My March Rides (Week 8)

In order to present the stats on a day by day basis I enter them into a spreadsheet which provides the output which I then bring across to the blog. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a way of presenting the content of the spreadsheet as a direct link in the page. If any one out there can tell me how to do this I would be most grateful. In the meantime I am going to keep the stats to myself and just give a weekly summary. I have managed four commutes this week. This is a record and I must admit that as I sit here and type this I can feel it in my legs. But it really has felt good and I think I could keep this up without too much difficulty if I had to – which may be the case if Bob Crowe and his train staff mates carry through their threat of a strike beginning on the Tuesday after Easter. With a General Election probably to be announced on that day I find the conduct of Mr Crowe and his pals absolutely incredible. Apparently Mr Crowe is concerned about safety. He is mad; his members would do themselves a great favour if they sidelined him at a very early stage. Mind you I can’t see any of the current batch of politicians having enough bottle to take them on ‘a la Margaret Thatcher’ so perhaps he can win - God help us. The weather this week has been pleasant for cycling although there has been a strong breeze on most days. On Thursday evening I got a real soaking in a short sharp squall as I came through Catford. Spring is at long last beginning to spring the daffs are out and some of the tree buds are swelling nicely - bliss. I got absolutely carved up by a moron in a Merc on Friday afternoon – he’s named and shamed here. I dropped into Halfords on the way home on Tuesday to enquire about the progess of my complaint about the poor puncture repair. The manager refunded the money but was unwilling to give further compensation. On Wednesday their head-office emailed me with a less than satisfactory offer. I have replied and asked them to have a further think. I will keep you posted. At work, having been asked to remove our bikes from one unauthorised area recently, we have now been discovered using a second unacceptable parking space and bannished to the cycle rack in the courtyard. The cover for this cycle rack has still to be fitted leaving the bikes exposed to all weathers. I have raised it as an issue with building operations so I wait to see the response. On Friday I was late away from work; it was nearly 6 pm before I set off and I was a bit worried I might get caught up in the Critical Mass Mob. In the event although there were a lot of cyclists around, who looked like they would fit into the ride quite well, I didn’t see the ‘Mass’. They were apparently going to visit the scenes of the three recent cycling fatalities in Central London. Personally having followed two of the stories in particular – both close to my commute route – I cannot think of a less fitting tribute to these fallen unfortunates. Stats: Rides = 4, Dist = 99 miles, Total since odo reset = 505