Originally Posted by yogo
Hopefully some of you will be attending the London WNBR on June 9th - London will be at its very best between the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics - so here's some tips to get the best from your day.
The course is about 8-9 miles long, looping through central london and takes well over 2 hours to complete (traffic, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, etc), so it's quite possible, by walking or using the 'tube', to see the ride three or four times during the afternoon. This is worth doing as some riders drop out, while others shed their inhibitions during the ride. Because the ride gets spread out, there are a number of 'regrouping points' to wait for back markers to catch up. It's easier to photograph someone standing next to you than someone wizzing past in the pack, so these are the places to be.
The event is fantastically well organised and the route is available on the web. Here are the probable waiting points:-
Piccadilly (near Green Park tube station)
Whitehall (near Downing Street)
South Bank (Belvedere Road near County Hall)
Waterloo Bridge (North end)
St Pauls (South side)
Lincolns Inn Fields
Charing Cross Road (South end)
The Mall
Wellington Arch (finish)
So don't just go to the start, grab a few shots and go home. Hyde Park at 3pm is a bear pit (pun intended) and most riders will be intimidated by the crowds. And don't just stand by a wide, fast road and try to grab a few shots (unless you're a very good photographer)
Instead, try to 'join the' dots between the regrouping points.
For example, you could wait for them in Whitehall, then walk to Waterloo Bridge to see them again, then stroll up to Lincoln's Inn and finally, catch the tube from Holburn to Hyde Park Corner to see the finish.
Or you could meet them on the South Bank, walk over the bridge to Covent Garden for their return and then take the tube to Hyde Park, etc, etc.
Lincolns Inn is a particularly good spot, as it's a small open square, with a one-way system. Riders have to queue up to enter from Kingsway via Sardinia Street, then they circle the square several times, before queuing again to leave by Remnant Street. Photo ops guaranteed (a couple from last year attached - apologies for quality, I only had a pocket camera).
A final tip - take spare batteries, you may need them.
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