Monday, February 16, 2009

Commuting

As I still have no car I decided to cycle to work today rather than run, Jez needed his car and was going to be away overnight anyway. The ride in was mostly in daylight, hurrah! I had to carry my laptop as well as my usual stuff so I had both panniers on, the extra weight was noticeable, particularly trying to lumber away from traffic lights etc. I intended leaving the laptop at work.

There was a stiff headwind from Warton to Lytham , I could see by the flags at the side of the road that I was riding straight into it. I passed a coal lorry and did look behind me to see if they had chucked a couple of sacks on coal onto the bike such was the reduction in speed!

It took 1:17 to get to work today, I thought it was slower. I was starving too, so I downed the bottle of energy drink that I now always carry with me in the morning (as I can't face breakfast before setting off) when getting showered and changed then had a large bowl of porridge.

A call to the garage after lunch and they still haven't managed to get the correct seal for the injector!!!! So unlikely the car will be finished today, that puts me in a bit of a quandary as I can't use Jez's car tomorrow. I end up deciding to take the laptop home and I arrange to work at home tomorrow.

I need to pick some bike bits up from Merlin, which wasn't a big deal until I remembered they are no longer in Leyland (2 miles away) but Buckshaw Village (6.5 miles away). I'll have to go by bike.

Ride home was brill, the wind was behind me all the way and I made good speed with not masses of effort. It took 1:10 to get home, which is reasonably quick. A quick pitstop, dump uneccessary baggage, pick up a lock, pick up some biscuits, feed the cat then back out. The cat was very miffed at this!

I rode through Cuerden Park, best time to ride it is at night as there is nobody there then up the A6 and into Buckshaw Village. Into Merlin, pick up the bits then I decide to ride home on the A49 as traffic will have calmed a bit. At some point on the ride home I did the maths....35.5 round trip commute, 10 miles so far in my Merlin run, only another 4.5 or so to get 50.

Why did I do that? I nipped into Sainsburys to get some odds and sods (chocolate) and then had to find two miles so rode down into Bamber Bridge a bit then home. 50.4 milesish of bimbling about on the tank.

I hope I haven't killed my legs for tomorrow's run.

3 comments:

  1. Glad i'm not the only one to be commuting by bike.

    I hate taking the laptop. I'm always scared I will get it wet, break it or loose it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It didn't feel like I was doing a lot of miles but I don't care about speed on the Spesh so just take it easy and that makes a lot of differenc.

    Red Bike, I have Ortlieb panniers, I've ridden home in a downpour with the laptop and it was bone dry. I do worry about breaking or shaking it to death but I don't carry it that often.

    ReplyDelete