From a cyclists point of view...

I've been cycling to work for about a week now... long enough to see the point of view on two wheels as opposed to four. As a car lover (albeit a carless one currently) I had a ton of peeves about other motorists, cyclists, motorbikes and pedestrians. After cycling to Oxford Street and back, I now have a list of pet hates whilst riding my bike. These include:

• Pedestrians who stand in the road next to the curb. There's a pavement there for a purpose! The bus will NOT arrive faster if you stand in the road, forcing me to cycle into the path of traffic coming up behind me! (this was particularly annoying when cycling down Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road).
• Cracked tarmac. I have realised I need to buy a gel seat for my bike. I have THE most uncomfortable bike seat in the world, which results in a very sore bum and the state of the roads don't help. Potholes were always an annoyance when I was driving. Now they're just plain painful. I'm having to stand up along entire stretches of road just to avoid giving myself internal damage. Ow.
• Airborne 'stuff'. It's wreaking havoc with my contact lenses. I think I am going to have to invest in some appropriate sunglasses as well as a gel seat as there seems to be a plethora of dust, pollen, grit, sand, blackflies, greenflies and other unpleasant bug like things that seem to land in my eyes, hair, face... luckily so far not my mouth but I have learnt NOT to apply lip gloss pre-cycling. You can imagine why.
• Coaches. They seem to creep up on you JUST as you reach roadworks in the cycle lane and then almost crush you. How can something so big be so stealth-like?!

Anyway, apart from my little pet hates, cycling is proving to be a big hit with me. My legs feel tired by the time I get to work, plus this morning was windy in the wrong direction which made the ride even harder, but I'm feeling good from the exercise and my journey time has been more than halved. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do once this good weather disappears?!