Riding, Trees Down, Lard

posted by Jaitu at 21:15

I rode my bike to work for only the fourth time this year today. It's a journey of less than three miles and only takes around 15 minutes but when the weather is bad or I'm not feeling so good it can be tougher than you'd expect. I could always slow down a bit and take it easier but that feels like cheating. When you're riding along a major A road and traffic is brushing past you at 50 miles an hour you don't really want to spend longer than you have to either. The route gets better at two thirds in. This is where I get off the road and follow a bridlepath that forms part of a cycle route that runs from Greenwich to the South Coast. It's here that the morning get's tough even if only for a few minutes. The path rises steadily and although it doesn't look like much for a man of my athletic build, it saps what little residual energy I have. Not having breakfast then setting out in the bracing British weather takes it's toll.
Just to make things a little more interesting four trees of varying sizes had fallen across the track over the weekend causing me to go either under, over or around the obstacles. It also meant a diverted and extended all-road return journey in the dark.
The forecast for the rest of this week is also not promising but I'll try and continue the riding. Having bought my suit on the weekend I have to keep my waistline in check until the wedding. In good weather and daylight I'm quite happy to ride off in the wrong direction after work and stretch things out for a while. In the cold and the wet and the wind and the dark I usually just want to get home.