To infinity (or at least work) and beyond!

It turned out that Tuesday was not the day for cycling into work for the first time (too much other stuff going on), but today was. TODAY I CYCLED TO WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! Apologies for shouting, but I'm really rather excited about it and I don't care if it hurts your ears.  Eyes.  Whatever.

Actually, let's not get too excited - it wasn't all plain sailing.  There were a couple of big junctions I wimped out on (Alroy Road/Endymion Road, Manor House tube, Newington Green), and I did have one "incident" - I was slowing down for traffic lights which I thought were about to change, but they didn't change before I reached that point when you're cycling too slowly to stay upright, so I had to take evasive action into a parking space.  No harm done.

The initial plan had been to follow Transport for London's "easy" route, but as mentioned in a previous post, it hadn't exactly filled us with confidence when the first instruction was to cycle the wrong way up a one-way street.  So, James had the bright idea of cycling along the main roads until we got to Shoreditch Park.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and the worst bit was actually between Shoreditch Park and where James works, on Scrutton Street, because I was in front and I didn't know where I was going or how the road layout and cycle lanes worked in the area.  Apparently, if one doesn't know where one is going, one should "just follow the cyclists".

The major revelation for me today was traffic lights.  Yes, the good old traffic light is a wonderful thing as long as you treat it with respect.  I have discovered that if a signal telling me when to go and when to stop is placed in front of me, I have to use my brain less, which means there is far less scope for me to dither and worry about whether I should be pulling out/away or not.  The amber light comes on, you start pushing down on the pedal, so by the time it's green you're ready to be on your way.  Simples.

My biggest issue of the day (by far) was when I arrived at my office building.  I had to fold my bike.  James and I both have full-size folding bicycles by Dahon - his is the "Jack" and mine is the "Espresso".  The design is ingenious - so much so, in fact, that after the excitement of cycling to work, the mechanism completely flummoxed me and it took me nearly half an hour to figure out how to get the handlebars off (James had shown me before I left his office block) and to get the bike into its bag so I could carry it up to my office.  The bag is largely cuboid.  The bike is, when folded, well, half-bike-shaped.

The next question is whether I will be cycling home this evening.  It's uphill on the way back.

If you would like to sponsor my journey into work, please click the donations link on the right hand side of the page.  Also, don't forget to help in my extremely unscientific research on why people don't ride bikes by taking part in the poll at the bottom of the page.  So far, derriere discomfort seems to be one of the principal reasons for not riding!