I rode my bike to Buckingham Palace today, checking out Brompton, Knightsbridge, Victoria and Chelsea on the way. I raced a bus down from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square which was quite fun. He just won though - higher top speed. After that I meandered to the palace, I didn’t mean to go there but suddenly I was on Buckingham Palace Road and I thought what the hey. I stopped for a bit and gawped at the tourists. I was just posting to my moblog when it started to rain, then hail. Got very wet on the way back and didn’t really know where I was going for much of it, buses either side, glasses covered with water. I was quite glad when I found Chelsea Bridge and followed the river home (rivers are extremely handy navigational aids).

When I first got my bike I thought riding in the city would be quite scary, and on my first outing I was kind of intimidated. I’d only ridden in the countryside around my Mum’s house before. But it’s really not at all scary. You can always just stop and ride on the pavement or walk. Today I noticed that traffic lights, which of course cover London, cut great rifts in the traffic flow. So when the traffic is moving you just go straight and try to be predictable. Then wait for a light to leave everyone behind you for a bit and do whatever maneuvering is required, e.g. turning right across three lanes of the A4 at half past five. Rush hour is a good time to ride, there are lots of other cyclists about and the real traffic is mostly static or very slow moving.

The other thing about riding a bike in London is that you can explore for miles and miles in a relatively short space of time and you’re outside experiencing it. You can look around, which you can’t in a car. You can be more flexible with the road system as well, seeing as you can instantly transform into a pedestrian whenever it’s convinient. I’m just wondering where to go next. I might explore the south bank a bit more. Hmm, it’s difficult to know where the best stuff to bike around is :-).

I haven’t been riding long and I’m probably being a touch naive, I’m sure I’ll have an event of some kind at some point, but for the time being riding in London is one of those things where everyone thinks it’s madness, but actually it’s nowhere near as scary as they think. Kind of like being out after dark in Nairobi (though that did take some getting used to), or going to the Bronx. Try something scary today, maybe you’ll find it’s really exhilarating.