Cycling venue

I attended the Men’s road cycle race today. From the hotel, I walked down Piccadilly towards the Wellington Arch.  I stood on Constitution Hill, near the four pillars of the Commonwealth Memorial.  I got a spot right at the barrier and waited there for an hour.   We could hear the broadcast announcements of the teams – country and members down at the start line, about 1km away.   The atmosphere was quite festive.   Whenever a motorcycle, police bike or team car drove up, people would whistle, clap or pound on the barrier signs to show their enthusiasm for the event. 

To my left were two teenage boys, avid cyclists, who knew many of the riders, even those not representing team Great Britain.  Close to the start of the race, one of them said, “I’ve waited my whole life for this and now they are counting down the minutes!”  His face was full of joy.

While we were waiting, we saw some teams take their warm up rides, including Peter Sagan, in blue, from Slovakia.  I’m not sure if he was the green jersey winner from this year’s Tour de France or if he was a stage (multiple stage?) winner – but he was up there anyway.

At 10:00 they were off.  We saw them moments later, with the Spanish team at the front of the line.  I didn’t notice as they were going by, but there were Turkish riders in the group.  I don’t think any of them finished.  Poor #63, the Russian had a problem with his bike right away.  We cheered him on once he got back on a new bike.

By 10:10 the excitement was over.  With over 5 hours to kill before the race returned from the hills, I set out for the Tate.  I walked down Grosvenor Place, across Victoria Street to Vauxhall Bridge Road before catching a bus to take me down to the Thames where I would take a left to get to the museum.  There, my misunderstanding of Olympic themed exhibits continued.  I thought I read that they had an exhibit of Olympic posters.  I was thinking of the even posters going back awhile.  But no.  Instead, there were six or seven little “posters” that were inspired by Olympic events.  Only one or two of them did I make the connection.  Most of them were too abstract for me.  Sigh.

I did venture upstairs and saw a mother and child sculpture that made my trip to the museum worthwhile. 

After exiting the building, I headed north on Millbank.  It is another section of road that I had explored last year.  I started the Red Wenlock and Mandeville statue hunt in the Victoria Tower Gardens, just north of the Lambeth Bridge.  The first one I came across was the A-Z Wenlock.  A map dude – love it!

Then the Victorian Wenlock

The Household Cavalry Mandeville

And the Westminster Abbey Wenlock.

Seeing the inside of Westminster Abbey was on my list of musts this year.  So I exited the Gardens, crossed Millbank, walked past the Jewel Tower and went into Westminster Abbey.   What a building.  I’ve seen the inside only when watching events there on TV.  Totally different in person.  It is cramped, a bit claustrophobic with tombs and statuary, yet beautiful and serene at the same time.  I was there long enough to participate in one of the hourly prayers.  I heard the bells when I was sitting on a bench along the Cloister Garth.  I was moved by the wear on the stone steps, the scuffed quality of the floor and the intimate nature of the building that is inspiring so much so that I saw nuns taking photos in the allowed areas.

With time to kill before heading back to see the race finish, I headed across the Westminster Bridge and around County Hall.  I started on the Thames side of the building and walked clockwise around.  The area was packed.  I had a hard time taking pictures of the mascots without having small children or family groups present in my photo.  First up – Union Flag Mandeville.

Followed by Underwater Wenlock

Then Big Ben Wenlock

And the last of this group was another plain Wenlock.  To get the last group, I walked to the south side of Westminster Bridge and went down to the Thames level by the St. Thomas Hospital.  The area was almost people free.  A few people were sitting on the benches along the river, and there were one or two families taking photos with the mascots, but not nearly the numbers that I had seen earlier in the day.  I was able to document the Ceremonial Speaker Wenlock

Tourist Mandeville

Doctor Wenlock

Lambeth Palace Mandeville

And finally, the Garden Wenlock.

Even though I wore my running shoes today, something I swore I would not do because it makes me look like the American tourist that I am, my feet were starting to hurt.  I crossed over the Thames via the Lambeth Bridge and caught the #507 bus to Victoria.  I retraced my steps from this morning and went back to Constitution Hill and stood right next to the 1km to go sign and waited an hour for the racers to return.

I wasn’t right up against the barrier, so I had other people in front of me.  My pictures aren’t the best.  The racers were moving so fast and the focus of my camera seemed to be on the far side of the road, not on the closest racers.  But I did get a shot of the Gold Medal Winner from Kazakhstan, Alexandr Vinokurov. 

After the first two riders flew past us, the other riders went by in a blink. 

Then the straggles went by, people thought that all the riders had passed and they started jumping the barriers to have their pictures taken under the 1 km banner.  But wait – there’s more!  Finally, the rest of the last riders went by.  It was exciting and fun to be part of the crowd.  I walked back up Piccadilly to Shepherd Market and had dinner at Sofra.  I had a delicious meal, the small mix platter -- a taste of six dishes.  I wiped my plate clean with a tasty flatbread.  I completed my meal with a pot of Turkish tea and baklava.  What a great way to end the day.