Today its bucketing it down like a vertical Tsunami and so I'm stuck in the office over lunchtime. I don't own enough waterproofs to go out in this, plus the MTB doesn't have any mudguards (makes mental note to look into buying some) so even if it miraculously stopped in the next 5 minutes I'd probably come back to work with a muddy streak up my back.
I wish I had taken up this cycling thing a few months ago during the Summer. Evenings are too dark & cold for me to enjoy cycling now, and are want to get worse as Winter draws near so I'm limited to lunchtimes and weekends, weather permitting. I suppose I can go out in the rain but the thought of a rampant runny nose of slime and quadruple pneumonia kind of puts the thought of it on a low priority.
As it stands I can do between around 7 miles a day in the week (if I do the route twice), then assuming the same route at a weekend I can cycle about 5 miles a day. That makes a minimum of 45 miles a week.
If I can get hold of a cycle carrier for the car then Ben and I can go further afield cycling in some nice countryside and I'm certain we could make a nice day of it which would increase the weekend miles. Currently though I won't allow him to go on anything except flat cycle paths due to his just learning to ride properly. By Christmas I expect him to be doing back flips and riding up walls so I think I'll drop a subtle hint to family that I'd like a cycle carrier for a present.
Yea, this weather is drowsy. I say we go visit tan, vitt, and Justin! 45 miles a week ain't shabby, and the more often you ride the further you will be able to go in the same amount of time! One thing you might want to be wary of is how quick breaks get wet and lose friction. If you do go riding today make sure you are going slow enough to stop at busy intersections!
ReplyDeleteI haven't got to the page on stopping without jumping off yet. My technique so far has been to tie a rope around me and the bike, then when I need to stop I jump for it and theoretically the bike stops. Not sure what will happen if I'm going really fast but I suspect its a case of whether the bikes forward momentum exceeds my dead weight.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Just wait until you get Clipless Pedals and you can't simply jump off your bike!
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