A larger than usual crowd for a January ride assembled on the Southbank, on a dry evening but with the ground underfoot still damp from rain earlier in the day. Many of the initial attendees were on Lime or Santander hire bikes in groups of 3 or 4, possibly as “new year’s resolution” riders to come and see CM for the first time. A popular video circulating on a social media platform documenting the various rides of 2024 may also have been a factor in getting new people along.
In mid-January a 22 year old man was killed in Stratford on a busy section of the High Street, near the Waterworks River bridge. Leaflets were handed out at the start of the ride asking people if they would consider travelling to this location, to install a white bike as a tribute to the unnamed fallen rider. The other side of the leaflet warned attendees to be aware of the potential of phone thieves in balaclavas infiltrating the ride. Thankfully they were not present again this month.
The ride headed south first, avoiding the traffic in the west end, towards the Bricklayers Arms and then north across Tower Bridge to travel east through Whitechapel. Despite this being a long straight drag out to Stratford, the ride stayed reasonably well together, and stopped intermittently to let others behind catch up. By the time the ride had arrived in Stepney, almost all of the casual / first time rider groups had individually peeled off and headed back to central London. Whitechapel High Street is unappealing to cycle on with friends, and casual riders would likely not have wanted to travel all the way to zone 3.
The ride went up and over the Bow roundabout flyover, and after a bit of confusion with some riders stopping at the greenway path, the ride ended up at the junction where the young rider had been killed two weeks previously. A locked bike acquired by CM participants was sprayed white, with red smoke distress beacons lit up. People living in flats and the guests in the adjacent Holiday Inn looked on from their windows and applauded as the riders chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” and rang their bicycle bells and hornits.
After about fifteen minutes at the junction, backing up the traffic, the ride then headed north on Carpenter’s Road, travelling through the Olympic area and then into Hackney Wick, then travelling back towards Potters Fields (where the ride ended) via Mare Street, Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, and then across London Bridge. The rest of the ride passed without incident. The number of riders with large backpack mounted speakers has increased, likely after the post-Christmas sales, so the ride is rarely without loud music any more.
