Friday, May 10, 2013

My First Cycle Ride in London

Food is truly a wonderful motivator. Nice weather helps too. I finally convinced myself to go for a quick cycle ride during lunch today. I felt stupid having my socks over my right pant leg, but kept telling myself its better than getting jeans stuck in gears on a busy road. This being my first time on my new bike on the road, I decided to not clip in.

View I had for lunch... perfect!
In short: I did not die, AND I got a tasty lunch at the Mayflower, a cosy pub along the Thames with nice outdoor seating! I even whipped out the laptop to do some work over since the day was shaping up to be so nice (and here I thought it was supposed to rain, but to be fair its expected in London). It was actually quite hard to find a place to stick the bike, but I found a good spot eventually, and worried about the bike being nicked most of lunch.

My pride of the ride was successfully navigating a roundabout-- with no one honking or a bus veering down on me. I was even able to cycle up (down? I guess its a perspective thing) Tooley Street to drop by Evans Cycles to figure out my gear issue (hint: it was a user error). That street, is -TIGHT-. Not in a good way. And the pedestrians just waking into the street without caring that they are not supposed to go (rote mann!kein grĂ¼ne mann!) I shudder when I think about Trafalgar  Square or anywhere near Covent Garden... maybe with time! Ha.

This ride was not about distance, it was about getting out there on the London roads with the bike to get comfortable with the gears and handling. Getting some sun and exercise was just a happy side affect :) 5.84 miles down.





View Cycling in London - Die Erste Zeit! in a larger map

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