Recently I have been having a clear-out in my flat. I’m trying to reduce clutter by giving away or selling, when I can, many of the items I’ve amassed in the 25 years I’ve lived here. This includes hifi and photographic equipment as well as furniture and ornaments. I’ve managed to get rid of much and now my spare room is almost navigable without moving stuff around. That brings me to the elephant in the room. And by “elephant” I mean bicycles.

I’ve got two, one which I use weekly. The other is a touring bike which I haven’t been on for over six months. I know that I should sell one of them but which? My decision will probably depend on how often I can get out cycling over the next few months. I keep on promising to up the frequency of my riding but will I be able to accomplish this? If I don’t, maybe the best thing would be to get used to using the tourer on my weekly rides. It’s heavier but as I’m not doing any off road or gravel riding it is probably as good a choice for the style of my riding. It may be that I won’t need the mountain bike.

Maybe next time out, I will use the tourer to see how I get on. Disposing of one of my bikes is probably going to be the hardest decision.