Curiouser and Curiouser! on cycling

Bike

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:34:09 +0100

Spurred my automotive difficulties I went to Halfords today and bought a bike so that I can cycle to work instead of making a lot of wasteful 2.5 mile car journeys. I haven't ridden a bike in... oh... 20 years maybe so I'm a little nervous about it.

The guy at Halfords was pretty helpful and ended up recommended a 20" Apollo XC.26s which he said would suit all-terrain use. I'd be surprised if I go off-road very much but the tyres look chunky enough to handle some of the glass that seems prevalent on the roads.

As a bike this is totally unlike anything I remember. It has 21 grip-shift gears (I think my last bike had 3), suspension forks, and even front disc brakes. I really hope it comes with a manual! For £15 I got their care package and I also bought a helmet which despite looking silly seems like an essential item. In due course I'll probably buy some reflective tags and gloves when the weather gets cold.

If nothing else it should be good exercise and I can stop feeling guilty about the pollution these short car journeys is causing!

Pedal

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:43:39 +0100

I picked up my new bike today. It's taken two weeks because of a difficulty in ordering this particular frame model & size which is, apparently, a popular combination.

I proudly rode it back home for the first time (actually I cheated and went out on a friends bike last weekend so this is not my first time on a bike in 20 years) and it felt pretty good. The front disc brake seems pretty effective (enough for me to worry about going over the handlebars) and the suspension is a noticeable nicety. I'm still a bit wobbly and nervous but already better than I was last weekend.

It also seems that Maidenhead is fairly well served for cycle routes. As a motorist I've never noticed the signs but there is a route running from the centre of town more or less to my front door and two other routes that get me to work. This means that, for the most part, I can avoid cycling in traffic if I want to although I will probably do so a little just to get used to it.

Obvious things I am going to need: gloves (after 20 minutes my hands were sweating enough to make gripping the handlebars interesting), a puncture kit (even though I have nice chunky tires), and a water bottle.

Effort

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:47:32 +0100

Today is the first day of the new cycling-to-work regime. The distance according to Google Maps is about 2.5 miles and I'm doing the round-trip twice a day for a total of about 10 miles a day.

That may be too ambitious to begin with (having done 3/4 today my legs are pretty tired, they probably won't want to do it tomorrow) and I'm considering either doing only one circuit a day to begin with, or doing it alternate days.

Once I build my stamina up I'm looking forward to exploring the cycle tracks in the area of which there seem to be quite a few. I also discovered today that cycling over fields is much harder than cycling on the road ;-)

Before I do any of that though I need to get the bike checked out. I'm pretty sure the duraliers aren't adjusted properly and there is a creak I'm not too comfortable about.