First Ride in UK 英倫踩單車：落地篇

It has been almost three weeks after my bikes were delivered. Nevertheless, I lack the motivation to go for a ride.

I did not sleep well last night and could not fall asleep again after waking up early in the morning, so I decided to go for a ride.

When I was about to go out, I noticed that the rear tyre of my old Giant TCR went flat and had to inflate it again. Seemed like my Fulcrum Racing Zero wheel did not work well with those tubeless tyres. It kept on going flat intermittently and this drove me crazy. Interesting enough, another TCR of mine which also used tubeless tyres worked wonderfully without any issue.

Well, tubeless tyres and bike wheel are just like lovers, they live in harmony if they fitted each others. Otherwise, it will be a nightmare!

我的單車回到身邊差不多有三個星期，但不知何故，總是欠點動力出去走一敞。

昨晚睡得不太好，晨早起來又沒法再入睡，決定出去走走。

正當準備出門竟發現我的舊 Giant TCR 單車後軚又再漏氣，只好即時再充氣。我這車的 Fulcrum Racing Zero 軨好像和 tubeless tyres 不太合拍，漏氣次數之多令人苦惱。同樣用 tubeless tyres 的另一部 Giant TCR 則完全沒有這問題。

Tubeless tyre 和車軨這兩個傢伙就如戀人一樣，合拍的就如魚得水，不然就自討煩惱！

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The route I took was the cycling path along Portsmouth Road which is near the place I lived and I intended to return after reaching Thames Ditton. As this was a unplanned cycling trip, I went out with just my casual wear and jogging shoes. Leaving my cycling jersey and clipless cycling shoes at home.

From Kingston town centre, I rode south along the Portsmouth Road (A307). The first part of the route is an dedicated cycling path. The path ended after reaching Brighton Road (A243) and cyclists have to ride along the bicycle lanes on two sides of the road. As there are on-street parking along those residential areas, it is inevitable for cyclist to ride slightly close to the middle of the road. My observation was that drivers in Kingston were quite bike friendly, they would not drive close to cyclists. In case the road was narrow, they would drive slowly behind the cyclists.

The Kingston council promotes and supports cycling as a mean of sustainable transportation. Besides those clear and informative road signs across the borough, quite a lot of the roads have speed limit of 20 mph, ie. around 32 kmph, making cyclist less vulnerable to road accidents. In addition, there is a Mini Holland project running in the borough. It focuses on the building of road infrastructure for cyclist with an objective to make cycling pleasanter, safer and more convenient. I will share more on this topic in future posts.

今天試走的是住外附近的 Portsmouth Road 單車徑，預計走到 Thames Ditton 便回程。由於有點即興，沒有全副武裝，一身透氣運動上衣，牛仔褲，再加上跑鞋便出發。

由 Kingston town centre 開始，沿著 Portsmouth Road (A307) 往南走，早段是專用單車徑，而過了 Brighton Road (A243) 後就要走馬路兩傍的單車線。沿途的住宅區會有私家車停泊，不時要踩出一點，還好這裏的駕駛者都 bike friendly，不會駛近，甚至會慢慢跟著騎行者。

Kingston 市政府大力推廣 cycling 作為一種可持續性的交通工具，除了市內遍佈淸晰的道路標誌外，市內頗多路速度上限是 20 mph，約 32kmph，對單車使用者多一點保障。此外市政府亦有個 Mini Holland 計劃，目標是改善市內單車基建，以方便單車使用者，日後有時間可以和大家再分享。

When you reached the 300+ year old “Angel Inn” in Thames Ditton, Gigg’s Hill Green park would be on the right of the Portsmouth Road. With such a lovely scenery, I had no reason not to “Check-in” the place.

當到達三佰多年老店 Angel Inn 後，馬路右邊便是 Gigg’s Hill Green 公園。見到如斯美景，當然找不到理由不來過”打咭“動作。

Despite having four months’ hardship travelling from Hong Kong to UK, my greatest partner, the Giant TCR SLR, who accompanied me to cycle around Taiwan, still looked great. I believed it will continue to perform equally well here in UK.

這部陪伴我走過臺灣環島的 Giant TCR SLR 老車，經歴四個多月的舟車勞動，整體狀態仍算不錯，面對英國這新環境，相信一點都不失禮。

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I have promised my wife just to take a short trip today. Right after doing the “check-in”, I went on the return journey.

In these days, I’m also planning to get a bike for my son and it happened that there was a bike shop “Surbiton Cycles” near Thames Ditton Marina. Getting to the shop wouldn’t be difficult. Once you saw a mall with a Union Jack Mini hanging on the wall, Surbiton Cycles is right on your left hand side.

It’s glad that here is UK as improper/unauthorised use of the national flag in Hong Kong will be against the “National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance” and get arrested.

今天應承了太太只短走一倘，打完咭便回程。

這陣子正打算為兒子安排一部單車，剛巧在 Thames Ditton Marina 傍有一單車店 “Surbiton Cycles“，先去取點資料吧。這店子一點也不難找，當見到掛在外牆上有英國旗外飾的 Mini 時，Surbiton Cycles 便在你左手邊。

還好這是英國，如果在香港的話，隨時犯了國旗法，會被拉的！

Surbiton Cycles is a dealer for several brands of bikes which suits both adults and kids. However, as the product supply was adversely affected by COVID-19, the stocking of varioable bike size were very limited. The shop owner advised me to bring my son to the shop before making any decision.

Surbiton Cycles 有多款品牌的單車，大人、小朋友都適合，不過因為疫情打亂了供貨，尺碼有點不齊，老闆建議帶小朋友來試車再決定。

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Today’s mileage was a little bit low at about 7 Kilometer. However, judging from what I performed, it was slightly disappointing. This might be the lack of exercise in the past few months and probably I had to work hard to restore to what I previously had.

今天 7 公里的行程頗短，但可能因近數個月沒有做運動，感覺上身體狀態不似預期，未來日子要多加努力。

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So how about the road condition of the cycling paths in Kingston?

Well, my dear friends in Hong Kong and Taiwan, probably you should appreciate what you already had. 🙏

至於 Kingston 這裏的單車徑路面狀況如何？

香港同台灣的朋友其實都要 appreciate 自處地方的建設。🙏

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If you are interested in my rides in UK, click here for more details.

有興趣看看我其他在英國的單車遊，可按這裡。