Sunday 17th September 2017.
After almost three months of being unable to ride I have at last managed a gentle couple of rides.
The first was only very short, just a couple of laps around the block. Today I managed close to six miles; from home to the Ropley roundabout and back. I am riding Tiny at present as he has front suspension forks and a sprung saddle post. These should help smooth out any bumps.
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| A newly spruced up Tiny. |
My long standing friends will be thinking "Tiny, I thought G'Man had sold him some years ago."
The answer to this is this; my very good friend Alex bought Tiny from me for his brother Andrew to ride. He has since discovered that Andrew had not ridden Tiny for some time and arranged for Tiny to be returned. Andrew came last Monday accompanied by Alex and Chris and after Tiny was secured in my garden room we all went to the Swan to celebrate. Interestingly it is almost exactly ten years ago that I first bought Tiny on 13/9/2007 for the princely sum of £281.94. (At that time I thought that was a lot to pay for a bike!)
Since last Monday I have pumped up the tyres, done a quick wash to remove the dust, quickly cleaned and re-oiled the chain and removed a little rust. Then on Thursday I ventured out. I was alarmed to discover how wobbly I was for the first few hundred yards but I soon got more confident and having done one lap went for a second. I found no problems with my back and although my legs were fine they did feel a little stiff the next day.
Today I did the longer effort. Here is my Map and Data for the ride:
I rode from home to the Ropley Roundabout. Gears used were all on the middle sprocket (38 teeth) whilst on the rear sprocket I used mainly 4 to 7 (between 15 to 28 teeth). I was pleased with my time which was very near to the time I did the same trip for the first time on Tiny almost exactly ten years ago on 2 Oct 2007 when I did it in 30 mins.
It was great to be back on the leader boards of both the Alresford Groupetta and Winchester CTC Strava, propping up the tables in both cases I suspect.
Now some 5 hours after the ride I am feeling good, though I suspect I might be a bit stiff in the morning.
Over the last three months I have had a great many visitors, in fact Mary and her husband Jeremy dropped in to see me just after lunch today. Last Monday I had the pleasure of entertaining John Moon and returning hospitality to Fiona another M2M friend. She came to stay the night before I took her to Portsmouth to join Nic and Julie en route to a coast to coast in Spain. In Portsmouth I was able to enjoy another reunion with Peter and David who were also on the M2M last year.
What a lot I've written after being dormant for so many weeks. I hope you all enjoy it and your own cycling.
Best wishes,
Gridironman.
