Roads

Woke up this morning to another cloudy and cold day and can't say I was excited at all about the prospect of riding my bike in the cold again. I was looking for any reason not to, and even considered a ride on the trainer as a more attractive option. Sad I know. As the morning wore on, the sun started to break through and by noon, it was a bright sunny day. And not British sunny, where you catch a peek every 10 minutes, but full on American sunny. I was fully persuaded and headed out to see what I could discover.



My plan was to ride for an hour in one direction and see where I ended up. Turned out, a tremendous success, as I ended up in West Byfleet. It didn't mean anything to me so I am sure it won't to anyone else, but nonetheless. Going out was fine, since I didn't have a destination in mind, I couldn't be lost, but the ride home was a tad more deliberate. Only made two wrong turns, so I would call it a success.

It seems funny to me how spread out things are as soon you get out of London. Its almost as if, people had been so constrained that as soon as they got a chance at freedom and space they went crazy. Golf courses, rugby, football, and cricket fields everywhere, even a horse track. Oh and did I mention huge estates, left and right?

The biggest impression of the day was made by the roads. Huge disparity in the quality of roads which all seemed to be equally well traveled. Even from one mile to the next on the same road was quite different. From what I could only imagine was the latest in German engineered super smooth asphalt, to the super rough chip seal. Think Tulsa's worst and then think about it being resurfaced for the last 100 years. Yeah that bad! I was praying for a Tulsa style pot hole just to break the monotony of the vibrations. (bad day for El G) The majority of the day was spent on what I would call 'normal' roads. Pavement is just ok but I can't count the number of road grates, and manholes. Way too many to count.



Saw my first pay on the honor system golf course today. Just a little box on the first tee to drop off your £10. Not sure if you would be getting your money's worth even that cheap. The clubhouse had been completely boarded up, so I hope nobody needed to 'take care of business'.
Even saw two Mustangs and two Cameros, they stuck out like sore thumbs. American cars have to be close to twice as wide as British cars, they barely fit in the lanes

It may not have been 70 degrees, but how often do you see one of these on your bike ride?