Jogle Day Eight: “Keeping on, Keeping on”
After a memorable night of music, conversation, food and drink, I awoke to see the welcome sight of blue skies out of the bedroom window.
Sadly they didn't last. After a late breakfast (bacon and egg sandwich) I started getting the bike ready and noticed that all was not well with the back wheel.
A few days before I had noticed a strange noise (a sort of “pink, pink, pink” sound). I eventually narrowed this down to the rear brake slightly rubbing against the tyre, the back wheel having picked up a slight buckle somewhere along the way.
A bit of adjustment and all was well. I did thoroughly inspect the tyre at the time and found no problem except some slight wear. I continued on my way and thought nothing of it until the morning of day eight a few days later.
The tyre wear was now becoming a split, with the tyre starting to overhang the wheel, presaging an eventual puncture. Not wanting to wait until this happened randomly, I went to a local bike shop and bought a new tyre (Beth was kind enough to drive me there). I replaced the faulty one and re-oiled the chain for the second time this trip - in fact by the time w got back from the bike shop, Andy had the bike up on the bike stand and had the rear wheel off ready for me to replace the tyre.
This was another example of three things about the ride -
1.People have been amazingly generous with their time and hospitality along the way.
2.With all the help I have had, I certainly can't declare the ride was unsupported.
3.I really did need that spare tyre I left behind in London all those days ago.
After this problem, I started very late into day eight. By now the weather had changed and had reverted to the rain and wind of the previous day - the wind was stronger and almost directly from the south. This made slow going for most of the day, a shame as I had been looking forward to blasting along on the flat roads through Cheshire.
i rode through Mobberly, aware that I was riding through countryside from Alan Garner stories (sad that I had neither the time, energy or foresight to divert through Alderly Edge), the roads I took overall weren't bad and I think this would have been a great and restful ride were it not for the challenging headwind and constant rain.
Thinking back,this is already the day I remember least, it just being a steady right against the weather (not really bad enough to term a constant battle but persistent enough to be an overriding feature of the day). At this point I was glad that Bryony had not joined me for this ride as originally planned - this would have been a downright miserable day for her - was hoping we would have an enjoyable ride to share.
I remember some bits, I remember getting lost in Crewe and how pretty Market Drayton looked but much of the rest of the day is a wet and windy blur.
My time estimate for completion kept shifting backwards, from originally hoping to be in Shifnal and my parent's house for 5pm, I eventually reached there for just before 7.30pm.
Not the best day but was good to complete the day (this was almost bang on 666 miles completed. Oddly appropriate).
Was good to see Bryony at the end of the ride (especially after more than a week (the last time I saw her was being waved off in London eight days and more than 600 miles ago) and enjoy a good meal with my parents - had just missed my sister Kathryn, sadly by the time I got there.
In the night I could hear rain and wind and hoped it would clear for the ride next day to Hereford that I was to share with Bryony.
Sadly they didn't last. After a late breakfast (bacon and egg sandwich) I started getting the bike ready and noticed that all was not well with the back wheel.
A few days before I had noticed a strange noise (a sort of “pink, pink, pink” sound). I eventually narrowed this down to the rear brake slightly rubbing against the tyre, the back wheel having picked up a slight buckle somewhere along the way.
A bit of adjustment and all was well. I did thoroughly inspect the tyre at the time and found no problem except some slight wear. I continued on my way and thought nothing of it until the morning of day eight a few days later.
The tyre wear was now becoming a split, with the tyre starting to overhang the wheel, presaging an eventual puncture. Not wanting to wait until this happened randomly, I went to a local bike shop and bought a new tyre (Beth was kind enough to drive me there). I replaced the faulty one and re-oiled the chain for the second time this trip - in fact by the time w got back from the bike shop, Andy had the bike up on the bike stand and had the rear wheel off ready for me to replace the tyre.
This was another example of three things about the ride -
1.People have been amazingly generous with their time and hospitality along the way.
2.With all the help I have had, I certainly can't declare the ride was unsupported.
3.I really did need that spare tyre I left behind in London all those days ago.
After this problem, I started very late into day eight. By now the weather had changed and had reverted to the rain and wind of the previous day - the wind was stronger and almost directly from the south. This made slow going for most of the day, a shame as I had been looking forward to blasting along on the flat roads through Cheshire.
i rode through Mobberly, aware that I was riding through countryside from Alan Garner stories (sad that I had neither the time, energy or foresight to divert through Alderly Edge), the roads I took overall weren't bad and I think this would have been a great and restful ride were it not for the challenging headwind and constant rain.
Thinking back,this is already the day I remember least, it just being a steady right against the weather (not really bad enough to term a constant battle but persistent enough to be an overriding feature of the day). At this point I was glad that Bryony had not joined me for this ride as originally planned - this would have been a downright miserable day for her - was hoping we would have an enjoyable ride to share.
I remember some bits, I remember getting lost in Crewe and how pretty Market Drayton looked but much of the rest of the day is a wet and windy blur.
My time estimate for completion kept shifting backwards, from originally hoping to be in Shifnal and my parent's house for 5pm, I eventually reached there for just before 7.30pm.
Not the best day but was good to complete the day (this was almost bang on 666 miles completed. Oddly appropriate).
Was good to see Bryony at the end of the ride (especially after more than a week (the last time I saw her was being waved off in London eight days and more than 600 miles ago) and enjoy a good meal with my parents - had just missed my sister Kathryn, sadly by the time I got there.
In the night I could hear rain and wind and hoped it would clear for the ride next day to Hereford that I was to share with Bryony.