As the song goes. 

I want to blog but, “Where do I begin,to tell the story of……

Yet another song lyric, I could go on and on, without getting to the point, I want to write about my cycling experiences on my commute, and leisure rides. Unfortunately for my faithful reader my posts aren’t very interesting, don’t have a “hook” as they say in the music business. Sorry about that, I seem to be stuck in a frustrated musician mode.

So much has happened since my last post, yet I can’t get it all organised in my head to transfer to this woeful blog of mine. Never mind the muvi-cam still waiting to be charged up and affixed to my commuter(or me), or my cycle computer still languishing in my shed and not on my Pioneer GT, what I really need is a writing area on the handlebars to make notes as I pedal along. Better still a dictaphone.

I can see me now talking while pedalling. The citizens of Neath, I’m sure would welcome such a development, currently, as one of my earlier posts describe, they assume I’m a tourettes syndrome sufferer, because of all the swearing I do as I pedal. Not aimed at the poor pedestrians, who inevitably get to hear the obscenities, while the car, bus and lorry drivers at whom they are aimed, carry on without realising the peril they had lately placed me in.

Yes a dictaphone is what I need.

Fixed penalties for careless drivers? That’s a laugh!

Presumably, to issue a fixed penalty a copper’s got to see/witness the bad driving. I see a copper perhaps 5 times a week, travelling in the same or opposite direction as me, usually a minute or so AFTER some idiot has cut me up! When set against the dozens, yes dozens of cases of poor and careless driving I see a week, I’d estimate that the police would issue one in five thousand instances. In other words it’s not going to make any difference to a cycling commuter like myself, but will bring in cash to the Exchequer, which is probably the main reason to introduce such a scheme. All the usual suspects will continue to get away scott free, unless they’re really unlucky!

Unless they’re (i.e., the bad guys ) really unlucky! Yep, that just about sums up the policing cum judicial system in this country. Oooh don’t get me started.

These last few days I’ve witnessed some real maniacs on the road, ( haven’t we both ), they always get away with it. Cycling home last Saturday evening, a car passed me, which in turn was being passed by a souped up something or other. This was heading for a sharp bend, the outside car actually overtook the first on the blind bend, I was already grimacing, the tourettes had cut in to screaming pitch with associated hand gestures as they disappeared around the corner. I cycled on expecting to hear a squeel of brakes and loud noises of a collision…. nothing! Then as I got to the bend a large lorry came in the opposite direction. 45 seconds earlier and the occupants of  that maniac’s car would surely have been killed.

A few days earlier, I was on my way to work for my night shift. I was cycling in a single lane with a stream of traffic coming toward me in the opposite lane. I became aware of a lorry coming up behind me, who because I was in the way became impatient, and starte revving his loud engine in a threatening manner, my tourettes didn’t let this threat go unnoticed with  a volley over my shoulder. Just then a gap appeared in the oncoming stream of cars, and the lorry shot out to the oppsite side of the road in a manroeuvre to overtake me. The gap wasn’t big enough, so  this maniac driver had to cut back in far too close to me, inches away in fact from hitting me. I nearly ended up in a heap.

I just wish I’d had the muvi-cam in situ. Once again the idiots win.

Apart from those close encounters of the deathly kind, I’d say I’d had a great week of cycling.

The weather was interesting to say the least. Severe thunder and lightning, ball bearing sized hailstones, heavy winds and fantastic sunshine, all in the space of a couple of days. The worst was last Monday evening cycling home, back up the Neath valley, with a thunderstorm directly overhead, you know, where the flash coincides exactly with the clash of thunder. I thought that could be my last ride, and started asking myself, whether or not the fact that my tyres were rubber, would actually save me in the event of me being struck by lightning.

So perhaps another close encounter of the deathly kind?

Maybe it wasn’t such a good week? But then again, I experienced and survived. To be honest, I have to say the thunderstorm ride was fantastic, maybe I’m weird. Don’t answer that!

Didn’t get half of it down and into the blog, but cheers anyway reader.

Cheers.