This first leg of my journey drops you into the Critical Mass ride in London—one of the most chaotic and exhilarating intros to a city I could’ve imagined. I often reflect on the early days (Days 1–4) of the tour: from escaping the airport and navigating traffic, and seeing the beautiful countryside, to meeting my host Chris (a local legend), and learning how to move through a city on two wheels with confidence and curiosity.
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[Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Hey everybody, welcome to Solo Cycling Europe. This is going to be episode 1 where I’m going to be currently starting out my journey in the United Kingdom. I did know my itinerary beforehand, but I had no idea what to expect cycling through one of the world’s busiest cities and um with a culture that I’m not familiar with. But let’s just say that there was a lot of cycling and there was a big event. I can’t wait for you guys to see it. Check it out. Hey yo, it’s Tristan here. Right. BL Park in London. And we’re at Critical Mass, right? Uh just letting y’all know the bike is secure. Bike is secure right there. There it is. Long ride to London and first order business to get some pounds. So, first time exchanging currency. 64. Yep. And 10 pints. So, these are pints. Five 5 5 Yes. Wow. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Take it with me. Yes. Okay. I was so lost. This guy showed me a tunnel under the river. I heard it would snow down here. It’s pretty cool breeze, actually. Yeah. Here we go. Time to experience that inner city traffic. [Music] Now, this is what I’m talking about. An actual lane separate from the cars. They even have street lights for bikes. So, I’m walking into an English market for the first time and there’s a wide selection here. So, let’s see what we’ve got. Yeah, let’s see. slush puppies already very many things that I don’t know about. That is definitely an off-brand cereal. Definitely. All right, let’s be honest. This is the Dollar General for sure of uh Well, no, they’re they’re charging a quite a bit. Yeah, that’s not Dollar General. They’re charging quite a bit. So, let’s see what we’ve got. And back in the mix. Okay, this is happening. Look ahead at this massive double-decker bus. So these cyclists know something that I don’t. Definitely. They they’re claiming space and the cars are actually respecting it. So, I just started following them. That architecture is definitely something I came here to see. Now, this city knows how to share the road. Look at the size of the lanes for bikes, for cars, and then the ones for buses, too. So, by now I’ve well integrated into traffic, and it’s a easy adjustment. [Music] Hey, so now we’re getting that massive event. somewhere else. So, this is uh Tristan Barker from the USA coming to you live in greater London area and we’re looking at the bike parade critical mass. It’s going down. It’s going down. You know it’s real. [Music] Broken armor right now. [Music] [Music] [Music] Yeah. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Man, that was fun. They just brought anything they could put wheels on. The best part for me was Wait a second. Oh no. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Go ahead and pause the video here and then we’ll keep going and we’ll see if you find it. Oh, get hit by a door. Yeah, I see. Yeah. Ah, that’s right. A rookie mistake. We were way too close to those parked cars. Just another thing to keep in mind when you cycle through the city. Yeah. Always be on the other side. Yeah. Door fly open. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Best kebab. This is going to be the best kebab you’ve ever had. I guarantee it. [Music] I don’t know. I’m not like I’m definitely not getting chicken. It’s KFC. Chicken. Something I’ve got that Indian food. Might as well not do. Yeah. I’m just going to You do. I’ll watch the bikes. You guys enjoy. Yeah. Go ahead. [Music] The usual routine. [Music] This place I was staying at, it was kind of like a den for rogues and outlaws. [Music] [Music] I’m not going to disclose the location. They might try to find me and kill me if I do. Man, I’m honestly I’m going to miss this place. It was awesome. And uh well, got a train to catch. You go, honey. Yeah. Cheers. So, did we find platform 9 or did we find platform 10? We’ve not found that, but we’ve clowned platform 9 and 3/4. [Music] Looks like somebody got their luggage stuck in that. That’s not good. Yeah. Well, going to miss that bus or going to miss that train. Yeah. Oh, there we go. So, I’m aboard the Liverpool station train from London to Harwitch or Herwitch. That’s how they pronounce it. I’ve been corrected so many times on how I pronounce things. The river temps. You don’t say things. You don’t say Tims, you say TS. And u Liverpool station train. Okay. So, what’s cool about it is they have these really nice seating areas. Very spacious tables. And there’s the bike. See like and huge windows. Huge. You just see everything out there. So there you have it. Liverpool station train. And next is the ferry. So there you have it. My impression of London. It is a beautiful, beautiful city to see on a bike. I loved riding through the alleyways, through the canals, through the up and down the hills in the parks and the traffic. The infrastructure, I want to say, is not all the way there. It’s still improving. And you will have bike lanes that end and then you’re on the road with the cars. But bicyclists here are fearless, and you need to be too. When you get on the road with cars, don’t be afraid to take your own space because the cars here treat you with so much respect. I rode through the city and had so much fun seeing amazing things and the whole time I felt really safe. So although the infrastructure I would give on a scale of one to five a three or four, I’m going to give London a four for bike friendliness. Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree. And then tell me what do you think about that event, Critical Mass. I thought it was pretty wild. That was the first time seeing something like that. Make sure you like and subscribe the video and see you in the next one. [Music]
2 Comments
Great video mate! Love seeing the cityQ
great stuff