View across the green to the parish church.Thank God for the iPhone. Why? Because, when it comes to clocks going backwards or forwards, as they did today – they went forward – the iPhone did it automatically, I discovered as I went to check the time. In other words, had I set my alarm for 0600hrs (which I didn't) then I would have been woken up at the real 0600hrs, the 0600hrs of BST (British Summer Time). This, of course, is all academic as I woke up at '7am' (according to my less sophisticated clock radio), Andy wasn't going cycling today and, while I thought it was going to be crap weather, I drew back the curtain and discovered a clear and fresh looking day.
There are things to do on Sunday so, rather than a long one, I resolved to call Jon and see if he fancied meeting up on Woodmansterne Green. I'd forgotten all about my gear problem, but remembered it as I pumped up my slow puncture. The last time I'd been on the bike, the problem had resolved itself and I figured the reason the gears started working again yesterday had something to do with giving the bike a good shake.
I had to physically pick the bike up and put it on the train at Merstham railway station yesterday. I had to pick it up again to haul it over the railway bridge at Sanderstead and I bounced it down the stairs on the other side of the platform. Such shaking must have shifted something as the bike was working fine from Sanderstead station to home, so out I went this morning, confident that the problem was solved and that, if it occured again I'd just ride the bike over some rough ground and shake it to its senses.
After yesterday's mammoth ride (mammoth in the sense that it was new and unexplored territory, not mammoth in distance terms) Woodmansterne was fine for me and Jon said he was quite happy to ride to the green. So we met around 0930 hrs, later than usual, had a bottle of Vittel mineral water and a Kellogg's breakfast bar each and then cycled back to our respective homes.
