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Wednesday 17 July 2013

Barham Barnacle

Another Poshrule circuit today; 40 caches plus a few extras. I went round on the bike, and there were no stiles!

But.

After a few miles, the freewheel latch started slipping. That's the thing that conveys the push on the pedals, to the rear gears. And at about 2/3 of the way round, it stopped working altogether.

That meant that I had a working bicycle, except that I couldn't pedal it. The electric motor still worked, so I was OK on the flat, but going up any kind of incline, needed me to "hobby-horse" the bike, or else get off and push.

So I got back to the car, had lunch, and decided to cancel the rest of the day. I made a dash for home, and a beeline to the bike shop.

The first bike shop was closed (closed Wednesdays", but Dees in Amersham was open.

The fitted a new gear cluster, but while doing it, they pointed out that the chain had stretched (new chain needed), the chain gear feeder mechanism was very loose (new mechanism) and the gear cables were rusty (new cables). It wound up costing £102, which is actually pretty cheap for such an extensive repair, and they did it while I waited.

So, only 40-odd caches today.

So here I sit at 6:30, watching a torrential downpour that I was lucky enough not to be caught out in!

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