I Love It When These Things Happen

  1. Back on the bike today after some truly pigging awful weather for the last couple of days. Rain, 30mph crosswinds, and a lack of determination kept me off the bike. But today was BEAUTIFUL, if more than a little chilly - windstopper, fleecy-lined leggings, skiing mittens and a huge grin as the sun rose over the sea to send me on my way.
  2. Something was wrong with my bike computer, and it wasn’t working. But this too is a Good Thing - riding based on how it feels rather than what the numbers say seems to mean a whole lot more time looking at the scenery. Some people refer to this as "naked riding", and I can see their point - like the first time I walked naked down the street, this was a very liberating experience.
  3. But there was a huge queue of cars in Blyth - enough to spoil most people’s trip into work. Not me though. I just cycled past the frustration to the front of the queue, where I found a far from sensible 4×4 had broken down, and a steady stream of traffic coming the other way meant that no-one could get past it. (Unless they were on a bike.) I was sorely tempted to stop and help push it off the road, but then realised that if the people stuck in the cars right behind it were too stupid / lacking in community spirit to do something so manifestly in their own self interest, then why should I help them? This was Darwinism in action, and something I certainly wasn’t going to interfere with. So I continued along a pleasantly car-free road with Muse’s Unnatural Selection playing in my head.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 11/10/2010
  • Time: 18:18:04
  • Total Time: 1:40:00.00
  • Calories: 1461
  • Distance: 29.5 miles
  • Average Speed: 17.7 mph

Filed under: 3BT, Bike Culture, Cycle

Tags: , , ,

5 Responses to “ I Love It When These Things Happen ”

  1. Andy in Germany on November 11, 2010 at 9:27 am

    Great story. I think I’d have been inclined to leave the 4×4 as well, on the basis that if I helped move it I’d have to deal with 472 impatient and irate drivers trying to regain lost seconds on the way to North Shields.

  2. KarlOnSea on November 11, 2010 at 9:44 am

    Oddly enough that crossed my mind too.

    I also went off into a little fantasy in which cyclists club together to buy large unrelaible vehicles, and leave them *ahem* “broken down” at strategic locations around towns. :-)

  3. townmouse on November 11, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    ahem. Rewind. Care to expand a little on the walking naked down a street part?

  4. KarlOnSea on November 11, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    Oh come on. We’ve all done it at some time or other.

  5. townmouse on November 12, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    Not in Scotland we haven’t.