Well, it took 2 hours. Which is good, as it meant that by the time I'd got a little late leaving home, that was all the time I had. Including shower time, I was 20 minutes late for work.
Good things: lots of baby bunnies, lambs and cows on the way in. Fresh air (overlooking the van that clearly won't pass its emissions test). Exercise. A roaring sense of achievement. A spotted woodpecker.
Bad things: people with "Grandparents on board" stickers who try to drive you into the ditch - get a mirror, you old fart! Vans with *long* wibbly wobbly trailers. The van that clearly won't pass its emissions test.
My bike is not selecting gears well, which means that in the lower (uphill) gears I become wobbly and jerky and generally not altogether happy in traffic. Still, I rode all but one hill, and the one I wimped out on was the one leading up to Moo's boyfriend's house. Then I spent the next mile trying to convince myself that going back to Moo's boyfriend's house for a lift was a Bad Thing.
In the event, I did call them out this evening for a lift home. The unselecting gears were unsettling in heavily trafficed back lanes, and my poor tired legs were both poor and, well, tired.
But in shock news, when I map.my.run, I discover that it's not 12 miles at all, but 14.8, and in total by the time the kids picked me up, I'd cycled 18.134 miles. No wonder my legs are a little sore...
Trep is coming by at the weekend to fix my gear problems, and give the bike the once over. And I feel better about 14.8 miles taking two hours. That's nearly respectable for a beginner!
Oh. You can sponsor me here.
