Made it.

Despite the 3 or 4 inches of snow yesterday I biked it in to work today. To be honest I don't have many options, the wife needs the car for the school run - although today the school was closed so I could have taken the car, but it seemed the riskier option, plus I'd sort of boasted on Facebook last night about how the weather would not beat me, so to turn up in the car would have resulted in much mocking!!! The other option is the bus, but that involves a walk of about a mile, then waiting in the cold for the inevitably unreliable bus service, so I went for the 2 wheeled option. Plus, if I'm being honest, I enjoy the fact that some people are amazed that I cycle in poor weather, when, lets face it, as long as I'm sensible and careful, it's not really any more dangerous that driving. Either way we use the same roads but on my bike I have so many more options, and should a road become blocked I can easily change my route, and unlike motorists I'll never be in a position where I have to abandon my bike by the side of the road and dig it out the next day - at the very worst I'd have to push it.

Anyway, todays journey was pretty straightforward. My road, being a cul-de-sac that has never seen a gritter, is always covered in snow whenever we have a decent amount, and this morning was no different, but a bit of careful, slow riding soon saw me join busier roads which were pretty clear. Except the snow is now a horrible, dirty wet slush that sprayed up my front and back, pebble-dashing my glasses and giving me a cold wet bum. So I changed my tactic and actually sought out a route using as many small roads as possible, even though they were still snow covered, as long as I cornered with care, there was no issues with using them, and I didn't get any wetter. So I managed about 5 miles in just under 30 minutes - probably quicker than those in cars too.

As I had left home slightly earlier than usual, I had a spare 15 minutes this morning so managed 1.73km in 10 minutes on the treadmill in the gym. Again, not the sort of pace to frighten any athletes out there, but burnt some extra calories and certainly worked up a bit of a sweat.

Then this evening I hit the gym again, doing a similar workout to Monday only I upped the ante slightly. I concentrated on upper body excercises using the various weight machines, first circuit I set it at level 5 and did 20 reps, then lowered the setting to 4 for 30 reps, then finally set it at 3 for 50 reps. I don't want to add muscle, I'm just trying to tone up what muscle I already have and burn them calories. In between each circuit I did a variety of abdominal excercises (sit ups, crunchs etc) together with more flexibility work. And at the end I was really feeling it, but it felt like a really productive hour, so I came the direct route home on the bike, which is only about 3 miles. Probably do the same again Friday, but we'll see how my arms and shoulders feel first.

Hard frost forecast for tonight so another careful commute ahead tomorrow.