Good Friday? Why is it so called? Well, it's good to be off on a Friday and that's a fact and it's even better when there's a bank holiday Monday after the weekend. So, if you're like me, certainly at the moment, you slob about doing nothing; and I'll admit, I've done nothing all morning despite the fact that I promised myself a walk. It's now, what, almost 1300hrs and I've been swanning about, not even that, I've been slobbing and I've just eaten a turkey roll with mustard. Very tasty. Sitting around, chilling, chatting, doing bugger all but with that constant fret that perhaps I should have done something, gone for that walk, taken the bike out, I don't know, in fact, now I come to think about it, I have a puncture that needs fixing and I need to get out there and fix it. But no, I didn't bother and when you consider it's a front wheel puncture (no way as difficult as a rear wheel puncture, then you'll wonder why the hell I didn't just get out there and do it. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer.
On Saturday morning I felt that I needed to get out there and fix the puncture. My original plan was to get out there early, around 0700hrs, but I had a late night and I woke up late and, well, I didn't do it until later in the morning. Andy had reminded me on Friday that we'd talked about meeting in Oxted, at 0830hrs and that he only had a window of half an hour before he had to go somewhere. I figured it wasn't going to work and at around midnight I texted him to say I'd probably go later in the day. Sadly, I didn't (in true slob fashion) but I was out there doing the puncture around 0900 and had I fixed it in time I might have gone out for a ride to Oxted. In fact, I wanted to ride to Oxted, I needed to be sitting in a coffee shop reading for half an hour ahead of a ride up Titsey Hill and that feeling of achievement I always get when I reach the top. But no, and there were things to do. A fortnight ago I pulled out a dead tree from the top of the garden. On Saturday morning it was still there and the thought of going out there and sawing it all into small logs was, to say the least, daunting. But guess what? I did go out there and I did chop it all into logs and now there are little piles of wood waiting to leave the premises.
But how about discussing that puncture? Rather annoyingly it took a long time. The tyre immediately sprung off the wheel and the inner tube was tucked inside. I pulled it out, forced the valve through and off the wheel and then set about finding the puncture. It was fairly easy and I didn't need a bowl of water or anything of that sort. I fixed the problem and then set about getting the tyre back on the wheel, which seemed like an impossible task as it appeared to be far bigger than the wheel. Eventually I did it and then I set about what I hoped would be an easy task: putting the front wheel back on the bike. It normally is a piece of cake but for some reason it wasn't going to be easy; the problem was securing the wheel to the bike. As I turned the nuts and the quick-release lever I found that, when secure, the wheel itself would not spin freely. The quick-release lever acted as a kind of brake and the wheel would only be free-wheeling if it was barely securing the wheel to the bike. I messed around for a little while and then called Cycle King. I rode the bike with the wheel barely attached to the frame, a feather flick of the quick release lever would have detached the wheel from the bike. When I reached the shop, the guy fixed it within seconds, it was all to do with the brake pads, I don't know, I was just glad it was fixed. I then spent a huge amount of time chatting to the guy about bikes and it was great. Cycle King has an extremely wide range of bikes from low-end Ammaco and Salcano bicycles through to GTs and Raleighs and other brands. For the sort of riding , I do, any of the bikes in the store would do, be it with block brakes or hydraulics. I took a look at 'adventure' bikes, they have many other names and are basically dropped bar bicycles with nobbly tyres. I've never been comfortable with dropped bar bikes and I doubt I'll ever have one, but it's good to look at these machines. Salcano, incidentally, while known for their 'entry level' bikes, also go right to the top-of-the-scale. I was shown a decent mountain bike and yes, I would buy one, it was certainly a million times better than the bikes I own. There was also a new brand, HARO, that I hadn't seen before and that was very nice, a mountain bike, top of the range, not electric but still over £3,000.
I could have stayed there all day chatting about bikes, but I had to get back so I rode home on the fixed bike.
It was too late to ride to Oxted so I decided to get my exercise in the garden, sawing wood. It took all day and it was hard work, but I did it and, as I said earlier, there are neat piles of wood and logs in the garden awaiting transport to the local dump.
And now it's Easter Sunday and no, I'm not riding today either. Why? Big event up town and I can't wait but the last thing I want is to be stuck in the sticks with a puncture and unable to get back in time. I'll be going tomorrow, most likely to Westerham.
I'll sign off.
