arup’s blog

With the recent bad weather the roads have been getting worse and worse with increasing numbers of potholes. A couple of weeks ago I dented my front wheel but luckily it happened on the way home rather than on the way out somewhere. Then my front light started to malfunction. I think it had been leaking and so sometimes the switch wouldn’t work. Not good. Not good at all.

I thought to myself at the time that I need to get myself a new light but hesitated of course. But then last week I had the light in a side pocket in my cycle bag nad it fell out while I was heading West on the Brompton Road. I stopped on the side of the road to witness it being flattened by a series of white vans. Probably quite satisfying for the white vans but I reckon they didn’t even notice. When the traffic had cleared I ran across to collect the debris. It was actually still in one piece but totally useless. So no more excuses about getting a new front light.

A spot of online research showed that there were lots and lots of bike lights on the market and so many reviews. And some of them came with a very hefty price tag. Two hundred pounds for a bicycle headlight? I think not. I opted for a 1 watt light made by LifeLine which was under twenty pounds. But in the meantime I still needed one. So I borrowed one.

The thing is that the battery had drained in my bag! When it came time to cycle home from the university last Thursday, which is fourteen miles across town, I found that the light wasn’t working. I kept trying the switch but to no avail. Oh dear. So I cycled very cautiously until I was home. Quite nerve racking but at least my rear light was still working. I tried the light again the following day and it was working! I put fresh batteries in there just in case as the new one still hadn’t arrived.

The new one finally arrived on Tuesday accompanied by Wiggle jelly babies which always bring a smile to my face. It’s light, easy to fit and very bright. I think it’s waterproof and the switch is such as that it won’t come on in my bag and be drained when I need it. Got there in the end. Here’s to lighter sunny evenings when I don’t need lights.

Last Thursday my class at uni wasn’t running in the evening but I went there anyway during the day to use the computers and get some study done. But the room wasn’t as quiet as usual and lots of the people were talking. I put headphones on and listened to a bit of bassdrive but couldn’t really concentrate. So I decided to leave.

Just as I left the building it was pouring with rain but I didn’t want to hang around any longer. I also wanted to travel while it was still light rather than ride in the dark. But just before I got to Ealing, around about Ealing Common I hit a pothole and dented my front wheel. It was still spinning but hitting the brake pad on each revolution. Only a couple of miles further. Should be ok I thought. I slowed down a bit but kept it at a steady pace.

So why do you describe this as something that went well? Because the best is yet to come. Just hold on a second.

Only a few days prior to that I had replaced the brake pads because my rims or braking surfaces I should say had started to go a bit concave. That worried me. I had only replaced the rim last summer after I had neglected to keep an eye on rim wear and it had split. So I wasn’t going to ride this wheel any more even though a bit of simple truing would have fixed it.

I thought about where I could obtain a new rim in a couple of days and whether I should take public transport into town to buy a new rim. Online would be cheaper but wouldn’t be delivered in time. Then I set about working on one of my wheel orders and suddenly I remembered the two brand new wheelsets that I had under the bed.

These were wheels for my wheel shop on my wheel site but since I havent’ had any inquiries about them I decided to use one of the front wheels. But in the meantime order a new rim online.

This was on Saturday morning and not today but still worth a mention. I went to a housewarming party on Friday evening and it all started off in a very civilized manner with only a handful of guests sitting around a large coffee table sipping wine and munching on pretzels. But once the music started and more guests arrived things really kicked off. At one point I remember some people leaving to catch the last tube. At the time I remember thinking that it was quite early to worry about the last tube. The next thing I knew was that a lot of the guests had left and I was amongst a different handful that remained at the end, still dancing and nibbling on whatever food they could find. The total number finally dropped to four, including the host and pizzas went into the oven. At four in the morning we were eating pizza and making sleeping arrangements. Now that was a good party.

On the way home on Saturday which was about 10.00 am, so not long after going to sleep I found that I wasn’t really hung over at all and even managed to shop for dinner that night. I got a lot of client work completed but did need to put my head down in the late afternoon. Over forty years old, gets blind drunk and then suffers no hangover – how cool is that!