HAVING missed Cycle To Work Day on September 3 as I was out of the office on a story for this newspaper, I instead decided to list some of my favourite commuting moments.
It would be easy to focus on the negatives – near misses, hurled insults and rotten weather – but where’s the fun in that?
1. Spring in Glasgow. Gliding along as cherry blossom fell around me like fresh snow. Ditto autumn when the wind whips the leaves off the trees creating a shimmering golden carpet.
2. An epic tailwind. I once completed the two-mile commute in a sublime 8 minutes and 47 seconds. I also got green lights all the way. Thank you cycling gods.
3. Pedalling to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome to cover track cycling at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It was July 24. Brilliant sunshine. Blue skies. Warm.
I cycled the mile route from my home in the east end of Glasgow with butterflies of excitement fluttering in my stomach. Later that day I watched Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston win Team Scotland’s first medal of the Games: silver in the women’s para-sport sprint B tandem.
4. The time a fellow cyclist murmured: “Get out the way, fatty” before elbowing past me as I waited at the lights.
The look on his face moments later as that same chubby woman on a heavy bike overtook him with a cheery “evening” before speeding off into the sunset is banked in my ass-whooping vault.
5. Those perfect days when you arrive at work or home without incident. When you step off the bike and think: “I’m glad I did that.” Then come the yummy endorphins.
What are your favourite cycling to work moments? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
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