About a thousand riders gathered on the southbank, and headed off at 19:30 towards Shadwell, crossing Southwark Bridge and joining Lower Thames Street heading east towards the Tower of London. A year ago, Critical Mass riders went to Shadwell, where a Brazilian man Matheus Piovesan was killed in a hit and run incident. A white bike was installed for him at the junction of Cable Street and Cannon Street Road. Since then, Tower Hamlets council went and removed the bike, without any consultation attempts. The story was picked up by cycling blog road.cc which you can read here.

The ride this month went back to the same location in Shadwell, and a new white bike was reinstalled at the exact same spot. Red smoke flares were lit (these are meant as a sign of distress or alert) as the riders down the length of Cannon Street Road cheered and rang their bells. Friends of Matheus gathered around the bike and sprayed it white, and then decorated it with pictures and mementoes of their friend. The ride stopped here for about fifteen to twenty minutes.

After this, the ride headed towards Railton Road in Brixton / Herne Hill, via Tower Bridge, Bricklayers, Elephant, and then Brixton Road. The ride was visiting the spot where cycling enthusiast and mechanic “Sam The Wheels” lived and had his workshop – many people in south London would have been familiar with the pile of bikes outside his house, and his mini-colonisation of the road for benches and a work space for people to get their bikes fixed up. Sam’s real name was Clovis Salmon and he was 98 at the time of his death about a month previously. He had been buried in West Norwood cemetary on the same morning as Critical Mass.

The ride approached Sam The Wheels house on Railton Road, where his extended family were still gathered in funeral attire from the services earlier that day. There were still approximately 800 people on the ride at this point. The ride passed by the house, to cheers and applause from the family. It stopped for fifteen minutes or so, and a “bike lift” was done in tribute to Sam. The family had given their approval earlier in the day for CM to come down, and sent messages of thanks and love afterwards on social media for the ride travelling down there.

After this, the ride headed to Camberwell Green for a pitstop, via Loughborough Junction. The sound systems linked together, and played some music, and the moble shop and BBQ were present again feeding and watering the riders. The ride then headed back towards central, and finished up at Potters Fields which it tends to do these days if the weather is warm. Again the sound systems linked up here and people stayed dancing for a while until after midnight.

A very large crowd assembled on the southbank, even bigger than last month, possibly somewhere between 1200 and 1500 riders, on a beautiful summers evening, close to the longest day of the year. This was possibly one of the biggest rides of the last five years, other than the 30th birthday celebration in April 2024. The gender balance for the ride is also starting to look much better, with far more women attending than even just six months ago.

The ride went down the Old Kent Road, and then turned south before the end of it, heading into Nunhead and climbing up to the top of Telegraph Hill. A brief stop allowed the riders to recombine at the top, as many fixed gear and BMX riders walked their way up. The now-regular wheelchair attendee with the Palestine flag refused all offers of assistance and powered his way to the top, covered in sweat, to cheers from other riders.

The ride then headed down into Brockley, to the confusion and delight of the residents, shopkeepers, and pub-goers along the route, who waved and smiled as the Mass went by. The ride continued on towards Honor Oark Park, and then turned east to climb another hill, this time to reach the top of Blythe Hill Fields, well-timed to catch the sun setting on the horizon over the cityscape.

The ride stopped here for about 45 minutes, as people sat and socialised, and enjoyed watching the sun set. A mini-shop selling drinks and sweets appeared, along with a similar four wheel electrical cart with its rear casing cut off and a coals BBQ bolted to its flooring instead.

The ride then went back over One Tree Hill – putting in some serious elevation for the Strava enthusiasts – and then down towards the western side of Peckham Rye, then up alongside Burgess Park, and through Bermondsey Street to reach Potter Fields, where the ride ended for most people. The sound system riders combined their rigs together again and played some tunes. Security guards from More London came along but generally leave CM alone when it arrives there as the crowd is friendly and good natured.

Despite the huge size of it, the ride stayed coherent and together all evening. There were many first timers on the ride, and commenters on various social media platforms said that they had enjoyed it immensely. The corking was also excellent and there were minimal incidents of drivers getting agggressive or trying to barge through. The ride is in a good place at the moment and that is contributing to more people coming every month.