A larger than usual crowd of approximately 800 to a thousand cyclists showed up on the South Bank for this evening’s ride. regular riders put out a leaflet asking the crowd if they would go to Stamford Hill to paint a new bike white for Stephanie Turner, who had been killed at the location exactly 10 years previously. A vigil had taken place before 10 years ago, which had been organised by a group called Stop Killing Cyclists. A white bike had been put in place where Stephanie was killed but drunk vandals had destroyed the original bike. The replacement needed painting.
The ride left at 7:30 and went north across blackfriars Bridge. A group of suspected phone thieves joined the ride on black friars Bridge. The ride then stopped on farrington Street at the junction with charterhouse Street and the word was put around that they were on the ride. After a few minutes they left shooting off on their e-bikes north on farrington Street and were not seen again for the rest of the ride. This was really great to see as leaflets have been put out for the last year warning people of their potential presence on the ride, and to slow down and stay together, listen out and talk to each other, in case they try to infiltrate the ride. By raising people’s awareness of the gangs through the flyers, people are aware that the ride doesn’t necessarily have to keep moving all the time.
The ride started again and began heading up towards angel Islington. When the ride is larger it takes longer to pass through junctions, and there were several instances of car drivers losing their patience and becoming very aggressive with riders corking junctions, including one incident where an SUV driver got out near upper Street and assaulted one of the sound system riders.
The ride stayed together very cohesively all the way to Stamford Hill. At the location the replacement bike for Stephanie Turner was sprayed white, flowers and photos replaced on the bike, and the footpath was sprayed with the words RIP and NOT FORGOTTEN.
After a stop of approximately 15 minutes, the ride moved off again when the police arrived. The ride then handed east towards the northern end of Stoke Newington, and then headed back towards tower Bridge, following the main road down past Liverpool Street station. This is a long straight drag, but the ride stopped numerous times at large junctions so that people behind could catch up.
The ride circumvented a traffic jam near Monument instead of filtering between the traffic, (again an improvement on previous behaviour!) and instead crossed over southwark bridge, and then heading East again on the South Bank before finishing up at potter’s Fields.
