Following the advice of the wonderful bikethere.org.nz I decided to test out the commute route at a quiet time of day (around 9am on Wellington Anniversary Monday).
I was surprised at how well it went overall. I got to the office in 11 minutes (all downhill of course), and there was very little traffic on the road. As I still can’t really signal while riding I was glad for the lack of traffic.
The downhill section did have me a little worried about the brakes, but I was pretty careful to reduce speed and then allow speed to build up before braking again. I had been doing a little reading and was careful to avoid dragging the brakes (or keeping them on most of the way down).
The ride back took much longer, nearly 30 minutes to go 3km. It took me ten minutes to get to the gates of Central Park, by way of the Victoria Street cycle Lane. It took another 18 minutes to get up the mighty Brooklyn Hill to home, which I figure was slower than I can walk it if I’m really powering up the hill. I needed three stops, the first was unintentional as I was on the footpath and struck the railing at a very narrow point. The other two were out of total knackeredness.
Anyhow, I made it, and was pretty pleased and relieved.
I am not ready for peak time traffic yet, but I’ll keep trying the ride until I feel more confident and able to get up the hill, and in the process hope to improve my road skills with traffic.