Commuting - the first month

WELL, I've been commuting to work on the Pro Cruiser for over a month now and everything seems to be going well.

MY initial route was fairly roundabout as I wanted to stick to cycle paths and car free streets. I wanted to get a feel for just how visible I was in rush hour traffic, and what reaction I would get from the grumpy commuters and school-run mothers. Over the weeks I slowly adjusted and shortened the route, steadily adding more road time, until I settled on a similar one I would use on my mountain bike. The only place I still compromised was crossing the coastal road Quay Street as this involves traversing two or three lanes of frantic traffic to reach a right hand filter lane at a traffic light - which would then never change as it runs off a sensor triggered by weight - the weight of a car. On my upright I would handle this junction by sitting right at the stop line and darting across at the point when the lights changed, but on the trike this just felt too exposed so I would cheat and use the pedestrian crossing - this is generally against my rules, but I justified it on the grounds of not getting squashed by container truck.

AS it turned out the reception I received was similar to my test rides; the drivers were incredibly polite, to the extent were it almost became irritating - I know that sounds ungrateful, but the recumbent is so comfortable that I'd often find myself pondering some thought while waiting for a line of traffic to pass, before realising they had all stopped and were waiting for me to turn.

ONE of the more bizarre moments involved the attitude of other cyclists. I was heading home on the coastal cycle path and coming in the other direction, three abreast on the road were a pack of tour wannabes - carbon fibre road bikes, coordinated lycra covered in company names, wraparound sunglasses and utility belts of bottled techno-water and power drinks. One of the lead riders looked at me, turned to his companions and said in a loud voice "I'd NEVER ride something like THAT!". This is a fairly common reaction in my experience so far, but what made it such a perfect moment, was that the pack was being gamely tailed by a intrepid individual on a large wheeled unicycle.

GENERALLY though, I have now reached a point that I am using the trike much as I would my upright. After many years of cycling in London I have become an extremely careful cyclist. By all rational argument, the onus should be on the drivers of the heavier and more dangerous vehicles to avoid injuring the less well protected; pedestrians, cyclists, scooterists, boarders and the like. In reality this can't be relied upon, and it is your own responsibility to keep yourself safe. A cycle helmet and a fluorescent jacket will not keep you alive anywhere near as effectively as not allowing yourself into the situation where a motorised vehicle can knock you off or run you over.

WE'VE recently had a terrible run of cyclist deaths in New Zealand, roughly one a day in the past few weeks. This is an appalling statistic for such a small and underpopulated country. Things like cycle paths, junction improvements and traffic calming can help, bit in the end I think you just have to be careful and assume the worst; as Joseph Heller said in Catch 22, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.".