Confederacy of a Dunce - a spring cycle ride

Monday, March 27, 2006

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Saturday was really the first day of Spring, as the weather had suddenly shot up from just-above-freezing to well into the teens (C, ie, ~60F). So it was nice to take a bike ride without loads of layers. In order to avoid loads of pedestrians and wobbly rusty bicycles on the riverside paths, I headed north through some lovely urban landscapes, which at least featured decent cycle lanes which were separated from the busy road. Since I didn't bring my camera this time, I'll have to rely on overhead imagery from Google Maps. First, a nice overhead view illustrating the urban landscape, complete with cycle lane (the light red path just to the right of the north-south road). And the kind of scenery you see a lot of: filtration pools, giant muffin tins, and freight yards. It's actually pretty nice to ride in these areas on the weekend because there's so little traffic around the industrial zones (excepting the giant shopping mecca which includes a huge 24-hour Tesco and an Ikea). Especially when you're heading north, being propelled by a brisk (~15-20mph) south wind (experienced cyclists will note that there could be a flaw in this logic). After not so long, however, the cycle lane just plain ended.

Rather than join the throngs of cars on the major highway, I decided to backtrack a bit, then rode about a half mile east where I joined the familiar towpath along the River Lea. There were far fewer pedestrians and rusty, wobbly cycles than I had worried, possibly because the weather looked vaguely threatening. So it was a very pleasant, rather undisturbed ride. I was also far enough north that the riverside environment was much less industrial, featuring instead sights like canal locks, farms, and, er, an army of giant insectlike robots ready to invade London. At this point (well outside of the M25, north of Waltham Abbey), the Lea Valley Park opened up, with loads of paths wandering around the various manmade lakes. Some were (mostly) paved, others were muddy and sandy. Fortunately they were wide enough that a rather deranged cyclist could share them with assorted birdwatchers without any physical contact. I should note here that cyclists seem to be the mortal enemies of birdwatchers, but fortunately the latter are a peaceful sort, limiting their signs of displeasure to tutting and shaking their heads disapprovingly.

At this point I'd gone about 14 miles (in not quite an hour; an excellent pace for city riding), and decided it was time to turn back. Suddenly I realized the error of my ways as I was riding straight into the blustery south wind that had brought the springtime weather and made my northward ride so easy. A mountain bike does not exactly offer many possibilities for minimizing head-on wind resistance, and for a few moments I considered heading off course towards the nearest train station and taking the easy way home. Eventually my miserly tendencies won out over fatigue, and I continued on my not-so-merry way. I decided to stick to the canal/riverside path which seemed the most direct and the most sheltered from the wind (the latter may have just been dead wrong, as the river seemed to channel the wind rather than diverting or blocking it.). My pace on the return was just below 10mph, and my legs had turned to jelly by the time I made it home. A mere fifteen minutes before the skies really opened up.

bike

Monday, March 27, 2006 11:33:51 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)