W is not just for Banker

Having conquered Wightman Road on Friday, I was ready for anything on Saturday morning - or so I thought. I was all ready for a repeat performance of my conquest, a short ride down Wightman Road to the station and then to the park via the route on the other side of the railway.  We set off down Wightman Road.  The road was clear for several hundred yards behind us and I felt reasonably safe starting out.  Then, all of a sudden, an enormous 10-tonne tanker carrying something toxic suddenly appeared about 3 feet behind me.

Bear in mind here that Wightman Road has a 7-tonne limit other than for access (otherwise we'd have no rubbish collections and the local Jewson's builders merchants would go out of business).  Because of my unwelcome company on the road, it was more or less impossible to stop, and because of the pedestrian crossing points (which have central reservations), it was more or less impossible for the tanker (which began with w, quite clearly) to get past.  So, on we carried towards the bridge with the blind brow and the busier section of the road.  The bridge has an absolute 7-tonne limit, no access, no nothing.  This did not deter the w tanker, which had already got past me, from overtaking James on the blind brow of the bridge that it shouldn't have been on.

When we got to the park, we came to the conclusions that (a) we would report the tanker and (b) I am now a cyclist, on the grounds that I held my own in a most indignant fashion and didn't let myself get fazed by the tanker (well, not much, anyway).

The purpose of going to the park was not specifically to cycle, it was rather to go to our usually Saturday morning British Military Fitness session.  BMF is awesome - it gives you a really varied (and tough) workout that requires minimal motivation once you're there and happens outdoors in the (relatively) fresh air.  Unfortunately, BMF also tires you out, and we planned to do some cycling afterwards.  It turned out that it was a bit like reverse "brick" training (right way round brick training is when you go on a really long bike ride and try to do some running afterwards - it's mental).  We went for a ride up Parkland Walk.  This time was much more successful than last and we got to the other end without stopping - the furthest I'd cycled in one go.  Coming back was easier because it's slightly downhill, but by the end my legs were like jelly.

We cycled back the way we had intended to come, via the station.  I cycled all the way from our starting point, across the road from the park, to the station without stopping, including two right hand turns, one of which is that mini roundabout that you might remember from before.  I think that, in some ways, my (un)friend the w tanker did me a favour because I'm a lot more confident on the road now than I was previously.  This week's challenge (possibly tomorrow) is to cycle to work.  We'll see about cycling back...