Welcome

This was a Southwark Healthy Ride to Beckenham Place Park. Unfortunately, although 15 people had signed up to the ride, only 8 attended. A loophole in the booking system had been discovered because, although only 15 tickets for this ride had been made available on the Eventbrite website, LCC had made some additional tickets available at https://lcc.org.uk/events/peckham-to-beckenham-place-park-ride/.

On leaving the park we could see the the Southern Cross Country Championships were taking place. Unlike with this ride, people had been invited to attend this from all parts of South East England and we could see that people come from as far afield as St Albans.

One our way back the ride leader's Komoot route appeared to have been switched from what had been expected and we ended up climbing up Anerley Hill to Crystal Palace Park. This enabled us to take part in a video shoot in a stunning setting, and this video has now been posted on TikTok. We are looking to see how many "likes" we get from people in different parts of the world. 

This will also be an opportunity for us to make regular checks to see whether it is still available:

@itsnigel38

 

♬ original sound - itsnigel

All this took place a world away from Regent's Park where the Islington Cycling Club's online Microcosm forum decrees:

• You should have a moderate level of fitness. For our general club rides you should be able to ride 50 km at an average speed of at least 20kph on the flat, with several steep hills and only brief stops. For Regent’s Park you should expect to cycle at an average speed of at least 24kph, with the benefit of riding in a tight group.
• If you're not yet comfortable at that distance or pace please build up with solo rides before coming along.
• Unfortunately, we cannot offer this session to complete cycling beginners as we are not teaching cycling proficiency.

But we don't need to worry about people saying this sort of thing online because, like TikTok, Microcosm may soon be shut down. This statement, however, is predicated on an assumption that Microcosm is not being run by a puppet:

By Nigel Bee, Christmas Day Ride Leader, 25.12.2024

It was with trepidation that I arrived at the ride start point. I had been told that BBC Radio London would be featuring the ride on their Chritmas Day program and I had promised them that it would be a proper event attended by about 15 people - 6 regulars plus some more coming from online interactions. But would all these people turn up?

It was worrying that one of the regulars texted to say she was unable to come because of illness. However, in the end, there were 5 of us 20 minutes before the ride and this number quickly rose to 14.

This Is 50% more than we had for the previous two years. And even that is many more than we had in 2020, when only two independent pairs of riders were allowed to do the ride and we had to eat our lunch standing out in the street.

But all this was a far cry from the pre-Covid numbers of around 70 that we used to have.

One. of the riders had attended the 2006 Christmas Day Ride, which had been led br Barry Mason and had followed the original format of starting at Cutty Sark and picking up extra riders at the Southwark Needle.

There were some surprises. We were stunned by the spectacle of the tower of All Hallows Staining displayed prominently in the middle of a building site. We had never noticed it before, so it miuct have been hidden behind buildings. There was also an unexpected diversion because of an incident on Shaftesbury Avenue.

When I looked in the internet to see if there was going to be an LFGSS “Waifs and Strays” Christmas Day ride this year, I found that not only was this ride not taking place, but the LFGSS itself was being threatened with closure. Why is this happening when there has never been a single instance of any of the proclaimed things that the Online Safety Act 2023 protects adults from? Watch this space …

People had responded well to the suggestion that they identify themselves with a profile picture, which can be shown against a ride when they sign up. This is what people used to do for the 2018 Christmas Day ride.

The ride finished with a Christmas Day Conclave from 1pm - 3pm at the Al Dar Restaurant, 61-63 Edgware Rd, St George's Fields, London W2 2HZ.

• Rumour spreads with one and a quarter billion souls watching (see https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0k71fhh).
• It seems the responsibility for the conclave falls upon me.
• The supervision of this election is a duty I never thought I would have to perform.
• The men who are dangerous - are the ones that do want it.
• Although we sisters are supposed to be invisible, God has nevertheless given us eyes and ears.
• You should be careful Thomas.
• It is a war - and you have to commit to a side.

This was the outcome:

• Watford un voto
• Southwark (LCC) un voto
• Lambeth (LCC) un voto
• Wandsworth (LCC) un voto
• Camden (British Cycling) un voto
• Bexley (Cycling UK) un voto
• Greenwich (LCC) un voto

The meeting ended at 3pm and we cycled home.

London Wall

"Mother Goose" Church - St Olave's

All Hallows Staining   

Old Curiosity Shoop

General Booth Pverty Map Musal

Dinosaur Sculpture

Connaught Hotel