The beauty of the fold and the sneaky commute

If you are new to my blog you might not know that I am a triathlete and training for an ironman distance event later in the year. I also have fallen in love with the Brompton bicycle and am now the proud owner of a new yellow/black S6L, that is nicknamed 'Sting'. A weird combination you may ask - not my colour choice but the Ironman / Brompton link!

You can check out my triathlon training on www.trihardtraining.co.uk

This training week was labelled 'bike focus' and I targeted around 5-6 hours of cycling (in addition to 2-3 hours of swimming and 1-2 hours of running). The cycling is likely to consist of 1-2 commutes (mostly easy but can combine some hill / tempo work), some time on the turbo and a long Group ride (normally scheduled for Sunday).

At the moment I have been using my Brompton for the commute, which helps me to get familiar with the little beauty. My carbon road bike is on the turbo in the garage and some of the longer (muddy) weekend rides have been on my mountain bike.

As highlighted in a previous blog my Brompton fits neatly in the back of my Mini and I love the flexibility of having the bike available if a 'riding window' becomes available during the day. Yesterday I was travelling back from London to Brighton after a round of business meetings. As it was my birthday (I reached the ripe old age of 46) I planned to leave Brighton a little earlier so I could get home for a family dinner. The train rolled into Brighton station just as I got a phone call from my wife confirming she was running a little late so no real rush to get home. I noticed that the sky was actually blue (not bad for 4:15pm) and it made a nice change from all the rain we have been having

Then the idea came to me - get 'Sting' out the boot of my car and cycle home taking a nice scenic route - lovely jubbly! It also meant I could do the return cycle commute the following morning to pick up my car ready for Friday evening trip home, which all sounded great. Somehow it did feel a little sneaky but I was so glad that I had the option and once again the beauty of the fold and these wonderful bicycles pleasantly surprised me.

By the way this morning commute included a fantastic route via Edburton, Fulking and Poynings, then over the top of Devils Dyke (again pleased I had 6 gears) before dropping into Brighton - will download to Strava when I get home.