I don't know if you've noticed but it's raining...

The good news is, as you're only supposed to get rained on in London 12 times a year if you cycle, the rest of the year's cycling experiences should all be pretty dry. God, who comes out with these statistics? Hmmm...

Fortunately, just this week I bought myself some shiny new waterproofs. Good for getting home dry but very, very bad for cycle chic. Even if I was on Poppy the pink pashley.

Tomorrow I'm off to the fabulous Bobbin Bicycles - http://www.bobbinbicycles.co.uk/epages/rzjy48f9ghvy.sf - to buy Poppy a new basket. It really is the most beautiful cycle shop in Britain. Think I'll ask them about how I can rock some winter cycling style.

Cycling - how else to get to a wedding? Or back again.

W and I went out on our first training ride in preperation for our planned May John O'Groats to Lands End ride on Sunday. But first we had a wedding to go to! So we packed up our panniers with our dressing up clothes and headed off to Oxford - only ten miles of cycling, and letting the train take the strain the rest of the way. Still, we appeared suitably eccentric when we showed up at the reception with our bikes (this was definately a trip for Geraldine the silver bicycle, not Poppy the pink).

One very fun wedding reception later, an anxious hour lying in bed listening to rain (because if you go on a cycling trip in February why ON EARTH would you ever think to bring waterproofs with you? We were very lucky it didn't rain when we were riding...) and a leisurely breakfast later, we were off. 50 miles, some very nice countryside and a couple of hills that I found much more difficult than I should have done, and we found ourselves at Chorleywood station on the Metropolitan line, ready to be whisked into London by the next train.

In all we did 55 miles on Sunday. It felt like pretty hard work at times. In May we're going to have to cycle 68 miles everyday for 16 days. OMG.

I'm going to have to do a lot of training in the next 12 weeks. In the meantime I've finally bitten the bullet and bought some new cycling waterproofs. Just in case it isn't gloriously sunny on every day of our 16 day end to end jaunt. And also quite helpful for those 'occasional' days when it rains in London...

December has not been a good month for cycling

First came the bad back. Then came the snow. Then came the Christmas party season. With the result that both of my bicycles have been langishing in the garage at work for almost all of December. I hang my head in shame, but promise, here and now, to make up for it in 2010. And to blog about what I see along the way.


This isn't going to be another blog that rants about drivers in London - because most of them are alright. They are certainly much better than they used to be. And it isn't going to be one that moans about cyclists going through red lights and riding on pavements - although they do, and generally I don't. It's going to be about the pleasure of cycling in London and what you spot along the way, and about the highs (going downhill) and lows (going uphill...) of out-of-London adventures by bike. It's also going to be about things that make cycling in London better - like fantastic routes through parks, picnics and wonderful shops like Bobbin Bicycles in Angel - http://www.bobbinbicycles.co.uk/epages/rzjy48f9ghvy.sf. It's going to be about my two bikes, Geraldine and Poppy. And any other bikes that join us along the way.

I'll be back on my bike next week. Hurrah!