First time for everything!

Do you remember the photo of Thunderbird that I posted a while ago? Mmm. I can hear you say. What is that again?

So to remind you, Thunderbird is my Brompton folding bike who has a happy little resting place in my dining room. Occassionally I take him out for a ride to the local village shop but nothing too seriously. Well, an ooportunity has come along and Thunderbird has been released and been used like a proper folding bike today.
I had to get to Manchester and the time was well planned to used Thunderbird as the preferred method of transport after the train.
All went well I have to say. I manage to turn quite a few heads ( I need to get used to that!) as I was on the Brompton with full office gear including high heels. I refused to wear a helmet and cars gave me a real wide berth. It was a great experience and I'm already looking for more opportunities to use Thunderbird.

My legs were still aching from Sunday's 50 mile ride. I'm sure the 30 miles I did on Saturday did play a part too, but it didn't feel like that when I started on Sunday afternoon.
However, my Sunday ride has now left me very confused. I have a lovely road bike, a very smart Specialized Dolce which I used on Sunday. With Stephen on his Trek hybrid, which he intends to use on LEJOG, and me on the Dolce, I manage to ride well in front of him on Sunday. Usually that is a sight which is very much reserved for me, with Stephen with his much stronger legs in front of me. But this time, with my better bike, I outrode him. What a GOOD feeling that was! Dare I say a bit of his own medicine??

Thoughts were racing through my head...can't he carry my one pannier and I can take my Dolce? I promise to pack light and use only one pannier...that will mean that I will be riding on my faster better bike and be able to keep up. That mean quite a lot to me. Last night I was paid a fabulous compliment when he said that I rode very well on Sunday. Ooo, that was such a good comment, coming from him :-)

In 2007 he used a small pannier system from Topeak which fits onto a road bike. I did have a look at it but it is SO small! Really too small to use, even if I pack very light.

Well, confusion continues in my cycling world so I will battle on with the decision on what I will do. I will keep you posted.