Wittering on Wednesday

FreeDigitalPhotos.net - "Tour De France Cycle Race Triaixe France" by Tom Curtis

It is the middle of the week already and time for a speedy witter session. Unlike the pro-cyclists who practice drafting all the time, as a commuter I am pretty alien to such things. Last night on the commute home into a head wind I had the opportunity. A stocky guy came past me powering along, and having watched a bit of the Giro d'Italia last week I caught the idea to see how a draft would feel like. So I turned on a little extra leg and moved into his wake.

Now there are several things to consider in doing this I realised as I felt the different a draft makes - not least of which was that he wasn't expecting to be drafted (unlike the chaps in a Grand Tour). So it dawned on me if he arbitrarily thought "Hey nice view over there, I'll stop for a look", I might have parked my bike accidentally in his. Still all was fine, I got my draft up until the bumpy part of the trail... no, no, no, I could keep up over the bumps... the issue was my bike lock... it rattled like fury and told him with out a doubt where I was! In disgust he hit the pedals hard and was gone, d'oh! Moral of this random tale is not to tail randomly, and if you do do it quietly (or better perhaps ask?!). Note: a quick scan of a certain search engine result list suggests as much of a benefit as 10-40%, interesting, hmmm, might move my bike locks.

In other cycling news, the family are collectively commuting now, one offspring per parent powered bicycle. For our youngest it has been his first experience of riding on mummy's bike (we have a cross-bar carrier for toddlers fitted), and he absolutely loves it - beaming all the way. Our eldest thinks that it is fantastic that we were all on bikes going off on 'trips' together, she was telling anyone who would listen all about it for a good few days. From the grins all round it was well worth sorting both our bikes out, and it will be further worth the fuel saving!

In still other news, check out this page for the lowdown on optimism "What is Your Definition of Optimism?" from the Michael J. Fox Foundation blog. From the list of tips on how to be more optimist I noted just how many sporting (running mostly) blogs in the blogosphere use "The power of positive thinking" approach. I am off to look for a glass so I can see if it's half-empty or half-full ;-)


Sunny, high cloud, moderate breeze, with one random five minute shower!

PS. I feel the need to point out my offspring were not with me commuting when I tried my cycle drafting experiment :-)