first ride in London

I bought a bike yesterday a Specialised Secteur and today, other than riding the bike home from the bike shop, I went for my first London ride.

Trip was from Home (Balham) towards London and then through Clapham Junction and back to Balham. Overall, I was out for about 40 minutes.

It is going to be interesting riding here. Perth you dont know how lucky you are. the roads are narrow, the roads are generally quite poor in quality and there are masses of cars (think Stirling Hwy near Fremantle or Gt Eastern Hwy through Belmont at peak hour).

My polar heart rate monitor wondered whether to send for an ambulance or not and i am sure my legs are going to protest tomorrow but it was fantastic to be out and about for the first time in six months.

I think i am going to need a Bike GPS. Tom Tom in the back pocket doesnt work.

the ideas is to ride to work, between 35=45 mins depending on traffic, but if riding around with Sunday traffic is anything to go on weekday traffic could be mental.

the bike - it was comfortable once i got the seat height right and the gear range was good for someone getting back on a bike after 6 months. At 50+ i am not going to be racing, but i managed to get this bike rolling along quite nicely on a couple occasions

more rides next weekend but not much in the week as i am off to Manchester and Derby during the week.

smiles

I read somewhere yesterday that getting a smile from someone is valued more highly by many people than winning the lottery. I made a million yesterday just by using good manners.

the tube in London is generally a dog eat dog world, with harassed people generally seeking to ignore each other so its not always easy to get a smile, but i managed to get two in a matter of moments by simply offering my seat to a women and then doing the same again a few stops later when someone else got on.

i always find it interesting to watch the faces of other people when you do these little acts of kindness. Some look at you as if you are mad, some look almost guilty and some acknowledge the act for what it is.

I still love London

this place is one big contrast.

it is fast and slow at the same time
it is old and new in the same place
it is cold and hot
people are beautiful and ugly
it is rich and poor
the food is good and bad
there are more languages spoken in every setting than i have ever heard before
service is good and bad with not much in between
it is expensive and cheap
things are near and far
it is full and empty

for all these reasons i still love this place