Grumbles

I have nothing against pedestrians, I have been a pedestrian myself from time to time. What I don't like though is stupid pedestrians. Nothing to inflammatory there though, I don't like stupid cyclists either.

The ride last night was a good example of why some sessions are best to done on the wind trainer. The conditions last night where pretty perfect, almost no wind, not to cold, lovely. Certainly not the sort of conditions that I would usually be inclined to hide from on an indoor bike. However, we are only a few weeks away from the shortest day of the year, and so whilst the weather last night was great, what wasn't great was that it was dark. Really dark.

That isn't usually much of a factor for me, I don't really mind it. But last night it just seemed that where ever there was a patch of unlit cycleway, there would be a pedestrian standing there, in dark clothing, doing their best to be invisible.

Now I am not an idiot, I ride with lights, good ones. But bike lights are not car headlights. And even if you do have super powerful lights, you then have to strike the balance between seeing a long way in front and dazzling every single person riding the other way (which also really annoys me) or not seeing quite as far. Since I don't like being dazzled (unless through dance) I tend to point my lights down a bit. However, the downside to that is that stealth pedestrians tend to jump out of nowhere.

This situation wasn't helped by me being a little to clever for my own good. I wasn't really feeling like riding around my usual routes through Shelley and Rossmoyne, so I thought I would head around to some other good roads through Dalkeith. Those roads worked great, but the unforeseen upshot was that I was riding in areas in the dark which I would usually be riding in the light. These areas also seemed to be full of people. In dark clothes. I mean really, a long, black coat and a black hat, in the dark, thanks for that Neo.

I got through the session and technically achieved what I had set out to do. But it was inconsistent, I had to slow down or pause to often for pedestrian, or cars, or traffic lights, or other cyclists. The quality of the session was frustrating, particularly in comparison to how consistent I now know you can be on a trainer. I finished the ride annoyed with how the session had gone, and that is never a good way to finish a session.

I am a big fan of being out on the road when the conditions allow it, but last night, I would have been happy to have been elsewhere.

And just to show that I am not biased with my dislike, there were plenty of future road statistics out on bikes that annoyed me last night as well. Riding without lights, or on the wrong side of cycleways. Fast moving (sometimes), invisible missiles. Although nobody I saw last night beats the guy I saw on Monday morning, riding on a dark, very foggy morning with no lights. That is called riding into an accident.

Moving on from being annoyed by other road users, I had swimming this morning. A good solid session. Swimming on Friday is always fun after swimming on Wednesday. The session is just that little bit easier and so that little bit more enjoyable. Whilst it was a tough session, I was very happy with my consistency. Not the fastest guy there, but I was able to maintain what I had. For the sort of racing I do, that counts for a bit in my book.

Cairns Ironman and 70.3 on this weekend. Loads of friends over there racing. The countdown in on...