On the other hand some of the pedestrians were dozy. I don't ever particularly ever again want to shout "Stop, Stop" at a crocodile of several dozen schoolchildren (at a guess, first language not English) while hauling on the brakes knowing that we were all at risk of being run over by several hundred cyclists chock full of adrenaline and only just warmed up.
The email from the organisers came through today with links to our photographs and videos. Fortunately the video evidence supports my memory of events! There is a
very large group of people trying to cross the road without looking, we get down just about to walking speed, and I'm very glad I didn't swear.
Two more random anecdotes. At the end
@rvw showed me that she'd lost a bolt from her cleat. We were sitting looking at "Dr Bike" from Cycling UK and a number of other tents laid on by major bike brands, but neither of us twigged that between us they
might have had a spare cleat bolt. Which in turn would have meant that in the very frustrating ride across London we wouldn't have had to stay stuck in traffic but could have repaired to the pavement - and the kind rider who acted as an impromptu
soigneur and unstrapped Mrs W's at Euston Square would have been able to get on his way earlier.
And in Richmond Park at the drinks stop we pulled in behind a sag-wagon to have a bite to eat and a swig of some liquid. Some park employees were talking on the walkie-talkies - "There's a young man just coming through the path". "Oh yes, I see him. I'll approach him quietly". Not, as I initially thought, a hoodlum on a bike, but a young stag in danger of getting spooked by tens of thousands of visitors to his ranch.
If it was a marathon and got found out to be short, then all results would be annulled.
