A bit of a long one. It's the story of my return to the saddle. Fortunately, there are some pictures to distract from the shambling prose.12 Months of commuting – the good, the bad, and the n+1It’s been almost 12 months since I posted my declaration of intent here – to return to day-in-day-out bike commuting and bring to an end a hiatus that had lasted some years. I’ve had a few false starts and failed attempts at this before – driven off the road by a combination of post-crash mental demons and, if I’m honest, an appalling lack of fitness. But this time, I publicly and domestically “published” my ambition, hummed and hahed about routes and kit – and then got stuck into 15 miles a day on the road.The good news is that the past year has been a fantastic success. Not only have I succeeded in doing almost all my commutes by bike – but I’ve made that mental paradigm shift to the point where cycling to work is simply how I get there. There’s no decision to make. And, not just commuting – I’m reverting to my old, car-free, modal default and it’s liberating.I cannot overstate how much cycle-commuting has improved my life generally this last year.I’m fitter for starters. For the first 6 months, I was in a lot of pain while riding – arm pain and arse pain – and found myself getting simply tired out towards the end of the week. Much of the pain – and all of the exhaustion – was simply due to physical feebleness, flabby muscles, and general atrophied moral fibre. OK, I’m no athlete but I’m clocking up around 100 miles a week without trying. That’s enough to make a real difference to a 45 year old body. And it shows – my BP has fallen despite me rebelling against the pills; I no longer stagger around in shock and sweat when I reach my destination; and I'm now finding Friday's commute as easy as Monday's.I’m also happier. Much happier. Some of this is, I suppose, endorphins wrung out by exercise twice daily. Some of it is simply being in the fresh air (and sometimes sunlight) for an extra hour a day - in winter often the *only* hour a day. But I think a lot of the resultant happiness is that I’ve regained a minor but daily personal “story”. After a long period of work life being too interesting, I’d made the choice to scale it back – to the extent of it becoming rather grey, dull, and office-based. And car-commuting to such jobs was turning me into “one of the ants” – mentally coshed and zombiefied.But cycle-commuting brings just enough difference to each day to reawaken me. This year, I’ve seen snakes, dodged rabbits, raced deer. I’ve watched capsized ships righted, cycled through knee-deep floods, played human-pinball traffic-jamming. Even if it’s just the weather or the light, every day is different to at least a small degree. Basically, I feel as if I’ve got my life back.So much for “the good” – surely there have been commensurate low points? Not many, on reflection. I suffered from some sort of weird arm pain that may have been triggered by a new bike and new posture. It was a demoralising period – as I was forced to contemplate giving up (or buying a recumbent) but a steroid injection from the quack fixed it instantaneously. For which I remain grateful – I already have one duff arm and having both arms weakened and painful was getting inconvenient. Other negatives were mainly weather related and transitory. Ice caused me to take a tumble and break a couple of ribs during the Winter but they quickly mended (but not quickly enough!).I’ve also had to share the road with cars and their drivers. I refuse to allow myself to slip into a mindset of victimhood with respect to cars v bikes and won’t list this as a negative. It's just part of the varied daily narrative of unpredictable experiences. Fear had kept me off the road for a long time and I refuse to slip back into that self-imposed exile just because of a few run-ins with life's idiots.Now, let's talk about bikes...Last summer I set out on my Dahon Speed TR folder. This had been my default bike for my small residual mileage for several years. I'd come to like to it quite a lot. It was comfy and served well as a utility bike. But after a few weeks, I felt it wasn't really hardcore commuter enough. Let's face facts – it looks like a “shopper”.So I dusted off my 10 year old Tifosi Audax machine. I'd bought this, my first real cyclist's cycle, when I started cycling again after my crash. Drop handle bars and loads-a-gears. Did a couple of Denmead audaxes on this and a couple of years of increasingly intermittent commutes before abandoning it to the back of the garage. It's a good bike – but I'd never loved it. In part because I'd started to hate being on the road and, it seems, in part because I just don't get on with the geometry and the drop bars. This year saw me try again – I moved bars up and down, played with saddles and stems. But I just couldn't get comfortable. Partly physically; I can't ever remember using the drop bars and braking always seemed remote and vague, and partly “mentally”.Around January, I was starting to lose patience a little – my fitness was slow in returning, the weather was foul, darkness was eternal, and the damn bike was uncomfortable to boot. I started idly, like a bored husband with an internet connection, to look around and see what else was out there. Answer: lots and lots of lovely bikes. But, being indecisive and cash-light, I just window shopped and told myself that all I needed was mental grit and time in the saddle and all would be well.However, fate does what fate's good at – and intervened. Investigating a rubbing tyre one evening, I found a bust rim. At this point my dormant bike-buyers' brain part kicked in: “you know, buying a new bike is almost practically saving money (sort of)”. After all, the Tifosi needed new transmission and tyres and a professional service wouldn't go amiss. This isn't an exaggeration – everything was ten years and thousands of miles old; the tyre carcasses were held on with superglue to stop flappy bits rubbing the brakes on each rotation.So I bought thisA butterfly barred touring bike from EBC.Absolutely what I was after. I love the multiple hand positions and I love the “cockpit” feel of the embracing bars. The only change I had to make was to add a new saddle – the one it came with was a horror.I made a few tweaks and additions to make it even better:- Brooks Imperial Flyer saddle (with springs and a slot); my first Brooks and extremely comfortable- M5 bolted light mounts on front forks; superb!- a mirror; very useful to see what's looming- side stand; 'cos all utility bikes and tourers should have one- dual sided SPD pedals (clips one side, civvie flats the other)While everyone knows what a Brooks, a mirror, and SPDs look like, M5 fork mounted lights are rarer - so here's a (bad) phot:The new bike has cemented my return to the road.For starters, it doesn't hurt. The transition to MTB-style shifters caused a shortlived bit of thumb/palm ache – but that was all. Even the Brooks needed no breaking in. Everything just fits and works. I like the sturdiness and solidity. The audax bike always felt a bit flighty, a little twitchy and never fully under my command. In contrast, the Revolution is stable and stoppable.I fairly soon found myself descending with confidence for the first time. Another area the difference really shows is on gravelly tracks (which I sometimes take as a scenic detour) which were almost unrideable on narrow tyres. As for speed on road – well, there's plenty enough for me and it doesn't seem slower. And it's steel. No carbon forks made of promises and soot to worry about.What have I learned this year?1. Firstly, that it's never too late and that things aren't as bad as you fear.2. Humility. Years ago, I was a bit sniffy about people who claimed they "couldn't" ride 3 miles to work. Well, it was a bit tough for me at the start as well.3. A new bike makes things better.4. Ponchos are the answer to rain.Thanks for reading to the end!