So a funny thing happened to me at my club swim last week. My coach was asking questions about my ride across London to get to work, How long was it? 25 mins roughly. Was it up or down hill? It’s flat mainly but sloping down in the morning & up in the evening. Could I extend it at all to say 40 minutes? Really? Have you ever ridden a Boris Bike?
For the uninitiated amongst you a Boris Bike is 23 kg of pure bike hell. There’s no lightweight frame, Shimano group set or aero dynamic anything it’s just a lump of steel with two wheels and three heavy gears. The bike has two speeds, dead slow & stop. Even going up a slight incline can prove challenging. The only time I manage to every get any pace up is when I’m coasting down hill.
I look on in envy to the regular riders on their lightweight frames delicately dancing on their pedals at red lights (yes, some do actually stop!), couriers whizzing past me laden down with packages on their colour coordinated fixies, commuters on their dodgy old hybrids & mountain bikes even the bloke on his fold-up Brompton with his Aero helmet (yes, really!). It is rare that I over take anyone and if I do then it really is a hand punching the air, Tour de France sprint finish kinda moment…in my head.
So I find out that Coach Musty is considering using my journey too & from work as part of my training plan. This sounds interesting…I’ve yet to find out how but if this means that I get more cycling in over the winter months then who am I to complain. So planning ahead I’m already thinking about possible longer routes I can investigate. I know I’m hoping to swim in the Serpentine come summer so this can be a destination to aim for. It would also be good to investigate other parts of London that I don’t know so well. Also there are some great parks that I can ‘whizz’ round at some point or maybe a bit of interval training inbetween traffic lights. I’m sure they’ll be more than enough to discover over the coming months.
This all sounds great but I have a firm suspicion that given the weight & difficulty of the bikes I’m gonna end up with thighs the size of Mark Cavendish which is no bad thing if you’re a bloke, but for a woman…
Tantrums, Transitions and Triathlons 
Not ridden Boris bikes in the winter but they do have solid drainpipe sized mudguards and chain guard so should be a dry ride.
I do use the bikes in the summer and will try when not too suited and booted in London in coming months.
It would be rally good strength training ! Good luck