I became a bike trainer this month. Not a proper, official, bit-of-paper-to-wave trainer, but more a sort of 'chaperone' as my better half took to the road to commute to work by bike for the first time.

Where she works makes the bus an awkward and lengthy option, the same problem occurs with walking, so the car had been used up till now. But with a four and a half mile route planned out, which avoided hills, and tried to keep the busy roads to as much of a minimum as could be achieved, we set off on her first bike commute a couple of weeks ago.

It seems the weekend rides have paid off. While I may be perfectly happy traffic-jamming with asserting my road position becoming second-nature, I was worried about her natural (and understandable) fear of cycling in traffic. Credit where credit's due, Sustrans had provided perfect weekend routes to get used to cycling regularly enough to build up confidence and ability.

But it was still nerve-wracking.

At times I sat back ten yards or so to watch her positioning, and noted the timing of glances backwards to check the traffic when a right turn or obstruction was up ahead.

And it all went perfectly well.

A week later we had to drop the car off at the garage before heading to work. While I was inside sorting out keys and signing various things she was approached by a chap marshalling the car park. He expressed surprise at us cycling, saying that most people needed the courtesy bus.

Her reply?

"We normally cycle to work."

citycycling is proud to announce its sponsorship of Edinburgh's Commuter Challenge
during European Mobility Week. Our editor will be taking part in the challenge,
and the magazine will be providing prizes for all of the fastest competitors....
not that it's a race you understand...

More information can be seen at Streets for People and there will of course be a full report in next month's issue 28