Bike to Work Week

19 Jun 2013

When I read about the Bike To Work Week campaign, for me it was a no-brainer, I’ll cycle in to work! Now, a couple of my colleagues already do so on a daily basis, however when I figured out the best bike route from my house to work was a cool 19 miles I did think twice…for about a second! Of course I wanted to do it.

Finally today was the big day and my ride into work was a lot of fun. I set off pretty early, giving me plenty of time for potential problems with the bike or the route and in doing so I managed to avoid most of the commuter traffic.

There is a lot to enjoy about a bike ride. Firstly you get to take in and appreciate your surroundings so much. Cycling along the village lanes with the scent of wild flowers and wild garlic heavy in the air, appreciating some beautiful old buildings and generally taking in the countryside in a way you miss out on when you fly along inside a car.

The other major factor was to have the luxury of time. By getting up much earlier than usual, I was able to enjoy the 90 minute ride compared to the 20 minute drive and that extra time in the day was a real win for me – I very rarely have a spare hour in the day to myself. In fact time really is that rarest commodity, one that you cannot buy. As it happens I got into the offices of OpenCRM before any of the car-commuters!

I wonder if my enthusiasm for today’s ride will wane when I have to do the same journey in reverse to get home. I have a sneaky feeling the route was downhill most of the way here, and as we know “what goes down must come up” so let’s see if the leg burning ride home will be an enjoyable challenge or a tough slog. Either way, I’ll make the most of the sights, sound and most of all the time.