Tour Of Britain 2011 Stage 8 London

Ok so this isn't actually a bike ride as I was taking the kids with me, but it is bike related lol.
We caught the train into London to watch the final stage of The Tour Of Britain ride 2011 Stage 8 the TFL  London stage. On arriving at Westminster Station we made our way round to Whitehall where we saw  a stunt team display.

the riders getting ready for the time trials .

Whilst we were waiting the kids wanted to see the guards and stroke the horses.

Below is Lars Boom for team Rabobank ready to lauch off down the ramp, Boom came 2nd in the Time trials 8a .

Lucy and George cheering on the riders by Big Ben......

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Below are various pictures of riders I took from below Big Ben.

 

Jakob finally made an appearance to see the last of the trials....

Some of the team cars and buses.....

The screen on Whitehall to see all the live action!

 After we made our way over to the South Bank where there was a Japanese exhibition, big crowds and Food. Octopus balls for £5 err no thanks...

The Tour of Britain 2011
Stage 8a Summary
The TfL London Stage: Individual Time Trial 18 Sep 2011
** Indicates Under 23 riders

Stage
1	Alex Dowsett	Sky ProCycling
2	Lars Boom	Rabobank
3	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM
Overall
1	Lars Boom	Rabobank
2	Stephen Cummings	Sky ProCycling
3	Jan Barta	Team NetApp
Points
1	Lars Boom	Rabobank
2	Geraint Thomas	Sky ProCycling
3	Mark Cavendish	HTC Highroad
Mountains
1	Jonathan Tiernan Locke	Rapha Condor - Sharp
2	Russell Hampton	Sigma Sport-Specialized
3	Stephen Cummings	Sky ProCycling
Sprints
1	Pieter Ghyllebert	An Post - Sean Kelly
2	Gediminas Bagdonas	An Post - Sean Kelly
3	Russell Hampton	Sigma Sport-Specialized

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The Tour of Britain 2011
Stage 8b Summary
The TfL London Stage: Circuit Race 18 Sep 2011
** Indicates Under 23 riders

Stage
1	Mark Cavendish	HTC Highroad
2	Mark Renshaw	HTC Highroad
3	Robert Förster	UnitedHealthcare
Overall
1	Lars Boom	Rabobank
2	Stephen Cummings	Sky ProCycling
3	Jan Barta	Team NetApp
Points
1	Geraint Thomas	Sky ProCycling
2	Mark Cavendish	HTC Highroad
3	Lars Boom	Rabobank
Mountains
1	Jonathan Tiernan Locke	Rapha Condor - Sharp
2	Russell Hampton	Sigma Sport-Specialized
3	Stephen Cummings	Sky ProCycling
Sprints
1	Pieter Ghyllebert	An Post - Sean Kelly
2	Gediminas Bagdonas	An Post - Sean Kelly
3	Ronan McLaughlin	An Post - Sean Kelly

SKYRIDE London 2011

On 4th September 2011 Me and the kids cycled from home to Romford Train station to head up to the London SkyRide. We got the bikes on the train to Liverpool Street station and then cycled to Lower Thames Street where we joined the ride. It was raining the minute we got out of the Station,really heavy for quite a while. Still didn't stop us enjoying the ride. The kids loved going through the tunnel ringing the bike bells and shouting.
We got to the official start in St.James Park and got a free Gatorade drink each and our free SkyRide bibs.

 We then rode through St James Park crossing the lake.

Then we cycled round past Buckingham Palace before down the Mall and onto Horseguards Parade and then onto The embankment.

We continued cycling along, with people towing dogs in trailers, gentleman on a penny farthing,People towing PA systems blasting out music and being overtaken by Scooby Doo on his bike. We stopped off at the top of the hill by The Tower Of London for some chips (however said cheap as chips hasn't been to London, £2.70 for a small potion of Chips!!).... I left my waterproof trousers behind here which we were using to sit on, as a mad drunken tramps came along shouting and swearing "I'm form fucking Manchester and the rest was inaudible) so after getting George back on the bike we shot off down to Tower Bridge and into St Katherine Docks before heading back to Liverpool St Station where we had McDonalds before heading back home.

A Beefeater walking past the Tower

George Outside Liverpool Street Station