I’m picking up the new Toastmobile on Saturday, but this still leaves the thorny question, “How do I get to work?”
I’m not a fan of buses. Partly because they’re expensive, but mainly because I get horribly motion sick. I get sick on buses, coaches, in cars (when I’m not driving) and on trains. Strangely I’m fine on rollercoasters – never quite managed to figure that one out.
Anyhoo, today I did something new – I actually rode to work. Truth be told, I was dreading it – I’m not a morning person, and having never really ridden a bike as a kid, I don’t really have any road riding experience. Nevertheless, I got a ridiculous amount of stuff together in a huge heavy rucksack (Mr Toast enquired whether I needed to carry so much, I pointed out I needed a change of clothes, deoderant, body wipes, makeup, a hairbrush, and miscellaneous stuff) and took Cletus out for his maiden voyage.
And it was awesome. My knees were grumbling – it was cold, early and I don’t normally move much during the week. But otherwise I was fine – the route is fairly quiet, takes in a good chunk of baby bunny riddled bridleway, and even riding into town wasn’t too bad, as we start work before the main rush. Riding back was a bit harder going as there’s a good chunk of hill* to ride up, but better it’s at the end of the day rather than first thing in the morning.
Few niggly things that needed to be sorted with Cletus, most of which Mr Toast sorted tonight – a few gearing issues and the rotor needed realigning slightly. I’m also looking at new saddles, at the moment he has the original saddle off Mr Toast’s Avalanche. I’ve ordered some new brake pads, as The Professor’s pads were looking a bit worse for wear…and oh my, don’t they get a lot of wear!
Riding in again tomorrow, going to try a smaller backpack though, as my huge one** sometimes throws me off-balance. Hopefully it’s something I’ll be able to do more regularly – it’ll save on mileage and fuel bills, and get me fitter and thinner for weekend riding!***
* By Leamington standards
** Not a euphemism
*** Also not a euphemism
Welcome to the dark side!
You obviously don’t work in a forest! My ‘work bag’ contains a folding saw, staple gun, diversion signs, pine cones and spray on mud!
I work in an office as a professional geek – you get colleagues absolutely amazed at the notion of biking 16 miles a day!