55km into my 60km ride on Sunday, all I was thinking about was getting to the end. It had been a grey day, I wasn’t feeling particularly fast or motivated, but I’d done it, and soon I could simply bask in the sense of achievement that comes from a long ride. I was cycling with three others into Bristol in south west England along the Portway, the main road into the city from the west, and I was just trying to get it done.
The Portway isn’t a nice road to cycle along, it’s busy with traffic, even on a Sunday early afternoon, but it’s flat and useful. While there is a bus lane for some of it, this peters out, and it’s currently a mess of roadworks, which ironically is aimed at boosting active travel routes, while hampering it at the moment. There’s also the option of cycling on the pavement, which would mean no motor traffic, but that comes with its own problems.
