Steve Cycles The World: Micro Scorch - UK Edition : Getting lost in London with no map

Knowing i was going to London for business I had a cycle in mind for the last few weeks. things came up at work, home etc and I never got a chance to plan it properly. I had cycled here in 2012 which was the last time i actually spent two weeks here working and had a weekend in between. This is before Strava, cycle blogs and everything else. This was even before I got in to antique bicycles! In 2012 I had rented a Barclay bike for the day and spent a good 4 hours roaming around. It was in the late summer so the weather was fantastic. Today was a bit different, 55f, overcast, slight wind and a constant wet mist/drizzle/rain on my face. Though the conditions were not optimal, and I am a big baby about being cold :), i still ventured out on 4 hours of sleep on a plane. Before I headed out, since I am in England, I chugged two cups of hot black tea.

This is all i brought along with my phone and wallet. I didnt wear it.
Stuck it in the front basket

GeoTracker - aka Lifesaver!

Today I rented a Santander cycle. Im not exactly sure how it works, i was just happy it accepted my AMEX. i think it is 2pounds to be able to flip the bike in and out for 24hours and then 2pounds every half an hour. So i think i spent under $20. You can read about the 51 lb behemoth here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santander_Cycles . I just read they geared the bike to limit the top speed. Yeah no shit! :) This bike is built like a tank, but goes half the speed. I dont feel so bad now, because i was cranking that guy in some spots.

So before I started out, to make matters a little more challenging, as if the heavy beast bike, rain/wind and 4 hours of sleep werent enough... I also had no map. :) My phone for whatever reason doesnt get signal in the UK and the GPS doesnt work with Strava. So i downloaded a few alternative GPS programs to test. One of them worked!! GeoTracker: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ilyabogdanovich.geotracker A really nice tool and it let me DL the GPX and throw it in to Strava. Also gives you some basic statistics. You can click the pic to the right to enlarge it now even though it was tracking my GPS stats for later analysis and kudos I still had no idea where i was going. Imagine a screen with just a blue line. Thats it, no background, just a blue line snaking. So what i did was ride around and then try to make it back to the head of the line when i was done with the ride.

Ride Stats
Strava Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/897717083
Miles: 17.7
Total Time: 2:30:58
Total Ride Time: 2:06:08
Pace per Mile: 8.5 ** how embarrassing **
Start: London Marriott West India Quay Hotel
End: London Marriott West India Quay Hotel

The overall ride was nice and if I had an actual map working on my phone I would have ventured out further. Next time I will have to DL google maps to find my way around. There were a lot of nice sites to see and most of the trip was around the river.

One of the bits i forgot about was that there are cycling "highways" in London. It was a pleasure to be on and off them for bits here and there. If i planned better i would have mapped out a route and stuck it in to strava =/

After making it back, docking the bike I had dinner in a restaurant across the road. If i didnt get fish and chips with mushed peas and a pot of tea i think the ancient bicycling gods of Stonehenge would have come to smite me. :)