Well geocities are turning off ftp access to their freebie sites soon, so this blog may well be prematurely terminated for reasons other than my amnesia. I had something interesting to write today but it’s slipped my mind now. There was something about sexism, something about web application engineering and something else… Ah well. The search for REALLY cheap, good hosting continues, halfheartedly.
So this mor-fternoon I went to look at a bike. I’d seen this Scott C-2 (I think) in the window of the local bike shop, Cycle Heaven. It turned out to be 450 quid. I don’t know where I stand with bikes: when I was younger I used to go on touring holidays with my folks and had a good quality Dawes. I rode drop-handlebar bikes throughout school and university, though after leaving home they became 60 quid heaps from second-hand stores (there were many of these in Sarfend where I spent some of my malformative years). At uni, I had two bikes, an Emmelle Paris - Roubaix which was 120 quid and a fine machine. Not too heavy, but excellent geometry, good handling, and after 2 years of abuse, a 8 quid service brought it up to good as new. Then it was nicked. Maybe I’ll put all the neighborhood stuff up here one day… The other was a mystery heap, that I found by the shops in that same neighborhood. I think I was going to the chip shop and there was this old looking black enamelled bike with two VERY pringled wheels but otherwise most bits on it. The frame had snapped apart on a weld and the thing had obviously been clobbered from behind very hard. I left it there, but two weeks later it was still in exactly the same position so I took it home and restored it. That’s been my daily ride ever since, been restored twice and fitted with a few different lighting and saddle arrangements, often pulled off abandoned bikes from skips etc. I like to think it was incredibly cheap but really I’ve put in too much time and at least 150 quid over the years so it might have been more cost effective to just keep buying 50 quid bikes…
Anyhow, so I think I want a nice bike. Over the years with this sit-up-and-beg bike I have come to appreciate upright position (you can wear jeans and still ride comfortably!) Mudguards (what is an all-terrain bike if you can’t ride it through puddles?!), hub gears and chain guard, although the old bike did not have one of these. The Scott comes close -7 speed hub gear, full mudguards, straight handlebar. With carrier, bungee straps and chainguard it comes to 525 quid. Urk! I was just about to go for it with the next frame size up from the one he had in the shop, when he asked if I had ever considered a Dutch Tourer. Are you kidding? These are fantastic bikes! He showed me a Gazelle Orange, which has fully enclosed chain, 7-speed hub gear, hub brake, skirt guards (though it’s a man’s frame) carrier, automatic rear light, bungee straps, pump, large soft sprung saddle, halogen headlight, dynamo, bell, stand, and quick-release adjustable handlebars for sit-up-and-beg or getting the head down in windy conditions. This comes in at 610 quid though, which is more than I spend on my car…
Snapped the crank off my bike earlier this week. I came off it during the icy spell and bent the crank, so I just bent it back and hastily scribbled a mental note on the back of a mental envelope to give it some TLC and make sure it was ok. It must have slipped down the back of my mental radiator cos I didn’t do it, and then in town on Tuesday I leant on it and heard an almighty crack… I thought the hub gear had gone (again) but looking down there was no pedal and only half a crank1 I was in the middle of heavy traffic on the way to a doctor’s appointment at the time so I just left the pedal in the middle of the road and did a rather amusing lop-sided comedy pedalling motion the rest of the way.
Felt like cr@ this morning when I woke… the gorgeous weather is a help but I’m still not right. I’ve decided to take today ‘properly’ easy (Instead of not working but thinking I should, I’m not even thinking I should today) and really sort out some of the extra-curricular things that are bothering me. Like how much money have I really got? I have this cycle I go round (1) sort out finances (2) feel really flush (3) spend loads of cash (4) forget to reassess finances (5) spend loads more cash (6) feel guilty about not checking finanaces and begin to fear learning the truth (7) spend loads more cash (8) be poor. Then the cycle begins again. I have a feeling I’m at 6 at the moment. It would be great to add up what I have and don’t have, so that I can skip straight back to 1, missing out the miserable time at 8.