Nice easy sunday ride

For my first ride for over a month (because of holidays), I did a short (17 mile) jaunt through town. An absolutely autumn-like day, it was drizzly and coldish. I only got out in the afternoon, so I didn't have much time, thus I did my favourite touristy route.

I headed down to Hyde Park and then east towards Speakers Corner, but I had to turn around because of the throngs attending the BBC Proms outside in the park today. But no matter, it was clear around the Serpentine, so I made it to the bottom of the park that way, then I turned back East along the south side of the park to Hyde Park Corner. The road was closed, so it was a delight to ride. Lots of families out on bikes today - I took a picture of one woman and her passenger.



Then down to Buckingham Palace and up Pall Mall, and across Westminster Bridge. Not too much traffic, and lots of bikes out today. For my first ride for ages, I kept it slow, around 13mph on average, and just stuck to enjoying the ride.

Once on the south side, I followed Route 4 down to Southwark Cathedral, where I decided to turn around so I could make it to Waitrose before closing at five. Before heading back, though, I stopped into the bike shop there to check out their waterproof jackets. They didn't have the Gore one I'm looking for, it was all Altura and one Nike that I hadn't seen before. So I gave them a miss and headed on home.

My top tube dent didn't affect the ride, except for the niggling feeling it gives me while I wait for Robin Thorn's reply about how he wants to handle it.

I've finally decided to retire all my moldy old water bottles, so I used one of our Sigg bottles. Sure, the water tasted great, but the top of the bottle was a nuisance - having to pull it open with my teeth was a real hazard.