I recently changed jobs and my plan is to travel so far by train to work get off and do about a 10 mile ride in and then home initially to build up again. The full ride to work is about 26 miles so the plan is to get up to speed and gradually build in a few full ones then there and back till im doing that daily. However as I mentioned I didn't want to do that on my touring bike.
Well yesterday I had some success and I won a used Boardman Comp for the sum of £226.00 after a brief conversation via email I travelled over to pick it up. We all know the horror stories you get about ebay purchases (stolen bikes etc..), I have turned up previously to find a rusting pile of scrap...
Well on this occasion I was met by a real gent, and a keen cyclist called Peter, he had been getting over an injury and just bought himself a new bike with electronic shifters; my first look at them close up. I have to say the geek inside me liked the idea but the cyclist in me felt that it kind of takes away some of the skill/pride, so for me the jury is still out. I am going to ask Peter if he will do an entry about his experiences with the new shifters.
Anyhow I digress, Peter was a pure gent, the bike was exactly as described and in great condition; he had fitted a new rear tyre (shwalbe marathon plus) and handed me another one brand new. He essentially saved me a hell of a lot of cash on new tyres, it was a generous gesture.
Despite the late hour, Peter made me feel really welcome and suffered my curiosity about his new bike, we have mentioned it and hopefully we are going to get a road ride in together!
I will be posting some pics of the bike later this week suffice to say I just needed to add a rear light and I put some new pedals on (shimano spd sl) and it was pretty good to go.
I took it out this afternoon and did abot 8 - 10 miles it worked perfectly and I really enjoyed it, I need to do a little more tweaking on the setup, the seat needs raising and the handlebar angle needs adjusting. I am going to give it a proper service in the week clean and lubricate the chain and other parts etc..
Anyhow, here is a picture of Peter on one of his rides in spain 400 miles!
Sometime this week I will post some pics of the bike. I am also going to put up a page for my training diary, I have put on loads of weight after my last trip and enforced rest so I have a lot of work to do if I am going to be in shape for my next trip, to give you an idea I am probably equal to the two guys above :-)
Also a quick thought, I would like to do my next trip for charity so if anyone is involved in a charity and they are prepared to help organise the charity side, send me a message: darknewt@systems-engineer.info.
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