This was the first time my car had needed a service since I had fitted the bike rack on the roof.

• Journey 1: After morning rush hour, from home to the garage. By car. Distance 8.5 miles. Time 32 minutes. About 16mph.
• Journey 2: From the garage back to home. A lift into town, walk across the town centre and the bus home. Time approximately 1 hour and twenty minutes. About 7mph at most. I don’t generally mind buses but this one was a hot bus when I was dressed for a chilly day, my head was achey and I felt travel sick.
• Journey 3: To the garage to fetch the car in afternoon rush hour. By bike. Taking a longer almost 10 mile route along nicer roads and checking whether the canal towpath and a greenway are suitable for riding with Miranda at a later date. Time 54 minutes. Just over 11mph, would have been rather faster if I’d stuck to the main roads I guess.

Conclusion: 11 is not that much less than 16 (and could be speeded up a bit quite easily). And the bike is a lot more fun than sitting waiting for the car in front to move.

Next time I will take the bike with me and do Journey 2 by bike as well I think, though it may take a little longer as it is more uphill back. Can’t be worse than the original Journey 2 though.

Journey 4, back home with the car, with the bike on the roof, was slightly quicker than Journey 1 had been. It still didn’t top 20mph though.

Postscript: for the price of the car service and two new tyres I could have bought my bike again. Twice in fact. I know my car is a luxury item. Maybe I need to spend more on bikes too…