Ruth’s Diary of a novice. 30 Days of Biking : day 1

April 1, 2014 by waterrat77 4 Comments

Things have not got off to a good start in my new two wheeled world. My van broke, there was a dead goose on the towpath, it was raining and my tyres were all squidgy. These things might not seem relevant to the experienced cyclist…but let me explain. As I live on the top of a mountain (well it’s a hill really but on a bike it seems like a mountain to me) I decided that getting into biking up a 1 in 4 on a daily basis was not going to happen – therefore I bought a folding bike. Genius….drive to hill top (or bottom) and ride in undulating loveliness…. but then the van broke.

So…. free wheeled the van to the garage with bike folded neatly in the back and cycled from the garage to my office past the dead goose. I could have left it there (the ride, not the goose) but I thought a 200 metre ride wasn’t really in the spirit of things on day 1, so I set off along the towpath (it’s flat-ish) only to discover that my tyres were squidgy. My bike is fab – the pump’s in the seat – how cool is that – but unfortunately as I have never used the pump (or the bike really) before, some widget or other appears to be missing off the end of the pump thing. The best high street bike shop in the universe was closed for stock taking, but the best alternative bike shop in the Universe, nattily named Cycle:Recyle, produced a rather splendid looking pump and sorted me out. After enrolling on their soon-to-be-held bike maintenance course and trading in my Dickensian style cap, bought in Spitalfields market, for a proper helmet, I managed to complete a 40 minute ride before work without more ado.

DO I GET A MEDAL??? I feel like I need one, for courage in the face of a dead goose and perseverance in the face of a techie nightmare. If any of you experienced bikers are now laughing at me, I challenge you to tell me what a slob knob is – in the diving world I am a knowledgeable old fish.