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YPRUK#4 – Regent’s Park

Normally I wouldn’t do write ups on boring laps around Regent’s Park, but today’s ride warrants one because it was the first bunch ride I’ve done in 8 months!!

Myself and Hay, who is currently 5 shades darker than me from spending all that time under the South American sun, headed over to Regent’s Park this morning at the ridiculously early hour (for London) of 9:30am to do a few laps just to get back into the swing of things. Hay was running a little late so I rocked up first for a couple of uneventful laps and most of our ride remained that way with only the occasional cyclist being passed or passing us. We were doing a nice cruisy pace of around 25-26km/h until about our 4th lap when we had this bunch of about 5 zoom by. I happened to have been leading at this time so I flicked up a gear or two to see if Hay wanted to hang on as well. He did so thus I slotted myself nicely into the bunch with Hay wheelsucking behind, right in the middle. The pace wasn’t anything hot, but it was still around 30-31km/h which obviously felt a lot faster than what we had just been cruising at (but not really much more effort if you ask me). Anyway we kept up for about 2-3 laps after which Hay decided to call it quits which I was quite happy to do as well. As I was warming down I chatted to the guys briefly and three of them raced, with one in Cat 3 and two in Cat 2 (I assume C and B grade equivalent).

Anyway it’s sad that I’m writing about a 7 man bunch ride… bring back Beach Rd any day!

PS. Hay I hope your knee held up okay. You looked to be in pretty good form today.

YPRUK#2 – Marylebone to err… bike shop, street market and Regent’s Park

Wow… new WP 2.0 editor. Cool.

After forking out more pounds for some Shimano M520 SPD pedals and Specialized BG Sport MTB shoes (I have now almost officially spent more money on gear than the bike itself), Hay, Pete and I were going to meet up Sat morning to go for a bit of a cruise. Pete didn’t end up coming down to Hay’s place (the meeting point) in the morning and because he had the pedal wrench, we rode to his house instead which was about 3-4km away. Pete had to change his pedals as well as he’d just recently purchased clipless too. When we got to Pete’s, I gave it a shot at changing the pedals but given that me and pedal wrenches never seem to get along (I can never figure out which way to turn them), we ended up riding to a local bike store to get it changed. This actually ended up being a good thing as until now I have only been shopping at the big chain stores and it was a welcoming change to see a (cheaper) mum and dad type store stocking a half decent range. Anyway, they lent us their pedal wrench (I’ve gotta say the Park Tools are just so much better and easier to use) and after telling me which way to turn, it was a piece of cake. We changed Pete’s pedals there as well but given that he hasn’t used clipless before, he continued riding with his sneakers. It felt so good to be clipped in again and not bouncing around… (felt so much safer too).

Anyway, our next destination was a street market as I had to do a bit of grocery shopping. The fruit and veggies were not only cheaper than the supermarkets as expected, but it was a lot fresher too. Special thanks to Tara and James for recommending this place to me (who else would know more about where to get the best and cheapest foods!). We also ended up having a kebab there. And it was a HUGE kebab too. Pete went to order and he asked for 3 kebabs but when the guy put 3 skewers of meat on one, Pete tried to correct the guy by telling him that he wanted 3 separate kebabs only to have the guy tell him ‘yes, I know, this is just one’.

After scoffing down lunch we went back to my place to dump the groceries, and Pete headed off home. Hay and I did a couple more lazy laps of Regent’s Park before we both headed home. I must admit I quite enjoy these cruises through the city… it’s an excellent way to see London without having to worry about where/when to catch the bus or tube. Gives you complete freedom to ride through those dodgy neighbourhoods if you want to..

Oh yer, getting better at my ‘track stands’ too, although I still can’t quite fully do it cos I haven’t mastered rolling backwards. I tend to creep forward bit by bit still.

Ride stats:
Dist – 29.03 km
Avg – 17 km/h