Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Then the world turned upside down


The chilly weather certainly impacted on attendance at Pedal Power Kennington's ride tonight with only three young riders (one of whom seemingly stayed warm throughout in shorts and t-shirt!). But what a good and fast ride we had, over Lambeth Bridge, through the magically hidden square that avoids Parliament Square, up past the Treasury and Pelicans, along the Mall past Clarence House with its mannequin soldiers outside, past Buck House along Green Park, under the Wellington Arch, through Hyde Park past the Serpentine and Serpentine Gallery Pavilion and then the world turned upside down with Anish Kapoor's help.

Everyone enjoyed themselves - helped in huge measure by most of the route being off-road - and we were even back on time (despite opting for the horrific full on traffic around Parliament Square, followed by Westminster Bridge on the return journey to compare and contrast with our outward journey).

The workshop this week was, as usual, packed and pretty chaotic with people desperately wanting help fitting a found derailleur, finding a rear wheel quick release skewer (only front wheel ones to be found), etc. etc. Some projects were started, some were finished. Most made progress but not enough for the bike to be ridden home that evening, with ensuing frustration - it takes experience to learn that fixing things takes time.