First ride in London

Hmm. My enthusiasm for cycling in London is rapidly waning. I spent most of the day riding around the city - in the morning went to a bike shop and rode a sweet Pashley www.pashley.co.uk and a couple of fixed gear bikes for fun. The Pashley was beautiful but rode like a pregnant elephant on valium. Anyway I'm ok with my road bike for now. Then I went and saw an ok apartment. It was in a modernized Victorian row house and is way better than the crap new build flats - surely the surest route to suicidal tendencies for the feng shui type.

Then I realized I'd forgotten my massive fort knoxian bike lock back in the flat. So I rode all the way back there, picked up the lock, and launched out on a stoopid London loop ride. My main purpose was to check out lunch at New Tayyab (http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/) which, according to the eaters at chowhound and egullet, is the smoking-est middle eastern eatery in town. I forgot the address but thought I'd find it on Whitechapel. No such luck. Looked for half an hour - nothing. I rode over to Isle of Dogs - ravenously hungry - and ended up in a shite pub where I forced down an execrable sandwich and the unhoppiest ever IPA. WTF.

So then after almost passing out from sleep, I rode over to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (silent W) via the freaky pedestrian tunnel under the Thames. It was odd no doubt. But I did get to see the stunning Benjamin Harrison clocks in the museum. I'd read about these clocks for years and had wanted to see them very badly so this was terrific. The clocks are astonishing, especially the wildly different scope with which Harrison approached the design.

Ok after that I had a nap and then a crap ice cream cone. Then a long and exceptionally roundabout return through the south-of-the-river streets. This is the "bad" part of London but you could probably just say way more diverse. But based on my ride back across the river, I don't see it as being a viable commute. Ugh. A bit terrifying. Perhaps worst of all, my baldass head is now covered with a disgusting black ooze of sweat and diesel particulates. Think of pureed cockroaches. Mmmm.

I also lost my trouser-holding-velco-thingies and fashioned these hot devices out of a tube carcass.