Bike to Work
Yesterday was quite the day with a bad start to my work day and completed by a bad train journey home!
As you know, I normally am extolling the virtues of my bike for my commute to work. Yesterday, however, there was rainy windy weather as I set off to cycle to the train station on my commute to work. It was dark also but a positive was that there was not too much traffic as it was a Saturday and just a little after 8am. So with the rain lashing down, I wrapped up in water proof trousers and Leg Wraps from Georgia in Dublin to keep dry on the cycle.
However, it wasn't the rain that turned out to be the problem, unfortunately as I came to the end of Baggot Street my back tyre released all its air with a pop. I had a puncture!!
All I could do was get off the bike and push it the rest of the way to the Landsdowne Dart Station where when I got there I googled bike shops in Dun Laoghaire with the plan to leave the bike in one in this area when I arrived and then pick up after work or during next week. But first I needed to find a bike shop that had Brompton tubes in stock, as my fold up bike as really small tyres. If there was no bike shop in Dun Laoghaire who had the tubes in stock I was going to have to fold the bike and bring it home on the bus with me after work and then leave it in to a Dublin City Centre bike shop on Monday, for repair then.
Mike's Bikes
Luckily, however, Mike's Bikes in Dun Laoghaire had the tubes in stock and said I could drop the bike to them for repair - I phoned them when I got on to the train.
Getting off the train I pushed the bike from the Dart Station up the road to Mike's Bikes on Patrick Street, left the bike with them and then dashed in to work. With all of my rain gear on I was one hot sweaty mess by the time I arrived to work, but I was happy to know that the bike fix was in hand with owner Eddie and his team.
After picking up the bike later after work, I thought all was well and back to normal. But then as I was on the train home, the train stopped and sat at Sydney Parade for about 15 mins due to a major signal fault. After sometime, the driver came on the intercom to say that they didn't know how long the signal was going to be out for and that Dublin Bus was now accepting train tickets for any passengers who got off the train and changed to the bus.
So, I got off the train and cycled from Sydney Parade to my house. I should have done this immediately when the train initially stopped!!
It was well after 7pm when I finally got home.....what a Saturday!
