A long commute

I’m sleepless, for now, and blogging while I have some chamomile tea to settle my buzzing head.

For those that didn’t see, I did a bit of a long commute home yesterday (can physical exertion cause sleeplessness the next day?).  I’d had a really good day and the summer weather appeared to be holding out.  I’ve not done much cycling this season, so I grabbed a couple of cereal bars, filled a water bottle, and headed off in search of faraway lands.  Oh, OK.  I was aiming for Malmesbury, 14 miles west.

It was a but of a social media experiment too.  I had my Android phone with me (which is working much more nicely since T-Mobile released an Android 2.1 upgrade!) and was using My Tracks, Google Maps and was stopping occasionally to tweet and take pictures (trying out the fancy new TweetDeck for Android Beta – which is looking great!).  It didn’t always work, but it was fun trying.

I found myself, initially, with a headwind and on the edge of a nasty looking weather front.  I wasn’t sure if this would stay south of me, but I was feeling bloody minded and carried on regardless.  I got a tad lost, even with GPS and Maps, but did eventually arrive, having travelled some lovely bits of Cotswold countryside.

By the time I reached Malmesbury, the sun was getting low and I decided to get a wiggle on and take a more major (B) road almost straight home.

At about half way back I felt cramp coming on, but managed to ease up enough to keep it at bay.  Another cereal bar and some serendipitous cycling fuel in the form of some frshly-picked blackberries kept me going – I even managed to get up Pavenhill (in fact, I caught up slightly with another road cyclist going up Pavenhill!).

I arrived home elated, just as it was getting dark.  The big grin on my face testimony to the fact that, though I don’t get out on the bike much, when I do get out I really love it.

People keep calling me mad or crazy for cycling a mere 31 miles “for fun”.  Madness?  2 hours ¹ of fresh-air-filled lungs, quiet roads, beautiful countryside, getting your heart beating, wind in your face (or, better, at your back), feeling alive, travelling fast and free under your own power?  You’d be mad not to occasionally!