Wednesday, July 18, 2012

5-years and counting ...

I've just realised, that I let the 5-year anniversary of my daily-cycling routine slip by without note :-(

As close friends and colleagues know, I've been a keen cycle-tourer for decades and have undertaken one or two lengthy trips in my day ;-)

... but, only really took up the absolute commitment of a daily cycle-commute on 2nd July 2007.

I've got about a 2-mile each-way trip to work; 4-miles a day; 20-miles a week; 1,000 miles a year; circa 5,000 miles since 2007. Not bad.

Bit wet today, but - in the main - its a thoroughly enjoyable, healthy and uplifting start and end to my working routine ... long may it last.

5 comments:

Grant Cunningham said...

Brave man in this monsoon season

Andrew said...

It was pretty exceptional today Grant :-(

... and very wet!

Mike Smith said...

This might sound crazy, but I even (especially?!) love cycling in the rain :) - as long as I've got warm, dry clothes to change into at the other end!
Someone said something about "the adventure"?! Maybe the canal isn't all that adventurous, but it's good to see and experience all the seasons! (even when we've now got ourselves a monsoon season :)

And this morning my bike ride was in wonderful sunshine! (I really had forgotten what it's like!).

I sort of wish I'd been using one of those bike computer gadgets so I could see how many miles I've cycled over the years - it's not far each day (maybe 4-6 miles) but it does add up, like you say.

Thanks for being so supportive of cycling, it was really great to meet you at the breakfast bike ride.

Enjoy the ride :)

Dave Holladay said...

Andrew, in many cities it is possible to pop your bike in a taxi - it is a legal requirement in Denmark for taxis to have provision to carry cycles.

A recent cyclists only survey in London revealed that 19% of cyclists knew they could do this, and had roughly a 75% success rate with negotiating the carriage of their bike in a black cab. From the survey 63% said that now they knew it was possible they could see them using a cab to transport them when they had a breakdown, or other need to get somewhere without having to leave the bike behind, but equally without having to cycle over a greater distance/through a less salubrious area/when they were no longer in a fit state to ride.

There is work being done with London cabbies to develop this as a standard service on all London cabs. The scale of the exercise in London is huge, should we be looking to Edinburgh to offer a smaller mountain to climb for a 100% delivery of cycle carriage by cab - Danish-style?

Drop me an e-mail direct, as there will be some technical and probably legislative detail to work through, not least the provision of reliable and viable means to cover and secure a bike inside a cab, rather than the current improvised arrangements, which naturally leave some cab owners concerned.

Meantime perhaps a Spokes survey can include a couple of questions about taking bikes in taxis and on buses & coaches (Stagecoach Express coaches do carry cycles, and this is very popular with Bluebird services in NE/Aberdeen area - a few cyclists in Fife also use the direct coaches to Edinburgh/Glasgow from St Andrews/Glenrothes/Dunfermline as these are faster & cheaper than using trains).

Now just to work on some of the express coach routes from places like Haddington & Dunbar (X24?)to Edinburgh

Andrew said...

Mike - many thanks for your comments ... much appreciated.

Dave - if you e-mail me direct about the taxi-issue, I can get it into the system: andrew.burns@edinburgh.gov.uk ... thanks :-)