TK421
Casual Extremist
- Location
- Not at my post
Hello world!
I shall start at the very beginning, it's the very best place to start.
A long time ago, on a council estate far, far away......
....there lived a young boy (my brother Mark) who was given a bicycle so that he could visit his friends living several miles away without being constantly taxied around by his dad. Although on occasion he had to be retrieved from the local woods after he bent the front forks of his Raleigh Bomber. He also used it for doing his paper round (remember the good old days?) until he unfortunately got knocked off by a car one morning. Thankfully he and the bicycle were not seriously injured. But that put pay to me getting a bicycle as a kid, mum didn't want me to be involved in an accident, so I got myself a skateboard and broke my wrist.
My brother Mark did give me some riding lessons on his bicycle but I progressed from my skateboard to a Mk2 Ford Escort the minute I could get a licence. The years passed and while I tinkered with cars my brother kept up his 2 wheeled passion, using his bicycle to commute from Eltham (South East London) to work in the west end of London. He went on to do charity rides in various countries and would visit our parents in South Lincolnshire to train in preparation.
Unfortunately in January he decided that it was time to go to the great velodrome in the sky. He left behind a pet cat, 2 distraught daughters, three ex-wives and 5 bicycles. One of his friends from school managed to sell 3 and I found myself with the task of finding a new home for a 44cm Specialized Allez Jr. , a broken 56cm Specialized Tarmac and a BikeBoxAlan in need of some TLC.
So me being a bit of a hot rodder, I decided to pull apart the Tarmac and sell what I could, but then I had a cunning plan! I would use the parts from the Tarmac to build another bicycle using a new frame! Then I had a second cunning plan! I could teach myself to ride on the Allez in the ample space of the car park at work! This followed by cunning plan #3, I would build a bicycle using the old Tarmac parts for me!
So after a month or so I am sort of ready to venture out on to the public highway, but still feeling a bit chicken as I am a delivery driver and know just how badly they drive in and around South Lincolnshire. But I am determined to finish what Mark started and maybe follow in his charity footsteps.
So here I am, absolutely clueless until my next cunning plan!
All help and advice will be gratefully appreciated.
I shall start at the very beginning, it's the very best place to start.
A long time ago, on a council estate far, far away......
....there lived a young boy (my brother Mark) who was given a bicycle so that he could visit his friends living several miles away without being constantly taxied around by his dad. Although on occasion he had to be retrieved from the local woods after he bent the front forks of his Raleigh Bomber. He also used it for doing his paper round (remember the good old days?) until he unfortunately got knocked off by a car one morning. Thankfully he and the bicycle were not seriously injured. But that put pay to me getting a bicycle as a kid, mum didn't want me to be involved in an accident, so I got myself a skateboard and broke my wrist.
My brother Mark did give me some riding lessons on his bicycle but I progressed from my skateboard to a Mk2 Ford Escort the minute I could get a licence. The years passed and while I tinkered with cars my brother kept up his 2 wheeled passion, using his bicycle to commute from Eltham (South East London) to work in the west end of London. He went on to do charity rides in various countries and would visit our parents in South Lincolnshire to train in preparation.
Unfortunately in January he decided that it was time to go to the great velodrome in the sky. He left behind a pet cat, 2 distraught daughters, three ex-wives and 5 bicycles. One of his friends from school managed to sell 3 and I found myself with the task of finding a new home for a 44cm Specialized Allez Jr. , a broken 56cm Specialized Tarmac and a BikeBoxAlan in need of some TLC.
So me being a bit of a hot rodder, I decided to pull apart the Tarmac and sell what I could, but then I had a cunning plan! I would use the parts from the Tarmac to build another bicycle using a new frame! Then I had a second cunning plan! I could teach myself to ride on the Allez in the ample space of the car park at work! This followed by cunning plan #3, I would build a bicycle using the old Tarmac parts for me!
So after a month or so I am sort of ready to venture out on to the public highway, but still feeling a bit chicken as I am a delivery driver and know just how badly they drive in and around South Lincolnshire. But I am determined to finish what Mark started and maybe follow in his charity footsteps.
So here I am, absolutely clueless until my next cunning plan!
All help and advice will be gratefully appreciated.
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Next step is to extend the length of the ride by going up and down the road, maybe getting it up to a mile in length. Baby steps is the key I think to building my confidence in traffic.
