Back in the saddle

March 7th and the roads are clear, although there are still some patches of snow and ice around. It’s time to get back on my bike.

All summer I kept meaning to film my journey to work, but somehow never got around to it. If I had made this video back in the summer things would have looked very different. The bike lanes are so full of bicycles you get cycle jams at busy junctions. The cyclists are king of the road, there are so many of them they take absolute priority. In winter it’s a different matter, particularly after the Bixis are taken away. Motorists don’t take into account the lone cyclist and even at junctions where the cyclist should have right of way it’s just not worth taking any risks.

So, despite temperatures of -15 in the morning I decided the clear roads meant I could cycle to work again, and I loved it. Beats the Bus or Metro any day!

The footage was originally 20 minutes long, but I edited out the stops at red lights and it dropped to 15 minutes.  I could shave 5 minutes off my journey to work, if I did what other cyclists do and jump the red lights, but I don’t. It’s just not worth it.

I then sped the film up by x3, so the clip is only 4 minutes long. I’m sure that one day, I’ll look back at this clip and say how great it was to be able to cycle to work (well, for 9 months of the year!)




Update – having announced to Stuart last night that I would be cycling to work from now on, I may have to re-consider – it’s snowing again this morning!