I asked my husband to come along with me just in case. I think I thought perhaps if something went horribly wrong, at least he would be with me.
It went fine.
The Ride
We did the ride, which went well. I would say that my commute ride is doable. I thought there might have been a small chance of coming across a particular problematic intersection that there might not have worked for me on my bike.It was quite scary and I couldn't help but be quite tense throughout the whole ride.
It took about half an hour and my hands were pretty tense from gripping the hoods.
Because I am not very good at indicating yet, I got off the bike at all the roundabouts, and right turns and walked my bike across the streets. It took a bit longer, but it made me feel much safer.
(Courtesy - SMH: Signal your intentions (June 2013))
Overall, as I said, it was fine. I think it's with starting anything completely new, of course it's scary the first time you do it, but as you do it a couple more times, it won't be as nervewracking and I can learn to relax and not freak out slightly if anything else appears on the same path.
Do I need another bike?
Everyone says yes because of the N + 1 rule (where n is the number of bikes you have currently) - right? :)
I think because I have a road bike which is pretty efficient. I will see how I go for the next few weeks.
Commuting on a road bike seems fine, the only dealbreaker is the inability to carry cargo, so I would have to use a backpack. This may be interesting in the upcoming months as the weather gets warmer.
I think I will try and jam everything into my husband's camelbak - take the water storage out - we'll see how that goes in the first instance.
Cost-wise, I also don't feel as bad because by switching to bike commuting, I would be using less petrol, so I'm swapping one cost for another.
