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I’ve been struggling with a poorly fitting, unsuitable racer I’d received from freecycle, and went on an adventure to find a geocache yesterday. Well, I sort-of lost the bike, then when I found the bike I had lost a crank. At that moment, my mum phoned and so a lift home was arranged. We went via the tip to leave the bike gently at the side so that anyone who wants to buy a crank has a pretty good bike for themselves.

So I went and bought a new bike today. I popped in to the local bike shop around midday and told them I’d like to buy a bike. They told me that I had, fortunately, come to the right place. I told them my budget and they showed me a bike right on the top end of the budget. It was very nice. I had a look at a few more, but they were sadly lacking in things the higher up one had. Not that I was looking for fancy features and suspension… no, I’d rather a competent reliable bike without gimmicks and stuff. So I settled on the nice hybrid - almost like a mountain bike, but with road tyres at mountain bike pressures - suitable for roads, towpaths, easy bridleways, that sort of thing.

I asked if they could do anything with the price (with Dominic Littlewood in my mind’s ear at all times), and they said no, but they could do accessories at half price. I pointed out that since this was at the top of my budget, I had no money for accessories at half price or not. Then the silence. This is the bit where Mr. Littlewood says “KEEP QUIET”. So I did. The silence grew, and the awkwardness with it. Then they said… “Well, we could throw in and fit some mudguards if you’re happy to wait a few hours”. Hurrah!

So a few hours later, 4pm to be precise, I went in to pick my bike up. Very confidence inspiring… solid, responsive, handles beautifully at slow and high speeds alike. So I went for a potter. I made it to where I’d been pottering yesterday and thought… well, I suppose I could go along that nice track that goes over the M1. So I did.

Then since I was there, I thought, well, I suppose I could go into Shepshed. So I did.

Then I thought… well, it’s only a few miles to my mum’s house, so I could see if she’s in for a cuppa. She was. So I did.

After the cuppa, I started out home, and it was all going swimmingly until I rode over a thorn. The tyre was deflating slowly, and although I’d brought tools, I didn’t have a puncture repair kit or pump. When it was too soft to ride without damaging the tyre or rim, I started to push the bike (marked on the map). When it was too soft to push, I carried it. All the way to Halfords where I bought a repair kit and a pump. I figured it was going down slowly enough that I could just reinflate a few times to get me home, which I did… just in time to swap the bike for the car and pick up my friend for badminton.

Total biking stats:

Time: 2h 08m 23s
Calories burned: 1589
Distance: 17.4 miles
Top speed: 25mph

I’d forgotten how much I enjoy cycling - I used to live on bikes in the mid to late 90s (as well as most of the 80s). Damn good way to keep fit… beats the gym any time. I had the heart-rate monitor on the whole time and really had to hold myself back in order to stay within the best fat-burning zone. The temptation to whizz was very strong, but unfortunately unsustainable over long distances.