RideLondon Cycle Festival 2013

The closing of Worple Road to traffic this morning  at 7:30am just after I had crossed to set off on the usual Sunday 10km jog over Wimbledon Common, was slightly surprising as I had not expected any of the 1000s of cyclists in the 100mile RideLondon Festival to reach SW19/20 until after breakfast. Jogging today as sometimes happens was unsatisfactory. However at about 10am mrs maytrees and I decided to walk up the 25 yards to Worple Road to view  the cycle race.

The same thought had obviously occurred to a number of people   as at the end of our small grove where it meets Worple Road, there were several locals already up and cheering the cyclists on. Those who didn't already  know each other introduced themselves.

The absence of motor traffic on the road reminded one of how much noise and dirt one is normally confronted by when walking down a busy street. The atmosphere during the morning races was interesting not least because a dozen or more people from our home street where it joins the race track at Worple Road were there many with there children. The cyclists during the afternoon session were the elite and by then the locals watching them had increased along with copious amounts of wine and in my case tea. In between the packed amateur morning session and the more professional afternoon race I bumped into a retired solicitor friend and his wife in Wimbledon Village. After catching up with our respective children's lives (two of the boys had been friends at school) we (the two husbands) agreed to try to cycle together to Brighton from Wimbledon later this month.