Archive of January 2011
Hurrah! We made it!
Not so long ago I posted a link post contemplating an organised cycle run with the tandem club (South East London Region).
I thought I should post an update to say we managed the ride, and to quote from the email I sent the organiser:
just to let you know that we made it back and Ann and Tim arrived at
London Bridge along with us just around four to catch a train.
Our new front chain managed to detach itself from the idler as we began
our crossing of London Bridge and the chain was derailed as we descended
to the traffic lights. It almost felt as if the bike had decided we
ought to catch the train (which we had already decided to do!).
Tim very kindly laced the chain on again before I could get my rubber
gloves out - and advised us to take the initiative on catching a train
before they departed for theirs.
Many of the riders were at pains to tell us there were not usually so
many stops, but we were just busy taking it all in and I was impressed
by your organisation of the lunch stop and the general level of planning
and organisation. Everyone was most friendly and helpful; it was an
enjoyable ride for us despite the slightly chilly conditions.
As a new member of the tandem club I wanted you to have the positive
feedback since I know it is valuable best written now, before the week
begins and other things take over.
Hope to see you again on another ride with London South East or another
group soon (we had not realised the Sussex and Surrey groups overlapped)
So in addition to my literary blog posts there could be an increasing number of reviews of various rides, and if I do make posts on those I shall try and give informative tips and links to help learn from the journey as we made it.
In this instance the information I would impart is NOT to rely on the Greenwich Foot tunnel for a planned journey/. Not only were the stairs announced as out of order, but the lift failed on the day, which meant the main "pelleton" had to retrace their steps for Charlton House whilst we made a breakaway party with another couple on a recumbent tandem for London Bridge at dusk!
It was all very exciting for me and the last bit gave me a welcome chance to get a little pace and warm us up after a chilly day!
01:22 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: tandem, cycling, bicycle, olympics, Tandem Club UK, GreenwichSunday COULD be our FIRST Tandem Club ride
I do not have time to write much about it, but on Sunday there is a 20 mile run coming up with the tandem club (see link) which MAY be on!
I cannot begin to say how excited I am
and to commemorate it I am hopeful that we will make the investment in the much needed headsets so that I can describe everything as we go, though I think there will be plenty else if we cannot manage to get that sorted in time.
My biggest fear is that my best beloved Stoker is not feeling great and that we may not be able to find a dog sitter. I think I can help resolve the latter if neighbours are unavailable, and I think I can persuade her the twenty miles is not too too challenging, but the weather and her health are somewhat in the lap of the Gods...
I'm struggling to contain my excitement right now though, because we were looking into Rohloff hubs and all sorts of expensive and technical tandem geek things so the timing of this WOULD be perfect. Then again, I should tell myself, there will always be another one. I think patience would be a commendable thing to have in abundance as a tandem rider.
06:24 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Annie, bicycle, cyclingChrist On A Bike - the blog is dead, long live the blog.
Well, I am making this post to the blog using PHPMyAdmin, which is far from ideal - some while back I discovered my login stopped working and then more recently the database got borked by hosting updates....
Anyway, then I find Chyrp WAS dead in the water, but hopefully it might show signs of a revival or I may get to spend enough time to just fix the problem here. Meanwhile I have had a birthday and my best beloved brought me a domain, which you can see over here....
Though we shall have to see how it goes with making use of it.... This has ended up being a slightly geeky entry, but I wanted to post something to explain why it is possible the blog seems to have "ended" when in fact I am simply disempowered from updating due to borked software.
Life is seeming a bit muddled lately, though happily there was time for me to read "A Pregnant Widow" over Christmas and finish a number of other books I had left unfinished from reading group. Hard to describe "A Pregnant Widow" to anyone who is not familiar with Martin Amis and his work. I would hesitate to suggest it is, quite simply, a return to "The Rachael Papers" from an adult perspective... With a little bit of "London Fields" thrown in...
Anyway, if you have a taste for Amis's writing then you'll find it a "hoot" and if not then I rather doubt it is an introduction that would leave you feeling like reading another of his works.
On the cycling front, watch this space (or eclectic.me depending on whether I ever fix the blog here!) for developments with Daisy, who may be retired a lot sooner than we expected, or maybe upgraded with a Rohloff hub... at this stage the jury is out although I should dearly love to find an outlet retaining tandems that could allow a thorough set of trial runs on various configurations. More likely there would need to be a special holiday with the express purpose of buying a tandem at the end of it.... Exciting as it may be that totally changes the amount it is going to cost and therefore means likely another year to "rub along" with Daisy....
12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: Chyrp!, reading group, tandem, Daisy, Martin Amis, holiday, coding