Bike Shopping

Although Oliver has served me very well over the past 18 months I am beginning to think that it’s time to upgrade. I have thought for a while that the 57” frame is really too small for me. I’ve also been having some issues with the bottom of the range group set (gears and brakes ect).

Today a new Evans Cycles opened in Wimbledon and they had a 10% discount offer so I went along to have a look. I was looking for another hybrid but I was persuaded to give a proper road bike with drop handle bars a try.

I have to say it wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. The test ride was only round the block but it felt pretty good.
The bike I tested was a 58” frame and the sales assistant thought it still looked too small so they have ordered a couple of 60” frame bikes in for me to try.

As I might be moving house and increasing my commute by half as much again a quicker road bike should help me cover the extra miles in as short a time as possible.

Moving House

Linzi (the wife) and I have decided that we need to move house. We’re not very good adults (in fact I don’t think either of us have grown up at all) and need lots of space for all the rubbish we accumulate and never get round to putting away. Our 2 bedroom flat in Wimbledon is too small.

Finding a new place to live is never easy. We wanted somewhere that had 3 bedrooms and was generally a bit bigger – and it had to have good parking for my other hobby. We also needed a place that would be ok with our 2 cats.

These are all pretty normal house buying requirements but I had another one that I really wasn’t going to shift on. It needed to be within cycling distance of Canary Wharf.

This does limit us a bit. A good friend of ours has just bought a house in Woking. This seemed ideal – lots of space, good train service ect but way too far to cycle.

This morning we looked at a place that seems very promising – 3 good sized bedrooms, a garden, garage ect but it’s going to be about an 18 mile cycle. I reckon that’s going to add nearly an hour on to my commuting in a day. Also cycling nearly 40 miles a day is pretty hardcore.

At the moment I am working from home 2 days a week so actually my weekly distance will be around the same as it was when I was cycling 24 miles a day 5 days a week but there is no guarantee that working from home will continue.

How far is too far to commute by bike?