Today was the day. I had very little sleep last night. I was completely terrified of all of the awful things that were obviously going to happen to me on my way to work this morning. James had gently suggested going to the park at the weekend to ease me back into the saddle, but through laziness and having too many other things to do, it never quite happened, so I had decided to be brave and just cycle to work, completely cold, having not cycled since last summer.
There were so many unknowns. Would I remember how to ride a bike (i.e. is the old adage actually true)? Would all of the traffic in the world suddenly descend on the strip of North London I had to negotiate? Would all my road sense have escaped me? Would my still slightly dodgy ankle hold up? And, most importantly, would my padded trousers still fit?
I woke up this morning actually feeling quite sick. I remember that feeling from the first time I cycled to work last year and from every exam I've ever taken. However, I had cannily prepared everything the night before and it was going to take more effort to fish my work clothes, purse and other bits out of my panniers and put stuff back in my handbag than it would be to just put on my carefully laid out cycling gear and get on with it.
First up, the trousers were fine. They're stretchy. They were never really going to be that much of an issue. The traffic was also considerably better than I had anticipated, probably because it's the school Easter holidays, so a lot of people are off work or away for the next couple of weeks. The first minor disaster was that (again, probably because of the holidays), someone was very inconsiderately parked in the parking space we normally take off from. I got over it, eventually. And so it was that I got back on my bike and I rode it. I was slightly wobbly for the first ten seconds, but the saying is apparently true - you don't forget how to ride a bike. I was going so well on that first stretch that I even managed to spot and call out to James about an absolutely enormous pothole that had recently appeared - it was so big, you could probably fit several pots and possibly a few kettles in it.
I negotiated the right turn at the mini-roundabout without any trouble and made my way up the long slow hill to the entrance to Finsbury Park. Then I stopped. I was puffed. Not a lot, but it was a very cold morning and the sudden rush of cold air into my lungs was actually making them hurt. A lot. I don't think my lungs have ever felt quite like that before, and I'm hoping they won't ever again. It only lasted a minute or so, though, and I was back on my way.
Before long, we came up behind two buses at a bus stop. This was where my road sense was to be tested. The rear of the two buses indicated and pulled out, but the front one was still there, indicating into the kerb. Then it started to edge forwards and out into the road, still indicating to the kerb. I decided to overtake it, but gave it as wide a berth as possible, so that the driver could see me and just in case he decided to pull out without indicating. I nearly bailed out of cycling round the dreaded Newington Green, but I gathered myself together and managed a textbook traversing.
It wasn't until we got to Shoreditch Park that I felt the first twinge in that dodgy ankle. We stopped for a moment so I could wiggle it about a bit, and it seemed (and still seems) fine. The rest of the journey was remarkably uneventful (only a van driver trying to reverse across a junction because he'd gone the wrong way - he had the good grace to look mortified that he'd got in our way and pulled onto the pavement to let us through - and a cyclist coming across a junction on a red light nearly flattening James, although James was blissfully oblivious!)
So, I made it. I'm in one piece. James even said that I was cycling better than I was at the end of my stint last year - I put this down to the fact that I now observe roads (when I'm a pedestrian or on the bus or whatever) as a cyclist, always learning and seeing new things to watch out for. Now I just have to get home...
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