uphill, downhill

Bicycles and art seem to be going hand in glove at the moment, me having to cycle to this morning's art class owing to a lapsed MOT certificate. At the last moment I managed to fashion a backpack from two luggage straps, a heavy-duty supermarket bag, and a short length of rope given to me to practice sailing knots a long time ago, so I could take along my own drawing board. A rather Heath-Robinson construction but no one I passed gave it a second glance, so there.

The college is on another corner of town, if you imagine the town to be roughly an equilateral triangle, the middle of which is taken up by Cirencester Park. You can ride a horse through Ciren. Park and if you're one of the ''privileged'' classes, you may even drive your car through it but, for some unexplained reason, not a bicycle. So, the ride means going down into town and back up to the college. Going down, I was aware of being tail-gated by man on a racer who sped past at the earliest opportunity. Further along, going uphill, I managed to catch up despite my load, despite his nose on the handlebars and bum in the air, and overtook with relative ease. I never saw hide nor hair of him after that.

So, the question is; is it better to have a bike that gets you downhill faster or one that gets you uphill easier? I'll leave that philosophical conundrum with you.