Who would have thought that cycling could bring about a renewed respect for airline pilots and bus drivers? Well that's exactly what happened to me this week for one particular reason, and it's all to do with being responsible for the lives of people in your care, and after a week of commuting by bike with my girlfriend I've come to realise just what a burden that may be.

It's not as if she doesn't know what she's doing, and until the worst of the winter weather made an appearance once the clocks went back last year she had commuted regularly with me by bike for a sustained period of a few months. But this week saw the return of less intemperate weather, and her trusty bike making it out onto the streets.

Leaving slightly earlier than usual so I can drop her off en (circuitous) route to my office is not much of a chore, but following behind I find myself surveying the road as some huge minefield I have to try and navigate her through safely. Riding on my own I scoff at suggestions that cycling is a dangerous activity (for it is not), but as I lapse into the mindset of a concerned parent I see every car as a stranger bearing sweets.

In common with many irregular cyclists she rides slightly further to the left than I myself would be positioned, and to counter this, and act as some sort of shield, I intentionally ride slightly further right than I would normally. 'I'll suffer the burning looks in the back of my head if it means she gets there safely', seems to be my mindset.

Early on riding last year I made the point about it not being a good idea to filter left of big vehicles, so I am now saved that particular heart-stopping activity, and the manouevres to turn right or move out past parked vehicles have started earlier, and are therefore safer. But I can't shake an utterly baseless worry that, for the moment, doesn't want me to let her do the commute on her own.

Perhaps it's trying to avoid an unassailable guilt that if anything does happen it's fault is directly traceable to me. I'm the bike obsessed boyfriend who cajoled and persuaded her into, first, buying a new bike, and then graduating from off-road cyclepaths onto the road, and further into a daily commute. I might as well have taught her to skydive.