Sunday adventure

On Sunday the students went in multiple directions (The students took pictures but I don't have them) and the professors had an adventure. Intrigued by the opportunity to take a bike ride in the countryside just outside of London we left early Sunday morning for the train station with our bikes. Riding the streets of London on a Sunday morning isn't bad. Riding the train with bikes wasn't bad. Riding the first part of the course was fine the rough roads between fields were beautiful. We saw horses, we heard gun fire, we enjoyed the countryside. The hills upon leaving the country lanes were numerous and had grades that were 10 percent or higher. The bike I had was a heavy beachcomber type with 3 gears - none of them appropriate for the hills I was climbing. I named the hills, cardiac arrest, widow maker, death dealer, and Satan's gate. The course we were following is named Hell of the North, but none of the scouting we did prior showed the hills. We made it back to the train station and made it back to London, tired and ready for our hotel. However, it was now Sunday afternoon, and London was awake. Suffice to say that riding a bike with tired legs on Oxford street, between double decker buses, heavy traffic, and tons of pedestrians is challenging/horrifying. Bus fumes, sirens, vehicle horns, bike lanes, no bike lanes, jaywalking pedestrians, motorcycles, and reverse running traffic . Having survived this we retired to our rooms. Later we went out for Thai food and enjoyed the dog who is a regular at that local pub.