Day One Tuesday 15th of May 2007

"Now is the winter of our discontent" were the words that went through my mind as I thought about riding for the Whizwheels and Bentrider online competition. While in the Northern Hemisphere the 15th of May might herald the beginnings of Summer, down here in the Southern Hemisphere it heralds the onset of winter.

It seemed like Murphy's Law was also in action. The forecast for the first week was for rain all week after 7 years of drought! Just to give you a picture of how dry it has been, Melbourne's water supply has dropped down to less than 30% capacity. So you have a city of over 3.5 million that has been very dry for a long time.

I wonder if I will be able to manage this challenge with a major change having just happened in my life. We have had our newborn, Tom home from hospital for 6 weeks now and I have never experienced the current level of sleep deprivation that I am experiencing. To add to this I am worried about leaving him home and not being their to help Em with him. Should I just take the train or drive and be home earlier? I don't even know that the car would be any earlier, traffic jams are so bad at peak hour. Em says that she thinks the car would actually take me longer.

So it was with some foreboding that I contemplating setting my course to ride as much as possible over the next month.

However, there is an alternative perspective. I will save about six dollars a day if I don't take the train and the travel time is only about 15-20 minutes difference compared to the bike. It might be nice to have an extra $30 dollars at the end of the week. I will be doing something health for myself. I will be caring for the environment and Tom's future.

Well here we go!

Its a 5 am start, off to yoga, It is pitch black outside as I find my way to the shed but there is no rain. Actually, it is not cold. I ride to yoga and feel the pleasant warmth generated by my own body. The LED lights I have on my bike are great for being seen.

While in the yoga class I hear the rain begin. I wonder how I will go riding in the rain. The yoga class finishes and I go outside to discover only very light drizzle on the way to work. The ride is easy...So far it seems like there isn't going to be much about! End of work and I head off to a different yoga class, outside it is drizzly, not really rainy.

Ride home from yoga, the rain has stopped for the day... There are lost of shared paths that I take so this means I have few traffic worries. I hope I have some exciting adventures in the days to come, otherwise I won't have anything to write about!

Forecast for tomorrow, Wednesday
Fine at first but a shower or two developing later this afternoon with the chance of a thunderstorm. Light to moderate northerly winds.Precis: Shower or two developing. Possible thunderstorm.City: Max 21