You'd never believe it ...

So I realise that this first posting is a little confusing, but I'm adding bits of stuff that I'd written before I found this blog spot. Not that important, but it IS the very beginning of my journey ...

Monday 12th March

I'm thinking that sometime soon I need to get on a bicycle - something I haven't done in so many years that I don't want to count them. Ah well - all part of the challenge, eh? I wonder why I chose a cycling challenge. Maybe that's why - to do something different. Having said that, not all is going badly. I have actually been doing some training. My PTPS (that's Personal Trainer with Patience of Saint) has been fab and I'm a lot fitter and certainly stronger than I was two months ago. Gosh, I can even do a sit-up! I've lost the weight I needed to lose, too and am ready now to get down to some serious thought about training (notice use of word 'thought'!). Ordered a few books and maps today of routes around Sussex so I can start some planning - and a kind member on the forum pointed me in the direction of a training programme, so I'm all set. Just need a bike ...


Saturday 17th March

Got my bike! Yep! Getting serious now. Actually, I was thrilled to log onto the forum and see that everybody wasn't buying brand-new mega bikes for training, so I'm going along with that and I dug my old bike out of the cupboard. Still in perfect nick, apart from a couple of flat tyres, so I trotted off to EVANS - and can't think of a bad word to say about them. Maybe they're more expensive but it was worth it for the treatment - Wow! Service! I was all prepared for utmost humiliation as I mused on 26 varities of bicycle pump (so the world has evolved since I was last on my pink 3-gear revelation) - but I got nothing but loads of really useful tips and discussion and was made to feel so comfortable I actually plucked up the courage to ask the more ridiculous questions about cycling (like the correct height of handle bars for long distances, etc. etc. - silly, eh?) The responses I got were nothing short of FANTASTIC and I even left the shop feeling vaguely confident about what I was doing!
So - next entry will be right after my first 'outing' - if I'm not in hospital! Oh - did I tell you that I got left out of the loop for some correspondence from Cycle India which I only found out about quite by accident on the forum? My 'package' went astray. Nothing too important in it - just details like CHANGE OF DATES, training weekends, etc. etc. - you know - minor stuff LOL
OK - bye for now. Happy St Patrick's Day.

MONDAY, 26 March 2007

You'd never believe it?

Nope. And neither did the Very Nice Man in Evans Cycle Shop, but it's true! Now, I know I said that I'd have been up and cycling by the time I posted again BUT it hasn't quite gone to plan. I'm a step closer, though. Does that count? Anyway ...

There I was, all geared up (no pun intended) to sort out my punctured tyres today. Got the kit, got some trendy tyre levers (no more kitchen knives!), got a brand new bicycle pump (I won't tell you how many combinations I went through to get the right 'type' set up, with all the bits in the right places) - even got the wheel off and the tube out!

So I'm all set - and I pump and pump and pump and listen for air (even turned off the radio) and run my hand around the tube to see if I can feel any air coming out of it. No joy. Out comes large basin full of water. I pump - and put various parts of the tube into the water, looking for air bubbles. No joy. The only air I can hear is the air escaping from the pump. So here comes the bit when I think I'm going nuts: I pump up the tube and lean really hard on the pump, holding it completely compressed - and the tube remains filled with air!

Can't be. Must be doing something wrong. Going nuts (not surprising). I fill the bath. Throw tube into bath and check for air bubbles. Nope. I was right the first time - the only sound of air is coming from the pump.

Now I'm pissed off. So I abandon all hope of maintaining any dignity whatsoever in Evans Cycle Shop and, for the third time in 10 days, I march down the hill, pump and purse in hand.

He's lovely, the young lad who agrees to save me from utter humiliation. He thinks I'm mad but not entirely stupid (he's not sure, though). He only half believes my story about the pump, since I've also admitted to not having one iota of an idea of what I'm doing. I've also admitted to getting help from Google - to mend a puncture, for God's sake? What am I like??? Anyway, he maintains his composure, for which I'm forever grateful, and admits that it'd be very helpful if I bring along the tube. Twenty minutes later I return, tube in hand, waiting to be duly embarassed and registered as a closet blonde -but lo and behold, he confirms that I have managed to buy the one and only pump which deflates inner tubes. Can you believe it? Trust me! But the good news is that he furnished me with a new pump, which we tried and tested at the shop. He pumped up my deflated tube and we discovered that there were indeed no punctures. What made us really laugh, though, was when I asked him how we were going to get the air OUT of the tube, so that I could return it to the tyre of my bike. Easy, he said, taking up my original bicycle pump and attaching it to the tube - and instantly the entire tube deflated!!

I cannot tell you how relieved I was to return home and simply pump up both tyres AND to know that I'm not really that stupid - or insane!