Well, in a few weeks this blog will no longer be about cycling in Manchester - not strictly. I will be working in London, commuting on weekdays. Yes, it's complicated - but the simplicity of unemployment somehow didn't appeal to me.
So, I plan to join the growing hosts of London cyclists - the scourge of the Earth, according to some. In preparing for that day, I have re-discovered a folding bike I 'won' on ebay years ago: I paid £30 and collected it from somewhere in Cheshire. It's a crude single-speed contraption, and the only time I ever used it in anger (to reach a garage and collect my car before they closed for the day) I was ridiculed by school children all along the route.
I have, however, re-commissioned it - and found it is not as bad as all that. I'm not sure I will stick to it, but it will do for starters. I have no intention of forking out hundreds to purchase a Brompton - I'm sure one of those would be beautiful and ride like a dream, but I can't afford to splash out in that way. Also, how I arrange my accommodation will bear heavily in the choice of bicycle. If far away from the centre, I could have two cheap old bikes, one for each end of the journey. If I can manage to rent a room relatively centrally, I may want a reasonable hybrid or town bike I can do most things in - in fact, I already have such a thing, my beloved Tourismo 24.
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