This weekend saw me down in Chester at my sister-in-laws 40th birthday bash and so I had to forego my usual Sunday morning run. We got back up the road at about 5pm last night and after a look through the telly pages it was clear that there was nothing sufficiently exciting on to prevent me from getting out for a run.
It was actually quite a good paced 8 miles I did in the end although it was later than planned so I didn't get back to the house till about 10pm. I decided at that point that I would bike into work today and so I packed my bag and put out my cycling gear before going to bed.
Monday mornings are always hard to wake up to but this morning felt particularly so due in part to my late nights down south over the weekend and my late 8 mile tempo run the night before. However, undeterred by the rain on the window I knew I had committed myself the night before and so I got up, had a quick breakfast and geared up for the wet 7 miles into work. If there's one thing worse than riding a bike in the rain and dark, it's doing it in competition with the 7:30am migration of 4x4's from Milngavie into Glasgow.
About a mile and half into the ride I stopped at the traffic lights (serious bug bear - cyclists who don't obey traffic lights!) and staying clipped in I held onto the railings by the side of the road waiting for the green light. As soon as the lights turned green, I stood up on the pedals for my customary sprint away from the traffic when there was a sudden bang as my chain snapped, my foot fell forward and I wobbled across the path of the following traffic. My annoyance was compounded by the driver of the car behind who decided to honk their horn at me for slowing down their 20mph progress along the road so I stopped where I was turned around and explained in a very loud voice exactly where I would like them to go!
There then followed a 1.5 mile walk back home in the pouring rain pushing my bike like a forlorn 10 year old whose friends don't want to come out to play.
By the time I got home, had a shower, and drove into work it was 9:30am and I was in a great mood?!?
Listening to the radio in the car, I heard them say that apparantly, today is the most depressing day of the year due to the dark days, post Christmas credit card bills, the length of time until the next holiday - oh, and broken bike chains and twats in cars!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X975EVV3Egg
1 comment:
I used to cycle to work when I lived in the west-end. Fighting with the traffic set me up for a day in the newspaper industry.
I have to admit, I don't think I was ever very good at stopping at red lights. Neither was my side-kick. Ask Marco about the time he was chased for miles by the police because he couldn't hear the sirens through his earphones :-)
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