BMX Bandits

We bought bikes the other day. We figured riding around London would be a good way to get some exercise and save the money we'd be spending catching the tube each day. And it certainly is both those things. Its also seems to be a bit more than that. As riding in London means riding on the roads (cyclists can be fined for riding on the footpath), riding in London seems to mean a whole lot of different things. It means learning to weave through traffic. It means placing your faith in the drivers of the cars all around you that they are vigilant enough to be aware of where you are and not squash you. It means watching other cyclists get clipped by cars and convincing yourself that's not going to happen to you. It means working on your ability to make it clear to the bus in the next lane that somehow it will be just as detrimenal for it as for you if it decides to come across into your lane. (Actually I guess that really the lane belongs to the bus more than to us as most of the time we are riding in a bus lane, but I'm doing my best to pretend that isnt the case.) It means coming up with a strategy to deal with kids standing by the side of the road shooting spit wads at you as you ride past. (My zen teacher chooses to take the good old "throw the bike on the ground and abuse the kids until they get uncomfortable and ask her to leave them alone" strategy. This is apparently a tired and tested technique of hers, and has been used effectively when kids have thrown sandwiches, rocks, and soccerballs at her while she was riding along. (in different incidents - they weren't all thrown at once.) It means becoming acccustomed to breathing in large amounts of exhaust fumes or coming to terms with the fact that you're wearing face gear that you never thought you'd be wearing unless you we robbing a bank or about to land on the moon.

And it also means seeing a lot of great old buildings and interesting people doing interesting things, and getting some fresh (if somewhat gritty and exhaust fume scented) air.

Also, I imagine that for 9 months of the year it means getting wet, but I'll have to report back on that one.

Choose the correct caption:
-Vaughn comes back hot and sweaty from a bike ride
-Vaughn prepares himself for a daring bicycle mounted bank raid