Before the proper ride report makes it on to the site I thought I would throw in a few words about my bike experience last night (and to prove that I am still alive!)

Finding myself with 30 minutes to spare between getting in from work and having to pick up my eldest daughter from Brownies, I decided to jump on my 30 ton Blue Bomber and go for a quick blast round to shake the limbs free.

The route was fairly simple, up the Mount, along toward Effingham, down past Manor House school, down to Bookham Common, across the Common and home. A slightly over optimistic evaluation of the time it would take me to get home meant I was the last parent to arrive at Brownies, finding Brown Owl and my daughter sitting on the steps waiting.

After apologising and thanking Brown Owl, Katie and I set off for home. When we were out of sight of Brown Owl I was struck by the thought we could get home quicker if we both rode on my bike. What a great plan it would have been if only I could have remembered the age old art of “giving a backie”.

Eventually the dim distant “who goes in front, who goes behind” logic returned to me, and with much screaming and giggling, Katie and I set off down the road home, arriving safe and sound 5 minutes later.

Why is the backie never taught at bike skills days I wonder? What better way of teaching balance and weight control on your bike could there be than trying to ride along the road with two people on the same bike!

It was real Old School cycling, and not to be mentioned to my wife, or I’ll never hear the end of it.