My riding and racing has been on a steady decline since my 12 hour TT. that usual end of season lethargy, coupled with going back to work and now, a really healthy cold which has knocked me flat all week. I rode two 25 mile tts in the last few weeks, but in neither did I really get anywhere near going under an hour as I just didn't have the training volume in my legs. The second one was a 1:02:xx on a lumpy course, which at least felt well paced and comfortable but really it was a long way off where I was hoping to be. I thought that the hard miles I had done in the run up to the 12 hour would see me right, but no; it turns out you do have to keep training.
In many ways, my riding is changing and I find myself becoming an increasingly social (socialist?) cyclist. I'm still riding to work everyday so I consider myself a thoroughbred commuter and whereas a few years ago riding was really only about racing, triathlons and staying fit, I find that it's become more important to me as a genuine method of transport and an alternative to the car. Coupled to this, Wheezy junior has got himself a lovely little Boardman road bike which he has been really enjoying riding to school and we've done a couple of rides together which has been a lot of fun, with his first ascent of Boxhill last weekend. We were going to go out for an hour but the sun was shining and we found some quiet roads and a cycle path or two, and three hours later we had done a very solid 34 miles. What I found amazing was how courteous drivers where when they saw a young cyclist on the road. They were patient when the road was narrow, gave us both plenty of room, making sure that they were nowhere near us when they did an overtake. Exactly what should happen all the time, no matter how old the rider. But the best thing? A solid three hours' quality time with my son with him seeing some very familiar places and sights from a completely different perspective. The power of the bicycle!
Living in the borough of Kingston I am looking forward to seeing the mini-Holland cycling scheme come to fruition but it's going to be a slow process. There's a cycle path proposed between New Malden and Raynes Park and the local opposition to it, A CYCLE PATH, has been vociferous and deep. One of the reasons given by a local resident for not having the cycle path was because of the likelihood of discovering unexploded World War Two bombs while laying the path. I sh*t you not. It didn't seem to stop the Dutch creating the best cycling infrastructure in the world, despite having the crap bombed out of them during the war. There are thousands of cyclists in and around Kingston at the moment, but they're all the wrong sort. My sort. MAMILS. There's nothing wrong with us but it's everyone else we need to get on bikes. When I'm commuting I see maybe 3 or 4 people on bikes and most of them are in full Etixx-Quickstep lycra. At the weekend, it's literally hundreds. The difference between the working week and the weekend is marked and maybe if more of these cyclists rode during the week that would see us taking the roads back somewhat?
The more I ride as a method of transport the more I want some proper segregated cycle paths that I know my children and I can cycle on without coming into conflict with cars. We have tried. A couple of weeks ago the four of us went out and rode 10 miles. At times, we were literally taking our life in our hands. I think we ended up riding two miles of cycle paths with the rest on relatively quiet roads but often we were trying to get out of the heavy weekend traffic and find a quiet road. It ended up being quite energy sapping and not anywhere near enjoyable as the care-free cycling we were able to enjoy on the Dutch cycle paths last month. Sue took the kids out again last weekend on an organised ride starting from Surbiton, which was lovely. Lots of very un-mamil type people, ringing bells, enjoying the freedom of a bike and having a blast. I guess there seemed to be safety in numbers.
The fact is, if we had some really good cycle paths then that would be infinitely better for all road users and pedestrians. A utopian ideal that we can have if we want it.
