Plausible bicycling

[mtbc]

In Boston I used to bicycle to work and also a little around the area for exercise. I enjoyed it: I felt quite safe mixing with the traffic in my area. We had limited funds for our move to Scotland and our bicycles got left behind.

The cross-trainer does not offer much of a view. Lately I have wondered if on some of my days off from my exercise schedule I could usefully bicycle around here. Our village is so small that only walking makes sense and in the vicinity I am not much of a fan of,

• the steep gradients, of which Dundee in particular has many, but also the Sidlaws


• the A90, the main road locally, which has a sidewalk and high-speed traffic


• winding country roads, with fairly fast cars and poor visibility around bends.

Perhaps I could avoid paying for a campus parking pass: find a fairly flat route to work from somewhere in Dundee where I can easily park the car for free. More likely, maybe there are pleasant trails hereabouts the carse near the firth which are not much challenging for the casual rider. I am not hopeful but I am again starting to think about how bicycling could make sense despite how I feel about the local roads.

I freely admit that I am probably inaccurate in my sense of the risks: National Cycle Route 77 runs along these roads to which I am averse. I am content to claim such misjudgment as my prerogative. I am greatly cautious because my family rely on my ability to work.

Comments

[mindstalk]

"I am greatly cautious because my family rely on my ability to work."

Just buy a nice big life insurance policy. :p

[mtbc]

Ha. Capital disappears quickly indeed when one lives off it! (Though I suppose you already had the opportunity to notice.) Though under various unfortunate circumstances the Universities Superannuation Scheme I now pay into seems relatively generous: e.g.,

If you die whilst paying in to the scheme … your spouse or partner can receive … 50% of the pension you would have received had you been able to continue in the scheme until age 65 over a maximum period of 40 years … ignoring the salary threshold.

[emperor]

There is a lump sum, too, IIRC (or at least, was when I was a USS member).

[emperor]

I would expect a road on the NCR network to be fine to cycle along (or to have a separate cycle path). I have no knowledge of the NCR77, though.