Sunday Cycle

Today was the day that I took Dawn out on her new bike.

I got a rusty old heap from the recycling centre and pumped up the tyres which seemed to hold despite the obvious age of the rubber judging by the cracks in all places. The first thing I tested was the brakes and I soon worked out that the left hand operates the back brake (safe) while the right hand operates the front brake (accident assist) then I oiled the chain and made sure that the cogs had a coating to cover all the obvious rust.

I have managed to get the 6 back gears working but the chain remained firmly on the smallest front cog, so I was able to go from slow to slightly faster, which is all I needed today. Sixth gear was plenty fast enough to keep up with Dawn, who did not dare use her gears until the journey home. She has now gained in confidence and is happier since I moved her chain to her smallest front cog. She was able to pedal uphill on the way home.

We both walked our bikes up the final steep hill back home but we hope that by the summer at least one of us will feel fit enough to cycle all the way up.

The Mill on the Exe was our cycling stop, where we indulged in a pint of diet coke each.

As a reward for all the effort Dawn put in, and on seeing her glowing rosy cheeks, I took her to the Double Locks for lunch, where we enjoyed an hour's wait for food (we were warned in advance) before enjoying a relaxing afternoon at home.

Now to look at that other cogset and see if I can get all 18 gears working.

I will have a much better chance of killing myself then.

:)