It's occurred to me on a couple of occasions or struck me as funny at least that I get both ends of the transport spectrum. Take this evening for example, been for a run out on the blade, sensible speeds of course and always within the posted limit as I'm a responsible considerate rider... Quick, nimble machine, obviously bags of power instantly on tap... Then I get home, chuck the bike in the shed, gather my pack of pooches together into the ubiquitous Transit van, that is their kennel on wheels, and off we go, lumbering along, never usually much more than 50 mph, though it will fire itself down the road when needs be..., carefully negotiating corners and roundabouts etc. More than once, for the first few minutes, I've really been aware of the stark contrast between the two, and it always makes me smile, especially when some nobber, in a Skoda VRs for example, thinks he's the man, powering past the old van, when ten minutes ago, I'd have left him for dead without getting out of second, possibly getting into third gear..depending on the type of road of course..
I know where you're coming from, Tom. I have a relatively short commute, ideal for public transport, but because I work about half a mile from my wife, we drive in and home together. Couple that with free parking at the office and fiscally, there's no reward to me being a bus wanker. The downside is that the traffic on this route is horrendous and I can easily spend half an hour covering the four and a half mile route. On the rare occasions that I'm alone and the weather isn't crap, I'll use the bike. Never more than ten minutes, regardless of the traffic jams. The thing is, that moving two or three car lengths a minute induces so much more stress that my missus often points to the spot where she believes I'll suffer the coronary that kills me as we crawl past it, while wazzing past all the traffic, eyes on stalks whilst negotiating the casual 'puller outer', the 'don't need to indicate for this junctioner', the yellow boxes are designed for me to stop inner' and the deadly 'that lane's moving faster than this one so I'll just.... 'er', leaves me feeling like I've just stepped out of the shower. Funny old world, in'it...
