About 800 to 1000 riders left the southbank on a cold and dark but dry evening. Leaflets were circulated asking people to travel to Hammersmith, where a female cyclist had been killed by a moped rider in August.
The ride headed in a west direction, and the front was moving relatively quickly. After crossing Lambeth bridge and turning left on the embankment, the ride split in two, but then later recombined at Chelsea Bridge.
While the ride was split, there was a distressing incident for one female rider. Her partner had stopped to pee in some bushes, and she was holding his Brompton. A group of masked thieves, 3 on Lime Bikes & Scooters, with 2 others on ebikes (one of whom has been spotted on Critical Mass before), attempted to take the Brompton from her. She hung on and was injured in the scuffle, and then the crowd of riders around her then attacked the lead thief, who rode off towards the front split section of the ride.
Incidents like this show why it is important to keep the ride moving slowly, stop regularly, and stay together, so communication is possible and people are made aware of what is going on. The two ebike thieves were asked to leave at Chelsea Bridge, and thankfully were not seen again on the latter part of the ride. They likely left the ride when it was stopped, as they knew their attempted victim and supporters would be catching up with them soon.
The ride made it to Hammersmith in one piece, where Lyric Square and King Street were completely filled up with riders. A stencil was spray painted onto the ground at the location where the rider was killed, “STOP KILLING CYCLISTS”. One drunk idiot tried to smear the paint with his shoe as soon as it was finished and was quickly surrounded and pushed away by riders.
After a stop of about half an hour, the ride headed back without incident towards central, via Hyde Park Corner and Buckingham Palace, then across Westminster Bridge, and back towards the start point at Southbank, where a few soundsystems linked together and played music until approximately 1am.
