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@dancing james
Good to catch up with so many people. This forum has an amazing membership and it was brilliant to see so many people albeit fleetingly in many cases.
CM is a bit like the carnage of a forum ride but even slower. Forum rides tend to be more focused on socialising and fun, the mixed agendas at CM leave it a more mixed bag.
I have been to some CM's which were a huge laugh, soundsystems, dancing outside Buckingham Palace and all sorts of nonsense. Others have been slow, turgid and fraught.
Def agree re the antagonism generated on both sides at CM these days and its really counter productive. There are cars that try and push past etc and I see no problem in a few people holding them up. However I saw some terrible cycling and arguments caused by it.
I wish there was a way that CM could demonstrate the positives about cycling, educate about cycling safety issues etc without just coming across as a bizarre rabble on bikes simply jamming up the roads.
Generally forum rides and things like the Tweed run manage to go with fewer confrontations, and the public are much more interested in what we are up to. It helps to generate a much better image of cyclists.
I did a really shit bit of trying to filter past a motorbike waiting at a red light and just missed tumbling into him as the light turned green and felt a bit foolish.
At the next lights someone else did exactly the same thing and then started shouting at the motorcyclist for being dangerous. I stepped in, explain to the cyclist that he had just done exactly the same stupid bit of cycling that i had done, the cyclist looked really surprised that I was not supporting him. I apologised to the motorcyclist who smiled and shook my hand and things carried on.
A smile and a sorry can help a lot when we are in the wrong, and helps a lot more than arguing when we are at fault. We should pick our battles, no point in going on the offensive when we are not in the right.
Drinks afterwards was great, the stop on Edgeware road for schwarmas was perfect.