First ride to work day of the year

My train season ticket ran out yesterday and with the Easter Bank Holiday coming up I decided not to buy a new one but to ride the bike in. It needs a run out as since I became a fair weather biker, it has spent far too long gathering dust in the garage.

Yesterday was bright and sunny, with a high of 18°C and ideal biking weather for the start of April. Today, as I left home the sun was just coming up over the sea but there was a chill in the air. By the time I got to the M20 it was looking rather grey over Ashford. I settled into a steady 70mph (cough!) and sped past the lines of Polish coaches and trucks bringing more migrants to the UK and all the food they’ll need to eat when they are here! A couple of kids waved from one and I waved back, trying no to be too uncool.

By London the traffic was piled way back from the Blackwall Tunnel and as we split lanes two and three in a long line we caught up with a pr*ck in a red van that hogged the left of the third lane to block us. You could see him checking his mirror to make sure he maintained a gap just too small for us to get through. When this happens there is always some impatient bloke, usually on some GSXRBusaR1 thing that roars between lanes one and two panicking the cars in two into pulling to their right nearly wedging you.

Today was no exception, but it was a nouveau on a 56 regd. 1200GS. Nice backpack mate. In the end a car moving lanes baulked him and we got away. Shame. I was in a good mood anyway. It’s nice to be on the bike and I will be all this week and again on Saturday to ride up to see the blank firing Arsenal versus desperate West Ham. On Sunday it is the Wipers Day trip to Ieper/Ypres with the usual suspects from the Kent Centre SOC. I widened the invitation but no one has taken it up. Once in the office I was cold, colder than when actually on the bike. May have to revise the riding gear tomorrow. And of course, there is tonight’s ride home to do yet!