Was yesterday, it's 14 miles from home to the office across downtown
Manchester into Trafford Park. I got up early, had a bit of toast and
some cornflakes and set off, into the gloom... on my fixed. I had a
blast on the empty roads for the first eight miles then got a buggering
puncture, of course I had no tube/levers/spanner/whatever to sort myself
out. I really am old enough to know better but hey, I'e not had a
puncture for eighteen months!!!
So, I was looking for a cab or something at 6.45am. There's one, in a
layby - hmm, won;t get my rangy old 501 frame in there but maybe he can
radio for a black cab for me? No, he wants to try and get the bike in
his cab, he's smelling a large fare here... after a bit of pushing,
shoving and cursing he giveas up and calls up his mate in a minibus. I
get home in style, drop the guy £20 (!!) and swap out my tube, it'as now
8.00am and I really really should be in the office at 8.30. I decide
to junk the fixed and head in on my audax bike, a bit faster generally
so I set off again, it's now 8.05 and the traffic is hellish. I finally
arrive at work at ten to nine, to a chorus of jeers and jokes. They all
though I was roadkill, but still I got a distinct feeling of respect off
a lot of people who thought 14 miles by bicycle was an outrageous way
for a 37 year old man to get to work. A quick rub down in the toilets
and a change of clothes and I was there oiling the wheels of commerce
for 9.00, as though nothing had happened.
The ride home was completely uneventful apart from a few overachiving
tossers in large cars treating me like something they find on their
shoes, par for the course I guess.
Overall it was a top day's commute, racked up 30 miles eventually which
is not a bad leg stretch. I will deffo do it again, it needs a bit more
preparation than the motorcycle I have used so far but I was SO chilled
last night when I got home, cycling really does calm me down in a way
few other modes of travel can.
Tony B