Rather than unnecessarily removing plastic from my boat scraping down empty rivers this weekend, I decided to go out on my bike instead.

Now, one my main justifications for buying a bike was so I can cycle to work, which is about 4.5 miles.  So far, I haven't managed this - a few short rides around in the evenings, but nothing significant.

I conveniently live right next to the canal, which has a towpath forming part of one of the proper national cycle routes (41?), so that seemed like a good idea. It also has mileposts, meaning I can be lazy and not resort to asking the internet how far I've been...

Got to the 5 mile marker post, ate lunch, then cycled back.

So 10 miles total (well, probably a bit over), averaging about 8 minutes per mile.  That seems alright, and I wasn't especially going flat out.

The first mile hurt.  A lot.  And took longer - 15mins?  After that it got easier, quicker, and less painful

I also seem to have got the hang of the grip shift gears, so can now change one at a time rather than two or three, hehe.

tags: cycling exercise Gloucester