I rode alternately marveling at and then forgetting I was pedaling in England. It was a strange morning as I was one of the first people off the ship and out on to the early morning streets of Southampton. It felt like one minute I was pedaling through Brooklyn, took a break in a hotel for a few days (albeit one that wobbled around) and then I was pedaling in a new city. As morning traffic ramped up it felt almost as intense as NYC but that was mostly because I was getting used to UK traffic patterns. 

At one point there was a long line of cars neatly double parked and my brain was sending off warning signal that I should not ride in front of them, but checking the cars I could see they were all empty. Right as I crossed in front of them they all roared to life to charge towards me and only then did I realize that of course the drivers were on the other side of the car. Firing through busy roundabouts took a while to get comfortable with too. Riding here in traffic is a lot closer and faster than in the USA, but also most US drivers would have exploded in a fiery crash trying to navigate the first roundabout. I had a somewhat intimidating day following Garmin’s map down busy roads but the drivers and other cyclists I saw made me feel like this was normal.

Made it the 70 miles (112.6km) over to Brighton Beach and the highlight of day was Thomas Hooper swinging by for a short stroll down the beachfront with his dog. Impressed with all that boy has done! And it felt great to pedal.