Thursday 3 April 2014

A different perspective

I've lived in my home town for 31 years. Over the last few weeks, I've migrated to a different area of it and discovered that even after 31 years of general exploration of the place, there are still enclaves to be discovered.

And my new commute is flipping EPIC! 

It's upped from 18 miles to somewhere in the region of 30 miles per day depending which route I take, but so far I am loving it - the new bits are mostly off road or on quieter roads before I join my usual route.  And now I have someone to share the ride with, it feels less like a commute and more like a leisure ride.


I'm building up to it, not doing it every day just yet, but getting my legs used to that kind of distance more often. I'd been doing the 18 miles almost every day for a while now in all that blustery / galey weather we had the other month, so it shouldn't be too much time before I'm into the swing of those extra miles every day. 








And I'm looking forward to having another new perspective on distances. Since I started riding for utility as much as leisure, my concept of 'far' has changed dramatically. A 30+ mile round trip to meet my friends for a pub tea fits into the same bracket as going to work & nipping to town feels such a short trip that I can't get my head round why cycling round your own town is such a rarity - it really is so quick and easy & fun. And free!


The past year has been a real shift in how I experience the area where I live. Travelling to another town regularly to stop at Stephen's has made the county shrink & now I dont think twice at pedalling across the county for anything. As your learn new sections, the distance seems shorter as you break each bit of a route down into manageable chunks.
But now we're finally in our new house & we'll be getting into more of a journey routine rather than trying to figure out new & improved ways. Although there are a lot of new bridleways to explore up at this end of town heading over into Yorkshire. I'm looking forward to it immensely, although I will miss some of the routes I no longer need to frequent.






9 comments:

  1. Spectacular photos. Imagine all the new journeys by bike from your new location? I hope you'll share those rides with us. And 30 mile commutes are nothing to sneeze at. Pedal on!

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    1. I just hope the commutes dont wear me out so much that I fear additional leisure cycling.........

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  2. what beautiful views georgie, love your unique perspective, are you doing a mile p/year?! ;-) going strong, you rockstar
    xxom

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    1. The last year I've done somewhere between 4 & 5 thousand bicycle miles. But the winter has remained mild, so there's not been any seriously icy weather to stop me riding at all.
      It's funny, when I first got Misty, the concept of 6 miles/day seemed daunting - your perception changes so quickly. I suppose my office moving further & further away & my stubboness that my bicycle commute will never be defeated helps ;-)
      Hope all is well with you xx:0)

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  3. Replies
    1. Nice to be seeing new things on my commute!

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  4. "nipping to town feels such a short trip that I can't get my head round why cycling round your own town is such a rarity - it really is so quick and easy & fun. And free!"

    Couldn't have put it better.
    If you're in Blackburn, make sure your views are heard to make it even better: http://www.blackburn.gov.uk/Pages/Town-Centre-Movement-Strategy.aspx

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  5. Long distance lunacy - how awesome!

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