TRAINING CYCLE #4

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ~ Lao Tzu

You probably expect me to have forged a training route by now. Some specialist maps spread out on the table, calculating undulations and mileage, licking my finger and holding it up to the wind. 

I have no idea why you would think this about me, and hopefully after today's post you'll realise that I subscribe to randomness! I am a student of chaos theory! I go where the wind takes me! Plans? PAH! Plans do not maketh the man!

In all honesty, I struggle with finding new and interesting routes which are accessible, avoid traffic, and - most crucially - will allow me to cover sufficiently long distances. While it can be fun to make things up as I go along, it would be nicer to set off with a concrete plan in mind. Today I actually did have a plan; to cycle to Regent's Park via the main canal towpath from Limehouse. If anything it would be a decent afternoon of cycling, if not quite the 40-mile feat that I really need.

I started out on the same journey as last weekend, but this time coming in from the waterway where the towpath was closed, and returning to the canal further on. It's a beautiful stretch to cycle, especially when the sun is shining. I've also been reading more about this whole towpath permit idea (see last post) and found it doesn't actually seem to exist. Confused? Me too. Instead one must simply consider towpath etiquette, which fortunately I was already following.

The canal took me most of the way into Islington, with only one or two diversions due to the construction of the Olympic Village. I did get lost at one point, but decided to tail a cylist in a yellow jacket. I knew he knew I was following him too... so at one point I actually concealed myself behind a car, like a spy.

All in all though, it was a stunning ride, and I loved stumbling upon hidden little cafes right on the towpath, where cyclists had parked up for a tea break. I cycled past people basking in the sun on the decks of their narrowboats, drinking tea, having lunch, or in one case playing guitar. It is a rather magical route.

What really threw me, though, was the Islington Tunnel. There is no towpath here so cyclists are forced back up onto the road, where there is no signage to indicate how to get back to the towpath at the other end. The tunnel itself is about 900 metres long, and finding the canal again is not immediately obvious. I took a punt in what seemed like the right direction and ended up at the main intersection at Angel. I didn't want to take on this busy uphill road unless I knew it was the right way, so it was here I started to rethink my route.

I contemplated turning back and doing some laps of Victoria Park instead. And after literally to-ing and fro-ing down a side street I decided I couldn't give up now; I was so close! So I threw myself into the general direction of Regent's park and hoped for the best. I did find myself going around in a few circles. I even managed to end up in the same street twice; fortunately, it was Sandwich Street, and this made me feel happy in an otherwise very frustrating moment.

                                    

I pressed on, doing my best to avoid ending up at the busier roads; in particular the Ring Road around King's Cross (a nightmarish stew of traffic). And in doing so, managed to land myself precisely in front of the station itself. Argh! I backtracked, took a few turns and... ended up in front of Kings Cross again. [Insert profanities here!]

I was now on a mission to get away from Kings Cross station, and with all the steely determination I could muster, I set off in the opposite direction while still making sure I was aiming for Regent's Park.
It was at this point that I passed two men riding penny farthings.

I think we would all agree that if you see someone on a penny farthing, you follow them. Right? Obviously. So I did a U-turn and bolted after them for about half a mile, trying to get a shot of their incredible wheels. I should take a moment here to say that penny farthings can go SURPRISINGLY FAST.

But back to my route and I continued on, taking some side roads past gardens and dance schools and the like. And eventually came out into a clearing, which revealed itself to be....
Kings Cross station.

I said a few words which were quite rude but translated to: Oh, my old nemisis, we meet again. This time I decided to walk my bicycle past the station and be done with it.

It's never fun to push my bike, but I did enjoy some of the random sights I might otherwise have missed. A group of well-dressed Quakers were having a formal photo done in the garden of Friends House.. while two homeless men cheered them on with bottles of cider. I also walked by what is surely one of the most creepy installations to stand outside an office building:

Very soon I reached the gates to Regent's Park, which might have been the Pearly Gates themselves for all I was concerned. I had made it! Of course, I couldn't actually cycle IN the park... 

But I enjoyed a hearty victory lap of the outer park road. In fact, I went round it twice. Hurrah!

(Um. We can talk about my hair another time.)

And now, to get home again. This whole idea of throwing myself in the general direction and hoping for the best was SO successful the first time I decided this is exactly how I would make my way back. In this case though, it worked. While randomly picking my route as I went I enjoyed a rather lovely cycle through Goodge street, down New Oxford street - past historic umbrella shop James Smith & Sons - and sailed past Spitalfields markets for the last stretch.

I have a brand new spangly cycle computer which is supposed to tell me how many records I am breaking and basically, how awesome my efforts are. Today it told me I'd completed a mere 24 miles. Perhaps I haven't calibrated my cycle computer correctly. (This is cyclist speak for I AM IN DENIAL.)

Overall it was a really fun ride, my confidence on the roads has shot right up, I have established which of my gears work for me, and am learning more about my internal powers of navigation as well.

Here I have created a map of my route... based on how I remember it: