Night Rider

No, unfortunately this isn’t an entry regarding the older woman’s scrummy heart throb that is David Hasselhoff.  That would be sheer self-indulgence …

Last night I went to the theatre.  If you’re interested it was a truly tremendous performance of King Lear at the Lowry with Derek Jacobi in the lead role.  A beautiful cloudless spring day, and on this occasion no requirement to meet up with my mobility impaired friend to assist her transport; a free agent in fact.  Logically, with the theatre only 5 miles away, and with the parking fees there somewhat exorbitant (in my opinion), the bike made sense.

However, the quivering jelly mess of emotion that is my brain put up a few objections:

1. Where will I leave the bike, and will it get nicked; my flexi locks are ancient and one of them I only need to pull and it opens up, wibble.
2. What on the earth do I wear that will work for cycling and then for theatre?
3. Really, you want to cycle back through Langworthy at 11 at night, are you crazy?
4. Gibber, blip.

Broken down into pieces it’s quite easy to tackle such matters.  Locks, well, that’s an investment which will reap rewards long term so let’s do it, let’s buy new locks and perhaps spend slightly more than £2.50 on them.  So off I go to Halfords.  As a British Cycling member I get a 10% discount on Halfords, but it’s a reward only for the well prepared planners and as such I don’t qualify with a same day want.   Basically the deal for the highly organised customer is to call Halfords customer service desk which is actually awesome and helpful and advise of the intended value of your purchase as it is on the shelf, and give the secret code for members out.  They then calculate a 10% off – so a £55 purchase, they will take £50 off your credit card and put vouchers for £55 into the post for you which arrive pretty damn quick.  Last time I did it, I ordered at 2pm on Thursday and postie caught me in my dressing gown at 07:30 on the Friday morning.  However, you pay a penalty for failure to plan so off I went to Halfords prepared to pay full price for two new flexi locks.  Getting there I found Halfords had a 3 for 2 offer on such things which was cool as I came out with two steel cable locks and also a new U lock.  Heavy as hell and £50 down but worth it for the reassurance.

I’ve nothing to wear.  How many times have I used that phrase in the average, oh, week anyway?  When it came down to it, the restrictions made it simple – it’s got to be leggings and a tunic top really with the FMBs in the biking rucksack for a sneaky change of footwear.  I don’t really do leggings and it was only an odd conjunction of planets which meant there was actually  a pair of Dunnes best £2 leggings lurking in the bottom of the pyjama drawer.  On those went over a pair of padded knickers (oh yes, such things do exist).  Clothing wise, all that was left for me to do was avoid sweating.

Night riding.  I have lights (another heavy investment this year), what on the earth am I wittering on about.  They are really good lights, I can actually see stuff in the road if I angle them right.  Besides which, having a stern word with myself, my 67 year old mother frequently cycles to choir practice and theatre performances throughout the year in the evenings.  I should be made of better stuff.

So, I get on my bike and I ride.  And it’s tremendous.  I pretty much spin on the way there to avoid sweating, and it’s a fresh kind of spring evening anyway.  The 5 mile journey is over in no time, seemingly 20 minutes, and I have friendly jokey interaction with car drivers in Langworthy and all is well.  I also get to cycle through Media City which is all fresh and new and pleasant.  When I get to the Lowry I look for somewhere to park the bike – can’t believe such a modern place has no dedicated bike parking.  I finally find a bike which looks more expensive than mine and tether mine up adjacent to it.  And yes, it’s still there when the play is over. 

And the ride home at quarter to eleven.  My, the ride home.  Awesome, fantastic, amazing are words which spring to mind.  I owned the road, I owned the night, I own the world.  Endorphins and adrenaline so high after the ride that sleeping was quite difficult, what with bouncing off the ceiling.  Perfect.

Superfluous picture of the Hoff.