Started about 1900 and headed into the stiff SSW wind, so ended up on the banks of the Humber, near
the bridge. I was in luck; there was a ship travelling east towards the North Sea, so I tagged
along, easily matching its speed until I got to the city centre.
No chicken walking comics this time, just barely clothed young lasses seemingly freezing to death
in what passes for a skirt. Hmm, now where was I? Oh yes, by now it was around 2000 and I headed
off to the site of the untimely death of the local bass player who was knocked off his bike a few
days ago. Stopped at the bunches of flowers on the railings to pay my respects. The traffic was as
aggressive as usual despite the poignant reminder.
After 90 minutes I was really warmed up and bombing along at 20 plus mph. After a while I found
myself near the site of another dead cyclist whose killers are in court at the moment, so we're
waiting to see what sentence they get. Into a 20 mph zone next and it lifted my sprits to see a
group of young lads playing Rugby in the street. They even said "sorry mate" as I braked to let
them get out of the way.
A bit further another young lad was cycling along wearing dark clothes and with no lights. As I
passed him I heard him shout something, so I turned round. "How many lights have you got?" he said,
noticing my flashing and non flashing sets of lights. "More than you've got" I said. He told me his
had been stolen, then I told him about the cyclists that have been killed in the last week and
suggested he tell his parents to buy him some more. He seemed sad at the deaths and he said he
would get some more lights.
It was about 2130 now and the local Morrisons would be closing soon, so I popped in. They had some
Ruddles Organic bitter in there for 99p a bottle, so I got 3 of those and some Chinese pork chops
to cook in the sauna. On the way back, a woman pulled up at a junction in her Beemer with no lights
on, which I pointed out, much to the amusement of some bystanders who obviously thought it was an
odd role reversal, a well lit cyclist , telling a car driver to get some lights on.
All in all a very enjoyable Friday night ride of about 25 miles.
--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W simonmason.karoo.netsimonmason.karoo.netOpen ↗