Spring appears to have arrived! The sun has started appearing and we’ve had some beautiful clear mornings in London. This weekend I didn’t have a huge amount of activity planned come Friday afternoon. I decided to pop to The Arch in Bermondsey for some climbing after work, it’s always a nice and cheap (free for me with my membership) way to wind down after a week of work.
Climbing at The Arch’s Biscuit Factory building.
On Saturday morning I got up and headed to Lee Valley White Water Centre for some white water kayaking. I recently bought a kayak, Tina. She’s a Jackson Rockstar playboat in the questionable colour scheme of tie-dye and I was excited to paddle her. The Lee Valley White Water Centre was built for the London 2012 Olympics and is a great facility for white water activities that’s only 40mins from London (train from Liverpool Street or driving). The centre has two courses, one longer and more advanced than the other, that are supplied by water pumped from the lake. It was a beautiful day, despite the water still being cold I had a great time on the water and it was fun to sit around and watch the rugby in the cafe afterwards.
Tina, the tie-dyed Rockstar!
At some point after a beer or two on Saturday I decided to join some friends who were planning to cycle to Brighton from London on Sunday. I agreed with one of my housemates that I could borrow his bike and started to mentally prepare myself for riding a bike with cleats for the first time ever and one with brakes and gears for the first time in several years (I normally cycle a fixie). I’m not really a cyclist, and certainly have never expressed interest in becoming a road cyclist, but I thought I should jump at the opportunity to have a little adventure when I didn’t really have much else planned!
Sunday was a beautiful spring day and two of my housemates and I set off at around 8am to meet a few others and hit the road. We took a gloriously empty route through some of the iconic sights of London before passing through Clapham and finally out onto some more rural roads. I was thoroughly enjoying having a range of gears to work through as we climbed a few small hills, despite them taking their toll on a previous knee injury of mine.
We didn’t make it quite as far, or as fast, as we’d hoped…
We took a few interesting routes down some bridal paths but somehow everyone escaped the mud, rocks and gravel with only one tactical dismount and no punctures. Once we were passed the M25 our pace seemed to slow, the early climbs had taken their toll on some of the group. Despite the low speed, spirits remained high and we continued to wind our way through the beautiful English countryside.
Just as we approached the 55km mark near Three Bridges we had a mechanical issue with one of the bikes that couldn’t be fixed with the tools we had. The pedal had become cross-threaded and eventually come completely free of the crank whilst riding down the road. With no thread whatsoever left on the crank and no replacement cranks it was clear that bike would not be making it to Brighton. In light of the slowing pace, and not wanting to leave someone behind, we decided to call it a day. Luckily, Three Bridges station was only a few minutes downhill roll from where we were and we managed to hop on a train home and get back in time to watch the final 6 Nations game of the weekend.
Despite the fact we didn’t get to our intended destination I thoroughly enjoyed the cycle and will be keen to get out on a bike again in the future. Just goes to show, if you randomly say yes to adventures you might find yourself enjoying them more than you’d think!