It’s been an interesting few days that I’ve been having. The cycling is going well and I’m now on day 11 of 30 being a vegetarian. I’m finding being vegetarian much tougher than doing without caffeine (my last 30 day challenge). I know exactly how many days I’ve got left to go. On one of the few days I decided to drive rather than cycle home I was treated to a 2hour traffic jam, the majority of which was spent alongside a Burger King lorry and it’s giant picture of a succulent burger…
The cycle home from work is definitely providing me with the toughest challenge so far though. I usually really enjoy the cycle to work- the roads are quiet, the world is peaceful and it’s nice to be around to watch the sun come up. This isn’t the case for the ride home! It’s stressful, people constantly seem to be trying to injure me or knock me off the bike.
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Wednesday evening was probably the hardest ride, what with being pelted with stones by kids stood at a bus stop and then crashing the bike in the dark on the A666. Without street lighting this part of the public highway seems to be living up to it’s code and it’s pretty treacherous. Fortunately my only injury was a bruised ego and a slight laughing fit at ending up in a heap at the side of the road. I’ve cycled 300 miles so far which equates to a saving of 360 miles that I would usually drive (it’s 30 miles driving on the motorway, 25 miles if I cycle). I need to be averaging 125 miles a week to achieve my target of 500 miles a month and I’m happy I’ll be able to get up to this figure now that I’m feeling fitter and more comfortable on the bike. Overall I’m glad to be doing the cycling from a fitness and environmental point of view.
Continuing with the environmental theme, tomorrow is the first meeting of our school eco-council. This is part of the challenge to make the school that I work in more sustainable. I’m looking forward to hearing the ideas our young people have to make the school a greener place. Other progress I’ve been making recently includes submitting an assignment for my MSc, reading some more of War and Peace for the 12 novels challenge and attending some school governor meetings this afternoon.
