Now that I’ve changed jobs my daily commute has a changed considerably and I have whole new stresses related to it. I now head west out of London, which brings me into contact with faster cars and it seems the drivers are less familiar with cyclists than those crawling through central London.
My main issue though, is related to clothing. Now that I have a “proper job” I have to be smart at work, and for the first few months I don’t have a desk or anywhere to store all my cycling trammel. This means I’m carrying my suit and shoes in my courier bag and then lugging it around all day with my sweaty cycling clobber. Not very practial. I’ve even stopped wearing my helmet cos its just something extra for me to lug around.
I’ve started stressing about the weather as well now. Usually I don’t care if I get wet, I’ve always been able to dry my clothes either on the back of my chair or by using a blow torch from the lab. If it rains on me now, the trip home is going to feel gross.
I vaguely recall some statistic that claims London commuters only get caught in the rain about 4 times a year. This I believe is absolute tosh! This article from the Independent claims the average London cycle commuter will get drenched an average of 12 rides a year. I need to find out if this is reasonable so will start keeping a table with all the wet rides endured.
There are of course stacks of positives associated with the commute. I arrive at work an hour earlier than I would if I used the public transport and on friday I found a lovely route almost door to door along the Grand Union Canal.
It’s quite bizarre to find yourself so completely isolated from the grotty hubbub of this industrial side of London. Actually in someways it is rather too isolated – I wouldn’t fancy doing this at dusk on my own.
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