Bikeweek

Today I rode in to work and back to do my bit to support Bikeweek. From my home in Warrington to the office and back, saw me cover around 64 miles. This time last year, if someone had said to me that I would be able to cover that sort of distance, I would have laughed.

It was a glorious day for cycling. I left home at 06.15 and the sun was shining, the temperature was cool and the miles just seemed to sail by. So much so, that I stopped for a coffee en route. Arriving at the office (see pic) I was greeted by a photographer to capture a few pics. The ride took me just over 2hrs, I averaged 16.8mph, which I thought pretty good given the number of traffic lights and stop/starts en route.

Riding in, my planned route was 34 miles, so I was fully expecting to do 68 miles for the days total. Leaving the office, I met another cyclist who was going in the same direction as me and he showed me a shortcut which knocked four miles off the route home, so days total was 64. The wind had picked up going home, so it was nice to share a bit of the work, so "Thank You" to John from Altrincham!

We had some fun at the office as I challenged the staff to a "guess the weight of my bike" competition. The smart folk went straight off, googled it, found this blog and then submitted their entry from this previous posting. What they didn't take account of was that this weight didn't include my tool kit in my saddle pouch, GPS system and pedals. The winner guessed correctly at 17 pounds and 6 ounces. Checking my blog stats, around 20 hits could be seen during the day using the "weight of a Dolan Ares" search term. Better luck next time!

My main motivator for cycling to work was to motivate others to get on their bikes, I am the second furthest away employee in the business (excluding home based sales staff), so if I could do it, anybody could. Looking back, I've been cycling just over a year and road cycling since August last year (10 months). In that time, I've lost weight, made some great new friends through Warrinton based cycling club - North Cheshire Clarion and found a new hobby. Lot's of positives, not least a healthier heart!

My ride in, burned 5,000 calories and was tremendously enjoyable. Weather (and legs) permitting, I plan to do it again on Wednesday. So, what are you waiting for, get on your bike!