Posted on June 20, 2008 by jonners99
Once again Beth tottered off to work at 9 leaving me to play computer games and search for jobs. Cathy left at about 10:30, hopefully she will visit again soon. When Beth got back from work we tidied a bit and had lunch. After eating we walked to Richmond park and decided to rent bikes for a couple of hours for £10 each. Mine was pretty good, the seat was comfortable and the gears worked relatively well although they were slightly confusing. One had the gear up on the top and the gear down on the bottom and the other was the reverse of this so I got a tad confused. The cycle was relaxing to begin with but we both realised at about a quarter distance just how unfit we both are. It was made a lot worse by the fact that we stopped. Stopping I learned quickly was annoying. Immediately after this it was made worse still by a very large hill which if we hadn’t just stopped we could have gotten further up with momentum. Instead I got about 10 metres further than beth and then we were both walking it. This was followed by a lovely twisty section through trees. We finally came to the downhill section which was good fun and allowed us time to relax. At 2/3 distance we stopped a lay in the sun for a while. Not bad we thought, we had cycled 2/3s of Richmond Park in an hour. I then made the mistake of leading Beth up a hill we had to walk the bikes up as the main path disappeared. We found ourselves at Richmond gate at a pedestrian only exit so we had to lift the bikes over the fence and walk round… oops.
The cycle back to Roehampton gate was easy and relaxing being mainly downhill. The end stretch was especially nice. We arrived back after an hour and a half and decided to do the last stretch again. We began to head back there via the road only I found road cycling really tricky, it wasn’t even much of a hill, I guess I must have been in the wrong gear but I felt a bit pathetic. Then when we did the last downhill stretch again my rear axle popped off locking the back brake at quite a high speed. I got the bike stopped and Beth went back and picked up the main bit. Luckily we weren’t too far from the bike place so I just walked it back. I joked with Beth that I could have died but lets be honest I couldn’t. On the plus side it was a useful experience for me, I know what it feels like when the rear axle flies off (according to Beth it really did fly very quickly in either direction) and I also found a very good saddle and helmet. Beth cannot say the same, her helmet annoyed her a little and she is currently complaining that her backside hurts from saddle sore. A good afternoon though and one that made us feel a bit fitter after we had done it. I am about to add some photos.
In the evening we had a BBQ together in which we had salmon and corn, it was good and not too big or unhealthy, until we had some celebratory cake which may have regained the calories lost biking. Today made me want to get a bike even more so I look forward to getting one when we go to Canterbury although it may help to learn to ride on roads better. After eating and tidying up we watched two episodes of Doctor Who and went to bed relatively early and worn out.
Filed Under: Daily Diary, University
