We had a big day planned for Saturday.

Firstly we had to pick up our rental van from Woking. We then drove up to Wimbledon to pick up our bikes from Ben Thomson’s Cycleworx. Ben is a Kiwi from Wanganui. We were introduced to him by our old bike mechanic in Wellington, Declan Cox. When we investigate the bike brands that Ben dealt with, we found that the Genesis Tour de Fer 20 touring bike would suit us. We had brought our Brooks B17 saddles with us from NZ, so Ben fitted these, sorted out our pannier bags and made various other adjustments.

We parked the van and bikes back at our BnB in Guildford and made our way by train to the O2 Arena in London for the Joseph Parker/Dillian Whyte boxing match. Parker is a Kiwi, who had lost a world title bout to Anthony Joshua a few months before. We were seated way back in Row Q, near the rafters in the O2. The place was full and full-on – an arena full of boozed-up, testosterone-fuelled Brits. There was a pretty good undercard, including Derrick Chisora/Carlos Takam. Unfortunately, Parker left it late to put any pressure on Whyte, and lost on points.