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PQR
DGR. Disappointed with it this year.
The meeting point was a bit soulless, but more importantly it was too far out of town at the Olympic Park (and not well signposted). The distance meant that the natural flow of traffic had split everyone up by the time we got to the first big landmark of Tower Bridge, and it might as well have been a normal commute. I went over the bridge as normal, filtering up the middle in single file with a little group of bikes. Considering the organisers said there were at least 1200 bikes at the start, there didn't seem to be any atmosphere.
This was my third one and I'm not sure I'll bother again. The previous two have been brilliant, riding three or four abreast in a huge swarm of bikes, but today was underwhelming and just like riding in traffic on any ordinary day. Given that today's weather was fantastic, it would have been much better spent out on some real roads out of town.
To top it all off, I got to embankment and decided I'd had enough, I couldn't see the point of fighting through the traffic to Stratford, only to turn around and come home again. I thought I'd have a five minute breather before heading home, then found that three blown fuses and a flat battery made it impossible to start the bike again.
Waited 2 hours for SOS recovery. Not their fault, but annoying, and a crappy end to a disappointing ride.
I did get headhunted by a proper photographer because of my suit though, so it wasn't all bad.