On Yer Bike! 🚴🏽‍♂️

So I've been an occasional cyclist for many a year, but lately that's started to change. Now before we go to far, lets be clear, when I say "cyclist" I'm essentially talking about commuting to work not hitting the trails like some other members of the Softsource vBridge team!

Commuting to work might not be an option for everyone but I don't really have many excuses for not giving it a shot - I live in flat old Christchurch and not that far away from the fantastic office that is our base overlooking both the city and Hagley park. At about 6.3km's each way it generally takes about 18 minutes give or take depending on traffic lights etc 🤔

Motivators

Ok, so went to fill up the trusty Subaru Outback on petrol the other day and $170 later started to wonder if perhaps a 3 litre v6 was a good choice for running round town.... yeah nah! And while I'd love to jump on the Electric car bandwagon I'm not sure there's an affordible option in my price bracket? So unfortunately, probably not taking advantage of any Clean Car Rebate any time soon!🙁 But hey, if I can bike maybe 3 or 4 times a week surely that's got to reduce my spend on the petrols and other running costs right??!

Fitness/crosstraining. Being a runner I'm thinking that putting a bit more work into the old legs might help. There's plenty of folk out there on the net and indeed my physio who suggest a bit of crosstraining on the bike is a good thing. And much like with running, its good to get the heart rate up a notch and work in a little extra exercise each week.

How about a little corporate motivation like The Aotearoa Bike Challenge! Rope in a few collegues and game on!

Environmental benefits? Yeah, I think its safe to say its a win on this front! Every little bit helps right and we have our beloved cycleways to take advantage of remember.

Having said all that, it's not completely without its challenges .....

Deterrence

Probably the biggest right now is just winter, it gets damn cold out there 🥶🌨. About to jump on my bike this morning but the frost and 1 degree temperature reported by my phone talked me out of it! Yeah, I need to invest in some cold weather clothing like good gloves if I'm going to make it through winter!

Feeling lazy anyone?? It's so damn easy to just jump in the car, particularly at this time of year (see above)car 🚗🫣

Lycra/bib shorts - real cyclists wear these right?? No one needs to see that so its just not happening!

Now, I know we do have some strangely aggressive drivers out there but, so far I have to say, my commutes have been pretty agro free. Lets hope that continues 🤞. And while I've clearly mis-timed by efforts to jump on the bike, summer's only a few months away and who knows.......hopefully by then commuting on bike has become a new habbit, maybe I could even look at upgrading my bike!

Lets just see how it goes 👍🏼