Lovely ride in this morning helped by some gorgeous weather. Just cruised in and had a couple of photos stops. Had another puncture (my conti gatorskins were fit for the bin quite a long time ago!), so I fitted some new tyres before the return trip. Unfortunately they are slightly bigger than the gatorskins and fouled my mudguards. Not having an 8mm spanner to hand so that I could adjust them I had to take them off. This was a PITA as it meant removing my disc calipers. Eventually I managed to set off on my way home. The predicted heavy rain didn't materialise which was good and I had a nice ride home.

There are a few pictures HERE

95km|3h40m

Speedy!

Just 3h19m pedalling time for today's round trip. Had a puncture about 30 mins into the ride in this morning so decided to put the power down after I fixed it just in case I had another as I hadn't managed to find the cause of the flat. Quite pleased that I could hold 20+mph for a fair while into a stiffish headwind :)
Expected the return leg to be hard. I hadn't really eaten/drunk much during the day and had been pretty busy. For some reason I managed to fly home. A bit of a tailwind helped and my legs felt strong for the whole ride. Ace!
So, that's one week done. Pretty good so far. I'll probably ride in on Tuesday and Thursday next week, depending on how I feel and the weather.

95km|3h19m

Oops!

So much for only riding in once a week to start with! Despite the rain I decided to see how knackered I'd be riding 2 days on the trot. Nice ride in despite the weather. Met boss man Neil as I was getting close to Altrincham and he showed me a new route. I think that's at least 5 different ones I have for the final few km now!
Coming home was nice. The sun had come out and it was lovely and warm. Hadn't eaten enough during the day so I ended up eating 2 bananas, an apple a cereal bar and some tangfastics on the way back! That just about kept me going until the huge amounts of Chinese that I've just devoured :)
Bought a couple of pairs of Nike bib 3/4s and some new Specialized gloves for not very much money (working in the bike trade has some advantages!) as well today. The 3/4s are super comfy, was like sitting on a sofa coming home. I'd forgotten quite how nice it is wearing new shorts as I haven't had any for over 2 years.
Anyway, legs are tired now but day off tomorrow so they'll get a chance to recover.

95km|3h33m

And so it begins

First commute done and dusted. A few random thoughts...

- I probably rode too quickly but the gorgeous weather made me do it
- I need a rack/pannier on the bike to take weight off my back
- Bananas and homemade raisin & chocolate flapjacks are good ride food
- I need some new shorts
- I need some new gloves
- I could probably do with a slightly longer stem
- There was a lovely sunrise this morning
- Riding bikes rocks

The weather tomorrow isn't looking that great so I'll probably drive in.

95km|3h30m

Dry run

Tried out my new commuting route today. Looking at the map I took a couple of unnecessary detours which added a few km, without these I think the round trip is around 95km with 500m of climbing. I can take a little bit off that by going through the middle of Leigh but it's easier sticking to the main roads that go around it I think. Paced the ride pretty well, just under 2 hours in, just over 2 hours back. The wind was hell so I'm pretty pleased with the time. The rear mudguard, which has been cracked for a while decided to split in 2, I should really have duck taped it before it got this far. I'll have a go at mending it later :) I also found out that bikes are exempt from the toll bridge at Warburton. That will save 12p each way. Yay!

The big question is, how often am I going to be able to do the commute by bike? I think I'll start with once a week. I feel fine after today's ride but that didn't have 8 hours of work in the middle!

102km|4 hours|Dry, cloudy, cool, very windy