Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge

In a fit of insanity I signed up to do a 40km leg of the Lake Taupo cycle challenge, oh dear.

Those who know me will understand the issue here. I'm short, fat, unfit, have a knee full of titanium bolts and haven't ridden a bike for 3 years. Being side-swiped by a bus passing too close was the final straw after being knocked off by three cars prior to that, and let's not forget car drivers who can't wait 2 seconds to turn left and turn across the front of you, or morons who fling car doors open without looking to see if anyone is coming. They don't just knock you off in Auckland, to add insult to injury they get out of their cars and scream abuse at you for being on the road in the first place, one car driver swerved into a cycle lane to knock me off and then yelled at me for being in the middle of the road - thank goodness for a fast police response and other car drivers with a modicum of sense who gave statements verifying the guy was a nutter. Anyway, all these deranged drivers who see cyclists as a target proved to be a bit much for someone from a country where drivers are courteous to cyclists and give you plenty of room, so I stopped cycling before one of the deranged morons killed me.

I've become a very, very nervous cyclist. The thought of riding in rush hour traffic every day is somewhat daunting. The thought of pack riding on a road that hasn't been closed to traffic, in a cycle rice, is also somewhat terror inducing.

So as of tomorrow morning I start cycling to work again. I'm already nervous and planning a route to work that involves as little traffic as possible. I may also install a 3 foot steel spike on the side of my bike to force the deranged nutters to go round me.

Wonder if anyone will notice if I put a small motor on the rear wheel to help with hill climbing? That could possibly be construed as cheating though.