I have been commuting on odd days here and there this year, but from this week I'm giving up my car.
I will start by commuting by bike two days and getting the bus 2 days, as I only work 4 days a week. I will increase this as I get fitter.
First commute of this week done and I improved my time on the hill out of work, which I have a QOM on. Not sure it counts though as I'm the only woman to have ridden it.
Again lovely ride, except for the headwind knee's a bit achy so was taking it a bit easy when for no apparent reason I bombed it down Malden road equalling my PB...actually someone sneezed up behind me at the lights so I decided to shake him Off
Lesson learned. When two young scrotes are arguing about how to fix a bike don't bother asking them if they need a hand. "Only if I can have that" the charming fellow answered before ignoring me again. Hope he does break the chain like his mate was warning him.
Ride home has a pleasant crosswind then once I started to head North East a welcome tailwind. 18 miles in, after climbing a 150 ft elevation hill ( large by Essex standards) I started to feel decidedly knackered and was dripping sweat onto my shorts like I was sat on a turbo in a airless room. By 19 miles I really started to crawl and picked the shortest route home via the quietest lanes, I dont know why I was sweating so much it was pouring off me. Two cold beers and a shower later I felt better. Tomorrow is cycle rest day ( think I need it) and I take all my gear into work.
At approximately 0700 hours this morning I was proceeding in a northerly direction and noticed a strong wind from behind....
I was on one of my regular commuting variations and could feel the wind giving me a good lift, so when my route crossed the A423 at Marton I decided to make the most of it, and go for speed rather than scenery, so I bombed up the A-road all the way to Coventry. At one point my average speed was showing 19.9 mph, and it was still at 19.2 when I got to work despite traffic lights etc on the last 2 miles. Good fun - and now I'm wondering what to do with the extra time it's given me at work.
Slightly busy this morning for some reason but weather was good, not too windy.
Numpty count: 2 The meme this week seems to be overtaking at exactly the wrong point to join the red light queue a couple of yards ahead. First was by Beddington Park, where a 4x4 decided to overtake me just at the point where the road narrows so had to slam my brakes on - it was either that or try and bunny hop onto the kerb. Second was again the Waddon Hump. Again had to put the anchors on, especially as there was a car coming the other way - seriously, overtaking on a humpback?
Also on my route there are a couple of dog owners. The dogs seem to be curmudgeon and old but generally well behaved. Not today! The westie shot out at me and I just narrowly avoided upsetting his deeply apologetic owner by not flattening the wee mutt.
Easier morning than yesterday's breakfast-dodging incident, not too windy and quiet roads all the way. I did race a road roller for a mile or two as it had an L plate on and I though 'I can take this'. Took me a while but there is a cycle path against the roads he was travelling on I stayed on them and didn't get stuck in traffic.
Glorious commute this morning. simply glorious. Nice sunny & warm weather with a slight tailwind. Light traffic too. Even the traffic behaved. There was another cyclist today. All the gear but simply had no road sense what so ever. It was quite painful to watch his progress through the traffic.
Anyway, seeing as it was such a lovely day I thought I'd take it easy on the way in. And the thing is, the difference in average over the whole commute was negligible to when I cane it in.
Well, the chickens of the road closure in Winterbourne are finally coming home to roost along my normally quiet rural commute.
The number of idiots who cannot overtake a bike safely was 3 this morning .. a young lass in a Ford Ka who overtook on a nasty blind bend, the impatient moron behind her who got all sweary as he too overtook on a bend, and the Dad with 2 kids in the back and a baby in the front seat (facing backwards) who was too preoccupied with looking at the baby that he again, overtook me on a very blind bend whilst gawping at the adorable infant. I sincerely hope his passenger airbag was disabled because he WILL have a collision soon unless he pays proper attention to the road.
I think I will alter my route for the rest of the duration of the road closure.
Well last nights ride was the hardest since I have been commuting to and from work, 22 miles of pain, the wind across the fens was so unforgiving, crosswind then headwind, my legs felt dead into the headwind, Got home in 1hr 25mins for the 22 miles.
This morning felt a lot cooler starting off and hardly any wind, was in a very nice rhythm and gave a mountain biker a tow for about 4 miles so that was a nice treat for him, hoping the wind doesn't pick up later on.
It was just like yesterday, wind coming in hopefully no wind going home again all in all though lovely weather and hopefully very soon new bike to grace the roads with.
Finally, finally! After 3 1/2 months of commuting last night I cracked the 1 hour 20 mins barrier - a very impressive (for me) 1 hour 18 mins 02 seconds. Very happy with that.
All hail the tail(wind)!
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