Reasons to commute by bicycle #5685: Commuter Racing
May.08, 2008, filed under Miscellany
This morning I was toddling along the Calder Road, enjoying the sunshine. Blackbird was out for sushi and movies last night so I had Shackleton between my thighs and we were spinning at a steady 80 – 85rpm up the slight rise to the roundabout with Saughton Road.
I realised I’d picked up a tail.
As a result of my over-active imagination, I’m always on the lookout for tails. You know, black-ops military types lying in wait to whisk me off to some hidden lab somewhere to prod and poke and generally turn my latent mutant superpowers into a secret weapon. I mostly get trapped in that particular bout of paranoid fantasy on public transport, however I’ve been getting a lot of attention on the street of late and I’m not convinced it’s just because the warmer weather has me dressed in skimpier clothing and my 32DD assets (coupled with a 22″ waist, which makes all the difference) are being noticed more often.
Although you never know.
Boobs aside, this morning I have a tail. After 5 minutes or so I relax my legs and let the natural inclination of a fixed gear to slow down if its rider seems to have lost interest have its way. Eventually my tail takes the hint and pulls in front.
Frabjous day! He has some manners! He gives it half a breath so I can spin up to speed and take his wheel. And then we hit the roundabout. He times his approach for one, not two, and I am forced to squeal to a halt in the face of a fast-moving blue Lexus.
Right. That’s it.
I give chase, catch him before the next roundabout and go past. Now he notices that I’m a girl on a fixed gear. And I’ve overtaken him.
Guys don’t like that very much.
Without boring you with the details of roundabout approach tactics (I’m an outside girl: he was an inside man) and him taking advantage of his gears on the long, slight descent (I refuse to spin up to more than 120rpm at that time of the morning: it’s indecent), suffice to say I won.
Naturally.
I have taken tomorrow off. I have also ordered the Orange Box express delivery (not to mention a pile of Marvel comics — note to self: don’t tell Frood how much it all cost).
Winning a commuter race is hopefully the start of a good long weekend. Certainly takes the sting out of having to work today.
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Singularity
~something that is singular as (a) a separate unit, or (b) unusual or distinctive manner or behavior; PECULIARITY;
~the quality or state of being singular;
~a point at which the derivative of a given function of a complex variable does not exist but every neighborhood of which contains points for which the derivative exists;
~a point or region of infinite mass density at which space and time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces and which is held to be the final state of matter falling into a black hole. Sight
