Last week marked my return to cycle commuting.OK, I admit it. I am not a huge fan of:
Cycling on ice
Cycling in rain
Cycling in the dark
Cycling in the winter
So I breathed a huge sigh of relief a few weeks ago when I realised that the sun was coming up around 6.30, setting at about 5.30, and that the ice had more or less cleared from the roads.My return to commuting was bred from necessity. We decided to upgrade our bathroom and works started last week Tuesday. We are using a new team of plumbers – ones not too familiar with the barely hanging together plumbing we have in our house – so they DIDN’T REALISE they had turned off the cold water. Without cold water it is impossible to take a shower in our place. The water pump will not work, the shower does not flow, and so we woke up on Wednesday facing the dilemma of where to get ready for work…I decided the time had come to get back on the saddle. I would get ready at the gym close to work, and it would be the opportune moment to get back into my spring/summer/autumn cycle commuting routine.It wasn’t warm – about -2C – but I have the clothing (and gloves). Out came Bertha, the trusty commuter bike, and we rolled off and out east.I am pretty lucky. Although I ride on one very large road, the majority of my commute (about 80%) is on dedicated cycle paths. That means just one stretch of potentially hair raising London situations. My morning commute was fine – but I was dreading my return home. My batteries were dead on my front light. And I discovered that I had broken my left cycle cleat (how that happened is a mystery). I decided to take it slow and easy.That commute home – outside of another cyclist yelling at me for not having a light, and the wide boys who didn’t see my high visibility arm signal who shouted at me when I was turning – was super peaceful. I feel like spring has arrived. And with it, so too has my return to cycle commuting. Welcome back:
Downtime on the way home to put the day out of my mind
Quiet time – I forgot how quiet a cycle ride can be
Mental fatigue from always having to anticipate the actions of those around me
Tired hands
Yes, road cycling makes my hands tired. How many other people get tired hands from cycling? Is this another of my quirks or is this common place?It was nice to feel my legs moving, to return to the old familiar. To cycle down memory lane as I cycled down Cable Street. My Wednesday and Friday rides reminded me of years gone by – cycle commuting I have done in Japan and in London. It was a nice return to a happy place.It’s nice to be back in the saddle again…