Whilst it's nice to be back to regular commuting after the shockingly long winter it can be a challenge to keep things interesting when ploughing the same furrow day in day out. This morning I had a memory of when dad used to collect me from school at lunchtime in his bright yellow TR7 (oh how cool to an 8 year old - not least as he had had a black slash stripe sprayed on it which ran across the top of the boot and down either side into an aggressive point. I wonder where I get my carbon fibre pimping fixations from?!). We lived in a remote village on a rolling landscape and the challenge was that he would build up speed on the country lanes until we reached the last down-and-up section to the village when he would slam it into neutral and we would see if we could roll down then up the hill without needing to put it back into gear. Oh the elation when after weeks of trying we (he, really - I was only the co-pilot) managed to do it (though I suspect this was more due to reckless abandon on the final run up than to any form of weight saving and axle greasing).
As ever, I prattle but the point was that I have now found a similar challenge to set myself on my daily commute - the dib. How few times can I put my foot on the ground during the 10 mile ride? I cannot for the life of me track stand and so have to judge the traffic lights - whether to roll up when red in anticipation of the change or do the odd cruise through (a touch of haughty middle class abuse on that one this morning) - and how to judge junctions. The result of my first attempt - 2 dibs!! I am already setting the bar high but intend to get to the zero mark before the summer is over ( which may only give approx. 2 weeks). I wonder if I should try and put a black slash on the PM to help?
PS - TR7 shown for illustration purposes only. We never kept a picture and no doubt the original has corroded to dust by now.
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