Great ride, good weather. food OK.
Looked at joining Mark on this when I realised my car was not in a condition to travel to another audax. 161km, no points for that, so maybe add on the journey to/from home. checked the distance by my enjoyable ride into London (maidenhead, windsor, staines, Richmond, Putney) as opposed to the misery of uxbridge ealing shepherds bush. 75km to Victoria. A bit much for a 200, so why not make it a 300?
Left home at 18:15 and pushed reasonably hard to arrive at Victoria at 21:30, time for a mcdonalds before departing. Luckily the christian missionaries were trying hard to convert the couple at the next table and left me alone.
Twelve departed and made slow progress through the lights and traffic, over to Fulham, and then back to cross the river and enter lands unknown to me. Very quickly the twists and turns of the route had me totally disorientated, not only did I not know where I was, but I no longer had any idea which direction I was going in, with no sun to act as a reference.
struggled up a few hills and after an incredibly long time reach Mark's building for the coffee and cake stop. My faith in the statement "Navigation is easier when you ride with Mark as he knows the route" took a major blow when he took a wrong turn within 100m of his front door, and we had to retrace rather than swim across a small river.
Quickly after that Greenwich came up and a return to the right side of the river, the cable car was not running alas, I can imagine the views of London by night would be worth the price, but at least the foot tunnel lifts were in service. "No cycling at any time" read the sign, but surely 3am with no one else around deserved an exception, so we crossed the river in record time.
Onto the Limehouse cut, and a step before a raised walkway section caused me to stumble and
nearly become a reluctant duathlete. Luckily I managed to get my balance and didn't end up with a bracing dip.
Surprising busy mcdonalds at Bow, and then the nostalgia started, the Olympic park, arsenal stadium, then Finsbury park scene of many afternoons bunking off school to go bowling at Rowans, then back down to Regents Park, sadly the giraffes were not awake yet, and along Avenue road up to swiss cottage I must have ridden that road hundreds of times commuting into London as a teenager, it seems so much shorter now, not because I used to be tired by the top, but just because a long time in the saddle has been significantly recalibrated. Up to Hampstead, luckily not right to the top as I was feeling very tired by now, then west Hampstead (where the bike shop my first bikes came from used to be) and Kilburn finally back to Fulham and then back to Victoria.
My duplication of the route had omitted the strand section, so I rode down and up the Mall and waited to photo the group outside the palace. At this stage I was running on empty and couldn't keep pace with the group anyway. Then off to find a cafe for breakfast, which was nice and leisurely, but eventually I had to leave to finish my 300 DIY. When I remembered DIY BRs have a minimum speed of 14.3, rather than 15kmh the pressure to get home was off, but the long ride west into a headwind felt harder than ever before. The London loop might have been flat and only 100 miles, but with all the stops and starts for traffic lights it felt like much more.
Overall time 20 hours and 20 minutes, 5 hours stopped time (30mins at Victoria, 30 mins at Mark's, 50m ins at McD's and 1hr 10 at breakfast, 20 minutes at two petrol stations travelling in and out, leaving 1hr 40 which I can only account for as either traffic lights, or waiting for the group to come together again)
(edited missing word)
