Did you get an octopus? 🤓
No a goldfish in a plastic bag
I got neither thanks; for all the legitmate moral reasons that one might expect..
It was a lovely day, I cycled in earlier via willow walk to collect something from town, didn't take any photos sadly, I was in the zone!
It was; glad you got out. Willow walk used to be my main route into town; always a pleasure and so much nicer to ride on now it's been resurfaced
I reckon you could make that bridge jump...
Thanks for your confidence - I'll try tomorrow. While I'm sure it's a dead cert, please don't feel at all guilty if by some freak act of chance I end up with life-changing injuries
So, today has been a mixed bag. A bit like a big bag of yummy malteasers with the odd dog-egg lurking amongst them..
The ride in was sublime; no sausages as I was a bit late but that left time for a comfortable and leisurely waft; necessary after the weekend's exertions..
The weather was fantastic, my fellow commuters happy and polite for the most part and I arrived at work feeling pretty good; save for the fact I couldn't help another cyclist with a broken chain as the appropriate tool was in my other rucksack. This is something else I might have to double up on, if for no other reason than I don't want to lose my reputation for "ask wafter, he's probably got one on him"..
A day later of conspicuous and awkward caffeine-intolerant unproductivity in the hotbox, it was time for home and I was once more on the bike. The prospect seemed less than appealing so I headed out towards Littlemore and Kennington to extend the route; again traveling at a nice sedate pace.
As I minced aimlessly on my mood continued to decline; although this was gradually offset by the surroundings and the ability to get a few photos to remind myself of how lucky I am to be in this environment..
I found myself out the back of Marston on the way to uni parks. Signage seems entirely legit and not at all like the construct of some swivel-eyed Daily Mail loon that directs cyclists towards a pit that's been crudely covered with branches and leaves..
Due to the cycle path to Marston being closed for repairs to the bridge riders are redirected through the usually-bike-hostile uni parks; so I took a few shots of the bike legitimately inside for once..
F*ck the Police..
After an etherial mooch through the parks into the low sun, I emerged outside Keble..
On to Broad Street and the golden hour was in full effect; further enhancing the inherent warmth of the stone..
From here it was out through Jericho and onto the tow path. I took quite a few more pictures but they're all shite - partially due to my shortcomings and partially because the phone decided to apply that grotty faux-bokeh "portrait" setting that does a really bad job of falsifying background blur in an effort to mimic the effect of wide-open, large-aperture lenses..
Nearly back at the car and things were looking up. I'd treated my ears to the ever-upbeat work of Underworld and it seemed an appropriate soundtrack to dodging the low-hanging foliage in the fading evening sun, as it playfully threatened to take my eye out.
Approaching the bridge at Yarnton I noticed some shifty-looking hedge trimmings on the path as I pulled hard to the left to give a jogger some room. Remembering that I was nearly out of tonic again, with no reason to come home and a possible trip from Kidlington on the cards next month when the car gets its MOT, I thought I'd press ahead along the tow path to said town as a bit of a recce.
The path is grossly inferior to that from Yarnton; being essentially mud single-track for the whole way with a lot of pointy bits. My thoughts turned to pinch-punctures as the back end started to feel a bit squiffy; a quick glance confirming the worst
I started pushing the bike back to the car which was maybe half a mile away, however my renewed need to not get home, the nice night and the possibility to turn this problem into an opportunity to learn all about puncture repair saw the back wheel off and the repair gear out..
I stacked it by removing the tensioner when this wasn't necessary, and the whole process was a massive ballache.. the only positive being the convenience of being able to slip the rear wheel out in the folded state; the only aspect of the process that, compared to a conventional bike appeared to be less of a pain.
A nice couple from one of the new houses on the river did check I was OK, which was appreciated - however thankfully after that everyone else left me alone..
After half an hour of taking my time the back wheel was refitted with a patched tube, however once the bike was back together it'd gone flat again. I gave up and walked the bike home; partially because I wanted to apply some grease to the tyre beads and take my time refitting everything. I'd had to use the levers to get the tyre off, but managed to re-fit it without. I also found it a bloody pain to get the bead seated properly around the valve; although I think this can be remedied by fitting the tyre and partially inflated tube together, working from the valve.
Once home I found an additional hole in the tube; almost exactly mirroring the first about the valve axis. Both were very, very small punctures (in the proper sense) - no doubt as a result of thorny hedge cuttings left on the path
It looked very much like the thorn might still have been in the tyre to cause the second puncture, however no matter how much I looked and felt inside the tyre I couldn't find any issues, so put it all back together and it seems fine now..
Doing the job at home seemed (and probably was) faster but still a massive pain; and made me think again about the potential for a ghetto tubeless setup on the little B.. I think I'd not even have noticed hitting the thorn(s) on this occasion with a tubeless setup as the holes were so tiny, and I fear I'll only encounter more over the winter..
