Did it again ...

I had Friday off work this week, but commuted faithfully the four preceding days. The odometer which the family gave me for Fathers Day stopped working Thursday night. It was a "Fluid" brand, and I found it neither well designed nor well constructed. The odometer itself kept popping out of the docking part on the handlebars, and must have suffered one too many impacts with the road surface.

I've become hooked on having a working odometer - the KM per hour readout encourages me to put in a bit more effort when, as often happens, I have a tendency to drift off. So, this morning, went to my friendly local bike shop (Salters Cycles in Altona Meadows) and bought a Sigma BC 906 which set me back, after deducting my Bicycle Victoria discount, the sum of $40.50. So I suppose I made a loss of $12.90 this week compared to public transport. But I got a nice new bike computer. Very nice piece of design I thought - way the easiest bike computer to install that I've come across. My goal, though, is to actually get through a week without spending any money on the bike.

The week's commuting was very pleasant. A couple of lovely crisp mornings, with the sun rising over the frosty grass - thank heavens for long fingered gloves - and not a lot of wind.

I'm striving to maintain the sort of peaceful glow I get from the first 6 km or so of my ride - the bit along quiet roads and bike path - across the whole journey. I'll have to keep working at it - the busier it gets, and the more traffic I encounter, inevitably something will send my blood pressure into the red zone: that van that sped past about an inch from my shoulder, the oncoming cyclists who pass pedestrians on their side and force me onto the very margin of the path, the turning car sitting right on my tail as I turn as well, the girl opening her car door oblivious of how hard I had to break not to collect her ... But that's my other goal - to get through a week without getting too pissed off about anything.

My new regime is to take one Friday off a month and do something nice. My wife took the day as well, and after an early appointment taking our son to the Children's Hospital - a very good place to count your blessings I always find - we set off on the tandem to ride to Yarraville for lunch and to see the film The Flying Scotsman, the story of Graeme Obree who held the one hour cycling record. Worth seeing I thought. Today pottering around, taking the dogs for a run, going to the bike shop, the nursery, the local shops, we put in around another 20 k.

Tally for the week:

Don't know exactly, thanks to dead odometer. At least 250 kms
Rained on: not a drop. Things are getting mighty dry here.
Near miss with car: nearish anyway - Car door on Burwood Road, stopped with a bit to spare but got the heart pumping. The girl who opened the door was quite surprised to see me - "Oh, hello" she said cheerfully, and sauntered off.
Near miss with another bicycle: none
Punctures: none