Riding in London ...

Richmond Park has good cycling. They do duathlons there.
Or train from Liverpool St station to Romford and a short cycle to Hainault where there is a purpose built cycle track.
http://www.vision-rcl.org.uk/redbridge_cycle_centre.html
It has good hills as well.

ouch, sorry to hear you witnessed such a gruesome sight! :s

Having ridden bikes and motorbikes all over the world I can see your point that it can be dangerous. However if you approach it with your headup and eyes open, try not to be a tool and remember you're bottom of the food chain then there's no reason it can't be a lot safer and really good fun.

I commute through London on my road bike on a daily basis and it's a good giggle but you have to keep your wits about yourself. It is good interval training though

With regards to the parks I know there's a few cycling / tri clubs that use Regents Park for laps. It's about 3 miles a lap and very quiet though at that short a distance it can get boring. There are plenty of big parks around the place that you can ride around - Hyde Park is pretty good, Hempstead Heath has to be worth a look to name but a few.

Where abouts are you based, mate?

I just moved to the southern edge of the Isle of Dogs, near the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. It's a great area -- USUALLY quiet and serene and I can easily access the city and Greenwich, which is really nice. I rode last week south to Fawkham with a coworker and that was pretty much uneventful. It was very early on a Saturday so nobody was out. Maybe I'll just keep it short and sweet during the week and then go long on weekend early mornings. If anybody's up for a ride south to Fawkham or thereabouts, let me know. It was a bit far for my first ride in a few months, but that general direction isn't bad, I reckon.

Ah I know that area pretty well. I used to live out in the docklands / canning town area and it is very quiet but not all that serene from what I remember. I'd definitely recommend hitting the parks for a quiet ride.

I'd be up for a ride or two and happy to travel across town.

Yeah shoot me a message and let me know when and where. Do you guys ride in the winter? It doesn't seem to get too cold here, even early in the mornings.

Sounds good. I'm away for the next few weekends but we'll get something going.

I ride all year as it's not that bad especially in London. The worst thing is if it's cold and wet but some good kit sorts that out nicely. :-)

Worst problem is ice, the rest I can deal with!

And toe knee.
Try living somewhere not london for nicer cycling :P