Tuesday 19 April 2011

Bad Wind

No this is not a post about me eating too many greens! So the sun in London has definitely come out to play. The roads are swarming with cyclists and all in all it is a total pleasure going into work by bike, but when I say “going into” I really do mean the morning ride – in the evening going back it is a whole different story.
Firstly let’s start with gradient – on the way onto work (as I have mentioned before I have a lovely long slope of ¾ of a mile which starts steep and then gradually levels off – this is perfect for getting to top speed and then maintaining it. The problem is I have to navigate this same hill on the way back – so at the end of the ride I have this killer hill that sucks all your energy out on a long gradual slope and then kills you off with a final steep bit at the end. Well I could deal with this slope a lot more effectively if it wasn’t also for the fact that I also seem to be cursed with a strong wind blowing into my face for most of the journey home and the wind seems to double on this final hill.
There are two things in cycling I am not dealing with fully, one is hills and the other is wind. When the two are combined I feel like crying! So I am thinking on finding a solution. I could maybe put drop bars on my bike (currently it is a T bar) but this would ruin the whole reason for buying the bike in the first place. Or maybe I could put those triathlon aero bars on the bike – but this looks so try hard. To be honest I am at a total loss, every time I think about looking like a Muppet I decided not to change or add to the handlebar, then every evening I hit that hill and the wind blows and I regret being so timid.

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