Commute

The commute is killing me. Well, OK - not me as such, just my bank balance. There's a worldwide increase in the costs of what you throw in your tank lately, and it hits commuters hard.

I'm currently using Favourite Man's vehicle for the trek, as it uses 1/4 of the amount of fuel Olivia does (for the time being) - but that can't go on forever. So we've been looking at options, ones that are not as cool as a Series Landy, but are a whole lot more practical.

Gone around the circles of scooter / motorbike / Mini / Uno repeatedly.

And this morning it struck me that there's another one. Cheaper, kills two birds with one stone, but not as convenient.

A bicycle.

Yup, BICYCLE.

OK, so the commute is only 15km one way - but there are some serious uphills and downhills both ways. I see a multitude of cyclists every morning, those fit & tanned folk powering up the road while traffic goes zooming by.

So I was pondering the pro's and con's as I travelled this mornig.

Pro's:
* Cheap - can get a perfectly functional bike for under R1K.
* No petrol station stops required. Ever.
* Fresh air
* Exercise. Lots and lots of exercise. And for a chick like me who needs leg exercise (built as I am) that's a good thing.

Con's:
* No shower at work - dunno if a pre-office cloth-bath will cut it.
* Cycling clothes - do I leave work clothes here or tote them along every day?
* Ditto the laptop - it's heavy and it gets lugged home daily and back again
* And ditto that all-encompassing accessory - the handbag.
* Will have to get up really early to get here - and there's no quick dash home either. It's likely to take me an hour to get here for the first few months, given that I last rode a bike in my teens. It's equally likely I'll have to walk some of those hills instead of ride them, huffing and puffing the bike upwards.
* Pollution. I hated walking with cars zipping by and spraying me with exhaust fumes. Even worse in commuter traffic.
* The HILLS. Oh, those hills....
* Winter

But I'm thinking. It could be an option, if I can just get up the guts to do it.