The Blog Bites Back

Last week I managed my best time yet into work (a full 90 seconds better). I covered the 11 miles into work in 30 minutes and 30 seconds! I was so proud of myself and for the first time ever, my target of managing the journey in under 30 minutes seems possible (though in truth I do not expect to achieve it until next summer). I have been stuck on a best time of 32 to 33 minutes for a few months now.

With great fanfare I announce this to my wife expecting much amazement and applause (OK so maybe I was being a little hopeful) but a "well done" would have appreciated. Things looked initially promising, I got a “you didn’t, really” me thinking this was a prelude to “that is fantastic – I can’t believe you cycled in so fast”. Sadly the sentence that followed was “I reading your Blog where you say about cyclists telling little fibs”.

Early on in this Blog I wrote a post called “Those little fibs we tell” explaining how cyclist can be prone to exaggeration. This has now come back to bite me in the ass.

So here in writing, on what is obviously some sort of bible to cycling truth, I would like to state. Yes I really did, I cycled into work in 30 minutes and 30 seconds and I hope my wife reads this at some time!

More boringly, the only reason why I managed such a fast time over my usual journey time was because I picked up a rather fast cyclist (as compared to me) very close to my home. Therefore early on I was pushing much harder than I usually do, normally this only occurs near to work, when I see the time and realise unless I put my “peddle to the metal” (poor choice of saying I think for a bike Blog) I will be late for work. Anyway after struggling to hold on behind this cyclist for about 6 miles we came to a point where I know a bit of a short cut (good for about 30-40 seconds) being behind he didn’t see me peel off to take it.

After that, there then followed 5 miles of me cycling like a fox with the hounds behind him – the way I figured it, if he saw me in front, then he might start to really push it and overtake me. After all the effort I had put in, I was not going to let this happen! I rode like a man possessed with the devil behind him coming to take his soul. Now I am not sure but I think the guy may have been behind me as I pulled off to go into the road where my office was – I really hope he was, the thought of this person seeing my triumphant progress of the main route and him knowing that I had bested him – I can only imagine (with glee) how dour the rest of his day must have been.  In truth the reality is that I was probably hallucinating, due to oxygen starvation, by this point in the journey and he wasn’t there at all.

Anyway my joy was not long lived – on my way home that evening, going up the hill of pain (see numerous post before) the bugger overtook me!

As a final point I would just like to make a formal note on this Blog that the weather in London for the vast majority of the months of July and August has been a total crud hole. Never mind looking at the weather forecast to see what the weather will be like for a week – I am lucky if the bright sunshine hasn’t turned into a downpour by the time I reach the end of my drive. I am having a serious problem trying to think of a time when the weather has been so unpredictable and changeable, I much prefer sunshine to rain for cycling in, I therefore humbly suggest that God works for TFL after all he must hate cyclists to give us this weather!