32 London Boroughs in a day

It started with this

32 London Boroughs in 32hrs? is it possible? By bike? Is there a route? 5th October? #microadventure #nightofadventure
— Ben Hockman (@BAHockman) September 16, 2013

Which led to this:

@BAHockman LFGSS has a London Borough Spiral Ride which may be of use: http://t.co/TussUrU0DP
— Adrian Fitch (@adrianfitch) September 17, 2013

Which took me here and someone had luckily done the leg work, so to speak, on a general route.

http://www.lfgss.com/post3796799-50.html

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So I'd kept the Saturday free, part of my whole JFDI attitude, which is really quite good actually.  On Friday I toyed around with a rough route on Google maps.


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My massively high tech way of navigating was to print the google directions and follow the sheet of paper, mostly, follow my nose a little and on a few occasions rely on gaining bearings through the trusty smartphone.  Being that I live in Lambeth and Southwark is the other side of the road, I had a quick win at the start.  So with the adjusted route my ride list was as follows:

Lambeth

Southwark

Lewisham

Greenwich

Bexley

Bromley

Croydon

Sutton

Merton

Kingston upon Thames

Richmond Upon Thames

Hounslow

Hillingdon

Ealing

Harrow

Brent

Barnet

Haringey

Enfield

Waltham Forest

Redbridge

Havering

Barking & Dagenham

Newham

Tower Hamlets

City

Hackney

Islington

Camden

Westminster

Kensington & Chelsea

Hammersmith & Fulham

Wandsworth

So my ride was recorded like this:

http://www.strava.com/activities/87101243

Highs:

• The view of London from Redbridge Cycling Centre.  An unexpected surprise at the perfect time of day.
• The sense of achievement passing over into Wandsworth to complete the list
• The kindness of strangers offering help in random places when the bike was upturned

Lows:

• The fact that I've probably undone any benefit from giving up smoking 10 months ago, I was filthy when I got home, and the inside of my lungs feel even dirtier, the air quality on London's roads ain't good.
• Getting a puncture just after the only shower of the day.
• Getting a second puncture on the canal.
• The North Circular... a couple of pretty hairy miles near Walthamstow.

In summary, would I do it again? What'd be the point in that.  Could clearly do it in a quicker time and quicker route.  But this ride really was proof that cycling in London is not a pleasure, only on a couple of times when I took off down a canal, or found some of the off road routes was it comfortable.  I clearly fall into the "Strong & Fearless" group of cyclists.  Not that there weren't moments of fear.  And with my cycling fitness still being pretty good this was achievable with little preparation, or sustenance in fact (just a sausage roll, Double decker, 2 pints of Guinness and 2 packs of peanuts).  But the road quality is generally terrible, random bike lanes ending abruptly, if they're there at all.  Lots of crud in the hard shoulder.  And exhaust fumes.. urgh, my throat really feels very harsh a day later like after a big night out smoking a pack or two of camels.

Generally there weren't too many incidents, two ridiculously close overtakes and cut ups both in Barking & Dagenham, but I'll not draw any conclusions from that.  Also someone laughing pointedly at me fixing a puncture, or maybe I was assuming it was at me rather than the radio or another phone conversation. I was doing the smug overtaking of long lines of cars, but what was the point of being smug when I was essentially going in a big bloody circle to end up in the same place I started?

Yup, certainly not a fun jaunt out for the day, and I can't really see any parts of the route I took being a draw for cycling tourism or as best practice for attracting cyclists, or getting people on their bikes.  London's an amazing city, with all kinds of life there, but the roads are not all welcoming, and there's a lot of grime and dirt out there, but from a planning/urbanist point of view it's an interesting way to explore the city beyond heading to a destination and getting a tour.

The adventure side of it was fun, if there's a challenge out there, a bit of an idea of something to do, then why not just go the fuck out there and do it?  I've done it now and it gives me a point of interest for the rest of the week while I think of something else to do.