So, I got a new bike through my work’s cycle to work scheme LAST YEAR and have only just started riding it. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a fair weather rider, for sure. The other thing is that I live 15 miles from where I work and that’s a little to far for me, just yet.

The good news, however, is that some friends of mine have moved to a new house about 5 miles from where I work and they have said I can park outside their house to ride to work. They even let me keep my bike in their shed! How cool is that? So, this is my second day of riding to work.

I had to mess around finding a quietish route (which had the advantage of adding half a mile on to my route) but I feel pretty safe as I am able to avoid a really fast, narrow road. One bugbear is all the private estates between my work and my friends’ house. I could completely avoid busy traffic if I were able to use the gated communities. I’d even pay a small fee, but it’s not like a bicycle actually does a lot of damage to the roads. It’s more the other way around.

Rant over.

Anyway, I had to drag myself up and put on my laid-out-the-night-before bike clothes AND I managed to bend my pinky nail backwards and stifle an expletive as my lovely husband was still snoozing in the bed, but I did it, and I’ve been suitably smug and self righteous all day. Yay for me!

So, I’m also about to start week 2 of the Up and Running Couch to 5k program. I’m loving it so far, and no back twinges yet, YAY! I already know how to get back up to running my previous distances, but I didn’t really want to have to do it by myself. Again. This mini course seemed a lot of fun, though, as there would be lots of women in the same boat as me.

Problem is, I don’t know when I’ve overdone it til stuff starts hurting, but I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. The forums are very supportive, the other ladeez are all experiencing much the same niggles/moans/fears/aches and pains as me, so it’s a great environment to improve. I’ll keep you posted!