you need some solace in the cold I can recommend the sentiments in the book Wintering by Katherine May. I won’t pretend I’ve read it yet, but have had deep discussions about its concepts and it’s sat by my bed ready to go – book club anyone?
As always, I’m here for any feedback or questions and I look forward to sharing winter with you all.
With warmth
Megan
(She/they)
Women’s Cycling Development at Herne Hill Velodrome
Contact: mbarclay@hhvt.org
Instagram: @hhvwomen
HHVW Festive party – this Sunday from 7pm
Pizza, organised fun and social time with others cyclists – in the Herne Hill Velodrome clubroom, just drop-in!
🍕 We'll provide the pizza or you can order/bring your own food
☕️ The bar will keep you watered with our reasonably-priced drinks
🍰 If you're a baker please flex those skills and bring your best bakes
🧤 We'll do a donation-based bring and buy – if you have any unloved kit bring it along and see if you can give it a new home and/or find something new for your wardrobe and we'll get out some recently-donated Rapha bits!
Join us before at the Women’s Session before (if you’ve previously done a track taster).
Riding at HHV this festive season!
There is so much lovely stuff to get stuck into at HHV over the next month…In order of appearance:
Road bike sessions
Did you know we have a load of new open-track road bike sessions running throughout the week?
If you’re looking for some traffic-free space to get some km in or do a training session then check them out. They are monitored by a staff-member for safety but not coached.
The FHHV Christmas Classic
Saturday 20th December from 2pm
Join us at HHV for our annual Christmas Classic with options to race, bake or just drink mulled wine and cheer!
Racing
Sign-on from 1pm, racing from 2 – enter now
Mince Pie competition
Bake your best mince pies. Bring 6 (or more) down with you to be judged after the racing (about 4pm)
Just enjoy the show
Jan’s Café will be open throughout the day with seasonal treats and warming festive specials - we’ll gather in the clubroom after the racing to keep warm, and will be staying open for those wanting to socialise.
Family sessions
Track and off-road – 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st December
We’re running some special family sessions for track and off-road so you can ride with your whole family throughout the holidays.
Women’s session timings
The Women session will move from Sunday 28th to Saturday 27th December because of our Festive 500 ultra charity event - more info on this below…
Festive 500 ultra challenge
From 28th-29th December Herne Hill Velodrome becomes the property of 11 crazy souls as they attempt to ride 500km around our iconic track, all in aid of carefully chosen causes.
And you can be involved!
New Years Day Madison (Cyclocross)
THE way to see in the new year.
Join us on NYD for our annual madison cyclocross race – find a partner and take it in turns to do a lap our our iconic trails. If last year is anything to go by, it’s sure to bring a smile to your face whatever the weather…
Photo by Honor Elliot
Routes starting and ending at HHV
Finally, here are a little selection of my favourite routes in and around London. For those of you that might need a moment away from the festivities or are looking for something new to explore (Komoot collections).
Road / Gravel (please take care, some of these gravel paths are shared with walkers)
Solidarity Ride – Sunday 14th December
Join Velociposse CC, Bike Dykes and other allies for a solidarity ride-out from HHV.
Communities are coming together in reaction to the recent Cycling UK Women’s awards that excluded trans women.
8:30-9am Coffee at Jan’s Cafe (upstairs of the HHV pavilion)
9am Riders start leaving
There will be route options for road and gravel, both around 35km – keep an eye on our Instagram to get the GPX in the next few days. Turn up alone and you’ll be sure to find some friends or come along with a group of your own!
Interested in being a coach?
We’re looking to support more women to become coaches, particularly those that ride here already. Coaching is all about sharing knowledge and supporting others to ride and a good coach definitely isn’t always the fastest or loudest rider!
If you’ve ever thought you’d like to give coaching a go (track/cyclocross/mtb) then 2026 could be your year!
Please get in touch if this resonates with you or you’d like to learn more.
HHV Trails Fundraiser
We’re soooo close (£224 away)! Help us reach our trails fundraising target.
We’ve been giving our trails a face lift! Smoother gravel, technical and accessible features, more trees and a generally tidier riding area. Work is well underway but we still need some support to get us all the way.
Read more about our plans and consider making a donation today: supportus.fhhv.cc/fundraising/trailworks
Get strong in mind and body at HHV
Did you know we have Yoga, Pilates and Strength sessions throughout the week at in our clubroom?
Monday 6–7pm is Women’s Strength or explore our calendar to find something that suits you – most sessions are drop-in so you can just turn up.
Other sessions and events
And here is a longer list of events in and around HHV:
Events
SAVE THE DATE: South London Grand Prix 24–25th JULY 2026
Christmas Classic – 20th December
New Year's Day Madison (Cyclocross)
Keep an eye on our events calendar – next year's race dates are coming very soon!
Sessions
Women’s Track Sundays – skills + intermediate riders. Including Women’s League race workshops
Women’s Track Taster – the first Sunday of the month
Women’s Off-Road session – we’re taking a break now until the new year but we’ll be back on 7th Jan!
Women’s Strength – Monday’s 6–7pm in the clubroom (drop-in)