~o~
One minute it was 4 o'clock. The next it was 7am. Where do I queue for a refund for my missing three hours?
A warm and sunny day demands another ride. Some rain will fall every day in the next week. The traffic is lighter on Sundays. But where shall I go?
I had the crazy idea to go for a ride on my trike. A quick tour down the drive and back confirmed I could still ride it. The skinny Schwalbe Durano tires quickly responded to the track pump.
The problem was the riding position. While the dropped handlebars are just above the saddle height. My nose felt as if it was rubbing on the front tire. While my hands were on the brake hoods. I have an ultra-short stem and the reach still feels extreme! With my bum sticking up in the air. Though it certainly isn't. The snap taken from the security camera shows I am very upright indeed! I cannot tolerate much weight on my hands any more.
I should have had the trike converted to straight bars. When I had planned to. Unfortunately the Morris was playing up badly at the time. With the engine regularly cutting out. Demanding several, emergency rescues. So I had to cancel my appointment with the LBS in Assens. I tried fitting the Moustache handlebars but all the cables were far too short. With no idea if they would even work with road brifters. Millimeters cable pull, per click etc.
In the past I would have just ordered all the parts online and done the job myself. Without a second thought. I never needed the help of a bike shop mechanic until recently. Now I seem to have fallen behind the times on gear and braking technology. I understand there is a poor crossover between MTB and Road gear. With electrical, mechanical and/or hydraulics all adding to the complexity.
Then there is the matter of choosing cassettes. The Trykit rear axle loop has limited room for today's larger sprockets. 36 teeth from distant memory. Though the number of gears is not a problem on the universal cassette carrier. Nominally Shimano. Not the smaller Campag. I seriously doubt that the Reynolds 953, stainless steel, front fork knows how to accept a modern disk brake. Could it cope with the unexpected loads?
9.00 72F/22C. So it's back to the e-bike for the moment. Having wasted another 45 minutes waffling. Instead of getting ready. The spare battery has been on charge all morning. And no, I still haven't decided where to go! There are so many choices and I have been everywhere within reach. At least a dozen times. Perhaps hundreds.
9.30 Had a shower and dressed in my best bibs. Greased the chamois, morning coffee. Now it has clouded over and the hedges are moving. A foolish thought about riding to a more distant flea market has been cancelled. They are closed today.
10.00 Finally ready!
12.35 78F/26C. Back from a 50km ride. I headed east for a change. A route full of nostalgia. Places we went together frequently in the car. It was warm but the wind increased steadily.
~o~
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