Thursday, May 27, 2010

The First Revolution

It's been brewing for a year or two, this idea of getting back on a bike.

Back In The Day (tm), I used to cycle everywhere. In the mid 80s I'd think nothing of cycling 10+ miles to visit a girlfriend, storming up the only decent hill in East Anglia. I was fit, slim, long haired and slightly sweaty - and wearing indecently tight jeans.

Life has changed a little since then. I'm over forty now, and the jeans are again a bit tight - but not necessarily by design. So how's a London Dad who thinks running machines are for guinea pigs to combat middle-age spread? Given my cycling history, given it's about 5 miles to work, and given that the route goes straight past my daughter's nursery school, it was obvious really; it's just taken a while to build up to it.

This week is the start of the revolution. I haven't been on the Tube since Tuesday. Yesterday I cycled to work and on the way home, for the first time, I picked up little MMVII from nursery on the bike. I've bolted a little saddle to the top tube and she loves riding on it. We went home along the South Bank of the Thames, dodging pedestrians and elephants and saying WHEEE!

So if I keep this up, in no time I should be slim, fit and sexy like it's 1985, yeah? Yeah, I'll let you know how that works out. In the meantime I'll blog about bikes, bits, cyclists, CO2, White Van Man, freewheeling through Piccadilly Circus at dusk, whether it's right to take small children on bikes in busy traffic - and, of course, regular updates on the state of my knees...