Bicycle Delivery

I have finally sold the single speed bike I had listed on eBay.  I purchased it a few weeks ago because I wanted the mini Kryptonite U-lock which came with it (for the Twenty), and I managed to sell it after removing the lock and giving it a clean and a check-up.  I offered to deliver to areas within about 10 km (~6 miles) of the city centre because I knew I could manage that with the Yuba.

Here is the arrangement I used to get the bike to the buyer in Prestwich (about 10 km outside of the city centre).  I just used one cam-strap around the down-tube, over the fork, under the wheel and back over the top, clipped onto the Yuba rack.

As I was riding there I noticed all of the sad faces in the cars which were moving at a glacial pace.  Pleasingly, there is a cycle lane along Bury New Road which is advisory for part of the way and mandatory at times, broken up with Bus-Bike-Taxi lanes.  It made undertaking all that traffic legal and made travelling by bike a lot faster than by car.  As I flew past the stationary cars I was puzzled by the fact that these people made the decision to commute to the city centre by car, get stuck in traffic and take longer to get to work and back than if they were on a bike (or the tram).  It was raining and yet I felt a lot happier than they looked.  The Yuba was invaluable today, allowing me to bring cycling to someone new.  This is what it was made for, the ride was good and the frame geometry allowed me to power up the hill (its pretty much all uphill) with ease.  I even dropped a Fred mashing his way up the hill on a racing bike, riding in the drops.  It would have been fun to see his face as he was overtaken by a cargo bike, with another bike on the back.  I wasn’t trying to be antagonistic, its just harder to ride the bike very slowly uphill when there is another bike on the back, and the slack seat tube makes it easy to power ahead.

I enjoyed making the delivery today, in the rain.  I don’t think any of the motorists I passed were enjoying their journey at all.