I've been using a bike that I got from a friend to commute to and from
university for the past few months. The main motivation was to save
money on bus tickets (saves me $12 out of the $150 I live on each week)
and some vague inkling that I might lose some weight and get fit after
quitting smoking at the end of last year.
Friday morning I woke up at about 7am in a foul mood for a variety of
reasons. The sky looked less than entirely evil out the bedroom window
so I got up, breakfasted, and jumped on the bike for no reason other
than to blow out the cobwebs. About 25 minutes later, I was cresting a
hill, jousting with peak hour traffic and grinning like a loon. A few
minutes after that I hit Beach Rd. Down to Beaumaris, then back up to
Brighton. By the time I got back to Oakleigh, I'd done around 50-60km
and I felt great. I think I now know what proper cycling shorts are
for though.
Not a particularly big ride by the standards of most, although it was
the longest ride I've done in one go to date. The big difference was
that I did it wholly for the sake of riding rather than to get somewhere
Something of a turning point, I suspect. Now I just need to get out
there more often instead of just thinking about it. Anyone out there
riding socially on a regular basis who doesn't move too fast (I'm on a
mountain bike with road tyres, that morning I did about 22-23km in the
first hour and slowed down a bit after that) and who wouldn't mind
someone else tagging along?
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