Commuting By Bike Again

Not Responding said:

Just in time for the weather to break, I'm back on the bike.

I've just worked out that when I catch the bus I spend as much time
walking to and from bus stops as it takes me for the entire commute by
bike. And cycling saves me a £46 monthly bus pass. And it's fun.

Not entirely happy, though. My arm is *still* knackered. Oddly my
wrist was really hurting (along with the shoulder and the actual
location of the break). Wierd. I suppose the muscle's just wasted
away.

I'm also scared of cars. Previously I used to have a sort of "go on
then you [censored], run me over if you dare" attitude. Not any more; I
even used a cycle path to get away from the bloody things. I've also
lost that man at one with his machine feeling. Having a different bike
is part of it but I hope it returns.

At least I now feel qualified to post here again.

Welcome Back 🙂

Now, be nice to the big metal beetles this time...

--
Chris

in message <[email hidden]>, [Not

Responding (') said:

Just in time for the weather to break, I'm back on the bike.

I've just worked out that when I catch the bus I spend as much time
walking to and from bus stops as it takes me for the entire commute by
bike. And cycling saves me a £46 monthly bus pass. And it's fun.

Not entirely happy, though. My arm is *still* knackered. Oddly my
wrist was really hurting (along with the shoulder and the actual
location of the break). Wierd. I suppose the muscle's just wasted
away.

I'm also scared of cars. Previously I used to have a sort of "go on
then you [censored], run me over if you dare" attitude. Not any more; I
even used a cycle path to get away from the bloody things. I've also
lost that man at one with his machine feeling. Having a different bike
is part of it but I hope it returns.

At least I now feel qualified to post here again.

Congratulations, and here's hoping your confidence returns quickly. I'm
sure your arm will get used to it with time, but is there anything you
can do in the meantime to ease the stress on it?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'there are no solutions, only precipitates'

Not Responding said:

And cycling saves me a £46 monthly bus pass. And it's fun.

Good to hear that you're back in action.

(Currently replacing the 5 minute walk to the station with an 11 mile
ride to a different station - because I enjoy it and it saves a few
quid each day).
--

Cheers,

Al

[Not Responding] <[email hidden]> wrote:

: I'm also scared of cars.

The feeling of mortality you get after an accident takes a very
long time to go.

I crashed a car very badly a couple of years ago. For the rest
of that year I was cornering really badly on the bike becuase
I was still nervous about things. Once I realised that I was
nervous on the bike because of the car crash, it all got better.

I was also the world's worst (car) passenger for about a year.
Now, I'm just a very nervous and twitchy passenger 🙁

These things take time. Get out there and ride the bike. Don't
assume that all will be as it was before immeadiatetly.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Quoted message said:

Not entirely happy, though. My arm is *still* knackered. Oddly my
wrist was really hurting (along with the shoulder and the actual
location of the break). Wierd. I suppose the muscle's just wasted
away.

Entirely possible. I've got a weak ankle & if I put too much effort into that
ankle, it hurts like h*ll.

Quoted message said:

I'm also scared of cars. Previously I used to have a sort of "go on
then you [censored], run me over if you dare" attitude. Not any more; I
even used a cycle path to get away from the bloody things.

That is entirely to be expected and entirely normal. You've had a *nasty*
experience and you are going to have to give yourself a lot of time to build up
your confidence again. Be gentle on yourself in this regard.

Quoted message said:

I've also
lost that man at one with his machine feeling. Having a different bike
is part of it but I hope it returns.

It will.

Here's to a *complete* recovery,
helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

Not Responding said:

Just in time for the weather to break, I'm back on the bike.

Good luck with your commuting. Is on the Shimano hub geared bike? Any
problems with it?

Cheers

Richard

Please remove THIS if replying

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 06:13:46 GMT, [email hidden] (Richard M)

Quoted message said:

Not Responding said:

Just in time for the weather to break, I'm back on the bike.

Good luck with your commuting. Is on the Shimano hub geared bike? Any
problems with it?

Yes, it's the Carerra with Inter-8 hub. I'm rather pleased with it as
buying it was someting of an experiment.

The only niggle with the gears is the occasional 'crunch' in 4th but I
mean very occasional and it doesn't detract from the overall quality
of the set up. And 8 gears is plenty it turns out; I get up The Hill
(everybody must have The Hill on their commute) with 1 to spare - and
that's after 9 months of zero physical exercise.

The only real problem with the bike is caused by my riding
preferences. Being a standard MTB geometry, the handle bars are a bit
low for my liking. Having a duff arm means I can't lean on the bars
and lock my arms out; a position I used to find quite restful.

But I'm really enjoying the riding and hope to keep it up during the
winter (I used to be an all-weather, all-year cycle commuter).
Fortunately it was my birthday yesterday and my wife proved her worth
yet again by giving me a pair of Altura Cascade overtrousers and
gloves to replace those that were snipped off me by nurses. I also
managed to pick up £100 of Halfords vouchers which should pay for a
set of mudguards and whatever else I fancy.