Thanks to Chris Verbick for being my tour guide for a day in London. Last year I spent a grand total of about 6 hours out of 10 days being a tourist in England and that was only in downtown Manchester the night before I flew home. This year was looking to be about the same but as I was talking to Dan Currell the night he came to watch, I realized I could quite easily make a train trip to London and wander around on Saturday before coming home. Racing would be done and I could walk around all I liked without sabotaging my legs for an up coming race. Chris has been in London for about 3 years and has become a great tour guide. The train ride to London is about 2 hours so with travel time, that left me about 6 or 7 hours to see all of London. Most of London was not seen of course but Chris had a plan that got me around a good bit of the town including rides on the “tube”/subway, a cruise boat on the Thames River, stops at a museum, a traditional pub for a beer of course, bike shop/cafe for lunch and a walk around Greenwich Observatory, the start of time as we know it. The weather was somewhat cool and it rained some but overall it was a great day and a perfect way to wind up a trip to the UK and the season of the 2012 track race season.
Thanks again, Chris, I never would have seen all I did without your planning, plus it was nice to get to know Chris not just as a track racer.