15 Miles including hailstones. 19.6 mph max and on
the Brommie. In
just two days have I become a hardened commuter? No, me thinks not! But despite yesterdays
arctic conditions I was a bit stunned to find myself out on the bike in
freezing conditions again in the rush hour.
Looking
for a coffee in Islington I found the perfect cappuccino answer in the Holloway
Road. I will be back! But I was distracted.
My
wardrobe featured Merino, Goretex and Ultura jacket along with a Max Mara skirt
and padded jacket which were perfect apart from one small (actually not small
at all) problem.
Because
it was so cold, I had pedalled like billio and by the time I reached Islington
I was sweating like a sweating-something.
Remembering a tip from a friend, once at my destination I bolted into
the Ladies and removed my two Merino tops, used one to dry my torso and arms and
then put the rest of my tops back on but not the Merinos. My legs were fine.
Bleurkkk!!
Had I fallen into the office commuter trap?
Is this the real world of speedy commuting without shower
facilities? Is this one of the
fundamental issues that puts people off cycling to work? Well it would certainly be one of them if I
had to work in an office all day after arriving in a sweaty mess.
My
solution, however, is to keep the ride as a pootle (a gentle amble) and not
pedal like a speedster (or attempted speedster in my case). This means it is still possible to have all
the benefits of cycling but not turn into a smelly, (the word manky comes to
mind) stale-sweaty employee. Yuk!!
Feeling
a bit more presentable and with a meeting over I headed to Look Mum No Hands in
Old Street. It was a bit warmer outside
so I didn't need to pedal too fast.
Then
on to Marylebone. In hail! Yes hail -
big nasty hailstones. I couldn't believe
my eyes. This later changed to snow and
sleet. What is going on??
No comments:
Post a Comment