Escorted into London by their finest

After Mike and Jon came into London on Thursday, yesterday was Brian, Pat, and I's turn to make the 120km ride into the city. We didn't quite have the strong tailwinds that they had coming from Dungannon, but it was blowing in the right direction and we made good time into London.

Yesterday was probably our best reception for one of our arrivals to date. Once we had hit the city limits at Sunningdale and Wonderland, we were met by several media: A-Channel, Rogers, the London Free Press, and BX93 and Q97.5 summer cruisers all came out to interview us. We were then paraded through town with a police car running with his lights in front of us and a brand new firetruck running in behind us while photographers and camera crews took shots as we rode. People were looking at us and honking their horns; it was a pretty great entrance! It was an especially nice homecoming for Brian, Mike, and Jon into their hometown.

The family friend who rode in with Mike and Jon, Gary Good, was very kind to take all of our bikes into Champion Cycles so that we can get a tuneup. Our drivetrains have gotten really grimy, so they'll be working hard to take that off the cassette and the chain - they've already gotten some practise on Jon and Mike's, so they should know what to expect for us other three! Apparently it took quite a while for them to clean off the first two on Thursday, but they looked brand new, so they did a good job.

Once the fanfare was over, we relaxed by Jon's pool (where, in fact, another reporter came to talk to us), and enjoyed a nice dinner before heading out to downtown London. Today we have a barbeque planned in Springbank Park from 11-1, organised by the London riders' families. After we're done there, we're booked in for full-body massages, and we laughed when we found out all the masseuses will be females. Luck of the draw I guess, but there will probably also be some pain involved when they try and loosen up our quads...
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