- Location
- Glasgow
My commute to work by public transport was driving me bananas: a walk, a train that does not start early enough for my early shifts, or 2 buses each way.
Public holidays, weekends, 6 am starts, 11 pm finishes, all the antisocial hours, you name it, I work them.
So, last October, encouraged by a colleague, I started to cycle my 5 miles each way commute.
What a difference: It used to take me 1 hour and a half to reach my destination, even skipping one bus, walking it instead.
Sundays and bank holidays used to be a nightmare. Sometimes I had to take a taxi, at my expense, because there simply was no public transport alternative: that practically meant one hour work to pay for the taxi. More over Christmas and new year.
Now I have shaved off at least one hour a day from my commute, and I am a slow rider. No more waiting about for buses when visiting friends.
Today, Sunday, I left work at 6 pm, decided to pop into my local 24 hour supermarket, perused a bit, was home by 7.20. Should I have had to rely on the buses, I would still be waiting for one!
Also, a couple of wee nice surprise: I had actually never tried to cycle from work to my local Adsa since that road became the entrance to a new motorway, but the busy junction had separate bits for cyclists leading straight into the supermarket, even, if you are still scared to chance it, you can dismount, cross at pedestrian lights, rejoin the cycling path. Lovely!
Asda is now selling inner tubes and stuff, they jumped the cycling bandwagon.
They found out that the lady shopping for hoummous loves her bike, yes!
Public holidays, weekends, 6 am starts, 11 pm finishes, all the antisocial hours, you name it, I work them.
So, last October, encouraged by a colleague, I started to cycle my 5 miles each way commute.
What a difference: It used to take me 1 hour and a half to reach my destination, even skipping one bus, walking it instead.
Sundays and bank holidays used to be a nightmare. Sometimes I had to take a taxi, at my expense, because there simply was no public transport alternative: that practically meant one hour work to pay for the taxi. More over Christmas and new year.
Now I have shaved off at least one hour a day from my commute, and I am a slow rider. No more waiting about for buses when visiting friends.
Today, Sunday, I left work at 6 pm, decided to pop into my local 24 hour supermarket, perused a bit, was home by 7.20. Should I have had to rely on the buses, I would still be waiting for one!
Also, a couple of wee nice surprise: I had actually never tried to cycle from work to my local Adsa since that road became the entrance to a new motorway, but the busy junction had separate bits for cyclists leading straight into the supermarket, even, if you are still scared to chance it, you can dismount, cross at pedestrian lights, rejoin the cycling path. Lovely!
Asda is now selling inner tubes and stuff, they jumped the cycling bandwagon.
They found out that the lady shopping for hoummous loves her bike, yes!
to the commuter club 
it rocks. Even in the rain
