A breath of fresh air

I had more than a breath of fresh air tonight - I had about 10,000 bags of wind blown at me. I had a squiz at the BOM website before leaving work and discovered that Sydney was experiencing windy conditions, with gusts of up to 57km/h. That explains why my security pass almost strangled me when I went outside at lunchtime.

Riding into that was no mean feat. For the first time in a month, I shed my jacket before leaving work, because I knew it was going to be a tough haul - lots of energy to be expended riding into the teeth of a mini-cyclone.

My route is a roundabout one, so although the wind was in my face most of the time, I did have it at my back for some short spells. I actually had to brake whilst coasting on a bike path because I was going to fast for the road conditions.

The only problem I had was one aggressive driver when I was close to home. I was struggling through a roundabout as best as I could, pumping into the wind at a bit over 20km/h as I went around the roundabout and up a slight hill. This idiot tried to overtake me whilst I was in the roundabout (never a good look), but I am wise to that manouvere - I simply sit out wide enough in the lane to ensure that no dickheads try to pull that trick. I never let them do it because as they exit the roundabout, they always cut the corner and force the bike into the kerb. Fuck them - they can wait.

Anyway, I held this guy up for maybe 5 seconds, if that. But that didn't stop him putting his front bumper about an inch from my rear tyre, or making rude hand signals out the back window after he got past.

Some people are just so lucky.... this guy in particular because if it wasn't for the headwind, I would have caught him when the traffic banked up just down the road, grabbed his car keys and hurled them onto the roof of the nearest house.

Wind - the thing that stops cyclists from stomping idiot drivers.