Commuting a little bit faster

I suppose I already realised in my teens that if you bike a particular route every day, one of the few ways you have of making it more interesting is seeing if you can race yourself. Can you do it a little bit faster than before? And back in the days, it was my old Casio watch (I actually still have a near-identical model) that was doing the timekeeping. I could do these 14 km to secondary school quite fast after a while! And when I think back to that, I feel pity for everyone else in that school, as it was the time before breathable waterproofs, and most kids came on bicycle, so on a bit of a muggy day you must've had hundreds of rather smelly kids roaming the building. But that is another topic.

I now have a 14.5 mile commute (two ways). I used to ride a different route, which was longer by 3.5 miles, but I changed that to ride a more direct route which brings you over two hills. It is quicker, and a better workout. In the greater scheme of things, these hills are not very serious, but they still require some effort!

If I am teaching, I often bike over Bangor, but now it is summer I rarely have to be there. This way there is less variation in my route, and I have taken to seeing if I can improve my hill performance. I Strava every commute, so I know exactly if I am getting better! And I am.

One of the main hills

I quite like it if I come home and I see I have biked myself a gold medal on a particular segment! And I am fully aware that this will end somewhere, but the question is: where? For now I seem to be able to regularly get a little bit faster than ever before. I think that's a good thing in many ways! It motivates me to push it a bit harder, which keeps me in shape, and a potentially dull commute gets a competitive edge. I don't see any disadvantages! Let's see how far down I can get these times…

A personal best! And I wonder now what on earth my heart was doing on June 27…