Ha, ha.....you are the opposite from most on here I think. I would have thought time off work would normally mean more chance to ride for most but you put so many hours in on your commute I can see how it could be difficult. No doubt you have stuff planned for your time off.
and 6th overall on a 10% climb 
while waiting for the seller to let me know when I can collect.
Forgive me if I missed this but why were you standing all night?Mmmm after standing all night last night legs are a bit stiff this morning, good decent speed though
I will say though that it's actually been quite enjoyable just riding without it.
That's brilliant Brian. Hope you get to pick it up soon. The boys will love getting out with you.Finally secured a win on eBay for a tag bike locally now we can all go out on a family ride
I can't wait.
And more importantly when @SueEvesham is working the three of us can go out together.
Very excited as you can probably tell.
Time for a
I had a massive off on the commute home! A pedestrian decided to cross the road on a blind corner without looking and I ended up colliding with him and bouncing down the roadnot sure what states the bikes in or how to get him to pay for the damage he's done to the bike and me
Finally secured a win on eBay for a tag bike locally now we can all go out on a family ride
I can't wait.
And more importantly when @SueEvesham is working the three of us can go out together.
Very excited as you can probably tell.
Time for a
In a nut shell, if I read it right you are on a hybrid which should have numbers on the shifters, (usually) left numbered 1-3, 1 being the lower gear, this coupled with the right shifter and low numbers, will give you the easier gears, and conversely higher numbers on both will give you higher gears, with a lot of cross over in between, as you point out don't cross chain, but don't get overly worried about it as it's more about doing it all the time, briefly wont do to much damage, also dont fall into the idea that the inner ring (left 1) is just for hills (granny gear), gears are there to be used for optimum performance, so use the gear that is most comfortable for the speed and conditions.
Your inner ring (1) will have some gear combinations that will be covered by your middle ring (2) and maybe one or two by the outer ring (3) though you probably would not want to use those, the thing is depending on the rear cassette you may find that by using the inner ring when you are on the middle ring and say 2 on the right shifter, you may have gears that are about the same and easier and harder on the inner, but the stepping is closer so you have a better choice of gears.
It's a matter of using the right gear, no matter where it is on the combinations.
I tried to stay away from numbers.
Open fields do suffer badly in the wind, don't struggle in too high a gear, go down a few till you are spinning easily, you will be slower, but it wont be such hard work, and over time you will naturally increase the gear, as your fitness improves. i hated the wind last year, it doesn't bother me quite so much. though I did consider Friday a little dangerous.
Hope this helps.
