Reasons to ride

This is a small section of the City West Link in the morning - most days, the traffic is hardly moving when I zip past here. If it is moving, I can keep up with it or beat it on this section.

There are mornings when I really have to drag myself out of bed and crawl onto the bike. My bum hurts. My legs ache. My throat is raw. My fingers are cold. My knees hurt. My eyes can barely stay open.

Then after about 3km, the blood has started to move, the pains have faded and I cycle beside this - hundreds of cars parked nose to tail. It's at that point that riding makes sense. Stuff the arguments about pollution and saving the planet and all that horse-wallop; I simply feel good going faster than all these bastards. It is a simple pleasure. I'm faster than you are - naah, naah, naah.

Then about 30 seconds later, I hit a big hill, and suddenly I don't feel so fleet anymore.