A slow puncture ruins the day...but not for long

The great thing about taking Friday off is that you wake up on Saturday thinking it's Sunday and then you realise it's only Saturday and you feel fantastic knowing there's another day before you have to head back to work. Not that I find going to work a hassle, it's just nice being off and not thinking about it.

On Saturday, later than usual, I headed for Oxted in Surrey, thinking it was Sunday but knowing it was Saturday. I left the house around a quarter to eleven, something like that and it took me roughly 54 minutes to reach my destination: Caffe Nero. I'd cycled along Clarks Lane and turned right into White Lane and then, as I rode down the steep hill I figured I could easily cycle up it, but then decided no, not today and besides, riding to Oxted, sitting in Caffe Nero and sipping a large green tea in the hot sunshine was enough entertainment for me. 

A chilled ride to Oxted on Saturday led me to Caffe Nero and a green tea!

The ride to Oxted was fine but because it was Saturday and not Sunday there was a fair amount of traffic on the 269, which was a little bit unsettling. I considered riding back through Woldingham but in the end didn't bother, even if the 269 was just as tricky on the return ride. It was, of course, later than usual and there was more traffic on the road. 

I reached home around 1pm, had a light lunch (a salad sandwich of all things and a yoghurt (make that two) and not forgetting another green tea. And now, as the huge conifer at the top of our garden casts its long shadow across the lawn (it's almost half past three in the afternoon) I'm considering doing one of the many chores that need to be done around the house. Tomorrow I ride early to Westerham to meet Andy.

To Westerham!

Today, Sunday, I left the house around 0806 and followed the usual route to Westerham, along the 269, which was fine. It took me 55 minutes, a little longer than last week's 52 minutes but hey ho! Andy was there and we chatted about bike stuff covering subjects like the London-Edinburgh-London event, which is happening now. It's around 1,000 miles, 500 each way and it seems like a hard slog. Then we discussed Timmy Mallet who has just finished his mammoth round the UK coastline trip, travelling clockwise (as opposed to Mike Carter's anti-clockwise trip). I think he arrived home yesterday as there's video on Twitter of his emotional arrival back home. Andy said he was a little emotional after his first Ride London and I'd imagine after spending four or five months on the bike, travelling around the coastline of the country, being a free agent, enjoying your own company, meeting some interesting people and generally enjoying the ride, it would be weird coming home, getting used to not being on the bike, getting used to not being that free agent, not arriving in a strange town, living the hotel life, but yes it would be emotional too and for many reasons, one being actually doing it, or having done it. Quite an achievement so I'd imagine there would be plenty of emotions running wild. Mallett was a little tearful when he saw that his family and friends had turned out to welcome him home and I must take my hat off to him for doing the ride and for living the dream (it's certainly my dream and probably, like all of my dreams, destined to be dashed on the rocks of reality sooner or later). When is there ever time to ride a bike around the coast of the UK? Mind you, there are other things to do that might be a little more realistic. There's a guy on Twitter called Will, as in "Will is too honest to be an MP" and he seems to run wild camping-based bike trips. Now that might be fun for a few nights.

Slow puncture!

We eventually decided it was time to head home and all was well until I noticed a slight wobble. I get the feeling I had that same wobble on the ride down, but this time it seemed more pronounced and yes, it was. I had a puncture. I advised Andy to carry on and he did as I slowed to halt and tried to figure out how I was going to play things. The puncture seemed like a slow one, so there were options. I could try pumping it up and seeing if I could get home or I could fix it by the roadside. I pulled up on to the side of the road and thought things through. In the end, I decided to ride back in to Westerham, the plan being another cup of tea and then fix the bike on the green. In the end I didn't buy any tea. I took the wheel off, took out the inner tube, pumped it up and tried to listen for the hiss. There wasn't one. I'd need a sink of water to find this one, I thought, marching in to the Costa and discovering there was no plug in the sink. Fucking nightmare. Now what? I tried putting the inner tube close to my face but there was no breeze, nothing, leading me to the conclusion that I'd have to put the wheel back on the bike, pump it up and see if I could get home before it went down. I reckoned it was a very slow puncture and that I'd likely make it so that's what I did. It proved to be the right thing to do as it wasn't until I reached Church Way that the wobble returned and by the time I was outside of my own garage door I was still in one piece as I rolled the bike back in to the garage and went inside for something to eat, ie a salad sandwich of chopped watercress, tomato, onion and mayo on brown bread followed by some ginger-flavoured yoghurt and a banana smoothie. It was then time to fix the puncture. I turned over the bike in the garage, took off the wheel and removed the inner tube, plunged the latter into a bowl of cold water and lo and behold I found the puncture. Normally I fix punctures with "Leeches" but there don't appear to be any in the bike shops so I settled for 'Scabs' which don't look as if they're as good (only time will tell on that one I guess). It all worked and soon I had the wheel pumped up and back on the bike. All I can do now is wait and see how firm it is in the morning. If it's flat in the morning I'll be taking the train, but let's hope it won't be.

It's hot outside. In fact, the hot weather has been commonplace over the last few weeks and there's been no sign of any rain and no let-up on the heat. Long may it continue is what I say. I'm not one of those people who say a drop of rain will be good for the garden, that's far too Daily Mail for me; I'll leave phrases like that to my mum, but what I do wish is that I could go to the South Coast for a night or two and swim in the sea during the day, it's simply something I must do and soon, spend the day by the sea just chilling. I need to do this but don't really have anybody who feels the same way, which is a big shame. I have this idea of arriving fairly early, let's say 1000hrs. I'd bring the wind break and a cool box full of goodies, possibly a newspaper, definitely a book and a fully-charged radio and then sit there all morning, until about 1230hrs or 1300hrs. A lot depends on the tides. If it's high then a swim straightaway, if the tide is out then just chilling, listening to the radio, munching a sandwich or a Scotch egg, whatever I've brought along, and eventually, probably around 1600hrs start to consider going back to wherever I'm staying. The whole thing would then be repeated the following day and then I'd drive home happy. In many ways it's all I want and I certainly want to do it before the weather turns and everybody starts counting down to Christmas. It's already started: the BBC has announced some of the line-up for this year's Strictly Come Dancing, which is basically a countdown to Christmas. It'll be interesting to see how the greed merchants play it this year as there's a big cost of living crisis brewing and the last thing we'll all need is commercial television trying to tempt us with the thought of a new this or a new that; they can all fuck off. All I want to do is stare at the sea for a couple of days and I'll be happy and unstressed, not that I've been that stressed of late. I'm sleeping well, eating well and feel well, give or take, and I put it all down to cycling to work three days a week, upping my cycling from two to four days per week and tackling some big hills in the process. I'm definitely a little fitter and long may it continue.