Saturday Evening.
I ventured over to Smithfield Market for the Nocturne Series Event: http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/
It was pretty classic crit racing with a flat, spectator friendly course. I showed up in time for the folding bike race and then stuck around for the main event. My best guess is that there were 5,000ish people watching. The elite race was pretty small with maybe 50 starters and narrowed down to a field of 20 with half of the race to go. A single Катюша (Katyusha) rider was the only europro, and he was marked pretty well by the British teams. Overall, the racing was pretty lively and nothing stayed away. It was a good show, and I had fun listening to the very British centric commentary.
Sunday Morning
The forecast was for rain, so I wasn't planning on riding. But when I awoke the sun was out, and I quickly made plans to head across town to Richmond Park. About an 90 minutes in started raining. About 93 minutes in I got a flat. I had everything I needed with me, and quickly changed to tube and hit it with a CO2. It was still raining, but I was good to go. I decided to head for home but about 10 minutes later, yup, the front wheel was again flat. This time I had no clue what to do, but decided I would just walk till I saw a cab, then grab a ride to the nearest bike shop. At least it had stopped raining. After walking across the intersection, towards a road more likely to have an available cab, I saw a car with two bikes on the roof. I made a "hey, I need help" gesture, and the driver lowered the window.
After a very brief conversation while trying to avoid blocking too much traffic, my bike was on the roof and we were headed to a bike shop. This was amazing. I was cold and wet with a flat tire and 30 seconds ago had no idea what exactly I was going to do about it. Turns out the father and son, who was maybe 12, were riding a few laps of the park and packed it up once it started raining. The son is in a Hilltopper-like program for riding a bit outside of London. We had a great conversation while being stuck in traffic. They live a block from a Cyclopedia shop (http://www.cyclopediauk.com/), so it wasn't too far out of their way. The father also wouldn't let me leave without taking a spare old tire just in case there was a large gash (there actually was). Though if his basement looked anything like what we had at S. Taylor, this was a rare opportunity to meaningfully cull his collection.
Once at the shop, the guy working the counter was really helpful; this was a first for me in London. They didn't have long stem tubes, so I ended up patching the tube while standing in the store's showroom. He even gave me some rags. I bought a few bars and gels to avoid just buying the 2GBP patch kit, but will certainly be back to buy more substantial items when I need them.
Anyway, the sun was back out, and I peacefully rolled a couple laps of Regent's Park before heading home. After the last few weeks of being stuck in the school bubble, I really needed to be reminded of the kindness and generosity of people.
