Good job I was wearing my helmet this morning as came off bike!!!, trouble was - I was in the front garden and in front of my beloved!!! I can't be sure, but I think she gave a little titter.

I suppose I should explain how this cycling situation came about. Having run a 10K for charity (re work) and finding that it cost me more in Chiropractic care than I actually managed to raise, jogging seemed to be a thing of the past, as my body kindly informed me.

The toilet facilities at the office were in desperate need of updating..... to this century! This has been done. We now have a wonderful, shiny, clean bathroom - of which a shower is included. Now, the mere thought of exercise brings me out in tiny beads of perspiration, as those who know me will testify to!
Therefore, said shower is a must for me when arriving at the office.

 Everything was coming together beautifully, only the bike to sort out. Those old enough to remember Chitty, chitty Bang Bang will recall Caractacus Potts in his shed, banging and clanking about until the glorious flying machine came out.....well! Very similar situation with my self. You will see from picture herewith... a beauty. A little tweak here and there...and as one of my 'wonderful' ? daughters mentioned - 'Midnight Spitfire' dad!...teenage daughters?

Some lights, some panniers, 'Midnight Spitfire' poised and ready....the ever increasing middle age spread shall be slowed to a snails pace...a little similar to my cycling speed...

Here is the trusty steed!... Rebuilt, resprayed...

(Seems to be working at the moment!)

...things have escalated! Not only have I decided to commute by bike, I have also decided to blog such nonsense!
Why would I do this? I have absolutely no idea...well maybe I do.
 This will provide choice; i.e. to read or not to read, as the great man put it.  If I post such rubbish on FB it feels more forced upon, however, if I attach the link to said blog its up to you. Cezanne once said "If people like my paintings, that's their problem". I always liked that.

Why I feel the need to write about my ride to and from work is obviously of more serious concern and one that I shall attach to the mid-life crisis file!

I read quite a few blogs and have always wondered about the need to write one. I'll give it a go and see what comes spewing out. Of course there is the very realistic chance that it is simply a silly whim and like most things - I will lose interest in about two weeks - having found something else to amuse me. Anyway, enough of that self analysis crap, lets think what to write.

As this is meant to be about a commute to and from work, I should look at the journey in question to provide a minds-eye view. I have made this journey by car for over ten years and can actually tell you very little about the villages I pass through. I think this is primarily where the car lets us down. We are cocooned in these vehicles and always slightly shut off  from our surroundings. The weather plays no major part in car travel, unless of course it snows.

 A journey by bike, however, gives us a completely different viewpoint... am I to arrive at work dry? or pissed wet through to the bone! The beautifully flat road travelled by car has somehow been turned into a mini Pyrenees over night! The light south-easterly morning breeze is now showing me that it is actually the tail end of some stupidly named hurricane off the coast of Florida! All this, and it is only 7.00am!!!

47 yesterday! - mid-life crisis today!.. the consoling factor being, that this is only mid-life which would surmise another 47 to go…thank God. The said crisis has taken the form of the two wheeled variety. A Harley? No! More like a Hardly (any speed at all) comes in the version of pedal power. As the new world order has been thrust upon us in the guise of ‘austerity rules’ above all else, it is now demanded of us that we remove the blinkers of Blair and Browns bankrupt and bust ideology (as we are led to believe) and instead of just buying new we should adopt our forefathers make do and mend philosophy. Therefore, I have done up me ol’bike, granted, I have had to spend a little upon said instrument of travel, but still nowhere near a ‘bugs nadger’ the cost of a shiny, faultless, nothing wrong with, makes one drool machine…I digress! The daily commute of 15 miles (each way) has begun.