
#365daysofbiking Grimness:
November 29th – Although we’re approaching the shortest day – when the advance of night is defeated and light gradually seeps back into my life – this next three weeks are the hardest commutes of the year.
This evening I noted from the bike computer that sunset is now before 4pm for the first time this winter, and it will creep almost ten minutes earlier as the weeks wear on.
The commutes will be heavy with seasonal traffic, there will be grim weather and the trains when used will be a mess.
It’s the same every year and I hate it.

#365daysofbiking Still amazed:
November 9th -One thing I never take for granted is my biking technology. From disc brakes to LED lights to tough tires, things are very much better in the saddle these days than the four decades or so ago I started to ride a bike.
One thing that would have blown my mind even in the 1990s is the current GPS bike computer technology available to me. I ride down darkened lanes, with the soft glow of a device on my bars indicating my position on a scrolling Ordnance Survey map. Overlaid on this are street names, and I get warnings of sharp bends and hazards.
Of course, I know these lanes like the back of my hand, but when off-piste, it’s a godsend. If anyone had shown the young me this device, it would have blown my tiny mind.
Old hands scorn the modern technology, but not really is a wonderful thing.