I apologise to the chap I drafted for 3 miles this morning. It must have
been a bit galling for him; race bike, lycra and tri bars; to find me on
his tail on a hub geared MTB complete with mudguards and panniers. My
only excuse is that I really didn't mean it to happen like that.
He took me by surprise and went ahead at the lights and I, not wanting
to miss a free ride, went after him. To my astonishment I caught him and
to my amazement I stayed there. After a while I begin to feel guilty but
what would the point be of taking a turn at the front? For starters, the
chances of me actually staying there without getting in his way appeared
slim. What’s more, taking the lead might have seemed rather impertinent.
So I hung on behind until his greater willingness to dive onto a
roundabout left me behind. Feeling a bit cheated I, very slowly, managed
to reel him in and eventually caught him just before my turn off.
Apologies once again.
Still it makes up for the times in the past week when I've been
overtaken by a monster peloton of 10 or more commuters and failed
utterly to get on the back.
Today was the fourth day of my new commute and I am rapidly coming to
like it. I accept that the glorious weather may have something to do
with this but there are other factors. Firstly, at 9 miles each way, it
is sufficiently far to treat as a bike ride in its own right. It’s also
far enough to justify, if not require, getting changed and wearing
shorts rather than bimbling in a suit and office shoes. Secondly, I get
to see other cyclists. This may not sound much but it genuinely adds to
the cyclocommuting experience. Not only does it make you feel
marginally less eccentric if you are surrounded by similarly eccentric
types but you also have the opportunity for a little unspoken
competition. Or sneaky drafting, as the case may be.