You can go your own way

April is kind of like the home straight for a year round cyclist. The shorts slip on, the legs come out, the gloves get put away. Unfortunately, in April it also rains a fair bit so the old waterproofs have been on and off faster than a stripper's knickers. I have also learnt a valuable lesson about cycling clothing this month: don't cycle in cords - a saddle shaped worn patch is neither desirable or attractive*. I have uploaded some new tunes to my phone, including 'Go your own way' the Mac song, sung by Lissie (one of my favourite artists in the last two years). So worn cords aside, I have been cycling home in slightly better weather, and it's been lighter longer, so big tick for April. The good news about cycling home when it's light is, you can see what's (literally) coming atcha. Not so long ago I was cycling home through one of Leicester's fab parks (I am not going to say which one because that might be counter productive and stop people cycling through there!) and some idiot lads kicked a basketball at me pretty hard as I manouvered my way thorugh them and had gone past by about 20 metres. Luckily (sort of) the ball hit me, not the bike else I probably would have come a cropper. I turned the bike round, cycling back towards them a few yards with the challenge 'What was that for?'. Their answer wasn't particularly polite so I buggered off fairly sharpish. If it had been light, would this have happened? Probably not, because the night time does give people a 'you can't see me' bravado. Take two, it's last week, it's alot lighter and I'm cycling through a large council estate. Some kids are playing a game which involves chucking a space hopper several metres into the air and cackling with delight as they avoid it on the way down. The kids see me, so I assume they have the same health and safety thoughts as me: 'Let's keep the space hopper on a level until the nice lady cycles by'. Not so. The hopper chucker (technical term) chucks the hopper, and I cycled onwards casually. Around the time that Isaac Newton's law of gravity kicks in, I am on course to be pretty much a direct hit. The space hopper leaves space, and I am forced to take my eyes off the road and fixate them breifly on the large, orange smiley face with devil like horns that is desending on me from the sky. As the space hopper's grinning features get nearer, I manage to pull off some stealthy moves that put me out of range. The kids laugh, I grin back space hopper like, and all is well in the world. Take the darkness, and the nasty intent out of the situation and it's a whole different ballgame. I'm not put off from cycling through the park I mentioned first. As Lissie and Fleetwood Mac like to remind us, we can go our own way, or we can be put off by a few cowards taking cover in the dark and trying to spoil a great cycling route. Tomorrow - an update on the pink pedals... *and cords don't dry very quickly, so if you don't have a worn patch you'll have a patch and look like cycling excites you a little too much.