To faff, meaning to waste time dithering or fumbling about is, I think, quite a British expression closely associated with the U.S term of “dicking around”.
Faffing about is an undesirable activity that can blight the best intentions of the practical cyclist, it can actually be measured in terms of the time it takes from deciding that you will use the bike to make a particular journey to finally getting in the saddle and getting on your way. Faff can emanate from a multitude of sources; last minute tyre inflation and bike adjustments, searching for the cycle lock, helmet, spare inner tube and tools, water bottles, pump, lights, batteries, not to mention the incredible amounts of faff that electronic gadgets, trip computers, GPS receivers and smart phones all generate.
Throughout this blog I will look at ways that faff can be eliminated and how journeys on the bike can present the same level of convenience we associate with “jumping into the car” or “just nipping out” to the local shop.
Faff for me also includes time spent during the bike ride opening and closing bags repeatedly because one has forgotten to extract the dry gloves/ fully charged light/ snacks for the next section of the ride or indeed stash lock/money/phone etc after a visit to a shop or cafe,
ReplyDelete